The Anderson daily intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson, S.C.) 1914-1915, 1914-06-10
T|LLMAN SPOKE
ON CANAL TOLLS
SOUTH CAROLINA SENATOR
TO VOTE AGAINST RE-
PEAL OF EXEMPTION
PARTY CONSISTENT
Urged That Administration Should
Hew to Lines of Big Policy OF
Democracy
PARTY CONSISTENT


Washington, June g. Senator Ben r
Tillman Of South Carolina today spoke
on the canal tolls question as follows:
MIR. Prc:idcnt in considering this
question of tolls, there are many as
poets. some of them startling and al
most ludicrOuS The democratic plat
form declares we favor exemption
from tolls Of American ships. This Is
plain. explicit. and easily understood
The act for opening. maintenance,
protection and operation of the Pan
anna canal. and sanitation and govern
Incnt Of the Canal Zone approved
August 24th. 1912 has this provision:
''NO tolls shall he levied upon ships
engaged in til" coastwis,. trade of the
United States"
This enactment simply makes into
law what the party had demanded at
Baltimore and the democrats who
voted for it thought they were follow
ing the platform of the party. Tie
bill we are considering rcpcals this
provision absolutely: and the presi-
dent asks us to pass il on the ground
that ii is n subsidy. and therefore con-
trary to timehOnored democratic prin-
ciplcs. He said that II constitutes Il
mistaken economic policy from every
point Of view
"The plank in the platform about
the merchant marine reads as follows:
we believe in fostering by constitu-
tional regulation of commerce, the
growth of merchant marine. which
shall develop and strengthen the COM
mercial ties which bind us to our sis
ter republics of the SOUTH but without
imposing additional burdens upon the
people. and without bountfes or subsi-
dies from the public treasury"
This language, too, is plain and eX-
plicit: hnt to some minds. why the
ideas are Inconsistent and destroy
each other is hard To see. we alone
built the canal and have spent four
hundred millions of dollars in its con-
:truction. and many people feel that
our country ought to get all the bene-
fit possible from il for its citizens.
The canal. broadly speaking. is merely
an extension of our coastline by join
ing the two oceans together Why
exact tolls from our citizens for pass
ing through il then? The only argu-
ment why American ships going
through the canal should pay tolls
like ships Of other nations is either
because OF our treaty obligations. or
because all the people cannot enjoy
the benefits alike. In the very nature
Of things all the taxpayers In the
United States canno: enjoy The same
privilege in regard TO the canal as
those owning ships do. 1t was ma
tional enterprise. undertaken primari-
ly on account Of the United States
navy The lpSnn nrnSoutad hy tho
long and dangerous voyage of the Ore
gOn from our western coast around
Cape Horn during the Spanish-Ameri-
can war. only arriving just in time
to participate in the battle OF Santi-
ago. had much to do with hurrying
up the construction of. the canal. II
required the united efforts Of all the
people Of the country to furnish the
money to carry on this gigantic work
to a success. But for its national
Importance, it would not have been
undertaken by the government alone.
The upkeep of the canal will require
deal of money. to say nothing of
guarding it. 1t will be many years
before money received from tolls will
come near equalling the expense to
maintain the canal and provide a
of tolls would be subsidy or not is
not worth while to argue. If we remit
the toll entirely to our coast wise ships
those owning them would get the bene-
fit of the nations bounty and have
the enjoyment Of special favors, which
In the very nature of things all the
people cannot have. This is tl:c pol
icy of republican protection and the
democracy has declared that policy to
be .qobbery."
We hear much about shipping
trust. but the most complete mono
poly In the United States at this time
is ouEs.cOastwise trade. Not passen-
ger or a pound of freight can be car
ried from one port to another in the
United States except in an American
built ship. Our navigation laws need
mending as much. indeed more. than
this law which we propose to repeal;
and should gladly support an amend
ment to allow vessels built abroad and
purchased by OVr citizens to obtain
American registry. and enter into our
coastwise trade. We created the
shipping trust by this favoritism. If
our people can buy just as good ships
as we can have built at home, far
cheaper, why not allow them to do It?