The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1903-03-25
Long Contest Brought to an End
At Last.
FINAL VOTE Was Overwhelming.
Only Five Senator's Out of the 78
Present Voting Against Ratif1-
cation,
Although Twensy.seyen Senators Had
Voted in Favor of the Democratic Sub
ssitute fer Article q of the Treaty.

Washington, March I7.-Without
dotting an ssi'' or crossing a t" even
without changing single punctuation
mark, the Senate today voted to ratlfy
the treaty with the Republic of Co
lombia for the construction OF an 18th
mian canal. The vote for ratification
was 73 in the affirmative to 5 in the
negative The senate was in e2ecu,
tive session when the result was an
nounced, so that only the Senators
themselves and few confidential EN-,
ployees 1ere present. All the Sena'
tors announced themselves as graft
fed to have the long struggle termi.
mated. but none of them manifested
their apprecition by cheers or hand,
clapping. On the contrary, all Of
them seemed more concerned about
getting aWay from the chamber than
8 about anything else, so that by the
time the Senate could adjourn,s ,swhlch
{ il did almost Immediately after the
result was announced, most OF the
Senators had left their seats and some
of them had donned their hats and
oyercoats.
The day was given up almost entire.
{ " to general debate on the treaty ana
in addition to the set speeches MADE
under the general agreement by Sen
ators Morgan and Cullom there were
many short speeches aud rather long
(. speech by Senator Daniel, OF Vir-
ginia. The only party vote of the day
was taken on the substitute for Article
which was agreed upon by the
Democratic caucus and had reference
to the acquisition of territory in Cen
trail and South America by the United
States. There we're a number OF
speeches on this amendment, but it was
vote down by an almost two-thlrds
majority, the ballot footing up 81
yeas to q nays.
Senator Money offered the sub
stitute for the fourth article OF the
treaty. which disavows any intention
on the part of the United Sattes to in
crease its territory at the expense OF
South or Central America.
Speeches were made in support OF
the Money amendment by Senators
Bacon, Teller, Daniel, Morgan ana
others. They contended for an impair
tial recognition of all American re
pUblics, urging that under the Ian
guage of the fourth article Of the treaty
Mexico would be left as the only
American Republic to which the ayow-
al Of non-encroachment could be held
as non-applicable. Senator Spooner
and Hoar replied, contending that
there was practically no difference be-
tween the language of the amendments
and that OF the article as it stands.
After the vote was taken Senator
Daniel then offered an amendment pro-
yiding that the treaty should not take
effect until it had been approved by
the Congress. Senator Daniel spoke
in advocacy Of this.pcov1sion-
The fact. soon developed that Sena-
tor Daniel had offered his amendment
for the purpose of making general
speech upon the treaty, and when the
ffteen minutes allowed for his speech
ON his own amendment had expired
and the amendment was voted down.
Senator Morgan presented four or i've
OF his amendments, which were each
in turn defeated, but upon all OF
which Senator Daniel continued to
speak. All told, he spoke for about
an hour. His speech was an arraign-
ment Of the Republican policy in pres
sing the treaty with what be asserted
was undue haste. He referred to the
enormous expenditure that would be
required to construct the canal and
charged recklessness in rushing into
an enterprise such as this.
After Senator Daniel had closed,
several other Senators both sides
sides Of. the chamber addressed the
Senate In ffteen-minute speeches for
and against the treaty. Among these
who spoke against it was Senator Cor
man. who devoted Himself especially
to the question of the necessity for
ADEQUATE defence of the canal, which
he said could be asszred only by the
United States. He asserted that Sen
ators were not thinking for themselves,
but we're following blindly in the lead
of the Secretary of State. Indeed,
be declared that Senators were prac-
tically surrendering their own Offices
in order to maintain reputation for
party allegiance.
Senator Platt, of Connecticut, was
one OF the few Senators, if not the
only Senator, to announce his entire
satisfaction with the treaty. He
criticised the Democratic Senator's for
using undue minuteness in their
efforts to find defects in the agree
ment. He was sure they were split
ting hairs.
When at AS p. m., it became ap-
parent that the fifteen minute speech
es had been concluded, Senator Nor
gan surprised the Senate by retaining
from presenting any more individual
amendments, and by presenting all
of the Fifty which be bad prepared in
one block, submitting them, with the
portions of the text of the treaty which
he had not changed, as substitute
for the whole agreement. He did
not demand a roll call and the sub
stitute was voted down, viva voce, al
most unanimously.
It was now few minutes past .
O'Clock and Senator Morgan took the
floor to make the last of his long series
of speeches in opposition to the treaty
In accordance with the unanimous
agreement he spoke for an hour, and,
in order to confine himself to the time