The Montgomery advertiser., 1903-09-30

Hartford Courant under the heading Give Columbia time to think" concludes this way:
 We believe that President Roosevelt and Secretary Hay will conceive 1t to be their duty to give the Colombian gentlemen reasonable time to reflect upon this fun damental aspect of the isthmus canal situation, namely, a Panama ship canal under the control and care of the United
 States, or no Panama ship canal. If any urging Is needed-we do not believe that 1 tis needed then we urge the President and Secretary of State to give the Colom-' bian authorities enough time to permit their reason and common sense to come into operation. Why should our government delay this important matter in order that compa-
 ratively insignificant country, which ap- parently does not know its own mind. | should have more time ito think?" When
 the Colombian Senate failed to ratify the | treaty within the designated time the | treaty became a dead letter. We doubt | If under 8 strict construction of that
 treaty and of the annexed conditions
 either government has the power to take any further steps in the matter without
 new treaty is entered into.
 | Leaving that out of the question. how
 ever. we can see nothing to be gained by waiting for the Colombians to think. As
 We understand it, the present Colombian | Congress will hold on for several months | longer and of the next one two-thirds of the Senators will hold over As the | treaty must be ratified by their Senate We can see no reason for believing that the action already taken will be rescinded
 and the terms of our government acceded to. Looking at the matter from any point of view we do not see that the ad- vice of The Courant is good.
 In the language of the day 1t is now up to the President. Under the terms of the treaty if Colombia failed or re- fused to ratify the same within certain specified time the President should be at liberty to select another route. The con ditions under which that choice was given Roosevelt are now in force. He is at
 liberty to begin negotiations at once
 with Nicaragua and Costa Rica for the route through their territory and he should do so and not dilly-dally any longer with the Colombian Government. Of the reasons which actuated the Sem ate of the United States in choosing the Panama route the less said the better for | the credit of the Senate. It was charged | time and again that millions Of dollars some put 1t as high as $4O,oOo. .OOO-were
 spent or promised, to influence the Sem
 ate. Part of this immense corruption
 fund was to go to certain Frenchmen
 who represented the defunct scheme of DeLesseps and part to certain American
 boodlers who were bent on defeating the
 Nicaragua project. However that may
 be it Is certain that the Senate of the
 United States was at one time favorable
 to the Morgan-Hepburn Nicaragua bill.
 An active lobby with millions behind 1t, changed enough Senators to secure the Panama treaty. Just how it was done
 and how much it cost is immaterlal. It
 was done, but the action of the Colom-
 bian Senate has killed the whole dirty
 scheme. if our government will do It's
 duty, but will 1t? Discussing the duty
 of the President, The Louisville Courier
 Journal has this to say:
 | If the President hearkens to the clamor and hesitates 1t will not mean that he is | personally corrupt, with share of the | stealings coming to him, but 1t will mean | that the power behind the steal Is. like l the power of Quay in Pennsylvania and | Addicks fin Delaware, too great for him. his nomination and election ahead-to | resist It.
 There's the rub. There's politics in it
 and the result depends on whather Roose-
 welt Is strong enough to stand up against
 the mighty political and financial in-
 fluences fighting the Nicaragua route. If
 he delays action and waits to give the
 enemies of the latter route still more
 time to perfect their plans he cannot pos
 sibly relieve himself of the suspicion that
 he Is afraid of the influences at work for
 Panama. However innocent of wrong
 doing or wrong-thinking 1t may be he can-
 not avoid grave suspicion If he persists in
 giving Colombia time to think" The
 country will believe that the time for
 thinking is past and the time for action
 is here.
 The Piedmont News thinks it is never
 safe to judge of the size of mans mind
 by the length of time it takes him tc make 1t up. No, for sometimes the