The Irish standard., 1912-10-05
His Eloquence and Logic Turned the
Tide of Battle in Favor of the
United States.
If the American Waterway Ever is
Submitted to the Hague he is
the Man to Send
Railroads of the United States Sc
cured Cooperation of British
Foreign Office.

In legal publication called The
Bench and Bar, Senator O'Gorman IS
highly praised for the part he took
in opposing British claims in the op-
Grafton of the great waterway winch
opens about a year from now. In It's
Sept. issue The Bench and Bar says:
The so-called Canal Bill, recently
signed by the president, involves a
question Of treaty construction as in
teresting and important. perhaps, as
any that has arisen in this country
within recent years. Directly m
volved, also, are our relations wi!h
Great Britain. the most powerful
maritime and commercial nation IN
the world. Undoubtedly the bill, in
all of its features, meets with the
general approval of the people OF the
country, and perhaps the most ap-
proved feature of the measure is that
which excited the greatest opposition
i'm debate. Now that the bill has be-
come a law, followed by definite
prospect Of demand for arbitration
by The Hague tribunal it is timely 10
consider not only the issues to be de-
termined, but also some of the very
interesting circumstances attendant
upon the passage Of the bill.
AS is well known, the principal dis
cussion Of the measure occurred in
the senate chamber, and during The
most critical period of the contro-
versy Senator O'Gorman of New
York was the conspicuous and DOM
inant figure on the floor. The cam
paign of opposition, which had been
we'll sustained until it came in con-
tact with Senator O'Gormans elo-
quence and logic, was principally di-
rected against the proposal to exempt
from the tolls American shipping
while passing through the canal the
question being whether or not the pro-
posed exemption would contravene
that part of Article 3 of the Hay
Pauncefote treaty which reads:
1.-The United States adopts as the
basis of the naturalization of such
ship canal the following rules
that is to say: 1. The canal shall
be free and open to all the vessels of
commerce and war of all nations OBJ
serving these rules, on terms of en-
tire equality, so that there shall be
no discrimination against any such
nation, or it's citizens or subjects in
respect of the conditions or charges
Of traffic or otherwise. Such condi-
tions and charges of traffic shall De
Just and equitable"
The salient points of Senator
O'Gormans prevailing argument may
be summarized as follows:
1. There is nothing to prevent :te
other nations, including Great Brit
ain, from ren1itting or reimbursing.
by subsidy or otherwise, all tolls
paid by their citizens or subjects;
therefore it is preposterous to say
that the United States, by whose mon-
ey and genius the canal is built, may
not do likewise with reference to it's
citizens.
England has no moral right or iusti-
hcation in her present attitude of
protestant; the Clayton-Bulwer treaty
was by the express terms of the pres
ent treaty superseded; furthermore,
such treaty "for years was regarded
as obsolete, it had been violated by
England and ignored by the Unitad
States"
3. The superseded treaty was
grounded upon the notion that the
canal was to be built through alien
territory and not until 1901 was there
even suggestion that the canal would
be constructed on territory of the
United States.
4. By virtue of Article 2 of the
present treaty, the government Of
the United States is to possess and
enjoy all the rights OF ownership.
subject only to the provisions Of the
present treaty.
S. The phrase "all nations" in
Article does not include the United
States The language of that article
above. quoted indicates clear dis
ig4 5zg Is n