Tonopah daily bonanza. [volume] (Tonopah, Nev.) 1906-1929, 1912-06-01
For preSidenf---I9I2
WILLlHM HOWARD TAFT,
Of Ohio.
PANAMA CANAL ISSUES.

Congress is struggling more less blindly
to decide what this country is to get out of the
Panama Canal which we are spending more
than a third of billion dollars The Panama
commission estimates that the annual cost of
maintenance and operation, including sanitation
and police will be 100000 and the interest on
the cost Of construction will be $1l 100000, al
grand total Of $15,250000 which the treasury will
have to pay. Tolls shipping will not meet this
annual outlay for many years to come, and the
chief question to be decided at once is whether
it is worth while to impose tolls American
coastwise shipping which is not expected to
amount to than ten per cent of the total
traffic in any event
Some members of Congress and certain news
papers maintaining strenuously that a grant
of exemption from tolls to American eoastwise
shipping will violate the treaties with foreign na.
tons governing the operating of the canal. They
claim also that this country has power to
grant rebates or subsidies that would amount to
the same thing. In that they certainly wrong.
The SueZ canal is operated under very similar
treaties All ships that it must be treated
alike but a little thing like that does not pre-
vent Great Britain from paying a subsidy to the
Peninsular & Oriental company of nearly $780,
900 year which is equal to about five-sixths of
all the tolls that company's ships pay for pass
age through the Suez canal. France pays even
more and Russia, Germany, Japan and Austria
grant their leading steamship lines to and from
Spanish Cortez voted an annual subsidy to a
line of steamers that is to to ports the
west coast of South America by way of the Pan
anna canal and made no secret of the fact that
this subsidy for the purpose of paying the
canal tolls the United States might impose This
is condition and not theory, and to
disprove of all doubts regarding the right of any
country to pay the canal tolls for vessels flying
its flag. Surely the United States can do what
the chief maritime powers will probably do when
the canal is in operation.
From the Canadian line the North to Cape
Horn on the South, the west coast of this hemis
phere is seriously handicapped by lack of coal
Steamers often have to pay SIG ton or more for
coal, and such prices reduce manufacturing to
minimum. Coal from West Virginia should be
sale at Panama at So ton or less after the
canal is opened if it can be carried through
free of tolls and the price of other ports north
and south along the Pacific coast would be re
duced in proportion This would stimulate trade
on the waters of the Pacific and thus ado
to the foreign trade through the canal and conSe
quently to the revenue from tolls This question
of coal supply is of vast Importance 1t costs {
freight steamer dollar ton for every Thousand
miles traversed. and toll ON coal of that sun
with profit added would cut down the proftabl,
sailing range of such vessel tremendously an(
would thus force traffic through Suez whcl
should go by way of Panama
This country has lost its hold on the traffic O
the high and is paying for it. The Pacific
Coast states especially feel the loss because for
eign vessels do not cater TO their needs as care
fully the great transatlantic companies lool
after the business Of New York and other port
ON this coast. William 4. Humphrey. representa-
tive from Washington. takes an extreme position
ON this question. but IN his speech delivered II
the House last Tuesday he brought out some fact
that cannot be diSrcgarded OF the results ex
perienced ON our Pacific Coast he said,
we have had some experience with thes
combinations Of foreign ships on the Pacif
coast. A few years ago we had considerable
sailing tonnage under the American flag on th
Pacific We were sending much Of our freigh
from the Pacific ports to Europe by these sailinl
ships As soon as the American ship disappeared
to an extent where il was safe for them to IL