Cameron County press. [volume] (Emporium, Cameron County, Pa.) 1866-1922, 1903-11-19
CANAL MUST BE DUG
Not by a Private Company but
by Uncle Sam.
Recent Events Made IL Necessary for
President Roosevelt to ReXvrIte
that Part of His Annual Nes-
sage to Congress thaIR
Iates TO the Isthmus.


Washington, Nov. 14.-For several
weeks President Roosevelt has had in.
| preparation his annual message 20
congress, to be presented at the
| opening of the regular session on the
| first Monday of December. That part
of the message in which the presi-
dent discussed the negotiations be-.
tween the United States and the gov
ernment of Colombia for an isthmian
canal treaty was completed about
two weeks ago. Events which have
occurred on the istnmus and in this
! country since that time have made
II necessary for the president to
completely rewrite that part of the
message touching the canal question.
In the opening sentence OF his dis
! cussion of the negotiations with Co.
! lombia the president said: II regret
to report that contrary to all expec-
tations the government of Colombia
refused to ratify the treaty for
building canal across the isthmus
| of Panama
Then after stating that tine treaty
had been negotiated at the earnest
! request Of the government of CoIom-
bia and subsequently was disGp-
/ proved by the Colombian senate, the
! president said that the powers eXer-
| ciSed by the United States under the
treaty of 1916 we've so large in the
protection of transit across the
| isthmuS that it sometimes had been
| questioned whether it was necessary
now to obtain treaty for the pur-
pose of building a canal.
Continuing he wrote: High au-
thorities on international law hold
1,,t Hn |,
dent to exercising the power to pre-
vent the obstruction of traffic across.
the isthmus. Nevertheless, in ac-
cordance with our settled policy of be-
having with scrupulous fairness and
generosity towards our weaker sister
republics of the south, taking no po-
sition that can even by implication
be treated as unfriendly, unless liter
ally forced thereto, we have en-
deavorcd to provide for the building
of the canal by treaty. In this treaty
we went as far as possible in making
1 concessions to the United States OF
/ Colombia. No further concessions.
can, or should, be made by this gov
[ ernment.'
The president then stated that the
circumstances of the canal case were
peculiar. The canal, said he, must be.
dug. 1t will be demanded by the in
terests of this nation and by those
of the civilized world. The United
States had solemnly pledged its word
that it should be free TO the COM
merce of the world, preserving to
ourselves merely the right to see
tnat it shall never be used to our
military disadvantage.
"a private company which in the
past undertook 10 build the canal has,
/ failed. The events of the last few
| years warrant us in now saying not,
only that the canal shall not be con-
structed by any foreign government,
but that it must not be constructed
I by any private company. 1t must,
therefore, be dug by the government
of the United States"
Referring further along to the ter
ritory bisected by the canal, the pres
ident wrote:
"On the one hand the United
States desires to safeguard with
/ scrupuluous care the interest and
the honor of such country or coun-
tries On the other hand, in my
Judgment, it is time to declare that
the beginning of the canal cannot be.
much longer delayed. This nation
does not desire to be unreasonable or
| impatient; but it cannot and will not
to obstruct one of the great world
highways of traffic; and refusal to-
permit the building of the canal
amounts to such obstruction. Or
course to insist upon unreasonable
terms is equivalent to a refusal
Adverting to that phrase of the
| Spooner law which says that the
president shall have reasonable time.
to determine as between the Panama
and Nicaraguan routes, the president.
wrote: Reasonable time in the case
of such an enterprise as this, an en-
terprise which has been thought OF
for nearly four centuries, which has
been planned in detail and worked at
for half a century, and which when
completed will endure for ages and
will change the geography of a
hemisphere and the trade routes of
the world must of course, mean
whatever time is necessary to con-
vince ourselves that the course we.
are following is wise and proper.
at seems evident that in a matter
such as this we should finally decide
which is the best route; and if 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
trifling or insincere dealing on the
part of those whom the accident of
position has placed in temporary con-
troll of the ground through which
the route must pass; that if they
will come to agreement with us in
straightforward fashion we shall in
return act not only with justice, but
with generosity, and that if they fail
to come to such agreement with us,
we must forthwith take the matter
into our own hands"
ArbItrators Adjourn.
The Hague, Nov. 1.-THE Nenezue-
lnn nrlni trn tinn trihnnal nl linnrnPR