The Lakeland evening telegram. (Lakeland, Fla.) 1911-1922, 1914-03-05

MESSAGE ON
CANAL TOLLS
HE URGES CONGRESS TO REPEAL
THAT SECTION EXEMPTING
IN COAST WISE SHIPS
He Begs Congressman to Forget
Their Personal Opinions and Vote
II for the Country's Good
(By Associated Press)

fa1 W0oAAA5 lOu, MdICu .-T ItSNlcul I
M Wilson personally appealed to Con-
gress, assembled in joint sessio to-
.day to sustain the national honor of
the United States in upholding
treaty obligations by repeating the
Panama tolls exemption against
which Great Britain protests. He
.iasked Congress to do that lin sup
port of the foreign policy of United
States and added that an exemp-
tion for American ships not only was
ia mistaken economic policy" but
was in contravention of the Hay
Pauncefote treaty.
A joint session of the House
and Senate and hundreds of specta-
.'tors heard him deliver his address
ION the subject. The message was
very brief and it took less than five
minutes to read it. Applause greet
ed the presidents declaration that
Congress should repeal the tolls and
uphold the administration foreign
policy.
II shall not know how to deal
with other matters of even greater
delicacy and nearer consequence If
you do not grant it to me in un-
grudging measure" said the presi-
dent.
"The large thing to do is the only
thing We can afford to do; a volun-
tary withdrawal from position ev-
erywhere questioned and misunder-
stood. We ought to reverse our ac-
tion without raising the question
whether we were right or wrong and
30 once more deserve our reputation
for generosity and the redemption Of
every obligation without quibble or
hesitation
President Wilson's address, the
shortest he has yet delivered to Con-
gress-exactly 42O words,-was as
follows:
"Gentlemen of the Congress:
II have come to you upon an er-
rand which can be very briefly per-
formeC, but l beg that you will not
measure its Importance by the num-
ber of sentences in which | state it
No communication | have ADDRESSED
to the Congress carried with it grav-
er or more far-reachlng implications
to the interest of the country, and
come now to speak upon a matter
with regard to which I am charged
in a peculiar degree by the constitu-
tion itself with personal responsible
ity.
T have come to ask for the re-
peal of that provision of the Pana-
ma canal act of Aug. "a, 1912,
which exempts vessels engaged in
the coastwise trade of the United
States from payment of tolls and to
urge upon you the justice, the wis
dom and the large policy of such a
repeal with the utmost earnestness
of which | am capable.
'sIn my own judgment very fully
considered and maturely formed that
exemption constituted mistaken
economic policy from every point of
view, and is, moreover, in plain con-
travention of treaty with Great Brit
ain concerning the canal, concluded
on Nov. IS, 1901. But I have not
come to you to urge my personal
views. have come to state to you
. fact and situation. Whatever
may be our own differences of opin-
ion concerning this much debated
measure, its meaing is not debated
outside the United States. Every
where the language of the treaty is
given but one Interpretation and that
Interpretation precludes the exemp-
tion ] am asking you to repeal. We
consented to the treaty; it's language
we accepted, if we did not originate
1t; and we are too big, too powerful,
too self-respecting a nation to inter
pret with too strained or refined a
reading the words of our own prom
ises just because we have power
enough to give us leave to read them
as we please. The large thing to do
is the only thing we can afford to