Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1903-11-28
INTRIGUE AND PLOTTING.
Actions Which Make a Sister
Republic Look Askance at Us.
SOME ROUGH RIDING DIPLOMACY.

Those Close to the President Were
Evidently In Touch With the Pan
Canal scheme Has Besmirched All
Who Have Touched II.
Panama! The name is redOlent OF
loot, of wrecked fortunes, subsidized
newspapers, and we have the word of
Henry Watterson that the Republican
gray wolves of the United States SEN
ate are interested in the financial trans
actions that have enveloped Panama in
scandal and disgrace. Hitherto it was
but the characters of the individuals
that were smirched with the slime
that has inevitably bedraggled its pro-
moters and its friends When the eX-
posture of Panama rottenness occurred
in France, the people of the United
States looked OH in horror at the cor
ruptiOn in sister republic Now the
misery has come closer home, and Pan
anna, true to its reputation that what
ever and whoever touched it must be
defiled, has furnished the honor of the
United States and ruined our reputa-
ton among South American republics
as a fair dealing nation. The petty
rascalitieS and ayarice of the United
States of Colombia are no excuse for a
great nation to retaliate with greater
infamy. The way of the Roosevelt adj
ministration was clear; congress had
blaZed the path and ordered that ne
gotiations with Nicaragua were TO be
opened if after a reasonable time Co
lOmbia refused our generous offer.
Oh, that President Roosevelt had car
ried out the plain instructions of con-
gress or even awaited further action
of the representatives OF the nation!
But the tempter was at hand, and in
trigue and plotting were adopted when
straightforward Americanism was the
duty of the hour.
The circumstantial evidence is GER
tainly very strong that President
Roosevelt was privy to, if not an accom-
plice in, the secession of Panama from
the United States of Colombia. One
of the chief witnesses Of this extraor-
binary and revolutionary proceeding is
Consul General Gudger, who states that
he was mot the least surprised" by the
secession of Panama, and he also says,
Five months ago the revolution was
foregOne conclusion, as we all know"
Who could I'VE" mean but the diplo-
matte end of the administration, eSpe-
cially President Roosevelt and Secre-
tary Hay? This frank avowal of Con-
sui General Gudger that Eve all knew"
could not have been meant for the pub
lie, for to the latter the revolution
came as suddenly as a clap of thunder
out of a clear sky. There appears to
have been one, outside of the diplo-
mats. included in the ''we," for he
faithfully foretold what has since hap
pened. This was no less person than
DR.. Albert Shaw, the editor of the Re
view of Reviews. friend of President
Roosevelt from childhood and his con-
slant visitor at the White House and
Oyster Bay In the last issue of his
magazine he certainly showed extraor-
binary preScience or the value of hav-
Ing inside information. DIR. Shaw in
the article says he had no intimatiOn
from high quarters of what would oc-
cur, so we must conclude that his well
known scientific knowledge of psychic
al phenomena had established wireless
Geographic communion ton between
himself and the distinguished occupant
of the White House. This exhibition
of mind reading enabled the editor of
the Review of Reviews to faithfully
jot down for the benefit Of the public
what did happen and to foretell the
startling and most energetic revolution
ever accomplished. Secretary Hay in
his defense of the actions of the adj
ministration admits that the revolution
was coneocted in secret" and that it
belched forth with a ''suddenness" that
startled the world. If President Roose-
welt and John Hay did not know what
was going to happen it was remark
able that they had arranged to have
war ships and an extra force of marines
in near proximity to the scene of ac-
ton, which were at once ordered to aid
in communicating the revolutionary plot
Dr. Shaw knew what was coming.
So did Consul General Gudger, and it
is therefore difficult to believe that the
secretary of state was as innocent as
he tries to make the country believe he
was or that President Roosevelt was
purDosely kept uninformed by his