Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1904-02-29
INTERNATIONAL
HONOR At STAKE
MONROE DOCTRINE AND TREATY
OBLIGATIONS FACTORS.
ROOT TALKS ON PANAMA
Ex-Seeretary of War Addresses Union
League Club of chicago-ReVlews
History of CanaI-Classifies Gov
eminent Critics-New lnterpreta-
ton of Principle.

Chicago, Feb. %. - international
commerce, treaty obligations, the
operation of the Monroe doctrine and
the necessity of protecting the para
mount interests of the American
people were the principal reasons as.
signed, for the recognition of the in.
dependence of Panama and the sign.
ing of the canal treaty, by ex-Sec-
rotary of War Elihu Root in an ad.
dress delivered at the Union League
club Of Chicago yesterday. He re.
ceived at length the history of the
negotiations, the conditions prevailing
on the isthmus and the many separate
steps leading up to the canal treaty
with the new republic. He said:
'In considering the charges against
the United States government we may
well thrust aside as carrying no weight
Of authority, the expressions of those
who, while they condemn the conduct
of our government, are in favor of the
treaty. They curiously reverse the
divine rule, and seem to hate the sin
ner while they love the sin; and their
: adverse criticism may fairly be
ascribed to the exigencies of the pend.
ing presidential campaign. Some of
them may be sincere. but upon that
question they naturally invite the
comment made upon Lady Macbeth,
that she might be lady, but she did
not show it by her conduct We need
not pay very much heed, either. to
that class of tempermental anu Deran.
NAL fault-finders whom we have and
always will have with us, as an in.
cident of free institutions. who are
against every government of which
they do not personally form a part,
and in whose eyes everything done by
others is wrong. This class of our
citizens, with slight changes in per.
sonnet, would have condemned any
course of conduct by our government,
whatever il was, and their condemna-
ton of the particular course followed.
merely announces their existence.
Nevertheless, there remain good and
sincere men and women who have
thought our course to be wrong, and
many others, whose CT racter and
patriotism entitle them to the highest
respect, are troubled in spirit. They
would be glad to be sure that our
country is net justly chargeable with
dishonorable conduct. May the time
never come when such men and WON
en- are wanting, or are constrained to
remain silent. in Americai MAY the
time never come when the conscience
of America shall cease to apply the
rules. of upright conduct to national.
as well as to personal life! when our
governments feel absolved from the
obligation to answer in that forum for
conformity to the rules of right. or
when material advantage shall be held
to excuse injusticel For, if such
time ever does come, the beginning OF
the end Of our free institutions will
have come also.
The stupendous fact that has dom
mated the history and must control
ne future of the isthmus of Panama
is the possibility of communication
between the two oceans. 1t is nos.
sible for human hands to pierce the
narrow forty miles of solid ee-tb
which separate the Caribbean sea
from the bay of Panama, to realize
the dreams of the early navigators, to
make the pathway to the orient they
vainly sought to relieve commerce
from the tolls and perils of it's 5000
miles of navigation around Cape Horn
through stormy seas and along dan
gerous coasts with its constant burden
of wasted effort and shipwreck ana
los. of life, and to push forward by a
mighty impulse that intercommunica-