OCR Text |
Show AGAIN THOSE TOLLS. President Taft'a declaration thst he is perfectly per-fectly willing to submit the Tsuaraa csnal tolls question to arbitration will of course renew the discussion of the question everywhere. But if. we understand the matter the ouly point ia whether the United States is bound by the Hay-Paueefote treaty to chargo tolls on American coasting ships, that is.' ships leaving one American ort and consigned to another American port. Such ships ar engaged yuMy in Americsu trsde; they compete with no other nation's ships. They had been so engaged for a century before the treaty waa drafted; there is not the slightest evidence that they were thought of by either of the contracting parties, and it seems conclusive that if the treaty applies to tbem, then it appliee to American ships of war passing through the canal.- |