Fort Mill times. [volume] (Fort Mill, S.C.) 1892-current, 1914-05-21
Peculiar Criticism.

One or TWO papers III eio
Fifth district, in commenting on
Congressman Finley's vote
against the repeal of the Panama
Canal Act, have made the rather
peculiar criticism that in so
doing ''he is treading close to
the brink of Republicanism. "
The Gaffney Ledger goes on to
say that THE free tolls measure
is Republican measure, passed
by a Republican Congress and
signed by a Republican Presi-
dent. The Democrats are try
ing to repeal this Republican
measure. Evidently the editor
of The Ledger is not sure of his
facts as regards the history of
the measure and certainly he
has not read the platform Of his
party. The Panama Canal Act,
providing free tolls for American
coastwise vessels on their pas
sage through the canal. passed
the House Ia Democratic House)
on August "a, 1912. The tolls
provision was incorporated in an
amendment offered from the
floor by Mr.. Doremus, Demo-
crat from Michigan. and now
chairman of the Democratic
Congressional Campaign Com
mittee and one of the chief sup
porters of the administration.
The bill having in it this free
tolls provision passed the House
by a combination of Democrats
and Republicans, led by the
ma jority leader. Mr.. Underwood.
In the campaign of 1912 it had
the Endorsement of the Demo
cratic nominees, including the
President, who in speaking to a
New Jersey audience on August
Is, 1912. said:
Zone OF the bills pending passed.
believe, yesterday by the Senate as it
had passed the House provides, for
free tolls for American ships through
that canal and prohibits any ship from
passing through which is owned by an
American railroad company. You see
the object of that. don't you? We
don't want the railroads to compete
with themselves. because we under
stand that kind of competition. We
want water carriage to compete with
land carriage. so as to be perfectly
sure that you are going to get better
rates around the canal than YOU would
across the continent"
So much for President w l.
sons pre- election view of the
measure. and certainly it con-
tains no disapprovai Of it. He
goes on to say:
'Our platform is not molasses to
catch flies 1t means business 1t
means what il says. 1t is the utter
ance of honest men. who intend to do
business along those lines and who are
not waiting To see whether they can
catch votes with these promises before
they determine whether they are going
to act upon them or not.
Toe plank in the Democratic
platform to which the President
referred, and which The Ledger
evidently overlooked, is as fol-
lows:
1--WE favor the exemption from tolls
of American ships engaged in coast
wise trade passing through the
Panama Canal We also favor legis-
lation forbidding the use of the Panama
Canal by ships owned or controlled by
railroad carriers engaged in trans
portation competitive with the canal" "
There can be no doubt as to
what the platform meant, and
we can find no reason for criti-
cising Mr.. Finley for supporting
it. Indeed any other criticism
the editor of The Ledger could !
have made would have been
more timely than that of Re-
publicanism. Repubicanism for !
supporting the Democratic plat
form, under the leadership of .
the Democratic Speaker of the
House. Mr.. Clark. the Demo-
cratic floor leader, Mr.. Under
wood. and the Chairman of the
Democratic Congressional Cam
paign Committee. Mr.. Doremus!
The charge answers itself. Its
is apparent on its face.