Arizona republican., 1911-11-15
Secretary Stimson So De-
clares in a Speech Deliv-
cred Last Night Before
the Kansas City CONNER
: cial Club.
TALKS ON THE
PANAMA CANAL
Calls Attention to the Fact
That While Ditch is
Nearing Completion We
Are Not Prepared to
Operate It

KANSAS CITY, Mo. Nov 14.-In
! addressing the Kansas City CONNER
| cial club tonight, Secretary Stimson,
in dealing with the problems presented
by the approaching completion of the
Panama canal, took advanced ground
in favor of subsidies To American
shipping using the canal and for its
administration as a military adjunct.
He called attention to the fact that
although there will be water enough
in the canal to float small boats
throughout its length by the close of
the rainy season which commences
next May, and while the canal will
be fully ready for ocean traffic.
through our own neglect no provision
has been made for its operation. As
soon as the canal is completed the
presidents authority over it will
cease, unless congress comes to the
rescue. A great economic loss will
be involved in allowing the present
splendidly efficient force of employees
to disintegrate, when so much of il
will be needed for the permanent op-
GRAFTON of the canal.
Then there is the problem of Gre
ating a permanent organization or
government TO operate the canal and
to control the zone. The country is
worthless for agricultural purposes
mostly tropical jungle or low rocky
hills-and ii is preposterous to think
of it ever forming a basis for an
American farming settlement. This
fortunate condition affords an oppor-
tunity for the creation of an organ
iZation for the almost sole purpose of
opening and shutting the lock gates
and protecting them in time of trou-
BILE; it is not a question of educating
or of uplifting a dependent people
and there is no reason for intro
ducing all the complex checks and
balances of a self governing COM
munity. The secretary declared that
at the bottom the canal presents a
military problem. For defensive pur-
poses it will double the capacity of
our fleet and to have it blockaded at
critical moment in our national life
either by accident or design, might
be quite as disastrous as having
twenty of our battle3hips sunk at
sea. The temptation which that fact
imposes upon any nation with whom
the United States may be at war
must never be lost sight of. Corre-
spondingly, its military effectiveness
will make il a powerful ally in as
suring a maintenance of peace.
The secretary alluded to the sani-
tary problem and declared that only
g 81,
administrative power could insure us
against possible contagion, as this
strip of land was notorious for forty
years as a plague spot of the Amer
icas. In the operation of the canal
the president should be given a free
hand, using such forms of admins
trative government as he may de-
wise What is needed is a method
flexible enough to meet the new and
uncertain problems which are bound
to arise.
Touching the important question of
coal. the secretary pointed out that
the Panama canal would have at
least three great comprehensive
SueZ canal. the Tehauntepec route
and our own transcontinental rail-
roads The amount of commerce that
will use the Panama route will be
determined largely by the question of
tolls. If a dollar a ton of freight
per thousand miles represents the
coal consumption of the freight
steamers, every dollar charged as
tolls for the canal will neutraliZe a
thousand miles of the advantage in
distance which the Panama route
may have over any competitor. There
should be an administrative body or
officers with power to fix tolls and
to change them to meet changing
trade conditions and competition.
Touching the right of the United
States to pay tolls on American yes
sells using the canal. Secretary Slim
son had not the shadow of "A doubt
He said there would be no violation
of our treaties or any evasion OF
them, and no doubt as to the right
of the United States. both legal and
moral to subsidize its shipping pass
ing through the canal. Under the
treaty with Great Britain, the rules
of the SueZ canal were to govern,
and in that case it had never been
considered a violation of the rule of
naturalization for a nation to pay
the tolls upon the vessel flying its
flag. Substantially, every European
government using the SueZ canal
paws such subsidies. fully or par
tally equivalent to the full tolls.
When the Panama canal is opened