Arizona republican., 1912-08-10
Provision of Panama Bill With Respect to the Lat ter Slightly Modified After the Measure Game From House
COASTWISE SHIPS
 WILL PAY NO TOLL
Opponents of This Feature Kept Up Their Fight to the Very Moment of the Passage of the Bill by the Senate
ASSOCIATED PRESS DIsPATcHl

WASHINGTON, Aug. 9.-The Pan- anna canal administration bill pro- viding for the free passage of Am erican ships. prohibiting railroad owned vessels from using the water Way, and authorizing the establish ment of a one man government when the canal is completed, was passed by the senate tonight by a vote of 4 to l5
 The provision for free tolls, which was fought out in the senate on Wednesday was endorsed again just before the passage of the measure.
 Attached to the bill. as it passed the senate, were two important amendments directed at trust or rail rcad-cOntrolled steamship lines. The first by Senator Reed, would prohibit ships owned by an illegal industrial combination from using the canal and the second. by Senator Bourne, would have the effect of making railroads give up their water lines that might otherwise be their com petitors, if it were proved that they were stifling competition.
 The opponents of the free toll pro- vision for American ships against which Great Britain made a formal protest, carried their fight up to the last moment of the bills consider ation Just before it's passage Sen ator Root moved to strike out the St ctiOn giving free tolls to American coastwise vessels, and Senator Hoke Smith of Georgia moved to strike out the provision for free tolls for Amer ican ships in foreign trade. Both motions were defeated Overwhelm- ingly.
 As the bill passed. ii would permit American coastwise vessels to pass through the canal free, without con- ditions. while American ships in for eign trade might pass through free if their owners agreed to sell their vessels to the United States at a fair price in time of war or emer- gency The great fight of the day centered about the provision to pro- hibit railroad owned ships from using the canal. The broad terms of the original house bill. which would have required every railroad in the cOun- try to dispose at once of any steam ship lines with which it might other Uise compete. was not accepted by the senate.
 This was modified so that the rail- roads would be prohibited only from owning steamship lines that may op- crate through the canal. The Bourne amendment adopted later by vote of 36 to 25, restored much of the vigor of the railroad provisions o1 the house bin. It provides that Ii inc interstate commerce commission should find that any railroad had ar interest in competitive line oi steamers, and that such interest was injurious to the welfare of the pub lie the commission might compel th' railroad to dispose of it's steamer connections.
 The Reed amendment, against trust owned ships. called for a second vote before the bill passed, was adopted On final passage by vote of S' to 23 The completed canal bill final! bassed with Burton, Root Crane, Gallinger, Lodge and other opponent! of the free toll and anti-railroad fea tures. voting against it. In the forn in which it returns to the house the bill dds to the general scheme of operating and governing the Pan anna canal. and provision for admis sion to American registration, or an. foreign built ships owned by Amer jeans provided they are operated wholly in the foreign trade.