THE PANAMA CANAL.

Evening Star, Issue 14964, 26 August 1912, Page 6

THE PANAMA CANAL.

HOW IT WILL AFFECT TRADE

Press Association —By Telegraph—Copyright. NEW YORK, August 24. Mr R. P. Schwerin, vice-president of the Pacific .Mail Steamship Company, says ) that the Panama Canal Bill will wipe out j the last American line from the Pacific unless trade with the Orient is developed sufficiently to compensate for the loss of tonnage drawn to Atlantic ports. THE PRESIDENT STGNS THE BILL. A DEFIANT MESSAGE. THE CANAL BELONGS TO AMERICA. WASHINGTON, August 25. I Received August 26, at 9.15 a.m. Mr Taft has signed the Panama Canal Bill. In a statement he has issued the President says no British treaty restricts the United States from using their own canal and aiding their own commerce in a way every other nation is free to do. The United States have absolute rights of ownership, and the sole question at issue is : Have the United States by the HayPaunccfote Treaty deprived themselves of the right to pass their own commerce free or to remit the tolls collected for the use of the canal. Mr Taft points out that the rules specified in the treaty were adopted by the United States as a basis for the neutralisation of the canal, and for no other purpose. The rules were never intended to restrict the United States in the exercise of their sovereign powers over the canal. He adds that the British protest leads to the absurd conclusion that the Government who are constructing the canal, maintaining the canal, and defending the canal find themselves shorn of the right to deal with their commerce in their own way. while all other nations using the canal in competition with American commerce enjoy that right and power unimpaired. Mr Taft also contests the argument that the Bill will affect American shipbuilding interests adversely. . After the notification had been received that the Bill had been signed, Mr Simms, in the House of Representatives, introduced a Bill repealing the provision of free tolls for American coastwise shipping. The member explained that he had the endorsement of a majority of the Interstate Commerce Commission, who intended to avert international complications.

Tlie Bill goes over to the December session.