SENATE PASSES BORAH BILL, ALLOWING FREE TOLLS THROUGH PANAMA CANAL FOR U.S. SHIPS
Washington, D.C. (JFK+50) On October 10, 1921, the United States Senate passed the Borah bill which would "grant free tolls through the Panama Canal for American coastwise ships."
The proposed legislation, considered in an all-day debate on the Senate floor, now goes to the House of Representatives, where, according to the New York Tribune, it will "encounter long and indefinite delay."
The Harding administration and some leading Republicans want passage delayed until the conclusion of the Conference on Limitation of Armaments.
In supporting the bill, Senator Albert Cummins* (R-Iowa) said...
"The United States has the right and...duty...to pass our ships through the canal on more favorable terms than those of any other nation."
*Albert Baird Cummins (1850-1926) was born in Carmichaels, PA & educated at Waynesburg University. ABC served 3 terms as Governor of Iowa & 18 years as United States Senator.
SOURCE
"Senate Votes Free Canal Tolls, 47-31," The New York Tribune, October 11, 1921, www.chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/
