The Dominion. TUESDAY, AUGUST 13, 1912. AMERICAN CHICANERY.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1517, 13 August 1912, Page 4

The Dominion. TUESDAY, AUGUST 13, 1912. AMERICAN CHICANERY.

. 1— There are two separate aspects of the American Senate's insistence upon exempting American vessels from the Panama Canal tolls, and opinions will differ as to which is tho more, important of the-two. These are, tho commercial and the moral aspects of what, is a plain defianco of the spirit and the letter of tho Hay-Pauncefote Treaty. Events do not always bear out the conjectures even of the shrewdest men concerning the effect upon commerce of even such large and important variations of the existing conditions of international_ transport and transit as tho opening of the Panama' Canal must assuredly be accounted. That is why it is difficult ever to feel satisfied about anybody's prediction as to tho effect of the canal upon the foreign trade, of say, New Zealand. The fact is clear, however, that the canal will bring Europe and the Eastern American porta nearer to.Australia by some thousands of miles. But if American vessels are to be subsidised out of American Government funds, British ships will be unable_to_ compete with the Americans. This is an exceedingly important aspect of _ the situation, and some of the American papers are suggesting that Britain may retaliate by manipulating _ the Suez Canal tolls against American shipping interests. But of more real interest, and of perhaps as much actual importance (since The Hague Tribunal may be called in to settle the point), is the cynical disregard of the Senate for the honourable obligations of the United States. The history of the Canal, as we noted • the other day (quoting from the , New York Post) is a tale of broken r faith. Nothing could be clearer than the 1 provision in the Treaty of 1901 that ' the Canal shall be free and open to ' the vessels of commorce and of war , of all nations "on terms of entire equality." The advocates of discrim- • ination in favour of America, liowever, rely uon the fact that the Treaty was drafted before the United States had acquired territorial interests in the isthmus; the • Canal strip, they urge, is American soil, which it was not in 1901. In l reply to this it is argued that Amera ica could riot have obtained her posir, tion in Panama without the favour ' of other Powers. But, comes the L joinder, if America were to reirn- , tiurso American vessels, other conn ' lines could dp the 6a.mo, La.Bt Na

vomber, for example, tho Secretary for War, Mr. Stijison, miido that very point, and Mil. Taft is said to have insisted strongly, in a speech ill San Francisco, upon free passage . for American vessels. This, of course., merely shifts the issue with- ! out altering it. For to exempt ' American vessels outright is no greater an infraction of the Treaty than tho forcing of other nations to adopt a special policy (the policy of ship subsidies) in order to retain some sort of shadow of the substance of equality provided ' for in the Treaty. One redeeming feature of the situation is the uprising of a strong body of protest in America against the proposed breach of faith. Aiviongst the newspapers, the three •Jest and most influential of the Now York journals, the World, Post, and Times, have spoken very vigorously against the chicanery of ignoring tho Treaty. Senator Root and a band of the best men in the Senate . have fought steadily for the preservation of America's honour. Tho cable messages of the last day or two have made it clear that throughout America there is p strong feeling—even if it is the feeling of a minority—that America will be dishonoured Dy the infraction oa _ Treaty in the interests of shipping firms. Knowing that it is in vain to hope for success by appealing only to the moral sense of the American nation, the opponents of the Senate's action have pointed out that if The Hague Tribunal declares the exemption of American vessels illegal, the United States, since it cannot collect the remitted tolls, will be obliged to restore equality by refunding the tolls that will have been charged on foreign ships—a sum that has Deen calculated as "likely to amount to £9,000,000 or more a year. That, we are afraid, is an argument far more likely to appeal to America than the arguments by which tho New York Post shows that discrimination in favour of American vessels will be "a national disgrace" and will "expose the good faith of , the nation to the mockery of the i world." The Australian Parliament • has passed resolutions protesting ! against the proposed violation of 1 the Hay-Pauncefote Treaty, but the British Government roquircs no formal resolutions from Australasia to help it to understand that in this quarter of the Empire there is no sympathy with what appears to be a blow at the movement to extend and improvo inter-Imperial trade.