CHAP. Nicaragua. Concessions have been obtained for both LXXVIII these routes, and on the Panama route considerable work was done, and a great deal of money expended, by a French company that became bankrupt. When the war with Spain began, in 1898, the importance of such a canal was keenly realized. One of our finest battleships, the Oregon, was at San Francisco, and was wanted in the West Indies. Her commander, Captain Charles E. Clark, took her down the western coast, through the Straits of Magellan, and northward in the Atlantic to Key West, a run of fourteen thousand miles, at tremendous speed, and was ready for battle on his arrival. Up to that time any proposal that the isthmian canal should be constructed by the United States government had met with strong opposition, on the theory that it was a mere mercantile enterprise and should be left to private capital and energy: This opposition was now hushed, and the government took up the subject. Secretary Hay and Lord Pauncefote, the British ambassador at Washington, signed a treaty, February 5, 1900, for the construction of an interoceanic canal, to take the place of the articles devoted to that subject in the Clayton-Bulwer treaty of 1850. In that earlier treaty it was stipulated that neither the United States nor Great Britain should obtain or hold for itself any exclusive control over a ship canal. By the new treaty Great Britain conceded to the United States the right to build and maintain the canal, and the United States undertook to preserve its neutrality and keep it open to the ships of all nations, whether in war or in peace. The Senate debated this treaty at great length, and finally passed it with important amendments. These declared that the Clayton-Bulwer treaty was superseded, and that none of the stipulations of the new treaty should prevent the United States from taking any measures it might find necessary to secure, by its own forces, the defense of MCKINLEY'S SECOND TERM. 1233 LXXVIII. the United States and the maintenance of public order; CHAP. and an article that provided for inviting other powers to join in the treaty was struck out. The British government declined to accept the treaty as amended. Negotiations were then resumed, and on November 18, 1901, a new treaty was signed at Washington, which received the sanction of the Senate, by a vote of 72 to 6, on December 16. This was ratified by the British government, and was proclaimed February 22, 1902. The provisions of the new treaty are these: It supersedes the Clayton-Bulwer treaty of 1850. It provides that the isthmian canal may be constructed under the auspices of the United States government, either directly at its own cost or by loans to individuals or corporations; and that the United States government shall have the exclusive right of regulating and managing the canal. The United States adopts, as the basis of the neutralization of the canal, rules substantially the same as those embodied in the convention of Constantinople (1888) for the free navigation of the Suez Canal. These rules are: 1. The canal shall be open to vessels of commerce and of war, of all nations, on equal terms; and the conditions and charges shall be just and equitable. 2. The canal never shall be blockaded, nor shall any right of war be exercised or any act of hostility committed within it; and the United States shall be at liberty to police it. 3. War vessels of a belligerent shall not receive supplies of any kind in the canal (except when it is absolutely necessary), and their transit shall be effected with the least possible delay. Prizes shall be subject to the same terms as war vessels. 4. No belligerent shall embark or debark troops or munitions of war in the canal, except in case of accidental hindrance. 5. The same rules shall apply to the waters adjacent to the canal, within three marine miles of either end. CHAP. The rules of neutral harbors also apply here. LXXVIII. 6. Everything pertaining to the canal, for construction, maintenance or operation, shall be considered a part of it and subject to immunity in time of war. The treaty provides that no change of territorial sovereignty, or international relations of the country traversed by the canal, shall affect its neutralization or the obligations of the contracting parties. A commission that had been appointed to examine the route proposed for a canal reported to Congress, December 4, 1901, that to build the canal by the Nicaragua route would cost $189,864,000; and that the directors of the Panama Canal Company demanded $109,141,000 for their franchise, machinery, and work already accomplished, and it would cost $144,233,358 to complete the canal by that route. Hence the commission recommended the adoption of the Nicaragua route, as costing less by about $60,000,000. Afterward the Panama Company lowered its price to $40,000,000, and the commission then recommended that route. The choice of routes has not yet (January, 1903) been made, though the Panama route seems certain to be accepted unless the Colombian government raises insuperable difficulties. It is estimated that it will take ten years to complete the Panama Canal, or eight years to build a canal by the Nicaragua route. The length of the Panama route is forty-nine miles; that of the Nicaragua route a hundred and eighty-three miles. Since the discovery of gold in the Klondike, a dispute has arisen concerning the boundary between Alaska and the British dominions. The American contention is that the line follows the sinuosities of the coast, being everywhere parallel with them and ten marine leagues inland; while the British (or rather Canadian) conten MCKINLEY'S SECOND TERM. 1235 tion is that the boundary is parallel (ten marine leagues CHAP. inland) with a line that leaps from headland to headland. LXXVIII. If this were admitted, it would give Canada control of all the water approaches to the Klondike gold-fields by the Dalton trail, the White pass, and the Chilkoot pass, and also of the Lynn canal and of Skagway and Dyea. The Canadian government, desirous of getting a deepwater harbor, offered to give up its claim to Skagway and Dyea if the United States would give it Pyramid harbor, which is the more westerly of the two upper reaches of the Lynn canal. This offer was declined, as was also the proposal of the Canadian government to submit the matter to arbitration. The United States government would not thus admit that there was any doubt as to the correctness of its interpretation of the treaty by which Russia ceded Alaska to the United States, March 30, 1867. A treaty between the United States and Great Britain had been signed on January 30, 1897, providing for the demarcation of so much of the boundary between Canada and Alaska as lies along the one hundred and forty-first meridian west from Greenwich, it being assumed that the peak of Mount St. Elias is on that meridian. At several points there were discrepancies in the results obtained by the Americans and the Canadians, and in 1900 negotiations were begun for a new survey by means of telegraphic observations. Meanwhile a modus vivendi was agreed upon, October 20, 1899, by which the property rights of settlers of both nationalities are protected. The most serious labor strike in the history of the country was that of the anthracite mine-workers in 1902. These had been organized in 1899, and in 1900 had declared a strike, which was settled by an advance of ten per cent. in wages, and other concessions. In February, 1902, the United Mine-workers asked the opera CHAP. tors to meet them in conference March 12, LXXVIII. and agree upon a wage scale for the ensuing year. This the presidents of the companies declined to do, and they gave their reasons. The matter was brought before the National Civic Federation, but without result. The mine-workers then asked to have the question submitted either to an arbitration committee of five, or to a Roman Catholic archbishop, a Protestant Episcopal bishop, and one other person. These propositions also were declined. On May 15 the mine-workers declared a strike, their demands being these: An increase of twenty per cent. in the pay of those who work by the ton. An eight-hour day, with no reduction of the wage, for those employed by the day. Payment by weight to be based on a ton of 2,240 pounds. The miners had previously obtained the passage of a law by the Pennsylvania legislature which forbade any man to work as a miner in the anthracite field unless he had a certificate of competence based on two years' experience as a laborer. Only about 40,000 men held such certificates, and nearly all of them belonged to the union. The whole number of men involved in the strike was 145,000. The men employed in the bituminous coal-fields refused to join in the strike. The mine-owners attempted to operate the mines with non-union labor, and declared that they could do so if their employees and their property were protected as they had a right to be. But there was serious rioting on the part of the strikers, with numerous murders of non-union men and occasional wrecking of their houses with dynamite; for all of which no one was punished, and no adequate protection was afforded to the men who chose not to be idle. After unaccountable delay, the governor of the State called out militia to suppress the disorder, but to little effect. In In many instances the militiamen fraternized with the rioters. The stock of coal in the market ran very low, and prices |
