Fergus County argus. [volume] (Lewistown, Mont.) 1886-1946, 1903-11-18

generosity toward our weaker sister
republics of the south, taking no po.
siton that can even by implication be
treated as unfriendly. unless literally
forced thereto, We have endeavored
to provide for the building of the ca
nal by treaty. In this treaty We went
as far as 1t is possible for us to go
in the direction of making conces.
sions to the United States of Colon
bia. 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 dominated by the inter,
ests of this nation and by those of the
civilized world. The United States
had solemnly pledged It's word that
II 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 disad-
vantage"
"The private company which in the
past undertook to build the canal has
failed. Events of the last few years
warrant us in now saying not only
that the canal shall not be construct
ed by any foreign government, but
that 1t is not to be constructed by any
private company. II must, therefore,
be dug by the government of the
United States"
Referring further to the territory
bisected by the canal the president
wrote:
"On the one hand the United States
desires to safeguard with scrupulous
care the interest and honor of such
country or countries. On the other
hand, in my judgment, it is time to
declare that the beginning of the ca,
nal cannot be much longer delayed.
This nation does not desire to be un.
reasonable or impatient, but 1t can
not and will not permit any body OF
men permanently to obstruct one OF
the worlds great highways of traffic
and refusal to permit the building OF
the canal amounts to such obstruc.
tion. OF course, to insist upon un.
reasonable terms is equivalent to re.
fusal."
Adverting to that phrase of the
Spooner law which says that the pres.
ident shall have reasonable time to
dttermine as between the Panama
and Nicaraguan routes. the president
wrote:
Reasonable time in the case OF
such an enterprise as this. an enter.
prise which has been thought of for
nearly four centuries, which had been
planned in detail and worked at for
half century and which. when com.
pleted will endure for ages and will
change the geography Of a hemis.
phere and the trade routes of the
world, must, of course, mean whatev.
er time is necessary to convince our.
selves that the course we are follow.
ing Is wise and proper. It seems evi.
dent that in matter such as this we
should finally decide which Is the
best route and IL the advantages OF
this route over any other possible
route are sufficiently marked. We
should then give notice that we can
no longer submit to trifiing or insin.
cere dealing on the part of those
whom the accident of position has
placed in temporary control of the
ground through which the route must
pass; that If they will come to an
agreement with us in a straightfor.
ward fashion. We shall in return act
not only with justice but with gener.
osity, and that II they fail to come to
such agreement with us. we must
forthwith take the matter into our
own hands,"