The Washington times., 1936-03-28
Panama Canal
Defense Is
Vital
By James T. Williams, Jr.

Canal to the government Of
Panama?
Would this be the effect Of the
proposed new Panama Canal
Treaty. recently negotiated by the
United States with Panama, and
now under examination by the
Committee on Foreign Relations
"the great committee of the SEN
ate"?
These vital questions can not bO
fully answered until the commit
tee completes its examination Of
this extraordinary engagement
and submits it to the Senate for
debate and final action.
THOROUGH STUDY
Before this examination is COM
pleted, howev@, the rather ex.
traordinary circumstances under
which this engagement was en-.
tered into ought to be fully ex-
plored by the Senate.
The negotiation of a new
treaty with Panama is defended
in part upon the ground that
the replacement of Theodore
Roosevelt's treaty. under which
the Canal was built and forti.
fled by the United States and
is now operated by the United
States, would spread more good
will" throughout Latin America.
BY spreading goodwill it is
commended by the negotiators Of
this treaty that American trade
with Latin America would be in.
creased and "the New Deal' ex-
tended to Panama.
In the negotiation of this
treaty the Department of State
has apparently taken the ground
that the defenSes of the Canal are
little, if any, part of the business
Of the War and Navy Depart
mentS.
How far provisions in the
Theodore Roosevelt treaty for
the defense of the Canal have
been weakened in the new treaty
neither the War nor Navy De-
partments have been permitted
to tell the public.
But the Senate has a consti.
tutional duty to perform and it's
investigative agent in this regard
is its Committee on Foregn Re
lations before which the new
treaty is now pending.
Meantim- Personal Government
appears to be spreading propa-
ganda to the newspapers to dis
credit any advice and counsel
which the Senate nay seek from
the Defense Departments Of the
Government concerning the effec-
tiveness of the defense provisions
in the new treaty.
NATIONAL CONCERN
An editorial in a Washington
paper appeared recently which
seemed to reflect the diSpleaSure
of the Department of State that
the Defense Departments should
manifest any concern regarding
questions dealing with the Com
mon Defense.
This of course is not new att1-
tude on the p >rt of some officials
of the Department.
It was the attitude taken by Mr..
Hoover when he ignored the advice
and counsel of the Navy, to a
very large extent, in the negotia'
ton of the London Naval Treaty
of 1880.
But the defense of the Panama
Canal would seem to be a matter
of too much concern to the United
States to be finally passed upon
by political appointees, temporarily
holding positions in the Depart
ment of State.
And whatever may be the ef.
feet on American trade with Latin
America, it would seem to be the
duty of the Senate to satisfy it
self that the defense of the Canal
shall never be sacrificed to this
end either by the Department Of
State or the Department Of Com
merce.
The power of the President to
negotiate treaties is derived from
the Constitution, which says:
"He shall have power by and
with the advice and consent OF
the Senate to make treaties, pro-
vided tw0-thirds Of the Senators
present concur"
But this proviSo imposes upon
the Senate, when it undertakes
to make a treaty, an obligation
just as important and just as
solemn as that which binds the
President.
MAKE PUBLIC
Furthermore, the freedom Of
the Committee on Foreign Rela-
tions to explore every provision
in the new proposed Canal Treaty
ought not to be embarrassed by
Department of st tie propaganda
in the form of editorials attacking
the War and Navy Departments
for being concerned in regard to
the defenS of the Panama Canal.
Under the existing treaty, which
was signed in Washington Novem'
ber 18, 1903, while Theodore
Roosevelt was President, the Pan.
anna Canal was built and fortified
| bV the United Stat