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Show TAFT'S IPEECH MADE PUBLIC 1 Former President Says United States Must Stand By Canal Agreements. MUCH TALk ABSURD Subsidy to U. S. Ships in CoastwiseTraffic Was Intended. Washington. dJ C, April 1C The Panama tolls hearing today before the senate canals cohimittce brought out a hitherto unpublished speech by former for-mer President Taft and correspondence correspond-ence of Joseph l. Choate, American ambassador at London, during negotiations negoti-ations or the Hny-Pauncefote treaty. Dr. Ernest RlchaVd, representing the North American jpymnastlc union, appeared ap-peared in favor of the repeal. The speech of 1 r. Taft said to have been delivered before the Canadian club in Ottawa last January, was introduced in-troduced by Senator Simmons who said he believed ;lt to be authentic. In this speech, Mr. Taft was quoted as saying: "We shall doubtlesB have to arbitrate arbi-trate the niatterlnnless congress reverses re-verses itself. There are some hotheads hot-heads that talk In" absurd tones about the right of the Ignited States to manage man-age her own canal and her own property prop-erty as she likes, no matter what she has agreed Ho, but this is all froth." "The idea of pongress in passing the bill, and my' own In signing it, was that we were thus giving a subsidy sub-sidy to our coastwise ships betweon New York and Sai Francisco and Boston Bos-ton and Seattle, as we did In the early days of our transcontinental railways. rail-ways. "All I object to is being told, when I approve the putting on of coasLwl3e exemption, that I favor breaking 'a treaty. I ain.no.t in, favor of break-:ing-t'rcatiesrb'urthc'qUestlonMs "wha't the treaty meaus." Mr. Choate declared in a letter to Henry White, presented to the committee, com-mittee, that his official correspondence correspond-ence established beyond question the Intent of the parties in the negotiations, negotia-tions, that the treaty should mean exactly what It says, and excludes the possibility of the exemption of any kind of vessels of the United States Equality between the United Uni-ted Stales and Great Britain Is the constant theme. "It Is not gentleinan-llkc to Insinuate Insinu-ate that President Wilson and those who share his point of view," said Dr. Richard, "do so from cowardice, from fear of Great Britain, a good chance to make the eagle scream and get Irish votes and a few German ones." James Cowles of Washington was another wjtuess. nn |