Show THE CANAL Government Takes a Decided Stand on the Subject Secretary Blaine Letter to the Powers Washington 24 The Presi dent today sent to the Senate the report of the secretarv of state in answer to the resolution of October 14th regarding what steps government had taken to protest pro-test the rights of the United States in the Panama Canal Secretary Blaine in his communication to the President reports that having learned since the adjournment adjourn-ment of Congress of the rejec tion by Columbia of the protocol negotiated by representatives of the United States and that republic repub-lic which it was hoped would secure a treaty satisfactory to both and being informed by the minister of of the United States in Colombia that the government of Colombia i by its public act was avowing its desire to terminate the treaty of 1846 and appeal to the powers of Europe for a joint guarantee of the neutrality of the Isthmus and the soverignty of Colombia the department de-partment addressed a long letter of instructions to the United States minister at London An identical note was sent to each of the American Ameri-can ministers in Europe Blaines letter is dated January 24th last in it he says The United States recognizes a proper guaranty of neutrality as essential to the construction and successful operation oper-ation of any highway across the Isthmus of Panama and more than a third of a century ago this government took every step that it deemed requisite in the premises In the judgment of the President this guaranty given by the United States of America does not require reinforcement or accessionor assent from any other power In more than one instance this government has been called upon to vindicate the neutrality thus guaranteed and there is no contingency now foreseen fore-seen or apprehended in which such vindication would not be within the power of this nation If the foreshadowed fore-shadowed action ofEuropean powers should assume tangible shape it would be well for you to bring to the notice of Lord Granville the provision of the treaty of 184G and especially of its thirtyfifth article and to intimate to him liotr any movement in the sense of supplanting sup-planting the guarantee contained therein would necessarily be regarded re-garded by this government In constructing con-structing a canal for interocean purposes the local J and general interests inter-ests of the United States of America must be considered before those of J any OtHer power The President deems it due to frankness to be still more explicit on this subject and to elucidate the views of the United States government with somewhat of detail to the end that no uncertainty shall exist as to the integrity of our motives or the distinctness of our aims It would be our earnest desire and expectation expecta-tion to see the worlds peaceful commerce com-merce enjoy the same just liberal and national treatment as ours It is regarding the political control 01 such a canal as distinguished from its merely adminstrative or commercial regulation that the President Pre-sident feels called upon to speak with directness and with emphasis During any war in which the United States of America or the United States of Colombia might be a party to the passage of armed vessels of hostile nations through the canal at Panama would bs no more admissable than would the passage of armed forces of a nation over the railway lines joining the Atlantic and Pacific shores of the United States or of Colombia and the United States of America will insist upon her right to take all needful precautions against the possibility pos-sibility of the isthmus transit being in any event used offensively against her interests upon the land or upon the sea The possessions of the United States upon the Pacific Pa-cific Coast are unparalleled in extent and of extraordinary growth Even at their present stage of development develop-ment they would supply a larger part of the traffic which would seek the advantage of the canal The states of California and Oregon and the Territory of Washington are larger in area than England and France produce for export mere than a ton of wheat for each inhabitant i inhab-itant and the entire freight demands de-mands water transportation eastward east-ward Already enormous crops are augmenting each year with accel lerating ratio While the population popula-tion and products of the Pacific slope are thus increasing upon a vast scale the railway system connecting con-necting the Gulf of Mexico with the interior is being rapidly extended thus affording additional facilities for the enlarging of the commerce that must seek the coast line to the Pacific of which the projected canal at Panama Pan-ama will form a part and be as truly a channel of communication be twen eastern and western states as our own transcontinental railways It is the perception of this domestic function of the long sought waterway water-way between the two seas that border bor-der the republic which has caused the project to be regarded as one of vital importance by this gpvern mente L t I j t < I tr 30 t P The history of the enterprise is marked from the outset by ntuneirT I ous expeditions which have from time to time been sent out by the i United States at large expense to explore < the various routes and thus x facilitate the work when the time should be ripe and the vast capital be forthcoming for the undertak a ing If the proposed canal were a channel of communication near to the countries of the old world and employed wholly or almost wholly by their commerce com-merce it might very properly be urged that the influence of European powers should be large and justly commensurate with their interests t With the exercise of such a policy the United States could find no i fault especially if assured ef the 1 usual participation in the peaceable enjoyment of the commercial facility Y facil-ity so offered The case howeveris her reversed and an agreement between be-tween European states to jointly guarantee neutrality and in effect control the political character of a highway of commerce remote from them and near to us forming substantially s sub-stantially a part of our coast line and promising to become a chief means of transportation between be-tween our Atlantic and Pacific states would be an extraordinary proceedure and would be necessarily viewed by this government with i the gravest concern The policy of h 9 the United States is one of r poace and friendly intercourse i with every government aDd t people This disposition is frankly avowed and is moreover abundantly shown in the fact that our armament by land and sea are kept within such limits as to afford no ground for distrust or suspicion 1 of menace to other nations The agreement entered into with this 1 government in 1846 was manifestly in the interest of and peace by t circumstances of the position of 1 the United States of America was to watch over the highway Q iF between its two coasts it was also O imperative that the result guaranteed guar-anteed was the simplest justice to w the chief interests concerned Any attempt to supercede that 1 + guaranty by an agreement between be-tween the European powers which maintain vast armies and patrol the I sea with immense fleets and whose interests in the canal and its i operation cai never be so vital and supreme as onus + would partake of the nature of an alliance against the United States and would be regarded by this government gov-ernment as an indication of unfriendly i t un-friendly feeling It would be but an + inadequate response to the good Will we bear them and to our people Here the dispatch breaks ij |