Items of Interest January 29, 1903 Issue

Items of Interest

The Panama Canal Treaty was signed January 22 by Secretary Hay for the United States and Dr. Herran for Colombia, conveying to the United States for ten million dollars cash and an annuity of two hundred and fifty thousand dollars for one-half the period of lease and one hundred thousand thereafter, the long-desired canal concession across the Isthmus of Panama. By this instrument, when ratified by the Senate and the Colombian government, the United States, by a series of long leases, with the option of perpetuity, will practically gain absolute control of a tract six miles wide, with the option of extending laterals in any direction fifteen miles to utilize adjacent watersheds; it will have the sanitary and police control of the tract and of the cities of Colon and Panama; it will regulate the tolls, be exempt from taxation in every form, and receive the revenues of the two ports of entry; it secures the unequivocal transfer of the rights, privileges, and concessions of the Panama Canal Company; it assures the neutrality of the canal and the freedom of the ports of entry to the commerce of the world, and provides for the erection of tribunals on the strip to protect and adjudicate American interests. The price to be paid for the rights of the Panama Canal Company is forty million dollars.

The chairman of the Judiciary Committee of the House introduced the following resolution January 14: "Resolved, That the Committee on the Judiciary be, and is hereby, directed to investigate and report to this House, with all convenient speed, the opinion of that committee as to the power of Congress to declare that a necessity has arisen for taking possession of all coal, coal beds, and coal mines in the United States, and all lines of transportation, agencies, Instruments, and vehicles of commerce, necessary for the transportation of coal, and that if, in the opinion of that committee, the power exists, and a necessity for the exercise of such power has arisen, that that committee forthwith report to this House a bill declaring the necessity, providing fully and in detail the occasions, modes, conditions, and agencies for said appropriation that will fully and completely exhaust the power of Congress in that regard." It went to the Committee on Rules.

The administration plan of a gold standard for the Philippines with a special silver coinage, recommended by Governor Taft, was defeated last week, and the minority proposition for the introduction of the American coinage system complete was carried. The substitute passed provides that the lawful money of the United States shall be legal tender on the islands, that the Mexican and Spanish coins shall be redeemed at their bullion value, and after six months no coin shall be legal tender except American money.

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