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About The Sunday Oregonian. (Portland, Ore.) 1881-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 19, 1920)
l'r. I- : .-. ,f. - -- -.. THE SUNDAY OREGONIAN, PORTLAND, DECEMBER 19. 1920 W: in- a -. i 4 .Vt . ' 1 - - ,..1 - ( a 1 ill DECLARED IS PLEDGED IN TREATY tha use of the canal on terms of en tire equality, without discrimination in respect to tolls or otherwise. This position she has always held, and promptly on the passage of the law mat gave -a preference to American ships, notified the state department that that clause constituted what the British government looked upon as an infraction of the treaty. That we induced that country to part with Ooenillnn nf Rulnlrp nl Vnumlto I ner privileges upon mat condition is GRATER LAKE PLAN GIVEN REMEDY FOK SO-CALLED XEG- LECT IS OFFERED. Other Side of Canal Tolls .S-E.'"1:.,"1 Question Presented. SPIRIT OF LAW IS CITED Entire Equality Declared Founda tion of Pact and Selfish Aims Disavowed In Agreement. PORTLAND, Deci 13. (To the Ed itor.) Having no doubt of your de sire to fulfill the mission of a great newspaper, a part of which is to give the public different aspects of all questions of national policy, I ask, in full confidence that you will grant it, the courtesy of your columns In urder to set forth the other side of uage of the existing treaty, which was the outcome of the representa tions and negotiations) referred to.. To this may be aded the important circumstances under which the pro posed amendment that declared the right of discrimination was voted down: The proceedings, including the debate, were carried on in the full knowledge of the report of. the chair man of the foreign relations commit tee of the senate. Cushman K. Davis, on the first convention, from which I quote as follows: "The United States cannot take an attitude of opposition to the great act of October, 1888, (the neutralization and'equality clause of the Sues canal convention, which was incorporated into the Hay-Pauncefote treaty) with out discrediting the official decla rations of our government for 50 years of the neutrality of the Isth- Xalional Parks Cited " ( . Good .Investments. PORTLAXD, Dec. 18. (To the Ed itor.) Your editorial on the neglect of Crater lake, while It covers the situation as well as could be done in so short a space, does not sufficiently indicate the remedy. Much has been done in the last two. or three years, and particularly in the last year, to make Crater lake more accessible by the Improvement of our main state highways and by the building of new laterals, both from Medford and Klamath Falls to Crater lake. Pre viously the government had expend ed a generous sum in a road system within the park, but its programme now lags behind that of the state. While Mr. Mather is the arch enemy of Crater Lake park, this is due mian canal and its equal use by all rather to temperamental defects, of- nations without discrimination. The nclal inexperience and lack of con Suez canal makes no discrimination structive capacity than to deliberate in its tolls In favor of Its stock- intent. , He cannot be Justly blamed holders. We will never find It neaps- for the small amount of money asked the question so ably argued by you sary to differentiate our rates of toll for and appropriated to this park any In favor of free tolls for American ships doing so-called coastwise busi ness through the Panama canal. I regret very much that the array of facts is such that they cannot be -etated briefly. The language of the treaty entered ' into between the United States and Great Britain November 18, 1901, is as follows: "Article 3, section 1 The canal shall be free and open to vessels of commerce' and of war to 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 secure a very great profit on our in vestment. Selfish Alms Disavowed. Then he goes on to say at some length in ' unequivocal language that the United States didn't claim and wouldn't accept terms that were more generous to itself ttoan to other mar itime nations. "To set up the selfish motive of gain by establishing a monopoly of a highway that must derive its rev enue from the patronage of all mar itime countries would," he says, "be unworthy of the United States if we respect to the conditions and charges owned the country through which the The senate that ratified the treaty of traffic, or otherwise. Such condi tions and charges of traffic shall be just and equitable." The language of the law passed in 1912, since repealed and which it is now proposed to revive, is as follows: "No tolls shall be levied upon ves sels in the coastwise trade of the United States." Exception Held Intended. On the face of it there is. of course, in favor of our own people in order to more than he can justly lay claim to any credit for the large sums appro priated for the other parks. These matters are determined by a numbor of things, chiefly by the number of people who use the several parks, and this again is determined by their ac cessibility, the stage of their devel opment and the demand for improve ment on the part of the people who use them. There were in 1920 more than 1,000.000 visitors to all the na tional parks and only 20,000 of these are credited to Crater lake, in spite of the fact that all employes, conces sioners and other repeaters were counted each time they entered the park. Probably not more than 18.000 people visited Crater lake in 1920. Crater lake is the link in the chain of national parks between Rainier on the north and Yosemite on the south. Rainier had more than 80,000 visitors and Yosemite more than 150,- OOO in 1920. Is it any wonder mat Yosemite demands 1575,000 for 1921, on top of S950.000 already spent, to keep pace with the demands on It? It is a mighty good investment and had before it two questions: First Has this nation the right- a right so clear as to make an asser tion of it unnecessary to discrimi nate in favor of ships owned by its citizens as against those owned by the citizens of other countries? Second The question having been raised in the discussion, "Shall this body introduce into the treaty a stip- no question that the law contravenes uiation that shall give it that right?" ine treaty; out me language oi an instruments, including treaties, is of course subject to interpretation. And it is claimed by the advocates of the law that the intention of the treaty was to except the United States, as owner of the canal, from the condi- the American people approve of it. Anri anoworori hmh niitinns in the Is it any wonder that Rainier park v w w. - 1 .J J , H J AAA Ifiqi . 1. .... with the procession? It will, cost that much and it is worth it. Twenty six thousand dollars is an adequate sum to enable poor old Crater lake to limp along in Its present place In negative. Discrimination Held Proved. Tt is claimed that the proposed ex emption, applying as it does only to American vessels engaged in traae. tion of "no discrimination against any that under our present laws cannot tne procession. Why?. This is the such nation." etc.. so that the treaty in effect reads that "there shall be no discrimination in favor of any such nation except the United States. Such color of probability as this far-fetched inference, from what the be entered by foreign tonnage, is not discriminatory, but it has been proved abundantly that such exemption would be of that nature. Mr. Root did not hesitate to use the word "dis crimination" in his great speech of treaty stated and from what it failed January 21, 1913; Senator Bard used to state, might have if the language it in his prosed resolution, stood alone without interpretation, And Mr. Root further said that the fades away in the light of the defeat, exemption clause In the original law by a vote of 47 to 23, of the follow ing resolution introduced by Senator Bard of California in the debate on the first convention: "The Lnited States reserves the right in the regulation and manage ment of the canal to discriminate in respect of the charges of traffic in favor of vessels of its own citizens engaged in the coastwise trade." The failure of this resolution finally dispelled the improbable theory that the great constitutional lawyers of the senate left to the "mental manip- had produced "a painful impression throughout the world that the United States has departed from its often an nounced rule of equality of opportu nity in the use of the Panama canal and is seeking a special advantage for itself in what is believed to be a violation of the obligations of the treaty. That opinion of the civilized world is something which we may not rightly disregard. "A decent respect for the opinions of mankind' was one of the motives stated for the purpose of these colonies in the great Dec- reason : At Rainier 138 of the leading busi ness men of Puget sound have al ready spent $350,000 developing the hotel facilities and other accommoda tions for tourists and are engaged in carrying out a - programme for the expenditure of $500,000 more. When this is spent they will probably make it . another $500,000. At Yosemite more than $500,000 has already been similarly spent and the business men of California have devised and are carrying out a comprehensive plan of developing tourist accommodations to cost $5,000,000. This is not being done on account of Mr. Mather' o" through his influence, but in bp' ', of him. simply because the people j these states recognize both the . ! nnrtnnitv and tha nprasssl t V for no- I ing this work. At Crater lake, outside the efforts uiation" of inconclusive inference so I laration of American Independence." I of one man, how much money has important a condition as the ertemp tion of the United States from the rules that bound all the nations of the world. In other words, such im probability merges into the certainty that they were guilty of no such lapse, intentional or otherwise, but that this nation was to stand on ex actly the same basis as all others in the matter of tolls. .Spirit of Law DiMClosed. So much for the letter of the law. Now for the spirit, as evidenced the history of the negotiations that led up to the treaty. The facts in the case are as follows: Some time prior to the year 1850 the United States, which had then recently made great str'd'es toward- becoming world power, proposed cutting a ca nal across the isthmus that sep arated the two oceans, but found Great Britain in control of the eastern In conclusion I submit that even if been spent during the last ten years a good legal and technical case may I to develop tourist accommodations oy be made out for our rieht to discrim- me people of Oregon: ivoi one penny, Inate as nroDosed which eminent con-I mis is not due entirely to inainrer stitutional lawyers and statesmen ence. lack of appreciation, lack or. claim cannot be done), we should take I enterprise or lack of wealth on the broader view. part of our people. It Is due largely Bj.. I 'o the sinister influence and vicious . . . . . . attitude of the director of the na quest, surrendered, first, an equal share and later all of her rights in the canal on the sole condition of equal terms to all. and interpreting the exemption clause to be a. breach of that condition, as do all the nations of the world except the United States and we are not agreed among our selves on that point we should not array ourselves against Great Britain and the world by the "arrogant asser tion of our own interpretation of the treaty which would force England to submit to what she believes to be in end of the route and possessed of I justice or go to war." other advantages that made the car- There is an arbitration treaty be rying out of the project impossible I tween this country and Great Britain without her co-operation. We there-1 under which exactly such cases as fore asked that co-operation and the I this may be submitted to an inde- nerotiations resulted in the Clayton-1 pendent tribunal, and by agreeing to Bulwer treaty of 1850, which was en-1 abide by the decision of the court of tered into at the urgent request of The Hague we shall maintain the this country and was looked upon as honor of the nation, disarm criticism tional park service. That influence has not touched Crater lake alone Other concessioners in Rainier. Yo semite and other parks have had sim ilar or worse doses of outrageous in justice than was inflicted on the con cessioners at Crater lake. Enos Mills of Colorado is throwing some inter esting side lights in the National Press on that gentleman's methods. However, Oregon is interested pri marily in Crater lake. The conces sionej-s at Crater lake have given every visitor who wanted hotel ac commodations up to 1919 more in the way of transportation, food and co fort than he . had a right to expect for the money he paid under the con dntlons that existed. Ninety per cent of the guests concede this and many more have been unstinted in their praise of the place and not a few were outspoken in their denunciation a rnncession hv Enirlanri to a friendlv I and cement friendship between us and I of the attacks made by Mr. Mather me omer great Angio-oaxon nations im iew mings inai trt juk cauoi- power. Mr. Rives, the special envoy of the United States, sent to London to negotiate a treaty that should give this country equal rights with Great Britain in the proposed canal, was instructed to say and did say, to Lord Palmerston, that "The United States sought no ex elusive privilege or preferentialTlght of any kind in regard to the proposed communication and their sincere wish if It should be found practicable, was to- see it dedicated to the common use of all nations on the: most liberal terms, and a footing" of perfect I,,. . IT... all Ko. fha ITnltDil I KlglllS equajiij 111 ' . . l -" . , . . . v States would not, if they could, ob tain any exclusive right or privilege in a great highway which naturally belonged to all mankind." Of this declaration. Elihu Root, con fessedly the leading constitutional lawyer of this country, said that it "is the corner-stone of the rights of of the world. WM. D. WHEELWRIGHT. Five automobile stage line owners representing different sections of the state, met Friday afternoon at the the United tSates on the Isthmus of I Imperial hotel and the day previously Panama." but that declaration is not I at the offices of the White company ail, by any means. Shortly after the and decided To support state leglsla- war of 1861-5, the United States be-1 tion favorable to the granting of came restive under the conditions of franchises to the respective com the treaty and the question was raised panles they represent. Among those as to whether they were still binding who attended the conference were upon us. On this point Richard Ol ney, Mr. Cleveland's secretary or state (a great democrat, as Mr. Elihu Root was and is a great republican) is sued the following memorandum: for complaint can be remedied only by the expenditure of money, as they were matters of the physical condi tion of the plant and not defects of management. The problem to be solved at Crater lake is not one of management Mr. Mather to the con trary notwithstanding -but is purely and simply a question of dollars. A metropolitan high-price hotel there will not only be out of place, but will be a financial failure. In 1919 and 1920 the hotel accom modations at Crater lake were in- on Various State Highways adequate to meet the demands be cause of lack of faculties and will be still more so in 1921. yet nothing is being done to remedy the situation. Mr. Mather has tried for five years to interest capital in Crater lake and has succeeded only in proving to the satisfaction of all Oregonlans that any man who would Invest his money where it could be subject to confisca tion or to the caprice of an erratic or unscruplous government official would need a guardian. Nevertheless It is a groundhog case and something must be done. The tourist programme of the entire west is being retarded by the lack of development at Crater FIVE OffXERS OF LIXES LAY LEGISLATION" PLANS. to Be Asked in Bill to Go Before Legislature. James Stranahan of Hood River, W. L. Lewis of Medford, D. H. Gorst of Marshfield and A. Jaloff and Frank Shepherd of Portland. It was decided by the stage line "Upon every principle which gov- I proprietors to co-operate in the mat- erna the relation, to each other either ter of presenting a bill to the legis of nations or of individuals, the Unit- lature which will provide for the ed States is completely estopped from granting of auto stage franchises on denying that the treaty Is in full force I various state highways, according to and vigor. - I one or tnose wno attended. It is "Second. If changed conditions now I contended by the stage line opera- make stipulations which were once ! tives that at present there is Indl- deemed advantageous, either inap plicable or injurious, the true remedy is not In ingenious attempts to deny the existence of the treaty or to ex- ' plain away Us provisions, but in a di rect and straightforward application to Great Britain for a reconsideration of the whole-matter." .And that is what was done. Mr. Blaine, United States secretary of state in 1881, had written Mr. Lowell, our minister to Great Britain, direct ing him to propose to that power a modification of the Clay ton-Bui wer treaty, and to say: "Nor in time of peace does the United States need to have any exclusive privileges ac corded to American ships in respect to precedence or tolls." Entire Equality Promised. The nay-Pauncefote treaty was en tered into on that stipulation, and finally secured for the United States the sole ownership of the canal, in cluding all the privileges that had belonged exclusively to Great Brit ain, without compensation to that country, which prescribed the Single condition that all nations should have vidual competition which, after one of the bus concerns has worked up a good business on a certain run. splits up the traffic on that run until trade Is sufficient for no one concern. If they are granted franchises, the companies assert, they expect to be operated as any other traffic convey ance and wish state supervision as to the safety of passengers and qual ity of service rendered the public. Travelers to Hold Session. The annual meeting of Post A. Ore gon and Washington division of the Travelers' Protective association, will be held at the Multnomah hotel at 2 P. M December 29. Election qf officers and delegates to the state convention will take place. In the evening the annual dance and card party will be held for members of the association, their women friends and guests. The entire mezzanine floor of the Multnomah has been reserved for -the occasion. Phone your want ads to The Ore- gonian. Main 7070, Automatic 660-95. The Merchants' Problem of Today Prices are tumbling val ues of merchandise stocks decreasing. Don't let your competitor beat you to it. Get the Money NOW We Are SALES SPECIALISTS at your Service Anywhere' Write ibr terms 'and dat ing TODAY. All corre spondence confidential. Address C. W. ROBERTS, Sec'y 431 Artisans Bldg. Portland, Or. lake. What should be done and how can It be done? First, get rid of Mr. Mather. Failing this, see to it that the next secretary of the interior deprives him of the power to carry on a campaign of malice and destructive criticism that can do no possible good, yet does do great harm. This will clear the decks lor action. Second: Form a corporation to take over existing in terests and sell preferred stock to the business men of Oregon the money thus raised to be spent for one pur pose only the creating of additiona facilities for the accommodation of tourists in the park. Every business man in Oregon who has any interest in the future of Oregon ought to be glad of the chance to take at least one $100 share. Even if he never received a cent of direct returns, the enormous indirect returns" to the state would more than pay each subscriber in his added in dividual prosperity. The tourist dol lar is a new dollar and everybody gets a whack at it In one way or an other. But as a matter of fact it will pay dividends from the start. It is not developing a new field or a new industry. Crater lake is a going con cern right now and will grow more rapidly in the next few years in pro portion than either Rainier or Yo semite, because It is behind its nor mal and logical development and must and will catch up to its proper place in the procession. Five hundred thousand dollars should be spent in developing the tourist accommodations at Crater lake, but it should be spent over a period of years and not in a lump sum or as Mr. Mather dictates. Not less than 150,000 should be spent there in 1921. The experience of that season will determine the amount that should be spent in 1922 and what it should be spent for and so on each year, till the maximum development has been achieved. Then the govern ment will spend $100,000 a year or any other sum that is necessary to properly develop and maintain the park. Oregon has no possession n which it can so well afford to spend develop ment funds or one that it can so 111 afford to neglect. What will be done! ALFRED L. PARKHURST, President of Crater Lake Company. A small spirit' stove, which will burn liquid fuel and yet may be car ried in bag or pocket without leak ing, is a new convenience. "The wick into which the snirit soaks hv nn11-. lary attraction. 42 peauttful i atnttngg (Original and Copied Subjects) At y2 Off This is the event for gift 'seekers and home decorators. An unusual opportunity to secure beautiful original and copied sub jects of oil paintings at half their regular prices. ' Included are paintings by French, Dutch, Persian and American artists. Marines, Landscapes and Figures. All pictures are appropriately framed. Originally Priced $50.00 to $300.00 Sale Prices $25 to $150 (Tax to be Added) Meier & Frank's: Burlington House, Seventh Floor. N I- I A Willi iiiiiiniiiniiwf: ; yniHimmiiimiiiiHi Si A Phonograph bought at Hyatt's is backed by a service that makes satisfaction complete ii To the wiles and wishes of all! To their moods and manners, fads and fancies! A Gift of Clliaon Happiness is an. investment, the dividends of which are meas ured in emotions which inspire kind thoughts. t Nothing more deftly conjures happiness than, music, and be cause of that, every home should have a phonograph the most versatile of all the world's instru ments: plays all. Choice of Four Famous Makes at At Hyatt: 1 bLwS' , Hi ; a UP O D Above Edison type $295 on easy terms , Iff Irfff A MONTH Payments Are Less Than 17 Cents a Day Hundreds of homes will ring with cheery phonograph music on Christmas morn and Hyatt's, proud to say, is a very gener ous contributor to that happiness. Please let us have your order early and be SURE. f Grafonola Edison Brunswick Victrola I Open Evenings Until Christmas Hyatt Talking Machine Co, 350 Alder Street f'4 if r - . 4 t . i . V-1; V"' 1 V I 1 i . . ' - iiilriatt.jT,l--.fc , ! . -ZL .. .v.-.-.-.-"-