The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1914-03-07
BENNINGTON. VT. MARCH Z. 1s1.
PRESIDENT WILSON sHlFTY

President Wilson has shifted his
position several times since he took
office, and sometimes il is quite diff
fioult to place him. In the matter
of free tolls for coastwise shipping
through the Panama canal, Mr.. Viii
son favored the bill Now he wants
the act repealed. His plea is that it
controyerts certain treaty with
Grees Britain. If that is so land it
is mott he should have been wise"
to the fact, during his campaign.
The Democratic platform declared
the campaign advocated it. In his
speech before $500 farmers at Wash
ington Park, n. j., Mr.. Wilson said
Now there is another matter you
know. We are digging tremend-
GUS ditch across the Isthmus of Pan
anna. 1t is predicted by the engi-
neers in charge of that colossal en-
terprise that we shall be able TO open
it to the ships of the world by the
year 1915. What interest have you
in opening it to the ships OF the
world? We don't own the ships of
the world. BY very ingenious pro
cess. which | would not keep you
standing in the hot sun long enough
to outline, the Legislation of the Unit
ed States has destroyed the merchant
marine of the United States. The
chief road by which your crops travel
to the Orient is through the Suez Ca
nal. They don't go around by the Pa
ciilc. Most of your maps do not
show you the shor. road to the Orient
because they are spread out fiat
IF you win get globe and draw
a circle around the globe you will
see your short road is through the
Suez Canal, not across the Pacific,
and that the Western farmer, there
fore. has to ship his crops across the
Continent in order to reach the ships
that are to take that road And
when his crops reach the port. do
they find American ships waiting for
them? Not at all; in most years not
single ship carrying the American
flag goes through that canal carry
ing freight.
Some ships carry the American
flag through that canal, but they are
mostly private yachts. A friend of
mine who has just travelled around
the world told me that he did not see
the American flag once between New
Xnrly and Hong KanU oofnu h,-s u-av
of the canal, until he reached the is
land of Ceylon and then saw the flag
Of private yacht II the ship own
ers OF the nations carry your grain
and cargoes they are going to carry
them, not the routes and the markets
which are chosen by you.
"One of the great objects in cult
ing that great ditch across the 18TH
mus of Panama is to allow farmers
who are near the Atlantic to ship to
the Pacific by way OF the Atlantic
ports. to allow all the farmers on
what | may say, standing here, call
this part of the continent, to find an
outlet at ports of the Gulf or the
ports of the Atlantic seaboard, and
then have coastwise steamers carry
their products down around through
the canal and up the Pacific coast, or
down the coast of South America.
NOW, at present there are no ships
to do that, and one OF the bills pend
ing-passed, | believe, yesterday by
the Senate as ii had passed the
House-provides for free tolls for
American ships through tina. canal
and prohibits any ship from passing
through which is owned by any Amer
lean railroad company. You see the
object of that don't you?
I'VE don't want the railroads to
compete with themselves. because we
understand that kind of competition
We want water carriage to compete
with land carriage so as to be per
fectly sure tina. you are going to get
better rates around the canal than
you would across the continent.
The farmers of this country are in
my judgment just as much concerned
in the policy of the United States
with regards to that canal as any 9TH
er class of citizens of the United
States. Probably they are more con
cerned than any other one class, and
what am mos. DESTROYS TO sec is the
farmers Of the country coming fer
ward as partners in the great nation
al undertakings and take a wide ma
tional say, international view of
these great matters. feeling all the
pulses of the world that beat in the
great arteries OF their own life and
prosperity. Everything that is done
in the interest Of cheap transporta-
ton is done directly for the farmer
as well as for other men. So that
you ought not to grudge the millions
poured out for the deepening and op-
ening OF old and new waterways.
Our platform is not molasses to
catch flies. II means business. II
means what it SAYS II is the utter
ance Of earnest and honest men. who
intend TO do business along those
lines and who are not waiting to see
whether they can catch votes with
those promises before they determine
whether they are going to act upon
them or not