New-York tribune., 1904-10-20
4 CAMPAIGN CoyscyEycE

The exigencies of the Parker campajgn seom
TO have led THE Brooklyn Eagle" to adop+ tbe
views on Panama Of Judge Parker and his
Constitution Club. To a reader who wants 70
know how Parker is superior TO Roosevelt il
commeDds the clubs recent utterance on Pan
anna. 1t compares our protection of Panama TO
hypothetical foreign interference in Florida if
that State were in revolt. and remarks: The
orders sent by the President to Panama square
with what is known of Roosevelt, who is a
man of action. They do not. however. SQUARE
with certain treaty obligations" It declares
that might made right IN Panama Yet
though treaties were permitted to 90 by de-
fault when a cipher dispatch was sent to the
commander Of an American man-of-war'' on
the ground that two wrongs do not make q
right" it opposes any surrender OF the goods
which il now holds TO have been unjustly OBJ
tanned. This is not a heroic attitude, but
The Eagle" does its best to get partisan ad-
vantage out Of the Panama incident What it
really thinks about Panama, when not under
the pressure Of campaigning for Judge Parker
on an anti-Panama platform may be found in
frs files Of last autumn. On November 5, 1903.
the day after the secession Of Panama was an
nounced here. it thus advised President Roose-
welt TO prevent fits subjugation:
The secession Of the Department Of Panama
from Inc hSpuDlc OF COLOMBIA is an immediate
and forcible protest against the policy of decep-
tion and blackInai pursued by the republic tow
ard the United States . The administra-
tion here may be trusted to that the path
of the Colombian government IN this crisis is
not made too smooth. The isthmian canal is a
necessity. We have waited for II many years
In the choice Of routes we have inclined toward
ihe French survey. There was no mig
gardliness in our dealings with the company
which had plans and specifications and half
completed excavations 20 sell. or with the gov
ernment that alone could make that sale effec-
tive. The company was a reasonable bargainer
The government was not More than that II
displayed an insane preference for a policy which
mas no precedent even in the loose politics OF
Latin-Alnerica- And when that policy had at
last provoked the resentment Of its chief Victims
the Colombian administration cannot rationaIlv
lcok for syn pathy here IN the shape of an easy
Interpretation OF the treaty OF 1876 which would
enable II 70 crush the revolutionists without
fatally taxing its slender financial resources
On November 6. 1903 it thus justified the
orders issued by the President to prevent any
conflict on the isthmus,
There Is no doubt that the present unbeavaI
on me IsthIaus 'I Panama would have resulted
In sangulnary encounter between such of the
Colombian troops as remained loyal 70 the CEN
fral authority and the band OF determined pa-
triots who sustained the separatist cause had
not the aIttuoe OF the United States forces rem
cered such conflict futile And n is veil that
such a conflict was prevented II might
nave inclted lne separatists to acts Of violence
mat would nave alsgraced good cause.
The government at Bogota il IL attempts TO
recover its former power over tbe sscsdiny dis
tr1ct, should not tee aggrieved IL il strikes more
snags than those which the -evolutionists can
put IA its way
ON November q 1909, In a double loaded
article headed "A Matter OF Patriotic Nation
atty" IL said:
Commerce would be interrupted by colom-