The daily morning journal and courier., 1904-09-12
Faithfully yours, THEODORE ROOSEVELT.
UNCLE SAM HELD UP.

Own Isthmus Railway.
 Although the United States owns six
 ty-nine-seventieths of the stock of the
 Panama Railroad Company, it appears that it has absolutely no power to con- itrol it's management, nor will it have that power until 1t is able to vote its stock at regular annual meeting of ithe corporation. In the meantime the
 old directors can do what they please
 with the property The Panama Rail-
 road has always been run to make money for it's stockholders, whether by
 earring freight or refusing to carry it,
 as might seem most profitable It was
 able to manipulate the Colombian Gov
 ernment even before 1t became absor- bed by the greater canal company, and
 neaver admitted that the public had the right to any consideration. So long as tthe transcontinental lines would make lit an object to do so the company was iquite willing to make prohibitory rates
 on freight and fares and to give
 monopoly of what business it did do to
 a single steamship company. in alliance with those railroads. When it could not
 get it's price for evading it's obligations
 as carrier it would throw the trade open, reduce it's rates, ana even put on Hines of steamers to collect business, as occurred a few years ago. When by
 those methods it forced the transcon- ltinental lines to accept it's terms it was quite ready to close up. The contract in
 existence between the railroad and the
 Pacific Mail Steamship Company is so
 drawn as to4continue indefinitely until labrogated by six months notice by Ieither party, and nobody but the direc- tors can give this notice. Who these are does not appear. Very likely none lof them are citizens of the United States, and if they are it makes no difference. It can easily he made to their interest, if it is not so already, to refuse to resign and refuse to give the contract and this, it appears, is their position. They are legally i'll possession | of the works and can hold it until their term of office expires. We can onig- get rid of them by the Central American plan of catching them and shooting them and thus creating vacancies in tine board. We are trying, however, to introduce better methods of govern ment on the i5thmus, and shall have to lendure the situation until next April or
 buy up the directors at a higher price than the railroads can pay. That, how ever, is hardly good pratice, even when lth6 object is proper. We shall have to endure the 'hold-up.'
 | Fortunately, we know that the time is lshort. The President of the United States has already acted so far as he lean act at=this time by giving positive instructions to the Canal Commission
 CTS to ,ahrogate all contracts which are
 contrary to public policy at the first moment when it can be lawfully done.
 The President did not wait to be asked
 to do this. He had already given the
 order in the formal instructions which I he delivered to the Canal Commission
 when it met to organize last March lter or at least saying anything about
 Nobody was then thinking of this mat
 ter, or at least saying anything about lit. The first public allusion to the sub fleet was the editorial in the chronicle
 of May ', reminding our people that we were then owning and operating a
 transcontinental railroad and congra-
 tulating the country on the fact that we
 were at last to have competition which
 could not be bought off. It appears
 that the CronicIe was partly in error.
 We owned the road, but were not oper-
 ting it. The Preident, however, was bet
 ter infromed, for he knew that we
 could not operate 1t until we could in
 stall our own directors, All he could do Twas to order the contracts abrogated as
 soon as it could be done. And that is
 what will happen.--From the San
 Francisco Chronicle.