The daily morning journal and courier., 1904-02-27
CANAL TREATY PROCLAIMED
RATIFI0ATIONS EXCHANGED IA
 WASHINGTON YESTERDAY.
President Acts Quickly --Nnshing More Remains to bs Done Than the Adjuss-
 mont of Certain Legal Queatsons-
 Panama nIiaistsr Resigns on Conn

piceinn nf His Work
 Washington, Feb. 26.- Secretary Hay and Minister Bunau-V Varilla at 10:3Ol o'clock this forenoon exchanged ratifi-' cations of the Panama canal treaty at the state department. At 11:15 o'clock the president signed the procl laInat ion putting the treaty into effect.
 This exchange marks the close of sii- plonatic negotiations looking to the ae-s auireinent by the United States of canal rights on the isthnus, running back to the first quarter of the last cen tury. What remains to be done now is nothing more than the adjustment of certain legal questions by the law of-5 ficers of this government. In this last act, there were present in the diplo- 1natic room only Secretary Hay, MT. Bunau- Varilla, Sidney Smith, chief of. the diplomatic bureau, and the veteran messenger of the secretary, Savoy.
 The legal questions remaining to be settled are, first, the effect upon canal payments of the pending litigation in France concerning the canal Briefly stated, the Colombian government sues to prevent the directory of the new Panama Canal company from refusing admission to the board of it's represen- tatives. With the amount of stock such representatives would control, united with certain elements of the old Pa1la- ma company opposed to the new regime, it might be possible to prevent the con- summation of the sale of the canal property to the United States. But the state department has conviction based on unofficial assurances that the French court will reject the Colombian suit. Another legal question is whether under the terms of the Spoo1ler act the S10, 0,000,0O0 which was to be paid to Co.,. lombia can now be paid to Panama, and it is for the attorney general to decide whether additional enabling legislation will be required. It will be sometime before these questions can be settled, and meanwhile no money is likely to pass.
 M. Bunau-varilla this afternoon ca bled to the presiednt of Panama his resignation as minister from that re- public.
 The proclamation is as follows: ssBy the President of the United States
 of America.
 "A Proclamation.
 "Whereas q convention between the United States of America and the re- public of Panama to insure the con- struction of a ship canal across the isth- mus of Panama to connect the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. was concluded and signed by their respective plenipotentia- ries at Washington on the 18th day of November, 1893;
 And. Whereas the said convention had been duly ratified on both parts and the notifications of the two governments were exchanged in the city of Wash- ington. on the 25th day of February, 1904;
 Now. therefore. be it known, that I, Theodore Roosevelt, president of the United States of America, have caused the said convention to be made public, to the end that the same and every article and clause thereof, may be ob- served and fulfilled with good Saith by the United States and the citizens thereof.
 Tn testimony whereof, have hereun- to set my hand and caused the seal of the United States of America to be af- fixed.
 Done at the city of Washington, this 26th day of February, in the year Of our Lord. 1904, and of the indenendence of the United States the 12sth. Theodore Roosevelt. By the president.
 John Hay. Secretary of State.'s