American Falls press. [volume] (American Falls, Idaho) 1907-1937, 1914-10-29
Democrats Convict Their Own Party on Canal Tolls

defeated it for fifteen long, wearisome years? The trans
contintntal railroads.
Who would be the chief beneficiaries of this repeal
bill7 The anne transcontintntal railroads.&c. Canadian
Pacific and the Tehuantepec National railway heading the
list. 1t would be many millions of dollars in their capa-
cious pockets annually. To do a thing to enable them to
hold up their old rates is ~atrustic generosity run mad
and an outrage on the American people. l refuse to en-
dorse any such program.
tell you what l would rather see. would rather see
that canal blown up than to give the English any control
over it. 1t has been the dream of men since Balboa first
looked down upon the peaceful ocean to cut a canal across
that Isthmus. But | would rather see it filled up with
granite bOulders cemented together than to yield one
particle of control over it to any foreign nation beneath
the sun. 1t is ours forever, for better or for worse, just
like the Mississippi river and the Missouri river are ours
that lie in my district. 1t belongs to us. There is no ques-
ton about that.
The declaration in favor of free tolls for our coast
wise trade was writ large in the Baltimore platform. 1t
is in these words: "We favor the exemption from toll
of American ships engaged in coastwise trade passing
through the canal" Was there ever a palmer sentence
written since writing was invented? 1--WE also favor leg
islation ~forbidding the use of the Panama canal by ships
owned or controlled by railroad carriers engaged in
transportation competition with the canal" The propon-
ents of repeal at first, with far more zeal than discretion,
asserted that that plank was inserted in the platform sur
reptitiously and without any consideration. But that
would have blasted the regulations of too many men who
were on the platform Ommittee-particularly the eleven
men on the subcommittee which reported the tolls plank
10 Cne cOIlnlClee-anu Cney refused 10 rest under CnaC
false and foolish charge and told the truth about it in
and the truth is the tolls plank was intro
duced in the regular way and discussed fully-not only
but amended and agreed to in it's amended form
by the full committee and then by the whole conven-
That sentence about railroad-owned ships was not in
the first draft of it, but it was in the nature of an amend
nent.
We went to the people on that platform containing
the free tolls plank; headed by President Wilson himself
we all endorsed it; standing on it we appealed to the voters
for their support; and they responding to our Macedonian
for help, enabled us to sweep the land from sea to sea
by amazing maiorities in the electoral college. And now
is proposed that we reward their faith in us and their
support of us by repudiating one of the planks of that
platform on which we achieved that astounding victory,
a plank so clear that there could be no misunderstanding
about it, no possible misconstruction of it. | refuse abso-
lutely to be a party to any such performance. Tell it not
in Gath, proclaim it not in the streets of Askalon that the
party will not keep faith with a coniding
public.