The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1911-11-15
SUBSIDIES FOR U. S. SHIPPING.
Urged by Secretary Stimson in Address
at Kansas City Last Night.

| anna canal, took advanced ground IN Ia
vor of subsidies to American shipping
using the canal and for its administra
tion as a military adjunct Tie 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 ca
nal will be fully ready for ocean traf-
iic, 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 preseit splendidly efficient
force OF employees 70 disintegrate when
50 much Of il viii be needed for the
permanent operation of the canal.
Then there is the problem Of creating
permanent organization or govern
ment to operate the canal and 10 control
the zone The country is worthless for
agricultural purposes; mostly a tropical
Jungle or low, rocky hills, and Il is pre-
posterous to think Of 1t ever forming
basis for an American farming settle
ment This fortunate condition affords
an opportunity for the creation OF an
organization for the almost sole purpose
Of opening and shutting the lock gates
and protecting them in times Of trouble;
ii is not Il question of educating or OF
uplifting a dependent people, and there
is no reason for introducing all the com.
pick checks and balances Of a self-goy-
erning community.
The secretary declared that at the
bottom the canal presents military
problem. For defensive purposes, il viii
double the capacity Of our feet and 70
have 1t boekaded at a critical moment
in our national life, either by accident
OF design, might be quite as disastrous
as having twenty Of our battleships 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. Corrpspondingly its
military effectiveness will make it a
powerful ally in assuring a maintenance
Of peace.
The secretary alluded to the sanitary
problem aud declared that only a eontin-
ually yigilant exercise OF the administra-
tive power could insure US against pos
sible contagion, as this strip Of land was
notorious for 400 years as q plague spot
of the Americas In the operation Of the
canal, the president should be given Q
free hand, using such forms OF admins
tratiye government as he may deyises
What Is needed is a method flexible
enough to meet the new and uncertain
problems which are found to arise.
Touching the important question Of
coal, the secretary pointed ont that the
Panama canal would have at least three
great eompetitors The Suez canal, the
Tehauntepec route, and our own trans
continental railroads. The amount OF
commerce that will use the Panama
route will be determined largely by the
question of tolls III q dollar q ton Of
freight per thousand miles represents
the coal consumption of the freight
steamers. every dollar charge as tolls
for the canal will neutralize q thousand
miles Of the advantage IN distance winch
the Panama route may have over any
competitor There should be an admin
istratiye body Of officers with power to
fix tolls and to change them to meet
changing trade conditions and competi-
ton.
Touching the right Of the United
States to pay tolls e.. American vessels
using the canal, Secretary Stimson had
not the shadow of a doubt. He said
there would be no violation OF our trea~
ties or any evasion of them, and no
doubt as to the right OF the United
States. both legal and moral, TO subsldize
its shipping passing through the canal
Under the treaty with Great Britain,
the rules of the Suez canal were to gov
ern and in that case it had never been
considered violation OF the rule OF
naturalization for nation to pay the
tolls upon the vessels flying its flags.
Substantially every EuropeM govern
ment using the Suez canal pays such
subsidies. fully or partially equivalent
to the full tolls. When the fanama
canal Is opened, the vessels Of all OF our
marine competitors who use 1t VIII pc
in receipt from their governments q
sums OF money either given them di-
reetly to pay their tolls, or applicable IN
their discretion to such use Therefore,
said the secretary, it was perfectly clear
that the United States had the right to
appropriate to the vessels paying the
same. the sum paid into its treasury by
those vessels in the form of canal tolls.
Secretary Stimson expected great ben
eft to the country from the canal in its
effect upon transcontinehtal rates.. al
though the public had never received any
real benefit from the Panama railroaq,
as a competitor with the transeontinent-
al lines He declared that in the future
we must be more successful in dealing
with this question. as the country had
not put its money into the canal merely
to allow the new route 70 Pc throttled
as the old one was. He was inclined 20
believe, he said in conclusion, that eiiee-
tive solution Of the problem would be
to extend over the new route the power
of the interstate commerce commission.