• We are glad to record that according to Friday's
telegrams a saner appreciation of the merits of the Panama Canal ques- tion appears to be coming over public opinion in the United States. A Reuter telegram from New York quotes a state- ment of the Washington correspondent of the New York Times to the effect that the United States will accept Great Britain's interpretation of the Hay-Panneefote Treaty and will impose equal tolls on American and foreign vessels. Yesterday's debate, adds the journal, "proved that the Senate would soon declare by an overwhelming majority in favour of the strict observance of the treaty." We sincerely trust that this statement may be well founded. No greater blow could be given to the sanctity of treaties than if Congress, at the
bidding of those who are merely on the look-out for shipping subsidies at any price, honourable or dishonourable, were in effect to repudiate a solemn obligation only eleven years old. The Hay-Pauncefote Treaty, though a portion of the Yellow Press denounces it as "a musty document," was concluded in 1901.
