The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1913-01-06
ARBITRATION ON CANAL.

We do not quite understand the po-
sition OF President Taft i'll his declara-
ton that bo is willing to submit the
questions growing out of the use Of the
Panama canal, the matter Of tolls and
the exemption of American coastwise
vessels from the payment of tolls, to
an "impartial arbitration 1t seems
to us that we might just as well offer
to submit any other domestic question
as that; for, since the canal is built
through American territory. within our
own sovereign jurisdiction, built with
American money, there would be Just
as much propriety in submitting to ar
bitration what we may wish to do with
the Hennepin canal, let us say, as with
the Panama canal. The precedent is a
dangerous one, in that it offers to sub
init to a foreign jurisdiction questions
that arc wholly local to ourselves,
IT is admitted on all hands that the
Hay -Paunccfote treaty absolutely su-
persodod the Clayton Bulwer treaty, and
left the United States free hand in
the building and management Of the ca
nal. This being true. there is no more
reason for Great Britain to file protest
against our action respecting that ca
nal than there is for France, Germany,
Russia. or any other power TO do the
like. President Taft. in his declaration
of willingness to arbjtrate, says that
when the Issues are clearly defined and
the time has come for arbitration, he
would be quite willing 10 arbitratc. We
suppose this to mean that when an ac-
tuaI case comes up in the operation Of
tho canal and the charging OF tolls
against some British vessel and the
passage of some American cosstwise
vessel through without tolls, then p
case could be made But the President
is careful to say that the arbitration
must be by an impartial tribunal. But
where shall we find an impartial tri-
bunal' Every country of Europe is
commercially antagonistic to the United
States; all the commercial and business
interests of Europe are hostile TO us.
Arbitration IN this case would mean
tremendous advantage to Euro
peans as compared with ourselves.
IT will be impossible to find any arbi-
traitors in Europe who would not be
eager to seize the opportunity to compel
the American Government to give them
all opportunity equal to ourselves,
though it is our canal.
The idea in the British protest seems
TO be that il we allow our coastwise
commerce, which Great Britain cannot
engage in at all, TO pass through the
canal free Of tolls, then Great Britain
is injured thereby, which is quite i'm
possible. Again, Great Britain, France,
and Germany may subsidize their canal
using vessels TO the amount OF the tolls
that they pay, making the canal free to
the use Of such vessels. That is, those
vessels and the commerce that they
carry will not pay the canal tolls at
all, but their home governments would
pay them. The United States, however.
is so desperately opposed 10 all forms
OF subsidy for American vessels, while
admiring subsidies paid by foreign
/ governments TO their shipping, that the
/ like subsidies on our part are impossi
/ ble, The question then would range it,
/ self like this; American vessels.
! coastwise and all other. according to
/ the British protest. must pay full tolls
/ at the canal. Our own Government is
fully committed to the proposition that
we VIII not pay subsidies. so that
! American vessels would have 10 bear