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Show Congressman Lewis Takes Issue With President Wilson I The Following Speech of Mr. Lewis of Pennsylvania and I Taken From the Congressional Record Points Out the 1 Folly of the Arguments Made in Justification for Re- j) treating in Favor of Foreign Interests. & I The following speech ot Mr. Lewis I of Pennsylvania taken from tho Con- I gresslonal Ilecord points out tho fol I ly of the arguments made In Justin- I caUon for retreating In favor ot for- I elgn Interests: I Mr. Lewis of Pennsylvania Mr. I Speaker after listening to the address of President Wilson In which he urged urg-ed the repeal ot the clause In tho Panama Pan-ama Canal law providing for tho free passage of our coastwiso tonnage through the canal as an act of International Inter-national good faith In the malnten-ance malnten-ance of our treaty obligations and an Injury to our national reputation and trade, I was fairly" well satisfied in my mind that it should be tho duty of Congress to support the President in his determination to repeal tho controverted con-troverted Panama tolls arrangement. I find, however, upon reading the treaty and after a careful rovlow of tho situation, I am convinced that the President Is wrong In his contention that to uphold this act exempting coastwiso shipping would be committing commit-ting nn net of international dishonor. dishon-or. After weeks of debato In Congress this act was framed and passed and the ,two great political parties of this country tho Progressive and Democratic embodied in their platforms plat-forms tho declaration favoring the exemption from tolls of American ships engaged In coastwise trade passing through the Panama Canal. President Wilson, In1 a speech ht Washington Park, New Jersey, Aug-r Aug-r ust 15, 1912 and I dare say he know Ty whereof he spoke for as a historian and a lawyer he stands preeminent-declared: preeminent-declared: The platform of tho Democratic party is.not molasses to catch files. It means what it says. It Is the ut-teranco ut-teranco of earnest and honest men, who Intend to do business along these lines, and who are not watting to see whether they can catch votes with thoso promises before they determine de-termine whether they are going, to act upon them or not. They know the American people are now taking notice no-tice in a way which they never took notice before, and gentlemen who talk one way and voto another are going to bo retired to very quiet and private rotreat. In two Bhort years, when such Democratic Dem-ocratic statesmon as Senator O'Qor. man and Representative Underwood still contend that tho platrorm ot tho Democratic party should bo treated as a covenant botwoen the party and the people, and after an exhaustive study ot the question of Panama tolls declare there is no doubt thatj the American view is tho" right view,"' tho sarao old Methods aro employed by, the Democratic party since Its existence. exis-tence. No matter what Its platform stands for, It must repudiate It reminds re-minds mV of an Incident that took place on tho outskirts of my homo town. On a hot Bummer day two ot our citizens, who had fallon froin grace by reason of tholr IntomporatQ habits, by namo Stovlo Veager and Ocorgo Troxell, for want of somothlng better to do took a stroll Into tho country In tho direction ot Dornoy- , vllle at which place a country hotel 3) was conducted by ono Davy Gilbert. : After walking for somo dlstancd in tho hot sun, Stevlo and Georgo concluded con-cluded to enjoy a siesta, under the shado ot a tree growing by tlio road-sldo. road-sldo. Awakening from the nap Uioy both dovoloped an extraordinary de-slro de-slro for a schnapps, us a lrlnk of whisky is commonly termed up our way, and at onco laid plans to work Landlord Gilbert. A toad hopping about at Troxell's feo"t gavo him an inspiration. Ho promptly killed it nnd told Yeager ho 'would take It to Landlord Gilbert and present it to him as a bullfrog. He said Gilbert would at onco declare it was a toad, and ho Troxell would bet him tho drinks it was a bullfrog, and leave It to the decision of tho first man that would como that way. It was arranged arrang-ed between them that Yeai'er was to arrive on the scene as the first party after the bet was mado. George took the toad to Davy Gilbert and It turned turn-ed out as ho had expected by Davy declaring it was a toad, and George promptly bet him tho drinks for the party it was a bullfrog, and would leave it' to tho first party arriving.. b- l' WIHl'llJ HllllbU) .WUfWIIQ W J Innocent, and upon being asked who-ther who-ther It was a toad or a bullfrog, at once declared It was a bullfrog, thereby there-by making Troxell win tho bet. The landlord had his suspicions aroused, but was game and said: The drinks aro on mo all right; but it's a damned damn-ed old toad anyhow. No matter how the old Democratic party disguises Itself It-self by false promises nnd alluring declarations In Its platform It Is the same old reactionary, free trade, special spe-cial privilege party as of old. President Wilson In his preelection speeches always declared that the American people-want people-want water carriage to complete with land carriage, so as to be perfectly sure that you are going to get better rates around the canal than you would cross the continent. We don't want the railroads to compete with themselves. them-selves. Why this sudden change in opposition opposi-tion to cheap transportation? Is the Democratic party llko the discredited discredit-ed old Republican party about to disregard dis-regard all of its declarations and nurse the Interests of special privilege? privi-lege? It seems to mo that tho hue and cry made by the Democratic statesmen states-men who follow the administration blindly about our national honor being be-ing sullied by,' tho tolls-exemption clause of tho Panama Canal act Is being, made a, play to the gallery. I wonder sometimes if these patriots are prompted by motives as lorty and patriotic as appears. Let us not forgot, for-got, Mr. Speaker that great corporations corpora-tions who can wield a powerful influence in-fluence for or against a political party, par-ty, engaged In a transcontinental buslnoss havo a good reason, purely on private grounds, to foster this agitation. ag-itation. It is clear that If coastwiso shipping is not exempted from tolls, concerns engaged in two fields of transportation can! 'comblno In a manner to keep rates up and rob tho publlc'oftho benoflts of cheap water transportation. Tho argument that tho remitting of tolls In tho Panama Canal to American Ameri-can ships would constttuto a dangerous danger-ous ship subsidy Is a strained nnd forced conclusion. Every nation now clamoring to restrlpt American shipping ship-ping by Imposing tolls on American vessels pays ship subsidies and builds, up Its own commerce thcroby. If wo repeal the exemption clause wo will mako tho Pacific qoast the dumping ground of European shop owners and manufacturers and glvo them nn annual subsidy of nearly as many millions mil-lions of dollais as tho west , coast Imports millions ot tons to tho great loss of our oaBtorn manufacturers and our Intercostal shipping and building Interests. England, It can not bo argued, has any Interest whatover In our coastwiso coast-wiso trado. Llko nil other foreign nations, sho Is barred by law from engaging en-gaging In coastwise steamship traffic traf-fic ot Uils country. It does not take a lawyer a achol; I ar, or a statesman to determine that sho can have no possible Interest In the question of canal tolls which effect ef-fect coastwiso vessols only. Thon what posslblo right, Mr. Spoaker has sho to -raise tho question 'of how we should manngo our own prlvato affairs. af-fairs. To mo it is very ovldent that tho whole question resolves Itself Into In-to the fact as to whether or not tho Isthmus of Panama Is our territory. The canul is an American enterprise paid for by American money, cut through American soil, then, since every ev-ery country from tlmo Immemorial has regulated Its coastwiso trado and when it hud tho power never allowed allow-ed any Interference therewith, should not the American Republic rule and govern tho canal without foreign ad-vlco ad-vlco or Interforcnco? While we wish to preservo our good rolatlons with tho British government, yet, in self respect, wo must assort our rights and not bo guilty of toadyism or allow al-low dictation. I trust thero will bo a sufficient number of patriotic Americans In this Houso who will remain1 steadfast in the fact ot unwarranted demands, having no dishonorable motives toward to-ward foreign powers hnd Arm In conserving con-serving our sovereign right to enact laws governing our own property In tho carrying out of tho purposes our government had In view in constructing construct-ing and controlling tho Panama Canal. Tho enactment of tho present tariff law was a deliberate and cold blooded betrayal ot tho Interests of tho American Am-erican farmer, laborer, and manufacturer. manufac-turer. It Is today the best European mcasuro written In tho Btatuto books of tho nations. Let us not rereat again In favor ot foreign Interests for If wo do It will bo nil the harder for us to assert our Just rights In the future. |