CONTENTS Introduction by William Hughes Chapter I.-The Meaning of the Hay-Pauncefote Treaty (a) The Clayton-Bulwer Treaty. (c) The Hay-Pauncefote Treaty of 1900 Page Τ PREFACE HIS work was undertaken for the purpose of showing the meaning of the Hay-Pauncefote treaty; and, while the subject is uppermost in public attention, to give that meaning the widest possible publicity. We concluded, upon examination of the record after President Wilson's brief message asking the Congress to repeal the tolls-exemption clause of the Panama Canal act, that many honest, sincere and patriotic American citizens had, as we ourselves had before examining the subject in a judicial frame of mind, assumed basic conditions contrary to the actual record, and that many had argued upon popular misconceptions of vital facts. We aimed to present a conclusive statement of facts demonstrating that the United States cannot grant free transportation through the Panama Canal to its coastwise and foreign shipping without violating the Hay-Pauncefote treaty. This work is primarily a source book. Chapter I contains the traditional documents and the sections of other treaties which assist one in ascertaining the real meaning of the Hay-Pauncefote treaty. The letters of the negotiators of the treaty supplement these data. By comments and the use of quotations, we aimed to weave this material into a connected whole so that the real meaning of the Hay-Pauncefote treaty would stand out distinctly. In Chapter II we assembled able arguments of public men in favor of the repeal of the tolls-exemption clause of the Panama Canal act. This Chapter and Chapter I are primarily designed to be sources of documents, excerpts from treaties, letters and arguments by others. It is believed that therein are assembled all the documents and arguments necessary to arrive at a correct conclusion. These documents and arguments are widely scattered. They are here assembled in one volume for the convenience of those desiring a correct understanding of this memorable controversy. Chapters I and II contain the essential documents bearing on the meaning of the treaty and excerpts from convincing arguments in favor of the repeal of the tollsexemption clause of the Panama Canal act. These are woven into a connected statement thus combining the source book and connected argument method. It seemed to the authors that this would be the most effective method of presenting the data having a bearing on the meaning of the treaty and the arguments showing that meaning. Owing to the nature of the material used and the manner of using it, it was not always possible to give adequate credit. Readers of the able speeches of Senators Root, McCumber, Burton and Representative Stevens will readily see that great use has been made of their arguments. The addresses of these three Senators and of Representative Stevens are the principal source of the secondary material used in this work. |