The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1914-06-25
Declares Proposed S25, ,000.-
900 Merely a Payment of
Belated Blackmail
SAYS u. S. A FIGURE
OF FUN FOR WORLD
"If We Have Been Guilty of Theft
Let Us Restore the Stolen Goods,
Says the Colonel-Wilson
and Bryan Criticized

NeW tnrk. -ts--fu icuStms
statement issued todny Colonel Roose-
welt declared the payment of s25,000,000
10 Colombia for having secured the
right TO build the Panama canal, ns
provided In the pending treaty, merely
; would he the payment OF belated
bIaelSmail.
II the proposed treaty is right. he
! said. the presence OF the United states
In Panama is wrong. and Panama
therefore should be restored to colom-
hia. and the United states should
abandon the zone. In his statement
Colonel Roosevelt said In part;
THE payment OF S25.Ooooo0 to Colombia
+, together with the expression of what is
In effect an apology for our having se-
cured the right to build the Panama
canal merely is the belated payment Of
blaekmail with an apology to the black
mailers. If this proposed treaty subnit-
ted by President Wilson through Mr.
Bryan is right, then our presence on the
sthmus Is wrong. In such case Panama
Immediately should be restored to Colom-
ba and we should stop work on the canal
and abandon the place bag and baggage.
There should be no halfway measures.
II we as nation have been guilty of
) theft. we restore the stolen goods. IL
we have not been guilty Of theft we
should not pay blackmail
Figure of Gun
THE handling of our foreign affairs by
President Wilson and Secretary Bryan
has been such TO make the United
States figure of fun In the international
world. This proposed Colombian treaty :
caps the climax and If ratified will rightly
render us an object OF contemptuous
derision to every great nation In view
of its submission to the congress | wish
to call attention to exactly what WAS
I done under my administration. Because
of the action of that administration, the
people OF the United States acquired
what they could by no other means ac-
quired, the right to build the Panama
| canal. In 1903 1t was still doubtful whefh-
er we would adopt the Nicaragua the
Panama route The government of Co
lombia was exceedingly anxious that we
should adopt the latter and offered to
arrange, and did arrange. treaty with
us to prevent going to Nicaragua.
Partly in, consideration OF this treaty we
abandoned negotiations with Nicarauga.
We acted i'm good faith and the course
Il of action thereby entered upon was
conditioned upon their proposal, their
promise. 1t was our right, and also our
duty to our own people and to the rest
OF the world to exact the performance
of this promise
For four hundred years there had
been conversation about the need of
the Panama canal The time for fur
ther conversation had passed, the time
To translate words into deeds had
come. II / had followed President
Wilson's policy of "watchful waiting"
lit would have insured half a century OF
additional conversation, and the canal
still would be in the dim future And
: llt is only because the then administra-
tion acted precisely as IL did act that
we now have the Panama canal.
Colonel Roosevelt said that until the
present treaty negotiations were enter
ed into he did not believe 1t possible
chat an American administration
J would thus betray the honor and inter-
est OF the American people by submit
ting to ckmail" The colonel had
made II plain, he said. that the Colom-
bian government was in error when
1T indulged In such supposition about
: my administration"
No Personal QUARREL
Colonel Roosevelt says he has mo
quarrel with the people OF Colombia
and does not question their fine pri-
vate qualities"
But the statement continued. "un-
fortunately in international affairs
nation must be judged by the govern
ment that speaks for it,
Colonel Roosevelt, mentioning the
pfofosai " '"e ooioi''p'an ho'e' ,n"ene en-
70 conhse",e t"e Piopr,ty VI tno
French government in Panama, for
which the United States had offered to
pas ps Yfo,VVv,poV, sa'u - siinp.s "as
ense ,iiaao oon oi, tne p're % ooio''"ia " se'
s'V,Vuv,VoV ION '9,, US, 49,,
I ihs'uen'alN' Noionei hooseVei, con-
urueo' WIN osii t'ie a.'entio' ~
iresIcent wilson oin and a. secretary bryan 70
,he iac' .hat sfo'"V,ooV reprsseh's 'he eN-
aet sun. Wheh .oionpla iost When tue
ehheu S'atss soVernhent VI ina. oay re-
iureu 10 submit 10 piachllall ihey now
aniy propose 10 pay S@o,o"'Vo plaekman
ines nao petter make the 1op tnoroush
Wnie tney are aoout H. ana give tne
: wheie spVV,oV. otherwlse tney WIN sun
leuve an opening tor an acuon py some
future administration OF snliiar musny
amiability iowa as foreign powers that
nave sought 70 wrong us. .nere Is nc