Abilene weekly reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1888-1935, 1903-11-19
THE PANAMA CANAL.
A Message by President Roosevelt
That Was Written Too Soon.
ISTHNIAS EVENTS CAUSED A CHANCE


congress to be presented at the open
ing of the regular session on the first
Monday Of December. That part oil
the message in which the president dis
cussed the negotiations between the
United States and the government Of
Colombia for isthmian canal treaty II
Is stated was completed about two
weeks ago. Events which have &C.
CURED on the isthmus and in this
country since that time have made II
necessary for the president complete
ly to revrite that part Of the message
touching the canal negotiations.
In the opening sentence Of his dis
cussion of the negotiations with Co
lombia the president said:
II regret to report that contrary to
all expectations the government Of the
republic of Colombia refused to ratify
the treaty for building a canal across
the isthmus of Panama"
Then after stating that the treaty
had been negotiated at the earnest re-
quest of the government Of Colombia
and subsequently was disapproved by
the Colombian senate, the president
said that the powers exercised by the
United States under the treaty Of 1916
were SO large in the protection OF
transit across the isthmus that 1t some
times had been questioned whether 1t
was necessary now to obtain treaty
for the purpose of building canal.
Continuing, he wrote:
High authorities on international
law hold that the canal can be dug as
an incident to exercising the power to
prevent the construction of traffic
across the isthmus. Nevertheless, in
accordance with our settled policy OF
behaving with scrupulous fairness and
generosity toward our weaker sister
republics of the south, taking no po-
sition that can even by implication be
treated as unfriendly, unless literally
forced thereto, we have endeavored to
provide for the building of the canal
by treaty. In this treaty we went as
far as 1t is possible for us to go In the
direction Of making concessions to the
United States of Colombia. No further
concessions can or should be made by
this government"
The president then stated that the
circumstances Of the canal case were
peculiar. The canal, said he, must be
dug. It was demanded by the interests
Of this nation and by It's word that 1t
should be free to the commerce OF the
world, reserving to ourselves merely
the right to see that II shall never be
used to our military disadvantage.
"A private company which in the
past undertook to build the canal has
failed. The events Of the last few
years warrant US in now saying not
only that the canal shall not be con-
structed by any foreign government,
but that It IL not to be constructed by
any private company. It must, there
fore, be dug by the government OF the
United States"
Referring further along to the ter
ritory bisected by the canal the presi-
dent writes:
ION the one hand the United States
desires to safeguard with scrupulous
care the interest and the honor OF such
country or countries. On the other
hand, in my judgment, II is time to de-
clare that the beginning Of the canal
cannot be much longer delayed. This
nation does not desire TO be unreason-
able OF impatient; but 1t cannot and
will NOT permit any body Of men per-
manently to obstruct one OF the great
world highways of trafic; and refusal
to permit the building Of the canal
amounts to such obstruction. or
course to insist upon unreasonable
terms is equivalent to o refusal"
Adverting to that phrase OF the
spooner law which says that the presi-
dent shall have reasonable time to
determine as between the Panama and
Nicaraguan route, the president wrote:
Reasonable time in the case Of such
an enterprise as this, an enterprise
which has been thought Of for nearly
four centuries. which has been planned
In detail and worked at for half CEN
tury and which when completed will
endure for ages and will change the
geography Of q hemisphere and the
trade routes Of the world, must, OF
course, mean whatever time is neces-
sary to convince ourselves that tne