Evening star., 1914-04-18
Former U. S. Attorney General
Makes Strong Argument
Against Repeal.
HOLDS ENGLAND'S CLAIM
UNREASONABLE, ABSURD"
Z. L. Dunn Tells Senate Inter
oceanic Committee Repeal Would
Hurt Trade.

Former Attorney General Charles J.
Bonaparte appeared before the Senate
interoceanic canals committee today
and made strong argument in favor
Of continuing the exemption of Ameri-
can coastwise vessels from the payment
Of tolls.
THE United States is the owner and
operator Of the Panama canal" he said:
every dollar paid in for tolls goes, for
all practical purposes. into Its treas
ury. Every dollar paid out for main
tenance and supervision comes. for all
practically purposes, out of its treas
ury. When, therefore. It says that
certain class Of American vessels may
use the canal free of tolls. it virtually
gives out of it's treasury a bounty for
the owners of such vessels equal to the
charges remitted for tolls.
ITO avoid confusing the issue before
our own people and the world. /, per-
sonally, think it would have been wiser
to collect the tolls and refund their
amounts: but this is a matter Of form
only, equivalent to putting the money
into one pocket and taking 1t out of the
other. The whole substance Of the
transaction is a bounty paid out of
public funds by the United States to
the owners of certain class of Ameri-
can vessels using the canal.
Britain Would Forbid It.
NO one questions the right of any
British government has undertaken to
forbid our doing for American ships
engaged in our coastwise trade what
nobody questions its right. to do if it
chooses for British ships engaged in
Ia haf
Great Britain assumes to say that be-
cause we have spent some $J0000o.0O0
on the canal and are its undisputed
owners. we have less right to deal as
we please with American ships using the
canal and their owners than foreign
powers have to deal as they please with
their ships and shipowners using the
canal although no one of these foreign
powers has paid a penny toward building
it. and although they use it only under
our license,
This seems to me unreasonable and
even absurd. unless the words of the
treaty imperatively demand"
Mr.. Bonaparte discussed the language
Of the Hay-Pauncefete treaty. and de de-
serving these rules" did not include the
United States.
"Grantor Not Included
LAS a general rule, when one person
grants to all persons right to use his
property, the grantor is not understood
as including himself among those to
whom the grant is made said Mr..
Bonaparte. Applying this principle to
the present case, if it had been the in
tention Of the parties to this treaty
that the United States should only use
the canal on the same terms as Great
Britain and other nations. the United
many wordS to observe the rules in its
own use Of the canal"
In conclusion, Mr.. Bonaparte said:
"As a matter of fact, the rational and
ordinary sense Of the words used in the
treaty, construed according to well es-
tablished canons of statutory interpreta-
ton. excludes the United States, the
promissor and grantor, from the number
Of beneficiaries in the promised grant,
and it is only by forced construction,
which is opposed as well to the letter as
to the spirit Of the compact, that the
alleged limitation upon the power of our
government to grant this bounty to
American ships can be sustained
Opposed to Arbitration.
In reply to questions from Senator Sim
mons Of North Carolina, Mr.. Bonaparte
insisted that he did not believe the mat
ter was one which should be submitted
to arbitration.
Senator Simmons asked Mr.. Bonaparte
If the notes which passed between the
negotiations of the Hay-Pauncefote treaty
should not be considered in an interpre-
tation of the treaty. Mr.. Bonaparte re-
piled, NO
He continued that to place a construc-
ton upon the treaty which would prohibi,
the United States from exempting from
tolls its vessels in coastwise trade would
actually prevent the ultimate purpose
for which the American people had per-
mitted the construction of the canal. He
said that to exempt the coastwise YES
sells was no discrimination against the
foreign nations because they were not
permitted to enter into coastwise trade of
this country in any event.
Mr.. Bonaparte told the committee un-
der questioning by Senator Borah of Idaho
that Great Britain had had nothing to
surrender to the United States in the
elimination of the Clayton-Bulwer treaty,
since that treaty had been violated many
times before the Hay-Pauncefote treaty
was ratified.
Says Repeal Would Hurt Trade.
Russell L. Dunn. consulting engineer
Of San Francisco. declared that the col
lection Of tolls on American coastwise
ships would interfere with the passing
of California lumber through the canal.
He said that reduction in the price of
California petroleum would allow that
product to pass through the canal I'M
der free tolls. He said that free tolls
would develop the borax production in
California.
Former Senator Foraker May Testify
Former Senator ]. B. Foraker of
Ohio probably will be witness before
the committee. Senator Foraker was
member of the foreign relations COM
mittee when the Hay-Pauncefote treaty
was negotiated and conferred frequent
ly with Secretary Hay. Senator O'Gor-
man has sent letter to Mr.. Foraker
requesting him to appear before the
committee.
During the hearing yesterday after
noon Eugene II. Outerbridge, an i'm
porter and exporter. representing the
chamber of commerce of New York,
spoke in favor of the repeal bill. He
said the basis of moral right, business
and political expediency and economic
advisability. the preponderatinS opinion
of business men with whom he had
talked. was against exemption of Amer
lean vessels from tolls. He expressed
the opinion that the effect on the canal