On Monday President Wilson signed the Panama Canal Tolls Repeal
Bill, which revokes the clause in the Panama Canal Act granting free passage to American coastwise vessels. It will be remembered that the British Foreign Office made representations to the Government at Washington main- taining that the clause in question was irreconcilable with the provisions of the Hay-Pauncefote Treaty, and that in consequence President Wilson submitted an Amending Bill which, in spite of strong opposition, passed through the House of Representatives. The Senate has now accepted the Bill subject to an amendment that it should not interfere with the rights of the United States Government to control the canal, or at any time to exempt American vessels from pay- ment of tolls. But with all deductions, the passage of the Amending Bill is a great personal triumph for President Wilson, who has shown inflexible persistence as well as high moral courage in carrying through a policy dictated solely by a regard for justice and national honour.
