Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1920-11-11
PANAMA TOLLS MAY
CAUSE INSURGENCY
Burton of Ohio Said to Oppose
Harding Policy Of Exempting
American Ships.
Washington Correspondent Ba ltImors Sun.

Washington Correspondent Bn ltimors Sun.
Washington, Nov. l1.--Ihe first con-
crete manifestation Of Republican ins'ir-
gency against the forthcoming Harding
Administration developed yesterday, when
Rcpresentative-elcc Theodore II. Bur
ton. of Ohio. let it be known that he was
ready to fight to the limit any proposal
that would exempt American vessels from
the payment of Panama Canal tolls.
There have been rumblings OF possible
revolt in tho victorious Republican party
for some time. Certain Senators, for
example, have concluded that they were
n,isled by Senator Harding on the League
Of Nations, and that if he stands for any
league after what he said on the stump,
they will be bound to fight him. Others
found cause for complaint and distr'isa
regarding some of the Presidcnt-elccts
domestic policies, with intimations OF
kicking over the traces.
But il remained for Mr.. Burton pub
licly to voice his opposition to definite
ly announced Harding policy and his
reputation of plank in the party plat
form. Nor does this opposition lack
Significance Mr.. Burton is not merely
new arrival in Washington with a
commission TO a seat in the next House
of Representatives He is a conspicuous
figure in the Republican party. He served
for almost 20 years as member oil the
House and for half that time IA chair
man of the powerful Committee on Rivers
and Harbors He served six years as a
Senator from Ohio and WAS his States
choice for the Presidency, when Judge
Hughes Was nominated four years and a
half ago.
From what this veteran legislator
from Ohio said today, tho opposition
among Republicans to the repeal of this
Panama Canal Tolls act will not be con-
fined to q handful of inconspicuous in
surgents. Elihu Root himself may be
expected to stand against the next Preei-
ident and the next Congress upon that
question. Just as he stood with President
Wilson in the great battle over free tolls
more than six years ago. Incidentally.
this attitude on the part of Mr. Root
may make il undesirable from Harding
standpoint for the New Yorker to enter
the next Cabinet
That Mr.. Root would accept the Sec
retaryship of State on March 4, If in
vited, is now we'll known 10 most Re-
publican leaders, but his uneornpropising
stand on canal tolls, a stand in direct
conflict with the stand Of Mr.. Harding
and that of the party platform, may
cause the Prcsident-elect to dismiss from
his mind the possibility of Mr.. Root for
u Cabinet post.
1t was while they were members OF
the United States Senate that Burton
and Root went to the support Of Presi-
dent Wilson's urgent recommendation
that the free tolls clause Of the original
Canal Act be repealed and that Ameri-
can ships be required to pay the same for
use Of this waterway that foreign ships
were required 10 pay II was the infuence
of these two Republican leaders that gave
the President his victory in the upper
branch Of Congress
Nothing has happened since that his
toric contest, Mr.. Burton said today. TO
change his views regarding the Canal
tolls issus. In fact, American foreign TO