The Anderson daily intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson, S.C.) 1914-1915, 1914-07-16

Washington. july 10 Secretary
; Bryan has issued a statement defend
ing the proposed treaty 10 settle diff
fcrcnrcs between the United States
and Colombia over The separation of
Panama. The treaty has met vigOr-
Gus opposition in the senate. and For
ncr President Roosevelt has attacked
| it as Il vehicle for In" payment oi
| ''blackmail."
Mr. Bryan declared iha, ii was nee
rssary 10 discuss only tho fact that an
estrangcmcnt exists. and not the
events which gave rise To the differ
rnccs. and that regardless Of whether
Colombia has Il just grievance against
her more powerful ncighbor. no one
womld deny that the former country
:ustaneh IL great financial loss. con
! si!crably more than the $25.000.000
| which TIE United States would pay un
der the treaty. through the separation
of Panama. AS 10 the expression OF
/; regret on the part Of the American
government to which opponents of the
pen.ing convention offer their bitter
est objection the secretary said this
WAS almost identical with IL similar
| expression in the Du l'Ois mcmOran
dun on the basis Of which the Taft adj
ministration unsucccssfully sought to
placate Colombia.
The statement in full follows:
"AH the terms Of tho Colombia
treaty have been published a'.d it it
Is now before the senate for ratifca-
ton. the following statement may as
sist the public to form an opinion upon
| the mcritS of tho question
History OF the Case.
THE present administration found
an cstrangcment existing between the
United Slater and Colombia cs-
arrangement, that has continued for
nearly thirteen years. AS the normal
relation between nations is one for
Friendship, 1t is desirable that differ
cnces shall be adjusted and cordial
rcin. Ions resumed. II is not neccs-
sary to discurs the events which gave
rise to this cstrangcmcnt. because 1t
does not matter which party was at
fault The cstrangcmont exists. and
this is the fact that must he deal with.
Colombia has all along insisted up
on arbitration. If this nation were
willing to arbltrate, 1t would not be
cnccssnry to discuss terms Of settle
ment because In the case Of arbitra-
tion the parties accept the finding of
tho arbitrators and settle sthcir differ
cnccs according to- the terms prcscrib-
ell 1t is not the policy OF nations
however, to scttlc by arbitration Ques-
tlons like those arising between the
United States and Colombia and as ar
bitratton Ia not rcsorted to, the settle
, ment must he made by direct negotia-
tions. Our nation. being much the
larger nation. and having refused tC
nrbitratc, taken upon itself the respOn-
sibility of doing justice to Colombia
Not only is 1t our duty to do justice to
Colombia hut in case of doubt as tC
what is just, we must resolve that
doubt against ourselves and In favor
of Colombia.
C0lombin's Appeal.
''Colombin feels that she has been
aggrievcd and whatever may be said
1 us 10 whether or not this feeling is
/ justified. no one will deny that she
! has sustained great financial loss IL
the separation of Panama from her
Before the separation took place. this
government offered Colombia $10.000.-
900 for the canal route and $250,000 q
year for one hundred years. This an
nuity might he capitalized at abo'
/ $7.6O0.000, so that this governments
estimate of the loss suffered by Colon
bia could nst be less than about ST.
100000. But that estimate was made
upon tho suppositiOn that Colombia
would retain the state or department
of Panama. The reention Of Panama
would have given TO Colombia not only
the value of Panama. but the incidental
benefits to be derived from proximity
to the canal. We cannot deny. there
fore, that the actual loss to Colombo
was considerably moro than $26,000,-
O0G.
"Bnt we have n later estimate tC
consider namely. that placed upon the
less by the preceding administration
N While there Is dispute as to whethl
Mr. Dubois exceeded his authority In
the proposition that he made, there Is
no doubt that he was authorized tC
make known to Colombia that tho
United States would offer as the basis
of treaty II assured of acceptance by
Colombia, $10.000.000 for the Atratu
river canal route and arbitration OF
the the reversiUnary interest OF Col
omtia In the railroad. This rever-
sionary interest was valued Mt about
SIG 100000 which would have been the
sum awarded to Colombia II the arbi-
tration was decided In her favor. The
$40 100000 for the Atrata route and
the s10,000,000 was evidently intended
more as liquidated damages than as
tho price Of the canal route-together
with the value Of the reversionary
interest In the railroad would amount
to see, 100000.
4 Mr.. Dubois Agreement.
"But Mr.. Dubois went further than