The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1903-12-31
THE PANAMA TREATY.

Those who favor the Panama treaty
insist that unless the pending treaty,
which condones executive usurpation and
piracy, is ratified the hope of an isthmian
canal is at an end. If they are right
| if because the Senate will not be a party
dent will disobey the Congressional man
date to dig by the Nicaragua route, If
he can and will thus say Il must be al
lowed to play the modern buccaneer or
there shall be no canal" if that is his
attitude, then the sooner some curb Is
PUT upon his executive power the better
for the peace of this country. No poll
teal enemy of MIR. Roosevelt ever ac-
cused him of such revolutionary design.
as his friends put forward in advocacy
Of the ratification of the treaty.
We do not believe that the president
would deny to the commerce an isthmian
canal because another route is selected.
He believes the Panama route to be the
best. Senator Morgan is equally strong
in his belief that the Nicaraguan route
is the best. There is no doubt that for
Southern ports the Nicaraguan route
would be much the best, without .njuring
Northern ports. Last year, alter the
House had unanimously, voted for the
Nicaraguan route, it was in the power
of Senator Morgan to defeat the digging
of canal by insisting upon the Nicara-
guam route when Mr.. Roosevelt and hi.
Hanna demanded the Panama route.
When Mr.. Morgan saw that the Senate
would vote for the Panama route or none,
the patriotic Alabamian surrendered his
preference of a route for the greater good
Of a canal. In the act it was stipulated
that if the Panama route was not avail
able or possible the canal should be dug
by the Ncaraguan route. Colombia re-
fused its consent. The duty OF the Presi
dent was then plain. 1t was to emulate
the self-effacing patriotism of Mr.. Morgan
and build by the Nicaraguan route. He
chose another plan-one that has put
this republic in the attitude of bully
and land grabber. He will carry his
end if he can when weak little country
is the only obstacle. But if the Senate
says: Garry out the law. You We're
given no right to start secession IN Pan
anna. You were told to build the Panama
route if the treaty with Colombia could
be secured; if not, to build by Nicaragua.
not to make them" If the Senate, rapid
~ becoming an appendage of tic exc
cutive, would thus assert its power, TIE
president would construct the Panama
canal with honor, or he would dig the
Nicaragua canal. 1t is an insult to his
official oath to say that he can and will
defy Congress and thwart the canal I'M
dertaking unless he is upheld in the, dis
graceful usurpation of grabbing Panama
in a manner in conflict with oa,.onal
honor and tradition.
1t is a great mistake to suppose that
the Southern people are committed to
the Panama canal. The Washington cor
respondent OF the Philadelphia Ledger
quotes a Southern Congressman as stat
ing:
THAT Southern people arc so anxious
TO get the canal that we would even
be disposed to accept stolen property"
If the Southern people have sunk into
that depravity, then they are outside the
pale. But it is not true. For gener
alton the South has been advocating the
Nicaraguan canal. Nobody was ever heard
in The South, and very few in the North,
advocating the Panama canal uAtil two
years ago. During Senator Morgan's twer-
ty-year fight, nobody thought of arything
but the Nicaraguan canal. Suddenly MI
Hanna and Mr. Roosevelt said it must be
Panama or nothing. Then SAID Mr
Morgan ''let 1t be Panama" though lie
knew the change would cost Southern
ports millions of dollars. Having given
up its preference, the South is now tod
that it must also endorse piracy, execu
tive usurpation and revolution or there
shall be no canal at all. If Mr.. Roosevelt
is that sort of an autocrat, then the
sooner the people know they have a car
the better.