The Savannah morning news., 1903-12-20
PANAMA CANAL COMPLICATIONS.


The strongest and most persistent
| enemy of a canal connecting the At
! lantic and Pacific oceans could not de-
sire a condition of affairs more OBJ
structive to the construction of such
canal than that which has been
brought about by the action Of Pana-
ma in seeding from Colombia That
action was taken for the purpose Of
opening the way for the canal and
Fastening the construction of it The
President sympathized with the Pana-
manans if he did not actually aid them
in setting up a government of their
own. He, too, thought that the revo-
luton on the isthmus was in the d.
rection of the early construction Of the
canal.
1t may be that his ambition to have
his name associated with the canal
and a belief that a war with Colom-
bia, if there should be war as the re-
suit of assisting Panama to gain her
independence, would be helpful to the
Republican party in the approaching
presidential election, led him to do
things for which Congress and the peo-
pie are not willing to stand. That is
a matter that is now TO be determined.
Certain it is that the Senate insists
upon having much fuller information
than 1t has yet received in respect to
the part our government took in the
proceedings which resulted in the es-
tablishing of the republic of Panama.
limitations have been thrown out
that the Pacific railways were largely
instrumental in having the Colombian
government reject the Hay-Herran
treaty. 1t is possible. of course, that
they were, but they had nothing to do
with the action of Panama in declar-
ing her independence nor with the
course pursued by our government in
preventing Colombia from asserting her
sovereignty in that part of her terri
tory. They couldn't have foreseen that
the events which brought about the
complications which now threaten to
delay the construction of the canal for
an indefinite period. Undoubtedly.
however, they find a great deal of sat
isfaction in the existing condition of
affairs. They can afford to rest on
their oars, as it were. until the Senate
comes TO the conclusion as to whether or
not the treaty which the President has
made with Panama is discreditable to
the American people. AS there is a
certain amount OF politics in this mat
ter, its settlement may not be reached
in months. In the meantime other
questions may arise to still further de-
fer the construction of the canal.
1t is far from certain that the Sem
ate will ratify the treaty which has
been negotiated with Panama From
what can be gathered from views held
by the Georgia senator's, it is safe to
assume that the Democratic senators
will not vote for its ratification unless
the President is able to show that our
government had nothing to do with To-
menting the revolution in Panama, and
that everything it has done in connec-
ton with that revolution is in every
respect honorable to the American peo-
pie. The inference from the position
taken by Senator Hoar is that there
are Republican senators who want
more information as 20 the part our
government played in the Panama rev.
olution before they VIII be ready to
support the administration and vote to
ratify the treaty. It is within the
bounds Of possibility that Senator Nor
gan will be victorious in his conten-
be built on the Nicaragua route.