The Brandon news. (Brandon, Miss.) 1892-1961, 1904-01-07
THE PRESIDENT
AND PANAMA.
ROOSEVELT GIVES REASONS FOR
MAKING PANAMA TREATY.
QUESTION OF THE HOUR
Substance of Message al. Delivered,
Question Of the Moment is Not
Panamas Independence but the
Construction of the Canal"

construction or the canal.
To the Senate and House of Represen-
tatives:
lay before the Congress for it's in
formation a statement of my action up
TO this time in executing the act en-
titled AN act to provide for the con-
struction of canal connecting the
waters of the Atlantic and Pacific
oceans" approved June rs, 1902.
BY the said act the President was
authorized to secure for the United
States the property of the Panama Ca
nal Company and the perpetual con-
troll of strip six miles wide across
the Isthmus of Panama. 1t was fur
ther provided that should the Pres
ident be unable to obtain for the
United States a satisfactory title to
the property of the New Panama Ca
nal Company and the control of the
necessary territory of the Republic
sonable time and upon reasonable
terms, then the President" should en-
deavor to provide for canal by the
Nicaragua route. The language quot
ed defines with exaetness and precis-
ion what was 10 be done, and what as
a matter of fact has been done The
President was authorized to go to the
Nicaragua route only If within a rea-
sonable time he could not obtain con
troll of the necessary territory Of the
Republic of Colombia" This control
has now been obtained; the provision
of the act has been complied with; it
is no longer possible under existing
legislation to go to the Nicaragua
route as an alternative.
This act marked the climax of the
effort on the part of the United States
to secure, SO far as legislation was
cencerned,a an interoceanic canal across
across the Isthmtfs. The effort to Sc
cure a treaty for this purpose with
one of the Central American repub-
lies did not stand on the same footing
with the effort to secure treaty un-
der any ordinary conditions. The
proper position for the United States
to assume in reference to this canal,
and therefore to the governments of
the Isthmus, had been clearly set forth
by Secretary Cass in 1858. In my an
nual message | have already quoted
what Secretary Cass said; but | re-
peat the quotation here, because the
principle it states is fundamental:
While the rights of sovereignty
of the states occupying this region
Central America) should always
be respected, NE shall expect that
these rights be exercised in spir-
it BETTING the occasion and the
wants and circumstances that
have arisen. Sovereignty has it's
duties as well as its rights, and
none of these local governments,
even If administered with more
regard to the just demands of
other nations than they have been,
- would be permitted, in spirit
of Eastern isolation, to close the
gates of intercourse on the great
highways of the world, and justify
the act by the pretension that
these avenues of trade and travel
belong to them and that they
choose to shut them, Or what is
almost equivalent, to cucumber
them with such unjust relations
as would prevent their general
use.
The principle thus enunciated by
Secretary Cass was sound then and it
is sound now The United States has
taken the position that no other Gov
ernmentis to build the canal. In 1889,
when France proposed to come to the
aid of the French Panama Company
by guaranteeing their bonds, the
Senate of the United States in execu-
tive session, with only some three
votes dissenting, passed resolution
as follows
That the Government OF the
United States will look with
serious concern and disapproval
apon any connection of any Euro
Dean government with the 18TH
aus of Darien or across Central
America, and must regard any
such connection or control az in
furious to the just rights and in
terests Of the United States and
as a menace to their welfare.
II was explicitly provided that the
United States should control, police.
and protect the canal which was to be
built keeping it open for the vessels
Of all nations on equal terms. q The