The Montgomery advertiser., 1903-12-10
IT IS A QUESTION OF INTER
 WATERWAY WT9HwAY

an editorial entitled, 'The Presidents De- fense," in which it accuses the President of setting up "the fantastic doctrine of international eminent domain" Our es- teemed contemporary, in order to sustain It's accusation. quotes from the Presi- dents message the following:
 The great enterprise of building the in. gratify the whins, or out of respect to the governmental impotence, or 70 tne even more sinister and evil political pscu. dwell afar of, yet. against the wish oi the actual dwellers on the Isthmus, assert an unreal supremacy over the territory such peculiar capacities as the Isthnius in question carries with it obligations to mankind.
 The quotation Is part of paragraph, the whole of which Is as follows:
 Under such circumstances the Govern Usnt of the United States would ad have nave amounting in their sum to crime against the nation. had 1t acted otherwise than !! did when the revolution of November enterprise of building the interoceanic ca Ral %hSs Ssns1' sp oSs Ss of asS sssser enal ae sy pocs H I ess people who, though they dwell afar on yet, against the wish of the actual dwell CTS on the isthmus assert an unreal eas.ss. ss. sion of a territory fraught with such pe- culiar capacities as the .isthmus in ques' ton, carries with 1t obligations to Iuan- that this canal cannot be built by private enterprise, or by any other nation man our own; therefore 1t must be built by the United States.
 Our readers will readily understand that the President is discussing his quick rec ognition of the Republic of Panama, the circumstances of which had already been related in the message.
 The Times mistakes the question which lies at the foundation of the matter. It is not the question of international eminent domain" neither is 1t the question of our duty under our treaty engagements with Colombia to guarantee the rights of sov- ereignty and property which Colombia had over Panama; neither Is 1t the ques- tion of guaranteeing the Isthmus against seizure or invasion by a foreign Power only" It is a question solely of remov- ing "the barrier dividing the two great est maritime areas of the world." In or- der to construct 8 highway which, President Cleveland, whom The Times cites as authority. said. must be for the worlds beneftt-a trust for mankind to be removed from the chance of domi- nation by g single power, nor become a point of invitation for hostilities or a prize for warlike ambition"
 The Advertiser certainly Is not aflame with love for the President or any of his strictly partisan policies, but in this mat ter. which has always been considered one in which every Government of the world and the whole of our people arc alike interested, it agrees with him for the reason that, like President Cleveland he is maintaining the tenets of line oi unbroken precedents from washington's day."
 The whole question is involved in part of the quotation from the message which The Times prints as follows: "The pos session of Territory fraught with suct peculiar capacities as the isthmus in ques ton carries with 1t obligations to man kind.''
 l The right of revolution inheres in tn, people of Panama. Recognition is anothe question. President Pierce. discussing thu question of recognition of Government fin a special message May 15, 1S56), devot ed alone to that subject, said '1t is the es tablished policy of the United States tC recognize all Governments without ques tion of their source or organization, or o the means by which the governing per sons attain their power, provided ther' be government de facto accepted by tht people of the country" He further sait that while ''during the sixty-seven year! which had elapsed since the establish ment of this Government" we had oc casion to recognize Governments de facto founded either by domestic revolution O by military invasion from abroad, II many of the Governments of Europe" 1 was 'the more imperatively necessary t' apply this rule to the Spanish-Americai Republics. in consideration of the frequen and not seldom anomalous changes of or ganization or administration which the! undergo and the revolutionary nature O most of these changes"
 Therefore. the paramount question il the Panama matter now is the construc ton of a highway" across the marrow barrier dividing the two greatest mari time areas of the world. for the world
 benefit, trust for mankind. the neutrali zation of which is guaranteed by treat! of the world. because that doctrine res, upon the broad idea that by natural lav the seas are common to all mankind.