ARTICLE XI. The present treaty shall pe submitted for ratification to the respective Governments, and ratifications hereof exchanged at Washington as soon as possible. In Witness Whereof, We, the respective Plenipotentiaries, have signed the present treaty in duplicate in the Spanish and English languages, and have hereunto affixed our respective seals. Done at the City of Washington, the 9th day of January, in the year of our Lord one thousand nine hundred and nine. (Signed) ENRIQUE CORTES [SEAL] [SEAL] No. 7. MESSAGE OF PRESIDENT TAFT, AUGUST 19, 1912. [House Document No. 914, Sixty-second Congress, second session.] THE PANAMA CANAL. MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, SUGGESTING PASSAGE OF JOINT RESOLUTION RELATIVE TO THE HAY-PAUNCEFOTE TREATY. [August 19, 1912, read, referred to the Committee on Military Affairs, and ordered to be printed.] To the Senate and House of Representatives: Congress has passed a bill for the government of the Panama Canal when it shall have been completed, in section 5 of which it is provided that no tolls shall be levied upon vessels engaged in the coastwise trade of the United States. Under existing law no vessels but those of the United States can engage in the coastwise trade. The same bill provides for the imposition, within the discretion of the President, of tolls not exceeding $1.25 per net registered ton upon all other vessels using the canal. In the debates in the House and Senate it was contended that this was a discrimination in favor of vessels of the United States in violation of the following provision of the Hay-Pauncefote treaty: The canal shall be free and open to the vessels of commerce and of war of all nations observing these rules, on terms of entire equality, so that there shall be no discrimination against any such nation, or its citizens or subjects, in respect of the conditions or charges of traffic, or otherwise. Such conditions and charges of traffic shall be just and equitable. (Art. III, sec. 1, p. 1904.) After full examination of the Hay-Pauncefote treaty and of the treaty which preceded it, I feel confident that the exemption of the coastwise vessels of the United States from tolls and the imposition of tolls on vessels of all nations engaged in the foreign trade is not a violation of the Hay-Pauncefote treaty. But distinguished lawyers in the House and Senate differ from this construction, and the Secretary of State has received an informal protest from the British Government that the contemplated legislation is a violation of her treaty rights. The necessity for the enactment of the provisions of the bill looking to the maintenance and government of the canal I have already explained in a special message, and this necessity makes me anxious to sign the bill. On the other hand, the question of the foreign relations of the Government is one in respect of which the Executive has especial responsibility, and such a protest from a friendly Government, supported as it is by the expressed views of distinguished Members of both Houses, invites the greatest care and the closest examination on our part of our rights under our treaties, with a view to preserving national honor and observing our solemn obligations. I am sure that it is not the intention of Congress to violate the Hay-Pauncefote treaty or to enact anything inconsistent with its provisions, and that it certainly is not its purpose to repeal, by subsequent enactment, the treaty, in so far as it represents the law of the land. It is of the highest importance, however, that this attitude should be made clearly known to the nations of the world, and that we should avoid any apparent justification for criticism. I suggest, therefore, that before the time has elapsed in which I am called upon to express approval or disapproval of this bill Congress consider the wisdom of passing a joint resolution of the following tenor: That nothing contained in the act entitled "An act to provide for the opening, maintenance, protection, and operation of the Panama Canal, and the sanitation and Government of the Canal Zone" shall be deemed to repeal any provision of the Hay-Pauncefote treaty, or to affect the judicial construction thereof, or in any wise to impair any rights or privileges which have been or may be acquired by any foreign nation under the treaties of the United States relative to tolls or other charges for the passage of vessels through the Panama Canal, and that when any alien, whether natural person, partnership, company, or corporation, considers that the charging of tolls or the enforcement of any other regulation under and pursuant to the provisions of this act violates in any way any such treaty rights or privileges, such alien shall have the right to bring an action against the United States for a redress of the injury which he considers himself to have suffered, and the district courts of the United States are hereby given jurisdiction to hear and determine such cases and to decree the appropriate relief, and from the decision of such district courts there shall be an appeal by either party to the action to the Supreme Court of the United States. Or, in the alternative, that Congress recall the bill and insert the foregoing as an amendment to the bill. Unless some such clause is embodied in the law, it would probably be contended that the legislative construction of the treaty given by Congress in enacting the law is binding upon our courts when the question of the rights of aliens under the treaty comes before them. The foregoing provision would avoid such effect and would leave the matter entirely free to judicial construction, unaffected by the political decision of either the executive or legislative branch of our Government. This language negatives absolutely any desire on the part of Congress to repeal the Hay-Pauncefote treaty or to violate its provisions by this legislation and leaves open to any person who deems himself aggrieved by the provisions of the act an opportunity to appeal to our courts. I think the importance of our standing before the world as anxious to give to the world an opportunity to test this question in the courts is an earnest of our good faith in attempting to keep within our treaty obligations. THE WHITE HOUSE, August 19, 1912. WM. H. TAFT. No. 8. PANAMA CANAL ACT. [PUBLIC-No. 337.] [H. R. 21969.] AN ACT To provide for the opening, maintenance, protection, and operation of the Panama Canal, and the sanitation and government of the Canal Zone. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the zone of land and land under water of the width of ten miles extending to the distance of five miles on each side of the center line of the route of the canal now being constructed thereon, which zone begins in the Caribbean Sea three marine miles from mean low-water mark and extends to and across the Isthmus of Panama into the Pacific Ocean to the distance of three marine miles from mean low-water mark, excluding therefrom the cities of Panama and Colon and their adjacent harbors located within said zone, as excepted in the treaty with the Republic of Panama dated November eighteenth, nineteen hundred and three, but including all islands within said described zone, and in addition thereto the group of islands in the Bay of Panama named Perico, Naos, Culebra, and Flamenco, and any lands and waters outside of said limits above described which are necessary or convenient or from time to time may become necessary or convenient for the construction, maintenance, operation, sanitation, or protection of the said canal or of any auxiliary canals, lakes, or other works necessary or convenient for the construction, maintenance, operation, sanitation, or protection of said canal, the use, occupancy, or control whereof were granted to the United States by the treaty between the United States and the Republic of Panama, the ratifications of which were exchanged on the twenty-sixth day of February, nineteen hundred and four, shall be known and designated as the Canal Zone, and the canal now being constructed thereon shall hereafter be known and designated as the Panama Canal. The President is authorized, by treaty with the Republic of Panama, to acquire any additional land or land under water not already granted, or which was excepted from the grant, that he may deem necessary for the operation, maintenance, sanitation, or protection of the Panama Canal, and to exchange any land or land under water not deemed necessary for such purposes for other land or land under water which may be deemed necessary for such purposes, which additional land or land under water so acquired shall become part of the Canal Zone. SEC. 2. That all laws, orders, regulations, and ordinances adopted and promulgated in the Canal Zone by order of the President for the government and sanitation of the Canal Zone and the construction of the Panama Canal are hereby ratified and confirmed as valid and binding until Congress shall otherwise provide. The existing courts established in the Canal Zone by Executive order are recognized and confirmed to continue in operation until the courts provided for in this Act shall be established. SEC. 3. That the President is authorized to declare by Executive order that all land and land under water within the limits of the Canal Zone is necessary for the construction, maintenance, operation, sanitation, or protection of the Panama Canal, and to extinguish, by agreement when advisable, all claims and titles of adverse claimants and occupants. Upon failure to secure by agreement title to any such parcel of land or land under water the adverse claim or occupancy shall be disposed of and title thereto secured in the United States and compensation therefor fixed and paid in the manner provided in the aforesaid treaty with the Republic of Panama, or such modification of such treaty as may hereafter be made. SEC. 4. That when in the judgment of the President the construction of the Panama Canal shall be sufficiently advanced toward completion to render the further services of the Isthmian Canal Commission unnecessary the President is authorized by Executive order to discontinue the Isthmian Canal Commission, which, together with the present organization, shall then cease to exist; and the President is authorized thereafter to complete, govern, and operate the Panama Canal and govern the Canal Zone, or cause them to be completed, governed, and operated, through a governor of the Panama Canal and such other persons as he may deem competent to discharge the various duties connected with the completion, care, maintenance, sanitation, operation, government, and protection of the canal and Canal Zone. If any of the persons appointed or employed as aforesaid shall be persons in the military or naval service of the United States, the amount of the official salary paid to any such person shall be deducted from the amount of salary or compensation provided by or which shall be fixed under the terms of this Act. The governor of the Panama Canal shall be appointed by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, commissioned for a term of four years, and until his successor shall be appointed and qualified. He shall receive a salary of ten thousand dollars a year. All other persons necessary for the completion, care, management, maintenance, sanitation, government, operation, and protection of the Panama Canal and Canal Zone shall be appointed by the President, or by his authority, removable at his pleasure, and the compensation of such persons shall be fixed by the President, or by his authority, until such time as Congress may by law regulate the same, but salaries or compensation fixed hereunder by the President shall in no instance exceed by more than twenty-five per centum the salary or compensation paid for the same or similar services to persons employed by the Government in continental United States. That upon the completion of the Panama Canal the President shall cause the same to be officially and formally opened for use and operation. Before the completion of the canal, the Commission of Arts may make report to the President of their recommendation regarding the artistic character of the structures of the canal, such report to be transmitted to Congress. |