No Evasion, Says Taft.

New York Times 100 years ago today, January 26, 1913:
Willing to Rest Panama Case with Impartial Tribunal.
    BALTIMORE, Jan. 25.— President Taft, at the annual banquet of the Merchants and Manufacturers' Association to-night, defended the Administration's contentions in the Panama Canal controversy with England. He said the Administration's attitude was not unpatriotic and dishonorable, and there was no reason for any one to oppose the proposal for arbitration by an impartial tribunal.
    "Whether you call it a subsidy or not, I am in favor of making the transportation rates between the coasts through the Panama Canal lower." said the President. "Now the question is, Can we do that under our international obligations? I think we can, and if you read the authorities I think you'll find we may.
    But if we are bound not to exempt coast-wise vessels, we can agree to submit the question to an impartial tribunal.
    "I'm willing to admit there are arguments on the other side. We are willing, however, to submit our views to arbitration. There is nothing in the attitude of the Administration as I have stated it to show that we have been dishonorable. There is nothing to show a disposition to evade and we are willing to rest our case with a tribunal that is impartial."
    The President closed his speech with an appeal for Constitutional government, endangered, he said, in the last few months. Attorney General Wickersham, Representative Littleton of New York, Gov. Goldsborough of Maryland, and Mayor
    Preston of Baltimore also spoke. President Taft about 11 o'clock started for Washington.