The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1904-01-05

about by her own refusal to permit the
fulfillment of the great design for which
that treaty was made. 1t was under
these circumstances that the United
States. instead of using its forces to de-
stroy those who sought to make the en-
gagements of the treaty reality. recog-
nized them as the proper custodiaps oil
the sovereignty of the isthmus.
National Interest and Safety.
This recognition was, in the second
place, further justified by the highest
consideration of our national interests
and safety. In all the range of our in
ternational relations, / do not hesitate to
affirm that there is nothing of greater
or more pressing Importance than the
construction Of an interoceanic canal.
Long acknowledged to be essential to our
commercial development it has become.
as the result of the recent extension of
our territorial dominion. more than ever
essential to our national self-defense. In
transmitting to the senate the treaty of
1916, President Polk pointed out as the
principal reason for its ratification that
the passage of the isthmus, which it was
designed to secure, would relieve Us
from long and dangerous navigation of
more than 5000 miles around Cape Horn,
and render our communication with our
own possessions on The northwest coast
of America comparatively easy and
speedy" The events of the past five
years have given to this consideration an
Importance UNNECESSARILY greater than
IT possessed in 1916. In the light of our
present situation, the establishment of
easy and speedy communication by sea
between the Atlantic and the Pacific pre-
sents itself not simply as something to
be desired. but as object to be posi-
lively and promptly attained. Reasons
of convenience have been superseded by
seasons of vital necessity, which do not
admit of indefinite delays
To such delays the rejection by CoIom-
ba of the Hay-1erran treaty directly
exposed us. As proof of this fact need
only refer to the programme outlined in
the report of the majority of the Pana-
ma canal committee. read in the Colom-
ban senate on the 18th CT October last.
In this report, which recommended that
the discussion of a law to authorize the
government to enter upon new negotia-
lions should be Indefinitely postponed. it
is. proposed that the consideration of the
subject should be deferred till October 81,
1904. when the next Colombian congress
should have met in ordinary session By
thot time, as the report goes on to say,
the extension of time granted to the
New Panama Canal company by treaty
in 1893 would have expired. and the new
congress would be in position to take up
the question whether the company had
not, in spite of further extensions that
had been granted by legislative acts, for
feited all its property and rights. when
that time arrives the report significant
ly declares. "the republic. without any
impeachment, will be able to contract and
will be in more clear, more definite. and
more advantageous possession. both legal
ly and materially" The naked meaning
of this report is that Colombia proposed
to wait until. by the enforcement of "A
forfeiture repugnant to the ideas of
justice which obtain in every civilized
nation. the property and rights of the
New Panama Canal company could be