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Show 1 1 WILSON OPPOSES I TOLL EXEMPTIONS jra yffl President Fully Explains His Wf) Position and Will Make Attitude Public. II RECOMMENDS CHANGES Lifting of Embargo on Arms for Mexico Urged by Senators. Washington, Jan. 27. That Presi mm dent Wilson is opposed to the exemp- Hk tlon of American coastwise ships from Wk Panama canal tolls was flatly assert J ed at the capitol today by those who knew what took place at the eonfer-; eonfer-; ence last night between the president and senate foreign relations eommlt- tee. j Senators who talked with the pres- ident said today that Mr. Wilson tally i ; explained his positiun on the tolls yJt question; that his viewB incline to- 5 ward the contentions of Great Britain &t and that he would make public hi$ at- i tltude in the near future. Several senators expressed surprise that in A view of the president's positive atti tude he had not urged some action at the extra session of congress. Hfju What the president may recommend was not disclosed in todays reports ot the White House conference, but it Son was pointed out that one way would jjjjW be to repeal the exemption provision HH of the act and another the passage of the Adamson resolution to suspend for two years the operation of the ex emption clause and thus demonstrate 2 whether the canal could be self sus- taining without tolls from American shlp6. It was said today that the president was not opposed to toll exemptions j as such, but that he was strongly ot the opinion that they would be a dis-I dis-I crimination which would not agrei? with the provisions of the Hay Pauncefote treaty. I Mexican Embargo. Lifting the embargo on arms for Mexico also was discussed at last ' night's conference. Some senators I favored it on the ground that It would hasten hostilities to a conclusion. One i j senator said today he believed the . ' president was inclining more and more to that view and might lift the ' embargo soon. It was the general opinion of senators sena-tors after their talk with the president presi-dent on the Japanese situation that officials in Japan were friendly to the United States, but were being pressed by radicals j Hay-Pauncefote Treaty. The dispute between the IJnited i States and Great Britain turns on the construction of Article Three of the I Hay-Pauncefote treaty, which pro vldes: I "The canal shall be free and open to the vessels of commerce and of war of all nations observing these rules, on terms ot entire equality, so i that there shall be no discrimination against any such nation or its citizens or subjects in respect of the conditions condi-tions or charges of traffic or otherwise. other-wise. Such conditions and charges of traffic should be just and equitable" equit-able" 1 'English Enter Protest. h The British contention has been J) that this clause of "entire equality" was to be taken literally. But the Panama canal act, while providing equality of tolls on ocean-going traf-fic, traf-fic, exempted American coastwise vessels ves-sels from tbe payment. Sir Fdwnrd Grey, British minister of foreign af fairs, protested against tho exemption as contrary to the language of the treaty. Mr. Knox, while secretary of state under the Taft administration, replied to Sir Edward Grey. But the atti tude of the present administration has not been generally known up to the time of the president's conferenco with senators last night, when according ac-cording to the view they obtained, Mr Wilson supports the view of equality of treatment under the treaty |