The Brandon news. (Brandon, Miss.) 1892-1961, 1904-01-07

United States thus assumed the posi-
ton of guarantor Of the canal and Of
Its peaceful use by all the world. The
guaranty included as q matter Of
course the building of the canal. The
enterprise was recognized IS respond
ing to an international need; and 1t
would be the veriest travesty on right
and justice to treat the governments.
in possession of the Isthmus as having
the right, in the language OF Mr.. Cass,
ito 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 be-
long to them and that they choose to
shut them"
When this Government submitted
to Colombia the Hay-Herran treaty
three things were, therefore, already
settled.
One was that the canal should be
built The time for delay, the time
for permitting the attempt to be made
by private enterprise, the time for
permitting any government of anti
social spirit and OF imperfect devel-
opment to bar the work, was past.
The United States had assumed in
connection with the canal certain re-
sponsibilities not only to it's own PEG.
pie, but to the civilized world, which
Eimperatively demanded that there
should no longer be delay in beginning
the work.
Second. While it was settled that
the canal should be built without un.
necessary or improper delay, it was
no less clearly shown to be our pur-
pose to deal not merely in a spirit of
justice but in a spirit of generosity
with the people through whose land
We might build it. The Hay Herran
treaty, if it erred at all, erred in the
direction of an over-generosity toward
the Colombian government. In our
anxiety to be fair we had gone to the
very verge in yielding to a weak ma
tons demands what that nation was
helplessly unable to enforce from us
against our will. The only criticisms
made upon the administration for the
terms Of the Hay-Herran treaty were
for having granted too much to Column
bla, not for failure to grant enough.
Neither in the Congress nor in the pub
lie press, at the time that this treaty
was formulated, was there complaint
that it did not in the fullest and am
plest manner guarantee to Colombia
everything that she could by any color
of title demand
Nor is the fact to be lost sight of
that the rejected treaty, while gen
erously responding to the pecuniary
demands of Colombia, in other re-
spects merely provided for the con
struction of the canal in conformity
with the express requirements of the
act of Congress of June %, 1902 BY
that act, as heretofore quoted, the
President was authorized to acquire
from Colombia, for the purposes Of the
canal, perpetual control of a certain
strip of land; and it was expressly re
Quired that the control thus to be
obtained should include jurisdiction"
to make police and sanitary regula-
tons and to establish such judicial
tribunals as might be agreed on for
their enforcement. These were condl-
tons precedent prescribed by the Con-
gress; and for their fulfillment suit
able stipulations were embodied in the
treaty. 1t has been stated in public
prints that Colombia objected to these
stipulations on the ground that they
involved REIMBURSEMENT of her SOW
ereignty"; but in the light of what has
taken place, this alleged objection
must be considered as an afterthought.
In reality, the treaty, instead of re-
Quiring cession of Colombfas sover.
eighty over the canal strip, expressly
acknowledged, confirmed, and pre-.
served her sovereignty over it. The
treaty in this respect simply proceeded
ON the lines on which all the negOtia-
tons leading up to the present gitua-
| ton have been conducted. In those
negotiations the exercise by the
| United States, subject to the para
mount rights of the local sovereign,
of substantial control over the canal
and the Immediately adjacent terri
tory, has been treated as fundamen-
tai part Of any arrangement that might
be made. 1t has formed an essential
feature of all our plans, and its neces-
sity is fully recognized in the Hay
Pauncefote treaty. The Congress, in
providing that such control should be
| secured adOnted no new nPincinIe