The intimate papers of Colonel House arranged as a narrative by Charles Seymour.

196 INTIMATE PAPERS OF COLONEL HOUSE

Huerta's provisional Government if they had carried out
their written promise to call an election at an early date and
abide by its decisions.
'Sir Edward said his Government had not recognized the
Huerta Government excepting as a provisional one, and that
if Huerta undertook to run for President in spite of his promise not to do so, their recognition of him would come up
again as an entirely new proposition. He intimated that in
those circumstances they would not recognize him.
'He wished to know what would happen if we intervened,
and suggested that perhaps the same condition would prevail as in Cuba. I replied that this was a question for the
future, but personally I did not believe intervention would
be as serious as most people thought.
'We then drifted to the Panama Canal tolls question. He
said his Government intended to put two propositions
squarely up to our Government; i.e., whether we desired to
take up the discussion of the treaty as it stood, or whether
we would prefer arbitration. His Government have no objection to our Government giving free passage to coastwise
vessels, so long as it did not interfere with British shipping or
was not unfavorable to it; but just what plan could be devised to bring this about, he did not know. However, he was
willing to take up the discussion with our Government in the
event the free tolls were not abolished by the bill now before
our Senate.
'I suggested that the matter should not be pressed for the
moment, but be left open for the long session of Congress
beginning in December. I explained that the President was
exceedingly anxious to get through his legislative programme
at the extra session; that a reduction of the tariff and the reform of our currency system were almost vital to the success
of his Administration, and that in the Senate he had only a
narrow margin on the tariff and he did not wish to press anything else until these measures were through.