The Oskaloosa herald. (Oskaloosa, Mahaska County, Iowa) 1885-1919, 1903-12-10
extraordinary request Is that which has
Just been received and which runs as fol-

| extraordinary request Is that which has;
Just been received and which runs as fol-
CoIombia's Latest Proposition.
s'Knowing that revolution has already
commenced in Panama ian eminent Co
lombianl says that II the government OF.
the United States will land troops TO pre-
serve Colombian sovereignty, and the
transit, II requested by Colombian charge
danaires, this government will declare
martial law; and, by virtue of vested con-
stitutional authority, when public order
Is disturbed, will approve by decree the
rat ~ a5 o. the canal treaty as signed:
prefers, will call extra session Of the con-
gress-with new and friendly members
nent Colombianl has the perfect cenfidence
Of vice president, he says. and il it became
necessary VII 60 to the istthmus Or send
along above lines to the Satisfaction OF
the people there"
This dispatch is noteworthy from two
/ standpoints. Its offer Of immediAfely
guaranteeing the treaty to us Is in shar1.
/ contrast with the positive and contempf-
closed Its sessions to consider favorsbiv
| such a treaty; II shows that the govern
ment which made the treaty really had abb
\ not choose to exercise this control. The
dispatch further calls on US to restore or
der and secure Colombian supremacy In
| the isthmus from which the Colombian gov
| ernment has just by its action decided 10
bar us by preventing the construction or
| the canal.
Important to Us.
The control. in the interest of the com
world, of the means of undfsturbed
transit across the isthmus of Panama
has become of transcendent Importance
ly exercised this control by Intervening
in the course of domestic dissension, and
by protesting the territory from foreign
invasion. In 1853 Mr.. Everett assured the
Peruvian minister that we should not
hesitate to maintain the neutrality of the
isthmus In the case Of war between Peru
has always been vigilant to avail itself
Of its privileges conferred by the treaty,
expressed its expectation that in the
the United States would carry into eff
rect the guaranty of neutrality. There
have been few administrations of the
state department in which this treaty
has not, either by the one side or the
other, been used as basis of more or
less important demands: 1t was said by
Mr.. Fish in 1871 that the department OF
state had reason to believe that an at
tack upon Colombian sovereignty on the
tsthmus had, on several occasions. been
ment. In 1886, when Colombia was under
the menace OF hostilities from Italy in
the Cerruti case. Mr.. Bayard expressed
States could not but feel, that Euro
pean power should resort to force against
sister republic Of this hemisphere. as
a part OF whose territory We are guar
antors under the solemn faith of a treaty.
The above recital of facts establishes
beyond question: First that the United
States has for over half century pa
ttently and in good faith carried out its
obligations under the treaty. Of 1S46: Sec
ond, that when for the first time it be-
came possible for Colombia to do any
thing in reQuital Of the services thus re-
s Gifted sfaes to It SS ~ BY
eminent petemptorily and extensively re-
fused thus to do its part, even though
to do SO would have been to its advan-
of the state Of Panama, at that time I'M
der its Jurisdiction; third, that through
out TINS Period revolutions s riots and
occurred one after the other In almost
uninterrupted succession. some of them
lasting for months and even for years,
while the central government was unable
to put them down or to make peace with
the rebels; fourth, that these disturb
ances instead Of showing any sign OF
numerous and more serious in the imme-
diate past; fifth, that the control of
Colombia oyer the Isthmus Of Panama
could not be maintained without the
armed Intervention and assistance OF the
United States. In other words, the gov
eminent Of Colombia though, wholly UNI
has nevertheless declined to ratify a
treaty the conclusion of which opened
the only chance to secure its own stabil-
ity and to guarantee permanent peace
on, and the construction of a canal
across, the isthmus.
Under such circumstances the govern
ment of the United States would have been
guilty of folly and weakness, amounting
in their sum to a crime against the nation,
h bs IT afSfG than Gd When
place in Panama. This great enterprise of
building the interoceanic canal cannot be
held up to crafty the whims, or out of
respect to the governmental impotence,
or to the even more sinister and evil polit-
ical peculiarities, of people who, though
they dwell afar off, yet, against the wish
of the actual jewellers on the istEmus, as
sert an unreal supremacy over the terri
tory. The possession of territory fraught
mus in question carries with 1t obligations
to mankind. The course of events has
shown that this canal cannot be built by
private enterprise. or by any other nation
than our own; therefore it must be built
by the United States.
Provisions of Panama Treaty.
Every effort has been made by the gov
eminent of the United States to persuade
Colombia to follow a course which was
to the interests of the world, but to the in
terestS of Colombia itself. These efforts
have failed; and Colombia, by her persist
ence in repulsing the advances that have
been made, has forced us, for the sake of
our own honor, and of the interest and
Seh n no6 merely o Of Swn p gP
anna and the people of the civilized coun-
tries of the world, to take decisive steps
to bring co an end a condition of affairs
which had become intolerable. The new
republic OF Panama Immediately offered to
negotiate a treaty with US. This treaty
herewith submit. BY 1t our interests are
better safeguarded than in the treaty with
Colombia which was ratified by the sem
ate at its last session. 1t is better in its
terms than the treaties offered to US by the
republics of Nicaragua and Costa Rlca.
At last the right to begin this great under
taking is made available. Panama has
done her part. All that remains is for the
American congress to do its part and forth
with this republic will enter upon the exc
cution of a project colossal in its size and
of well-nigh incalculable possibilities for
the good of this country and the nations
of mankind.
BY the provisions of the treaty the United
States guarantees and will maintain the
| independence of the republic of Panama.
There Is granted to the United States in
perpetuity the use, occupation and control
| Of a strip ten miles wide and extending
three nautical miles into the sea at either
terminal, with all lands lying outside of
the zone necessary for the construction OF
the canal or for Its auxiliary works, and
with the islands In the bay of Panama
The cities of Panama and Colon are not
embraced in the canal zone, bat the United
States assumes their sanitation and, In
of naA6 the maintenance OrdaP