THE CABINET: Short Chapter

History often pauses in the midst of its twisted centuries of labor; tosses off a neat little chapter in a few years.

As everyone knows, there is the chapter of shorn Colombia, spunky Panama, and the big U. S. In 1903 Panama revolted from its mother-country Colombia, declared itself independent. Colombia accused President Roosevelt of aiding the revolutionaries because he wanted the Canal Zone. Indeed, the President who advocated the soft word and the big stick, was quoted as saying: “I took Panama.” Colombia demanded an indemnity, which was promptly refused. A decade later, President Wilson negotiated a $25,000,000 indemnity treaty with Colombia, but the U. S. Senate refused to comply. Finally, in President Harding’s administration, the Senate ratified the treaty, after striking out an apology to Colombia included in the original draft. Last week, the U. S. Treasury dispatched $5,000,000 to Colombia to pay the last installment of the indemnity. Historians turned over to the next chapter. . . .