OCR Text |
Show i ifiliir I TOLLSQUESTION HH 1 Exemption Clause Repeal Not n i a Construction of Hay- gfl : Pauncefote Treaty. H LIMITING OF DEBATE H United States Cannot Afford W J to Belittle Great Enterprise B f at the Isthmus. WM j Washington, April 12. Secrctarv SHff Bryan in a statement made' public SHlF reviews at length the Panama tolls SHIf question, and in the course df the Wf statement declares that the repeal df SM.i, the tolls exemption in the Panama aBfli canal act "cannot he construed to be i a construction of the Hay-Pauncefote SJ, treaty," but is "simply a refusal on the part of the United States to Kff raise that question In that way." all' lr- Bryan discusses various fca- Hl tures of the subject the limiting of wm t debate in the house of rcprcsehta- fm j. tives, the Baltimore platform and the n effect of repeal on the treaty. . Claiming that the opponents of Abe H repeal had seized upon the charge that the president was "surrendering , lo England," Mr. Bryan declared that B the opposition to repeal had nttempt-H nttempt-H , . ed to appeal "to prejudice rather than H to reason." H ; Great Britain's Attitude. H "What has Great Britain done?" he asked, "to justify the accusation that she Is trying to dictate to this coun-H coun-H ; try. She has simply called attention S to the terms of the treaty, and-asked n for arbitration of the question of con-H con-H ,' struction, In case this government wm differs from the British government in the construction to be-pla.ced upon H ' the language. The very men who are H 'i so Insistent 'upon construing tho i trealy, to permit free tolls, delayed H for months' the ratification ' of the H ;! treaty with Great Britain r because of B f their opposition to any arbitration of B t the subject. In cither words, they B ' construed the treaty to permit dis-B dis-B i crimination and then objected .to ai-Br ai-Br lowing- any international court to ex-iL ex-iL press an opinion on the subject. If, PjBL as a matter of fact, the treaty grants V the rights which Great Britain claims, B j is It a surrender to Great Britain B for our nation to repeal a law that B raised the question? B 1 "The repeal of the law cannot -bp. B 4 construed to he a construction of B X, the -treaty. It is simply a refusal on B m the part of the United States to B i f raise that question in that way." I f- Discussing the president's right to I : ? expect the support of congress when I . he deals with international questions', I f Secretary Bryan adds: I t "The chief executive speaks for the I '" nation in international affairs, and I t it is only fair to assume that he B speaks advisedly when he declares B that intercourse with other nations Bll is seriously embarassed by the free H tolls law which he seeks to repeal. H United States' Proud Position. Bf ' -'."We occupy today a proud position Bi among the nations; w& are the fore- ml '' inosl advocate of peace and arbitra- H ! tibn; we are becoming more and B more a moral factor throughout the H world. Can we afford to surrender BE this position? Can we afford to be- B s little the great enterprise which has H reached its consummation at the Bt Isthmus? The question is not what H we-can do, hut what we ought to do. B This question must be decided on Bp moral principles and not by the Bt counting of our regiments and bat- B tle&hlns." I Mr. Bryan was a member of the resolutions committee of the Baltimore Balti-more convention and his observations on the platform constitute his first utterance on the subject He argues that there are two planks In the .Baltimore platform, pertinent to the discussion, one which declares the belief of the Democratic party in the encouragement of the merchant marine, ma-rine, but states that it should be developed de-veloped "without imposing additional burdens upon the people and. without bounty or subsidies from the public treasuries" and a second plank de-' de-' clarlng in favor of the exemption from tolls of American coastwise ships. Mr. Bryan declares that the opposition oppo-sition to bounties is a doctrine "for which the Democratic party has stood from time immemorial." He defers to the exemption plank as a "little plank" and to the pronouncement on bounties and subsidies as the "larger plank" and says: "What opiate does the little plank contain that it can make those who accept it oblivious of the larger plank? By what rule of construction can the small plank be mado binding and the large one ignored? The secret se-cret of the strange power exerted by the little plank is to be found in the fact that it carefully conceals the means by which it is to be carried out. Had the word 'subsidy' or 'bounty' been 'inserted in this plank, it could not have secured tho endorsement endorse-ment of the convention because the contradiction between this plank and the larger plank would have been Immediately Im-mediately apparent. President Is Justified. "But even If the platform had not contained within itself a complete refutation of the position taken by tho advocates of free tolls, the president pres-ident would have been justified in the position that he took by the changed conditions which confronted him, A platform is a pledge and is as binding upon an official as the command of a military officer is upon up-on a subordinate the statement cannot can-not be made stronger. But the subordinate subor-dinate officer is sometimes compelled to act upon his judgment where a change of which the commanding officer of-ficer is not aware has taken place in conditions. H is not only the right of the subordinate to judge the situation for himself where conditions have changed since the order was given, but it is his duty to do so. "In the case under consideration the president takes responsibility for an official act which he regards as necessary for his country's welfare, and the people must decide whether or not he is justified: and those who refuse to act with him also assume responsibility and they, too, must abide the judgment of the public. Such a change has taken place since the Baltimore platform was adopted. Had the Democrats in convention assembled as-sembled been confronted by the which now exists and had they known what those now know, who voted for repeal, no such plank would ever have been placed in the platform. plat-form. The convention's attention was not even brought to the fact that a majority of the Democrats in the house had voted against the free tolls measure and that It had. in fact, been passed by a combination of a minority minor-ity of the Democrats and a majority of the Republicans." international Questions. Mr. Bryan says that platform planks dealing with international questions, must be accepted with the understanding that we act jointly with other nations in "international affairs," that even if the plank had not been contradicted by another plank in the platform and even If it "had not concealed a subsidy policy repugnant to Democratic principle and history" (hat even If conditions had not changed, a platform plank should be taken on international questions "as the expression of a wish rather than as the expression of a determination for no nation can afford to purchase a Email advantage In the face of a universal protest," "If a nation," the secretary continued, con-tinued, "desires to array itself against the world, it should be sure that the thing which it Is to gain, is worth what it costs. The president, knowing know-ing that every commercial nation except ex-cept our owu construes the treaty as a pledge of equal treatment, would have been recreant to his trust had he failed to point out to the American Amer-ican people that our diplomatic relations rela-tions would bo seriously disturbed by the carrying out of the free tolls policy." pol-icy." Two Questions to Decide. Considering the repeal measure upon its merits, Mr. Bryan said there were just two questions to be decided: de-cided: "First Is It desirable for the Democratic Dem-ocratic party to abandon its historic position and become the advocate of subsidies and bounties? and second, if it is desirable, what is the Democratic Demo-cratic party willing to sacrifice in International In-ternational prestige and world influence influ-ence in order to secure the advantage which these subsidies promise to a few people?" |