"THROUGH DIPLOMATIC CHANNELS"
Bristow, Senator Joseph L.
"Through Diplomatic Channels" Railroad Greed, Balked by Congress, Seeksr To Suppress Competition Via the Panama Canal, With England As An Ally By SENATOR JOSEPH L. BRISTOW In a Speech in the...
...It provided in general that we could construct the canal and establish rules for its government, that it should be neutral, and all nations that complied with the rules which we prescribed should be treated equally in its use...
...This speech of Mr...
...Two years ago such progress had been made that it was thought advisable for congress to provide for its government and operation when opened...
...This ingenious and dishonest argument has been used by designing men to confuse the public mind and cover up the real purpose of this bill, and many sincere and patriotic people have been misled by their declarations...
...This literature has been distributed to hundreds of thousands of teachers, professors in colleges, ministers, lawyers, and other professional men in a most insidious and skillful way...
...The provisions which they fought were retained in the bill, and the canal was freed from their stifling grip...
...These rules we have agreed to maintain, and we are preparing to be able to enforce them...
...This decision, and the practice of years under it, was accepted by England although the treaty of 1815 declared that "no higher or other duties or charges shall be imposed in any of the ports of the United States on British vessels than those payable in the same ports by vessels of the United States...
...Upon the passage of the interstate-commerce act, this pool became unlawful and it was discontinued...
...Taft and Mr...
...The new treaty was entered into and ratified by both governments in 1901...
...If the trade should be so regulated as to make it certain that only bona fide coastwise traffic which is reserved for United States vessels would be benefited by this exemption it may be that no objection could be taken...
...Those railroads practically had controlled traffic by way of Panama since 1878—when there was in operation what was known as the transcontinental railway pool...
...If France and England should be engaged in hostilities, English vessels and French vessels would enjoy exactly the same privileges in the use of the canal...
...To anyone who will study the question, there is conclusive evidence that free tolls would be of inestimable advantage to all of the people, especially these engaged in agricultural pursuits, not only on the Pacific coast but from the foothills of the Rocky Mountains to the Atlantic seaboard...
...They had driven from the inland waterways of the country or whipped into submission every competing craft, and they were determined not to lose control of the Panama route after the canal was constructed...
...They had destroyed effective water competition on all of our rivers and lakes...
...Unfortunately, after this concession had been suggested by the English representatives...
...Their high handed methods resulted in vigorous protest and finally led to the incorporation into the bill of a provision forbidding ships owned by the railroads from the use of the canal...
...Ex-tensive hearings were held and every interest comerned was consulted...
...Let us not now blot the history of this heroic achievement by an act of subserviency to English arrogance or American greed...
...after this diplomatic victory had practically been won by Mr...
...The fact is that there is no monopoly of COASTWISE trade, and all well-informed people know it...
...we have agreed to give none of them a preference over the others in time of peace or war...
...Do Free Tolls Benefit Any Trust...
...After quoting the rules for the use of the canal laid down in the Hay-Pauncefote treaty, Mr...
...By various means the control of these rates has been maintained by the transcontinental railways down almost to the present time...
...THEN BEGAN ONE OF THE MOST SYSTEMATIC EFFORTS TO DEVELOP A FALSE AMERICAN PUBLIC OPINION THAT HAS EVER BEEN MADE IN THE HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES...
...The great--est necessity of our vast farming region today is cheap transportation for its products, and the canal, if free, will become a powerful factor in bringing that about...
...And we have also agreed that the merchant ships of ALL NATIONS that are competing IN THE TRADE of the WORLD shall be given exactly the same treatment as to charges, and so forth...
...Built with the hundreds of millions cheerfully contributed by our people, it is dedicated by us to the service of mankind upon terms that are just, but which we must prescribe independently of the coercive influence of any other nation...
...Thousands of dollars have been expended in disseminating this English view throughout the country and misleading public opinion...
...But, be it said to the honor of the American Congress, they failed...
...England quickly took advantage of her powerful American allies, and as a result we have this bill before us now...
...Mitchell Innes, in charge of the British diplomatic office in Washington, in a letter, under date of July 8, 1912, in which he says: As to the proposal that exemption shall be giver, to vessels engaged in the coastwise trade, a more difficult question arises...
...This waterway is the only one in the United States that is by law made free from monopoly, yet it is now proposed to tax its use while traffic on all others goes free...
...Defeated in Congress, the railroads then shifted their line of battle...
...Their purpose was plain...
...Knox, and American sovereignty established, the senior Senator from New York (Mr...
...In all her diplomatic history, as varied and questionable as it has been, she probably has never won such a unique and surprising victory...
...THE GREATEST CON-TROVEFSY before the committee WAS WITH THE TRANSCONTINENTAL RAILROADS...
...If Japan and Germany were engaged in a war, we have agreed that Japanese and German vessels shall be treated with absolute equality...
...By this statement the English government practically CONCEDED THE POINT AT ISSUE, and if certain Americans had not at that time rushed to her aid against their own government, this controversy would not be now before the American Congress...
...This campaign has been ingeniously carried on...
...And Bristoiv pointed out that the provisions of the Hay-Pauncefote treaty must be construed in exactly the same light with regard to COASTWISE shipping...
...Root) made a vehement speech in the Senate in behalf of the English claim...
...The United States is the proprietor, the owner and operator of this great international highway, and in its management it has agreed to prescribe these rules and has assumed the responsibility of enforcing them") Those rules by their very nature must apply to all nations other than the United States, and by them we have agreed to treat such nations with entire equality in the use of this canal...
...Senator Bristow quoted the decision of the United States Supreme Court holding that since our navigation laws do not permit any foreign ships to engage in coastwise commerce, the exemption of coastwise ships from port charges was not in violation of the treaty of 181...
...That is where the shoe pinches, and that is where this controversy started...
...England Practically Conceded Our Right THE preposterous claim of Great Britain was rejected by Secretary Knox, and the right of the United States to exempt her coastwise vessels from tolls was practically admitted by Mr...
...However, I will say in passing that the tollgate is a relic of the past, and it will never be restored upon American highways nor will it ever be permanently established on any American waterway...
...Through Diplomatic Channels" Railroad Greed, Balked by Congress, Seeksr To Suppress Competition Via the Panama Canal, With England As An Ally By SENATOR JOSEPH L. BRISTOW In a Speech in the United States Senate, May 7, 1914 AFTER the Spanish-American War, when we had decided to construct the canal, it was claimed by some that lor us to undertake to do so without the consent of Great Britain would be a violation of the Clay-ton-Bulwer treaty...
...THEN THESE RAILWAYS RESORTED TO ANOTHER DEVICE TO DESTROY PANAMA COMPETITION...
...THIS THE RAILROADS WERE DETERMINED TO PREVENT...
...These things we, AS PROPRIETOR OF THE CANAL, have agreed to do...
...This pool for a time paid the Panama Railway company approximately A MILLION DOLLARS A YEAR for the privilege of controlling its rates between the eastern and western coasts of the United States...
...They joined their English allies—the Canadian Pacific and the Mexican national Railway, which is operated by an English company—and moved on our government THROUGH DIPLOMATIC CHANNELS...
...And the American Republic, as weak and ineffective as has been her diplomacy, probably in all her disappointments has never experienced such a humiliating episode...
...The canal is ours, the product of our industry and genius...
...The Panama Canal act of August 24, 1912, was the result...
...Doubtless he thought this could be accomplished with less friction with England than to ignore or abrogate the old treaty...
...The truth is that if railroad-owned and trust-controlled ships had not been barred from the canal we would never have had this repeal bill before us...
...They have bottled up the harbors of cities and laid heavy commercial embargoes on communities...
...Others insisted that the treaty was obsolete and had been frequently ignored by England and that we ought formally to declare it void and proceed to construct the canal upon our own motion...
...The allegation of the "repealers" that free tolls benefits only a trust or monopoly IS NOT AN HONEST ARGUMENT...
...Excessive freight rates is today the heaviest burden upon the farmers of the Middle West...
...Every device known to the ingenuity of professional lobbyists was employed to defeat those provisions that sought to free the commerce of the seas from their tyrannical grip...
...That was what these American railroads paid TO SUPPRESS COMPETITION via Panama...
...But if there were, its very existence would bar it from profiting by the use of the canal, beause under the terms of the law its ships could not use it...
...The canal was about to become a great waterway to be used by ships free from their dominion, and genuine competition in transcontinental traffic was about to be realized by the American people...
...The Southern Pacific acquired control of the Pacific Mail Steamship Company, and through that company, by various devices and intrigues which I Will not take the time to relate, was able to force the Panama Railroad Company to enter into an exclusive through billing arrangement with the Pacific Mail on all coast-to-coast trade, which effectively Closed the Panama route to all competitors of the railroads...
...The Monopoly of Traffic via Panama by the Railroads "tHAT BILL was in the committee for weeks...
...The law provides that— No vessel permitted to engage in the coastwise or foreign trade of the United States shall be permitted to enter or pass through said canal if such ship is owned, chartered, operated, or controlled by any person or company which is doing business in violation of the provisions of the act of Congress approved July 2, 1890, entitled "An act to protect trade and commerce against unlawful restraints and monopolies...
...This throttling of Isthmian traffic and competition by the railways has been a great burden to the commerce of large sections of our country...
...Root, as well as other literature upon the English side was circulated by the hundreds of thousands and millions, and paid for out of the funds of the Carnegie Peace Foundation Association, an organization endowed by Andrew Carnegie...
...THE argument that free tolls benefits a trust can have no valid effect, however, because the law which it is sought to change makes it impossible for A TRUST to profit by free tolls, as it specifically provides that NEITHER TRUST-CONTROLLED nor RAILROAD-OWNED SHIPS shall be permitted to USE THE CANAL...
...RAILROAD-OWNED AND TRUST-CONTROLLED SHIPS, those modern pirates of the sea, WERE BARRED FROM THE USE OF THE CANAL, and independent ships in our coastwise trade that compete with- the railroads were given free passage...
...Bristow said: "These are the rules which we have adopted for the control of the canal...
...In order to Inaintain, this commercial dominion the railways have crushed companies, firms, and individuals who have tried to operate vessels in competition with them...
...Advantage to Farming Interests AS I HAVE SAID, I shall not discuss at lengtl the economic advantages of free tolls, because that is not the vital question...
...The railroads thus seeing the dominion of the Panama route which they had so long ,enjoyed about to pass away from them fought the bill with dogged persistence and intense bitterness...
...It was ordained by the law to be a free and independent water highway...
...The result was, however, that Secretary Hay made a new treaty to supersede the existing one...
...The canal was begun, and the work pushed with vigor and has been attended with extraordinary success...
Vol. 6 • June 1914 • No. 23
