Richmond planet. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1883-1938, 1903-12-12

4 Shanghai on the eth or OCTOBER. u q
! cause for satisfactiofI This act. the re-
4 suit OF long discussion and negotiation.
1 places our commercial relations with the
! great oriental empire or more satisfac-
tory footing than they have ever hereto
I fore enjoyed. IL provides not only for
the ordinary rights and privileges OF dip
lomatic and consular officers. but also
for an important extension OF our COM
4 merce by increased facility OF access to
Chinese ports and for the relief OF trade
by the removal OF some OF the obstacles
which have embarrassed II I'm the past.
The Philippines and Porto Rico.
OF our inSular possessions. the Philip
pines and Porto Rico, II IS gratifying to
say that their steady progress has been
| such as to make IL unnecessary TO spend
much time i'm discussing them. Yet the
congress should ever keep in mind ehat
peculiar obligation rests upon us To
further in every way the welfare OF thcse
communities.
The effect of the laws providing a gen
eral staff for the army and for the more
effective use OF the national guard has
been excellent. Great Improvement has
been made In the efficiency of our army in
recent years. Such schools as those erect
ed at Fort Leavenworth and Fort Riley
and the institution OF fall maneuver work
accomplish satisfactory results.
1 heartily congratulate the congress up
on tue steady progress In building up
the American navy. There should be no
cessation i'm adding to the effective units
Meanwhile the navy department and the
officers of the navy are doing well their
part by providing constant service at sea
under conditions aSin to those of actual
warfare. The best work ashore is in
dispensable. bat the highest duty of a
naval officer is to exercise command at
sea II is eminently desirable that q ma
val general STAFF should be established.
lsthmian Canal.
BY the act of June IS. 1892, the congress
authorized Tn int
treaty with Colombia for the building of
the canal across the isthmus of Panama
II being provided that in the event OF
failure to secure such treaty after the
should be had to building canal through
Nicaragua. 1t has not been necessary to
consider this alternative, as am enabled
to lay before the senate a treaty provid-
ing for the building of the canal across
the isthmus of Panama. This was the
route which commended itself to the de-
Hberate judgment of the congress- and
we can now acquire by treaty the right
to construct the canal over this route
The question now therefore Is not by
which route the isthmus canal shall be
built. for that question has been def
nitely and irrevocably decided The
question il simply whether or not we
shall have an isthmus canal
When the congress directed that we
should take the Panama route under
treaty with Columbia the essence of the
condition Of course referred not to the
government which controlled that route
but to the route itself to the territory
across which the route lay not to the
name which for the moment the territory
bore on the map. The purpose OF the
law was to authorize the president to
make a treaty with the power in actual
control of the isthmus of Panama This
purpose has been fulfilled.
Reputation Of Treaty BY Colombia.
Last spring a treaty concluded be-
hR tot x-oa ~
public of Colombia and of our government
was ratified by the senate. This treaty
was entered into at the urgent solicita-
ton of the people OF Colombia and after
body of experts appointed by our gov
eminent especially to go into the matter
OF the routes across the isthmus had pro-
nounced unanimously in favor of the
Panama route. In drawing up this
treaty every concession was made to the
people and to the government of Colom-
bia. We were more than JUST in dealing
with them. Our generosity was such as
to make IL n serious question whether we
had not gone too far I'm their interest at
the expense OF our own. for in our scr,i-
pulous desire to pay all possible heed not
merely to the real but even to the fancfed
rights NJ our weaker neighbor. who al
ready owed so much to our protection
and forbearance we yielded I'm all possl-
bic ways to her desires in drawing up
the treaty. Nevertheless the government
of Colombia not merely repudiated the
as to make & evident by the time the
Colombian congress adjourned that not
the scantiest hcpc remained OF ever get
ting n satisfactory treaty from them
Revolution In Panama.
The people OF Panama had long been
discontinued with the republic Of Colom-
bia, and they had been kept quiet only
by the prospect OF the conclusion of the
canal treaty. which was to them a matter
OF vital concern. When Il became evil
yvn w nGt
the people OF Panama rose literally as one
man. Not n shot was fired by n single
man on the isthuus in the interest of the
Colombian government. Not n life was
lost in the accomplish OF the revo-
luton. The Colombian troops stationed
on the isthmus, who had long been I'M
paid. made common cause with the peo-
pie OF Panama. and with astonishing
unanimity the new republic was started.
The duty OF the United States in the
premises was clear. In strict accordance
with the principles laid down by Secre-
taries Cass and Seward. the United States
gave notice that II would permit the land
Ing OF no expeditionary force. the arrival
or which would mean chaos and destruc-
ton along the line of the railroad and of
the proposed canal and an interruption
Of transit an inevitable CONSEQUENCE
The de facto government of Panama was
recognized.
Under such circumstances the govern
ment OF the United States would have
amounting In their sum to a crime
against the nation. had It acted otherwise
than II did when the revolution OF Mo-
vember last took place in Panama. This
great enterprise of building the inter
oceanic canal cannot be held up to graf
ify the whims out OF respect to the
governmental impotence or to the even
more sinister and evil political peculiar
ties OF people who. though they dwell
afar off. yet against the wish of the
actual jewellers on the isthmus. assert
an unreal supremacy over the territory
The possession of territory fraught
with such peculiar capacities as the 18TH
mus in question carries with II obliga-
lions to mankind. The course of events
has shown that this canal cannot be
built by private enterprise or by any
other nation than our own therefore Ii
/ must be built by the United States.
New Treaty With Panama.
Every effort has been made by the
government of the United States to per-
suade Colombia to follow a course which
was essentially not only to our interests
and to the interests OF the world but to
the interests OF Colombia itself. These
efforts have failed. and Colombia by her
persistence In repulsing the advances
that have been made, has forced us for