The Birmingham age-herald., 1905-09-29
ShoRts Wants the Alabama Senator to GO on Tip
 to Panama
INVITATION IS DECLINED
 IND VIEWS ARE GIVEN
Mir. Morgan Thinks That the Invita- ton to Foreign Engineers to Serve on Advisory Beard
 Was Mistake.

Senator John T. Morgan has received an invitation from T. P. shonts, chairmah of the Panama canal commission, to ac- company the commission and the board of consulting engineers on a trip to Panama. Owing to his health, Senator Morgan was forced to decline the invitation. In his letter replying to MT. Shonts the senator from Alabama takes occasion to draw your attention to some questions of fact and to some matters of professional opin- lon that will control my action In the Senate on the questions that were decided by Congress in the enactment of the 'Spooner law, and are to be again brought to reconsideration on the findings and sug- gestions Of tho board of which you are chairman, and of the advisory board
 The Invitation.
 Washington, September 22, 1905. John T. Morgan. Bailey Springs, Ala;
 'The Panama canal commission, accom- panied by the board of consulting en- gineers, will sail from New York for Pan anna Thursday, September 2S and you are cordially invited to accompany them. The steamer Havana will be at the disposal of the party, and such of those who desire can live aboard the Havana at Colon, making daily visits to different points along the line. This affords an unusual op- portunity for a large party to visit the isthmus In comfort. The length of the stay Is uncertain, but other commercial steam CTS sail from Colon to New York every five days, on any of which you could be provided with transportation If you de- sire to return earlier than the party on the Havana. Please wire reply.
 'SHONTS, Chairman"
 In reply to the invitation Senator Nor gan sent the following telegram of re- great, followed by letter, In which ha draws attention to some facts relative to the canal.
 Bailey Springs Ala, September 23. MT. T. P. Shonts, Chairman Canal Com mission, Washington, D. C.:
 "Thanking you for cordial invitation, l regret that l am not sufficiently strong to venture a visit to Panama at this sea- son. Will write you more fully.
 JOHN T. MORGAN"
 Letter to MT. Shonts.
 Bailey Springs. via Florence, Ala.
 September 23, 1905 "Mr T. P. shonts Chairman of Canal
 Commission:
 Dear Sir-Further replying to your telegram of the 22d inst, inviting me to visit Panama in company with the com missioners and the advisory board, glad ly acknowledge the appropriate, public spirit in which this courtesy Is extended to me.
 q am not sufficiently strong to undergo the fatigue of such voyage, which IS likely to be hot and tempestuous in these days of the autumnal equinox.
 'As l would have the privilege, under your invitation, of free and frank con ference with the canal commission and the advisory board on the questions you will consider, which are of vital interest to the country and will probably affect It's destiny for many years to come, ana as I will be responsible, with my col- leagues in the House of Congress, for the final Judgment that will be affected by your deliberations and your official pro- ceedngs and statments, I will avail my self of your invitation to draw your at tention to some questions of fact and to some matters of professional opinion that will control my action in the Senate on the questions that were decided by Con- gress in the enactment of the 'Spooner law" and are to be again brought to re- consideration on the findings and sug- gestions of the board of which you are chairman, and of the advisory board.
 Cause for Anxiety.
 That there is no lawful authority for such an advisory board, must be over- looked under the circumstances which in- dicate that the President Is unwilling to trust the solution of the capital difficult ties he has encountered to the official ad. visers that Congress has empowered him to seet from the highest classes of en- gineers and practical men of affairs Whether this distrust is the result of failures that have occurred or of fail ures that are apprehended, it's effect upon the public mind Is to create intense anx. iety as to the question whether any cana will be or can be constructed at Panama and as to its cost and the time required for It's completion; as well as the loss Of life that 1t will entail. This anxiety is also increased by the fact that six mem bers of the advisory board are subjects of European governments and have nc responsibilities to the people or the government of the United States and nc motive of personal patriotism that re- quires them to have q care for the wei fare of the United States that our con stitution commits, so distinctly, to every representative of our people In the per formance of every public duty.
 These gentlemen, whose judicial fm- partiality there is no cause to doubt or question, are still foreign to the United States and owe their selection to the choice of their respective sovereigns, free from any suggestion or control of the President of the United States. They are thus made the official advisers of the government and people of the United States by the appointment of foreign governments, on the Invitation of the President of the United States This sit uatlon is resented by American engineers of whom one who is greatly distinguished and honored for his learning, ability and the conspicuous value of his professional work, says, in writing to me, My pro- fession has been made monkey of before the world and American engineers are al. ready being cartooned in foreign pa pers.'
 The American people of this and for mer generations have made demon stration of their angry resentment to- wards Great Britain, that is historical and universal. on account of her effori to exclude the United States from the right. even with the consent of Nicarauga and Cosa Rica. to open q canal under our control through those states ol through any part of Central America This exclusion existed since 1850 unti President Mckinley repudiated 1t in a compact with Nioarauga and Costa Rica during his first administration, In 1854 Panama was a state of South America not of Central America and the Clayton BuIwer treaty had no proper or just ap- plication to that state in which we held the rights of free transportation on foot fy1n xUif pi of tnAa