The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1903-12-02
SOME PLAIN TALK
From Senator Morgan in Criticising
the Course Of the President
IN TIE COLOMBIAN MATTER

Roosevelt's Wild, InexousabIe Raid
Is What the Alabama Man
Terms the Making OF the
Panama Republic.
The Panama question was up in
the United States Senate last week,
and in discussing it Senator John T.
Morgan, OF Alabama, INDUCED in
some very plain talk. The question
came up in connection with the an
nouncement Of the reorganization OF
senate committees, relieving MIR. Nor
gan from the craftsmanship OF the
committee on interoceanic canals.
Before the order went into effect Mr..
Morgan took the floor and his speech
proved to be discussion Of the en-
tire canal question, with liberal crit
icisms Of the president for his course.
Mr.. Morgan discussed at some
length the attitude Of the president
in the matter OF the selection OF a
route for the proposed isthmian canal
and in doing so accused hin OF using
his Official position to advance bis per-
sonai views. One man in the preSi-
Dental Office may be able, he said, to
crush all opposition. but it remained
to be seen whether he could crush the
statutes OF congress. He referred to
the Spooner act and said no one could
nullify it. The revolution in Panama,
he said, was a Caesarian operation,
resulting in taking Panama alive from
the womb Of Colombia.
In connection with his charge that
the president has made the canal
question party question, Mr.. Nor
gan said: Il think that the appeal
to party discipline to force: his opin-
ions on the country, and his measures
Of aggression Oh foreign countries, in
addition to his power as commander
and chief Of the army and navy which
he uses with a dreadful latitude Of
construction, is so strong proof OF
heart failure in the present wild mo-
ments that I am encouraged to hope
that there are still some barriers that
we may rely upon to protect the peace
AID save the commerce Of the coun-
try. I regret that party discipline is
to be used as domestic police force
to protect the transit in Panama,
and to guard the interests Of the
new canal company. That we will
get a canal il one can he built in
Panama, I have no doubt, for the
president has said so. Yet this re-
suit +; not nearly so certain or so safe
as If he should obey the Spooner law"
Mr.. Morgan said that ne had only
consented to the enactment Of the
Spooner bill because Of his confidence
in the good faith Of the president in
enforcing the law, and now that the
president had not seen fit to keep that
faith it remained to be seen whether
the Senate would support him In that
position. The president had, he said,
completed his campaign against the
Spooner act by having Mr.. Hay sign
a treaty with somebody from Pana-
ma," who had no authority except
that conveyed in cablegram from a
junta at Panama.
He read the correspondence bearing
upon the revolution to show, as he
said that "the president had known
OF the uprising in the isthmus before
it began and stood ready with armed
ships to protect those engaged in it. "
That Assistant Secretary LOOMS
dispatch that 1t was our desire to
maintain peace was, Nj. Morgan de-
clared, the grimmest piece Of irony
that had ever graced diplomatic an
nails.
MI. Morgan expressed the hope
that Mr.. Hay had been asleep when
some OF the messages OF his subordin-
ates had been flying over the wire.
las for the president" he said, he
never sleeps on his post OF duty or de-
sire, although he sometimes closes his
eyes to what is going on about him."
He continued that Colombia had
a perfect right to suppress an uprising
on the isthmus, and he declared that
the United States had failed utterly
to observe its treaty obligations IN
pursuing the course it had taken.
Indeed, be said, our course there mad
been such that it would bring down
the censure Of future generations
Don US, and he predicted that
the immediate result would be disas-
trous, causing the loss Of both men
and treasure. The consequences would
be such that the president would have
no time for dreams Of diplomatic
triumphs.
He declared his opinion that Mr..
Hay had not been a free agent in ne
gotiating either Of the canal treaties.
Mr.. Morgan said that the most strenu-
GUS part Of of the career OF the preSl-
dent had been covered by his effort to
secure a anal.Wlth Panama and that
the president had resolved when the
Hay -Herran treaty was under conSid-
GRAFTON to push the canal through and
if authority did not exist be had made
up his mind to create 1t.
AS to the Panama matter, Senator
Morgan said an elaborate treaty had
been prepared, commission sent here
and then sent back again to create a
government with power to ratify a
treaty. He charged that the treaty
With Colombia had been largely drawn
by corporation lawyer. Speaking OF
the report Of the isthmian canal COM
mission favorble to the Panama route,
Mr.. Morgan characterized that report
as the dynamite that has rent 10
twain the republic of Colombia" He
said further that the report was a
! desperate adventure. He declared
THAI il Mr.. Mckinley had lived the