

CONGRESS. (THE NICARAGUA CANAL.) 



169 



" The provision of our Constitution ' The 

 taxes, duties, and imposts shall be uniform 

 throughout the United States ' was placed there 

 for a purpose, and the purpose was to insure the 

 absolute equality and sisterhood of the States. 



" The framers of the Constitution saw with pro- 

 phetic vision that the differing soil, climate, water- 

 ways, and circumstances of one part might natu- 

 rally lead to the advantage of one part and the 

 disadvantage to another, of our great domain. 

 That it would breed rivalry, strife, and discon- 

 tent; that one part would become more valuable 

 and influential than another. 



" That the money gathered from tariff might 

 be more beneficial and useful to one portion of 

 the country than another, as the pensions are 

 now paid largely in the North. 



" To prevent this strife and turmoil and con- 

 test, and that we might really become one family 

 a sisterhood of States it was determined in the 

 beginning that no State should be discriminated 

 against or in favor of, as concerning duties and 

 imposts. 



" This bill is taxation without representation. 

 It is idle and childlike that we should gather 

 money from them, turn it over to them, expend it 

 for them and for their advancement, instead of 

 permitting them to raise the money themselves, 

 for themselves, and expend it as they see fit. 



" In this land of equity and equality it can not 

 be right that they should be taxed without having 

 any voice as to the method of taxation or the 

 use that shall be made of the money. 



" To my mind the amount of the taxes cuts 

 little figure. King George III offered to strike 

 from the stamp act all but the title. He only 

 required that the colonists should recognize the 

 principle that they were slaves and not free 

 that the king was the master and they were to 

 serve. 



" The advocates of this bill seem to be the King 

 George of this century. Willing to accept any 

 amount so that the principle may be saved; that 

 it may be established; that different taxation 

 may obtain in one territory from that of an- 

 other." 



The measure was approved by the President, 

 April 12, 1900. 



March 2 the President sent to Congress this 

 brief message: 



" Since the evacuation of Porto Rico by the 

 Spanish forces on the 18th day of October, 1898, 

 the United States has collected on products com- 

 ing from that island to the ports of the United 

 States the duties fixed by the Dingley act and 

 amounting to $2,095,455.88, and will continue 

 to collect under said law until Congress shall 

 otherwise direct. Although I had the power, and 

 having in mind the best interests of the people of 

 the island used it to modify duties on goods and 

 products entering into Porto Rico, I did not have 

 the power to remit or modify duties on Porto 

 Rican products coming into the ports of the 

 United States. In view of the pressing necessity 

 for immediate revenue in Porto Rico for conduct- 

 ing the government there and for the extension of 

 public education, and in view also of the provi- 

 sional legislation just inaugurated by the House 

 of Representatives, and for the purpose of making 

 the principle embodied in that legislation appli- 

 cable to the immediate past as well as to the im- 

 mediate future, I recommend that the above sum 

 so collected and the sums hereafter collected under 

 existing law shall, without waiting for the enact- 

 ment of the general legislation now pending, be ap- 

 Iopriated for the use and benefit of the island." 

 A bill was at once introduced in the House and 

 ' 



passed the same day. It was amended and passed 

 the Senate, March 16, and after a conference of the 

 two houses it was finally passed in this form: 



"That the sum of $2,095,455.88, being the 

 amount of customs revenue received on importa- 

 tions by the United States from Porto Rico since 

 the evacuation of Porto Rico by the Spanish forces 

 on the 18th of October, 1898, to the 1st of Janu- 

 ary, 1900, together with any further customs 

 revenue collected on importations from Porto 

 Rico since the 1st of January, 1900, or that shall 

 hereafter be collected under existing law, shall 

 be placed at the disposal of the President, to be 

 used for the government now existing and which 

 may hereafter be established in Porto Rico, and for 

 the aid and relief of the people thereof, and for 

 public education, public works, and other gov- 

 ernmental and public purposes therein until other- 

 wise provided by law; and the revenues herein 

 referred to, already collected and to be collected 

 under existing law, are hereby appropriated for 

 the purposes herein specified, out of any moneys 

 in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated." 



It was approved by the President, March 24, 

 1900. 



The Nicaragua Canal. Dec. 7, 1899, a bill 

 was introduced in the House of Representatives 

 " to provide for the construction of a canal con- 

 necting the waters of the Atlantic and the Pacific 

 Oceans." It authorized the President to acquire 

 from Costa Rica and Nicaragua control of terri- 

 tory necessary for the construction and defense 

 of a ship canal from Greytown on the Caribbean 

 Sea, by way of Lake Nicaragua, to Breto on the 

 Pacific Ocean, and it appropriated the money 

 needed to secure such control. It then authorized 

 the President to direct the Secretary of War to 

 construct the canal, make safe harbors at the 

 terminal points, and erect fortifications for de- 

 fense and for the safety and protection of the 

 vessels using it. Among other details it was 

 provided that the Secretary of War might have 

 the work done by contract, and the limit of ex- 

 penditure was set at $140,000,000. The measure 

 passed the House, May 2, 1900, by a vote of 224 

 yeas to 36 nays; not voting, 92. 



It was reported in the Senate, but consideration 

 of it was put over to the next session of the Con- 

 gress, as the Senate had not taken action on the 

 Hay-Pauncefote treaty. That treaty was made 

 at Washington, Feb. 5, 1900, and it has been com- 

 monly regarded as a renewal of the policy of 

 the Clayton-Bulwer treaty. It is as follows: 



" The United States of America and her Maj- 

 esty the Queen of the United Kingdom of Great 

 Britain and Ireland, Empress of India, being de- 

 sirous to facilitate the construction of a ship canal 

 to connect the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, and to 

 that end remove any objection which may arise 

 out of the convention of April 19, 1850, commonly 

 called the Clayton-Bulwer treaty, to the construc- 

 tion of such canal under the auspices of the Gov- 

 ernment of the United States, without impairing 

 the ' general principle ' of neutralization estab- 

 lished in Article VIII of that convention, have for 

 that purpose appointed as their plenipotentiaries : 



" The President of the United States, John Hay. 

 Secretary of State of the United States, and her 

 Majesty the Queen of Great Britain and Ireland. 

 Empress of India; the Right Hon. Lord Paunce- 

 fote, G. C. B., G. C. M. G., her Majesty's ambas- 

 sador extraordinary and plenipotentiary to the 

 United States ; who. having communicated to each 

 other their full powers, which were found to be in 

 due and proper form, have agreed upon the follow- 

 ing articles : 



" ' ARTICLE L It is agreed that the canal may 



