PANAMA PROBLEMS.

Auckland Star, Volume XLIII, Issue 141, 13 June 1912, Page 4

PANAMA PROBLEMS.

As. ■__ tb -he. expected, the American ■ Senate has confirmed the decision ar- \ rived at by _ws House of Represenfcatives to let American coastwise trade . through the Panama Canal free of tolls. ; The ajgnmenis in -favour of this- course are so strong that they are practically insupera-ble. This huge undertaking will have cost the Americans in' all probability £80,000s000 by the time it _ finished; and it _ l u__easoi__e to expect, them to forgo the chance of recotrping , themselves and making 'their outlay as far as possible a profitable investment- j It would be equally unreasonable to demand that they should exact as heavy.l •charges from theiT own shipping as from- 1 _a__gne_3 using the Canal, The encouragement of the American mercantile marine is one of the most important problems in practical politics in the United States to-day; and it is from the American standpoint highly desirable that all possible assistance should be given to American shipping, especially when it is engaged in coastal trade. The extension of the American Navigation Laws so as to include the Sa_d,wich Islands indicates clearly enough the line that public opinion has taken on ttcis subject in recent years in the United States. But there'is another argument to be considered that Congress could hardly afford to overlook. One of the chief public benefits that will be secured by the completion of the Canal will be the possibility of bringing the marine transport service between the Atlantic and the Pacific into competition with __ railways, and so breaking down. __5 freight monopoly which the transcontinental railway companies have 6et up. That Congress is determined not to j permit the railway companies to carry on their policy of exploitation undisturbed is evidenced clearly enough by ; its decision to prevent any vessels owned : by railway companies from making use of the Canal. If the railway companies 1 had secured this privilege, they could i have effectually disarmed the competi- . tion that is otherwise certain to threaten ,; them by way of Panama. The resolution to let American coastwise shipping through the Canal tree of dues is thus a : natural and logical corollary to the course that Congress has already taken in issuing this prohibition against the railway companies; and it will obviously serve the double purpose of promoting the growth of American shipping, and . breaking down the system 1 by which the railways have so long controlled the . transcontinental transport trade. Against all these facts, the opponents of this policy can set only one argument —that the American Government has pledged its faith to England not to discriminate between its own mercantile marine and foreign shipping using the Canal. It is undeniable that tbe B_lw_rClayton Treaty of ISSO and the HayPauncefote Treaty of 1901 contain such a provision. But the arguments from equity and national interest are so strongly in favour of the American view of the case that, in our opinion, it would be in the last degree indiscreet and injudicious of England to lay any stress tipon these treaties. In any . case, it would be impossible to enforce them, and- we have no doubt that under the circumstances the Brrtb— Government will acquiesce politely in the policy that the American Senate has decided to adopt.