PRESIDENT REQUESTS NEW TREATY BE NEGOTIATED WITH PANAMA
Washington, D.C. (JFK+50) On September 5, 1922, President Warren G. Harding recommended to Congress the "abrogation of the present treaty arrangement with Panama."
The President, reports the Evening Star, said the current treaty was "intended to operate during the construction of the...canal."
A letter from the State Department "formulated by Secretary of War (William Howard) Taft in 1904 was to serve as a modus operandi* during the period of canal construction."
In a letter to Frederick H. Gillett**, Speaker of the House, President Harding writes...
"I am sending you...a copy of a letter...setting forth the desirability of terminating the present treaty...with Panama and the negotiation of a new (one)."
*modus operandi is a particular way or method of doing something, especially one that is well-established.
**Frederick H. Gillett (1851-1935) was born in Westfield, MA & graduated from Amherst College & Harvard Law School. FHG served in both houses of the US Congress 1879-1931 including 6 years as Speaker of the House of Representatives.
SOURCE
"President Asks New Panama Pact," The Evening Star, Washington, D.C., September 5, 1922, Chronicling America, Library of Congress, www.loc.gov/
