The Montgomery advertiser., 1903-11-14
REVISED THE MESSAGE
ROOSEVELT COMPELLED TO RE- WRITE PANAMA PART.
Events Occurring on the Isthmus in the Past Two Weeks Made the Step Necessary,
 It is Stated.

Washington, Nov. 13.-For several weeks President Roosevelt has had in preparation his annual message to the Congress to be presented at the opening of the regular session on the first Mon day of December. That part of the mes- sage in which the President discussed | the negotiations between the United States and Colombia for isthmian canal treaty, 1t is stated, was completed about | two weeks ago. Events which have oc- cured on the isthmus and in this coun- try since that time have made 1t neces- sary for the President to completely re- write that part of the message touching ! the canal negotiations. In the opening sentence of his discussion of the negotia- tions with Colombia the President said:
 'I regret to report that contrary to al expectations. the government of the Republic or Colombia refused to ratify the treaty for building canal across the isthmus of Panama"
 Then after stating that the treaty had been negotiated at the earnest request of the government of Colombia and subse- quently was disaproved by the Colombian Senate the President said that the powers exercised by the United States under the treaty of 1S46 were so large in the protec- ton of transit across the isthmus that 1t sometimes had been questioned whether 1t was necessary now to obtain treaty for the purpose of building a canal Con- tinuing, he wrote:
 High authorities on international law hold that the canal can be dug as an in- cident to exercising the power to prevent the obstruction of traffic across the isthmus. Nevertheless, in accordance with our settled policy of behaving with scrupulous fairness and generosity to- | wards our weaker sister republics of the | South taking no position that can even by implication be treated as unfriendly unless literally forced thereto, we have endeavored to provide for the building of the canal by treaty. In this treaty we went as far as it Is possible for us to go in the direction of making concessions to the United States of Colombia. No | further concessions can or should be made | by this government"
 The President then stated that the cir | cumstances of the canal case were pecu- liar. The canal, he said, must be dug. It was demanded by the interests of this nation and by those of the civilized world | PThe United States had solemnly pledged its word that 1t would be free to the commerce of the world reserving to our selves merely the right to see that 1t shall never be used to our military dis | advantage.
 | "A private company which in the past undertook to build the canal has failed The events of the last few years warrant US now in saying not only that the canal | shall not be constructed by any foreign | government but that it is not to be con- structed by any private company. It must therefore be dug by the government | of the United States.
 Referring further along to the territory bisected by the canal the President wrote
 ''On the one hand the United States de- sire to safeguard with scrupulous care ha infn rnSf md hn ,Nf try or countries. On the other hand, in my judgment it Is timeto declare that the beginning of the canal cannot be much longer delayed. This nation does not desire to be unreliable or impatient but it cannot and will not permit any body of men permanently to obstruct one of the great world highways of traffic and refusal to permit the building of the canal amounts to such obstruction. Ot course to insist upon unreliable terms is | equivalent to refusal"
 Adverting to that phase of the Spooner
 law which says that the President shall
 have reasonable time to determine as be.
 tween the Panama and Nicaragua routes
 the President wrote:
 Reasonable time in the case of sucf
 an enterprise as this enterprise which has
 been thought of for nearly four centuries
 which has been planned in detail and Workeu at TOT nalf century and which when completed will endure for ages anC
 will change the geography of our hemis
 phere and the trade routes of the world
 must of course mean whatever time is
 necessary to convince ourselves that the
 course we are following Is wise and prop
 CT. It seems evident that in a matter such as this we should finally decide
 which is the best route and if the advan-
 tages of this route over any other possi-
 ble route are sufficiently marked, we
 should then give notice that we can nc flonger submit to trifing or insincere deal- ing on the part of those who in the acci-
 dent of possession has placed in temper
 ary control of the ground through which
 the route must pass; but if they will come
 to agreement with us in straight forward
 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 mat
 ter into our own hands"