Asks For Subsidy Or Canal Tolls.

New York Times 100 years ago today, April 2, 1913:
American Association for International Conciliation Wants Controversy Ended.
POINTS OUT ENGLISH RIGHTS
In Any Event It Is Insisted That This Country Should Not Refuse Arbitration.
    The American Association for International Conciliation gave out yesterday for publication a petition addressed "to the Congress of the United States," In which it asked that immediate steps be taken to settle the controversy between Great Britain and this country over the Panama Canal act. The petition suggests three courses to bring about a satisfactory settlement. It reads:
    " The American Association for International Conciliation exists for the purpose of developing good-will among the nations. In the belief of the association, such good-will can rest upon a sure foundation only when it is based upon a good understanding between the nations. Considered in the light of this high purpose of promoting international good understanding and good-will, the association is deeply concerned by the controversy which has arisen between Great Britain and the United States as to the provision of the Panama Canal act which exempts American coastwise shipping from the payment of tolls.
    "It is not the function of this association to discuss the merits of the question involved; but it respectfully asks the attention of the Congress to the following considerations:
    "1. In view of the great difference of opinion existing in the United States, both in Congress and out of it, as to the propriety of this exemption, it is not strange that there should be a difference of opinion as to its propriety between the Government of Great Britain and the United States Government.
    "2. Sir Edward Grey, in his official note, admits that the United States is free, if it wishes to-do so, to subsidize its coastwise shipping by direct payment of a sum equal to the canal tolls. Mr. Knox, in his reply to Sir Edward Grey, defends the exemption from tolls of our coastwise shipping on the ground that, despite its form, it is, in fact, only a subsidy, and therefore permissible, in accordance with the spirit of Sir Edward Grey's note.
    "In this presentation the question appears to be whether, under the Hay-Pauncefote Treaty, the United States is free to give a subsidy to its coastwise shipping, by exempting it from canal tolls. In view of the international question which has grown out of the differences of opinion on this point, the American Association for International Conciliation respectfully submits to the Congress this question:
    "'Why not put an end to the controversy by granting a subsidy, in express terms — if it is the intention to do so — instead of by indirection and in a form that raises an international dispute of this character?'
    "3. The American Association for International Conciliation very respectfully, but with all the earnestness that it can command, urges the adjustment of this dispute, first, either by the rescinding of the clause granting free tolls to American coastwise shipping; second diplomacy; and third, failing either of these, by international arbitration before The Hague Court.
    "In the opinion of the association the suitability of the question at issue for submission to arbitration is not open to dispute, whether under the existing arbitration treaty with Great Britain, or without any treaty. This association rejoices in the fact that the United States has, in the past, led all the nations of the world in its willingness to resort to arbitration as a means of adjusting international controversies even of a most serious character. The association cannot believe, for one moment, that either the Congress or the people of the United States will hesitate to submit to arbitration a question so insignificant as that now under discussion. Is the United States free, under the terms of the Hay-Pauncefote Treaty to do, indirectly, in this particular fashion, what by common consent it is free to do by a direct subsidy? If the United States urges that what it is free to do without criticism by a direct subsidy, it ought, therefore, be free to do indirectly; the other question may also be ask    ed: Why should the United States be exposed to the charge of bad faith or be asked to go to arbitration to determine the right to act in this particular manner when, by acting directly in the manner admitted by Great Britain itself to be beyond challenge — that is to say, by granting a direct subsidy — the whole controversy may be disposed of? Is it even possibly true that the Congress of the United States is willing to pay a subsidy by indirection, and is unwilling to pay such subsidy directly and openly?
    "The American Association for International Conciliation therefore earnestly urges Congress, either to provide that American coastwise shipping using the Panama Canal shall be subject to the same tolls as all other shipping, the Government itself undertaking to pay the amount of said tolls, or else that the clause providing for the exemption of tolls in the interest of our coastwise shipping be rescinded, or, failing the adjustment of the controversy in one or the other of these ways, or through diplomacy, that the question in dispute be referred at the earliest possible moment to arbitration.
    "The form which the settlement shall take is comparatively unimportant, but it is vital to the good name of the United States that its willingness to arbitrate a question like this shall not be doubtful for one moment.
    "For the United States deliberately to refuse to accept arbitration on a question like this would be to abdicate its proud position as the leader of the civilized world in the resort to arbitration for the settlement of international disputes, and that under conditions in which for the first time in its history it could not confidently appeal to the considerate judgment of mankind."
    The petition was signed by ex-Mayor Seth Low, George Blumenthal, President Nicholas Murray Butler of Columbia University, Stephen Henry Olm, Representative Richard Bartholdt, and James Speyer, representing the association.