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Show n TOLLS I REPEAL ACT TO MEAN HOT FIGHT Smoot and Borah Lead in Move to Exempt U. S. Vessels of Expense STORY OF CONTROVERSY AEOUT SUBJECT RELATED j Great Britain Likely to Have Something to Say About Proposal By MARK SUIXH N WASHINr;T N. Jan. 22 It Is mo t earnestly to be hoped that Ambassador " Geddc-s In reporting to his home government gov-ernment will avoid an error Into which he might readily fall, it Is true that ' the intention of Mr Harding and eili-i eili-i cr Republican leaders to take advant-I advant-I age df our ownership of the Panama j canal by exempting our vessels from paying tolls, 13 In its nature an inter -I national matter and can only be accomplished ac-complished in decency through diplomatic diplo-matic negotiation with Great Britain, r.ut the motives which have brought this subject up Just now are not International, In-ternational, but wholly domestic They I are not only domesUc. They are less j than domestic, they are b, it is ; not unfriendliness to Great Britain that is behind It, but the local common ial Interests of a comparatively small section sec-tion of our country, j There are so ' many issues between ourselves nnd Gnat Rritaln tha' Ifciaeb one of them (mm the spirit of controversy, contro-versy, it will be useful. FEW Mill's M l I I ED Undoubtedly. If we take, the step of exempting American BbiPS from paying tolls at the canal, the result I will lie to deny to British ships an equality treatment they now enjoy. j But the number of British ships afefot-' afefot-' ed will be small, and. except as a mat- ter of principal, tho whole thing In its I practical outcome will have only a mlrfute effect on British interests It 1 is true that In connection with this subject Harding has announced a pol-' pol-' I Icy of making America ' the great 1 est maritime shipping nation In the world." That policy, if carried out, ' would be a matter of the gravest concern con-cern to Great Britain. It amounts to a determination to unse.it Oreat Brlt- 1 aln's dominance In what has been for ! generations the industry which forms ' the economic base of the empire's SX-! SX-! lstence. ') But such things as this come about i not through declarations of policy, but '! through the evolution of natural forc-. forc-. es WTiether theso forces are going to make us a greater maritime nation I than Great Britain will be clearer several sev-eral decades in the futurt than it is now. In any such process, the exenip-I exenip-I tlon of American coastwise shipping ! from paying tolls at Panama would 'I have ;ui utterly negligible effect. Those , I who are behind this exemption a Hn riot threatening Great Britain's maritime mar-itime position. Their aim is nothing I so large as that Their aim is merel i to give a little s.elp to their lumber : industry and lo a few ojher Industries on tho Pacific coast. Dl SER OF ST1 lY. Since this Panama tolls act figures 1 largely not only in tho present dlscus-I dlscus-I slon of issues between ourselves and Great Britain, but will also be lh subject of one of tho inof serious ' controversies In tho coming session of 1 congress, it will be wi M i understand When the United states decided I nearly twenty years ago to build the Panama canal, certain lights which .Great Britain had long had at Panama Pan-ama became the subject of negotla-I negotla-I tion between our then secretary of j state, John Hay, and the then Uiitlsh , ambassador. Sir Julian Paunceforte. j Tho conclusion of these negotiations . was expressed in a treaty between the two countries known as the "Hay-I "Hay-I Paunceforte treaty." I Thereafter we built tb. canal. Wlvn I it was finished and couurt fs passed tho act oov-tflng the details of its i operation, it was provided thai linerl-can linerl-can ships passing through the canal should be exempted from the payment j of tolls. Soon afterward tin point was raised that this exemption of Amerl- can shipping was ln conflict with ihe I lay-Paunceforte treaty, which provided pro-vided for equal treatment of ihe ves- ; eels of all nations. M VER IG (ill s in vi l I) I This point was for sometime the suh- I Jecl or a discussion which was always i leisurely ami never became heated. ! But President Wilson cail.Mn r.i 1 .ltd a dramatic thing, which scrvc-d to give this Issue an unfortunate air of mystery. mys-tery. One day In the spring of 1914, he sent for the senate committee on foreign affairs, saying that he wished tn confer with them. The meeting In , the White House had little of the nature na-ture of a conference, because in the beginning of u President Wilson adopted a manner and made a specific statement which foreclosed anv questions ques-tions or discussion on the part of th members of the senate committee. That episode In 1911, was. by the way. the beginning of the feeling on the part of the senate committee on foreign affairs thai they wen not treated with frankness as equals, a ' feeling that had much to do with later events. The president said that a slt-, slt-, nation had arisen which was of grave importance and which made it most (Continued oo Page Two; Panama Tolls Repeal Act to Mean Hot Fight (Continued Prom Page I nc ) desirable th;it congress, in deference io Oreat Britain, should repeal thai pari of the act for the operation of the I';in:tma canal which exempted American Ameri-can ships from the payment of tolls SOME RESEN1 Ml N I There was some resentment among members of the senate committee over President "Wilson's failure, to share with them whatever Information he had and his asking them to tak a step based on knowledge whi h he was unwilling un-willing to reveal even to them. There was much surmise as to Just what Mr Wilson hud In mind, tine of the surmises sur-mises had to do with Japan. Another was contained In a story which seems Incredible now, but may readily have lirfii iuiNHile ,1 that time, bi fore the beginning of the great war. The story We to the effect that Germany hail approached Ore'at Britain with a pio-i po.nal that Great Britain, Germany and i France should Insist upon their right to Intervene n the disturbed and rev-j olutlonary state of affairs In Mexico. The story continued to the effect that Great Britain had refused to do anything any-thing which would seem unfriendly to the united ytuleu and that President) Wilson. In return was eager to do a i gracious thing which should show Great Britain our appreciation, SK.MI lt T M NTENCE6 In any event the hill fur the repeal! of the exemption to American ships was Introduced and encountered much opposition in rongn.ss. To overcome this opOsltlon the president again fell i back upon tho device of requesting that his wishes be met for reasons j that he did no', feel wIIIIiik to dls Iomo. The significant sentences from Presl 1 dent Wilson' request which made on-grass on-grass willing to take action to which! its judgment was opposed, were tlisst We ought to reverse our action i w ithout raising the question whether j we were right or w rong, and so onco I more deserve our reputation for gene- roslty and tlie redemption of every ob- lifiiition without quibble or hesitation. t ur me 01 j on m .support or tnf lor- ; eign policy of Mil administration i shall not know how to deal with rout- ters of even greater dollcacy and ncar-ei ncar-ei consequence if you do not grant It to me in ungrudging measure." Hi Pi I. BULL, PASSED In response to this' cryptic urging the repciil bill was passed, and since then American ships passing through the canal have been paying tolls the same as the ships of everj other nation. na-tion. But there was always much restlessness on the part of members of congress, who were dubious over what had been done. Undoubtedly, the matter would not have rested so long as It hus but for tho fact that only a fow weoks later the great war began and submerged i this Issue. When the two party platforms were written In 1919. the war was still on, and the subject was not mentioned, I hut w hen the Republicans came to- j cether for their convention last Juncj the subje, t was again brought up The Republican platform, when adopted contained a plank to the effect that the treaty. If put in power, would repeal re-peal the act and would exempt American Ameri-can ships engaged in coastwise traffic from paying tolls. WHEN! I CAME Tin: PLAKK. It is an illuminating commentary on how platforms arc written and how things are done at parly conventions thai r asked nearly every one of the fifty-two members of the committee on resolutions of the Republican convention con-vention Just how this plank happened to appear In the platform and who, Introduced if. Of the fifty-two members, mem-bers, fully forty were as surprised as any outsider was to find the plank in ib platform which they themselves had drafted, and only four of them knew anything of its origin. The facts aro that the plank was drafted b Senator Borah of Idaho, and Senator Smoot of I'tah .Senator .Sena-tor .TllMfS of IVlLOlilnrli.n n,-u 1 1 .. H...i.n,vi, .u . i . . instrumental. in-strumental. DOMESTIC MATTES In taking this notion, Senator Smoot and Senator Borah, and Senator Jones had little thought of our foreign rela-lo.iis rela-lo.iis With them it was wholly a domestic do-mestic matter. Not mei-ely a domestic matter, but a local matter It reflected reflect-ed the wish on the part of shippers of lumber and other heavy commodities on the Pacific coast for an opportunity opportun-ity tO send iheir goods to the markets of tho eastern coast with tho smallest possible expense for freight. Incidentally, when the bill comes up ! for passage, it will encounter a cer-tain cer-tain amount of opposition which will be Just as local and sectional In Its motive a the advocacy of the bill Is. The shippers and other business men1 of the Mississippi Valley, who are compelled com-pelled to rely on railroad transportation, transporta-tion, feel that the passage of this act Will give Pacific coast shippers an unfair un-fair advantage over thern. A leading paper of the middle west the Chicago Tribune, has said: It Is not good Judgment, good diplomacy, diplo-macy, good economics, or good politics pol-itics to free American ships from the Panama canal tolls," This argument is based on the ground that tho exemption "would be unfair to inland cities, agricultural Interests, and manufacturers, who nta mrae KjfMw l helped to pay. and are at ill hrlplnc to : pay for th- construction of th canal " M I Ki Mi INT: REST, When this I'annma tolls bill comeS up In congress tho flpht will he largely one of sectional interest. It . will hung: Chiefly on freight rates and ' manufacturing costs, of course, it will also have an International angle, j tor tho thing cannot he done In honor w.thout taking Into consideration the old Hay-Peuncefote treaty. On this latter point Republican leaders them-Beh them-Beh ss differ. l;ilhu Itoot believes that j wo cannot exempt our shlpfl conslst-! conslst-! ent with tho treaty, un the other hand , i:. -Senator George Sutherland of i I'tah. whom Senator Root holds to be us good a lawyer as himself, believes that a correct Interpretation of the Hay-PauncofOtfl treaty does not for-j for-j bid us to exempt American ship (Copyright, mm, bj the nm Fork BN-enlng Post) inc.) oo- I |