Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1927-09-13
PROTEST ON CANAL
CRITICIZED HERE
Officials DispIeased at Pan
aman's Address - Affects
u. S. Relation to Geneva.
By DAVID LAWRENCE.

Although there is manifest displeas-
ure here that Panama should have
carried her dispute to the League of
Nations, the incident may have a
significant bearing on the attitude of
the United States toward the League
The friends of the League in the
United states have always insisted
that there would be no interference
with the special interests of the United
States IN this hemisphere-in TACT that
the covenant specifically says nothing
shall affect regional undcrStan dirSS
like the Monroe Doctrine" IL the
League takes cogniZanCe Of Panama S
plea it will give the opponents of the
League idea in America what they
would term vindication of their claims.
If. on the other hand. the League
refuses to listen to Panama's plea
on the ground that the question is
outside the jurisdiction of the League
of Nations. that very action will be
ua,d hv friends of the League to
prove that fears of interference with
America special interests were ill
founded
Decision Is Important.
The decision is an important one
because lately the League of Nations
has been showing great interest in
the welfare of the countries of tins
hemisphere. and the president of the
council of the League recently elected
came from Uruguay. This is the third
time that a president for the council
has been chosen from pan-America.
If the League is to turn deaf ear to
ali complaints from panAmerlcan re-
publiCs, membership in the League will
rot be considered worth while. On the
other hand the discussion of what the
United States considers as her own
special interests will never sit well
with the American Government. This
is not the first time a complaint
against the United States has been
lodged with the League, and in every
case heretofore the League has side
tracked the issue so as to avoid offend
ing the United States. In view of the
declaration from the Department of
State that the treaty with Panama is
under consideration by the congress
there and that no request for modifica-
ton has come, the conviction prevails
that the League will choose to regard
tie matter as one solely for the United
States and Panama to settle by the
usual diplomatic methods.
1t is thought here that the plea of
DR.. Morales was made to Geneva in
the hope of arousing worldwide opin-
ion and perhaps to influence the
course of the Panaman Congress. The
new treaty does not differ materially
from the old agreement, as the prin-
clple of sovereignty over the Canal
Zone and certain rights in Panama
were granted originally when the
United States assured Panama her in =,
dependence from Colombia.
Airing Z. S. Problems.
The fact that Latin countries may
use Geneva to air their grievances |
against the United States is giving |
some concern here to those who take |
long look ahead at Pan-American |
relations. For without a repre- senta- |
tive. unofficial or otherwise, at Geneva |
the United States will not have an op- |
portunity to answer attacks or to eX- |
press objection TO the consideration of |
matters which were specifically eX- |
cluded from the province of the |
League by the covenant. There are |
other reasons. however. why at the |
moment this would not influence anti. |
League members of Congress, who |
prefer to see the Department of State |
take care Of Americas replies through
the press and by means of diplomatic
notes directly to the nations con-
cerned.
fCopyright. 1927