84 ROWE— THE UNITED STATES AS [April 24. 



fulfill manifest international obligations. Indeed, it would seem 

 from the decision in the Debs case that even without specific statu- 

 tory authority, the national executive may do far more than has 

 hitherto been done in maintaining the supremacy of the federal 

 treaty making power. 



The failure of Congress to make adequate provision for the pro- 

 tection of resident aliens has aroused resentment not only in the 

 states whose nationals have suffered most severely, but has seriously 

 injured our reputation for fair dealing throughout the civilized 

 world. The remedy for this situation is so simple that there is no 

 excuse for further delay in making it efifective. 



A second influence which has played an important part in estrang- 

 ing the goodwill of foreign countries is the widespread belief that 

 there exists in the Congress of the United States a. tendency to force 

 upon the executive a narrow and technical interpretation of treaties. 

 Secretary Hay once said of certain senators who attempted to defeat 

 every treaty presented to the Senate, that their idea of a treaty was 

 a document which gained everything for the United States and gave 

 nothing to the other party. The ruthless way in which the Congress 

 of the United States has at times swept aside treaty obligations, and 

 the unwillingness to bring national legislative policy into harmony 

 with our international obligations, have created the impression that 

 the promises of the United States cannot be depended upon, and 

 that even the best intentions of the President and his advisers are 

 apt to be thwarted by the action of Congress. 



The culminating point of a series of instances was reached in the 

 provision of the Panama Canal Act exempting American coastwise 

 shipping from the payment of canal tolls. Whatever may be our 

 opinion as to the desirability of the exemption clause viewed as a 

 question of domestic policy, it is clear from the history of the 

 Clayton-Bulwer and of the Hay-Pauncefote treaties and from the 

 testimony of those who assisted in their negotiation that the United 

 States made no attempt to reserve to itself the right to give prefer- 

 ential treatment to its own merchant vessels. The privileges acquired 

 by the United States under the Hay-Pauncefote Treaty involved 

 certain concessions on the part of Great Britain, for which she ex- 



