(6) Lastly, Article IV of the Hay-Pauncefote Treaty must be read in conjunction with Article II. The latter does not exclusively contemplate the construction of the Canal by the United States, it contemplates rather the construction _under the auspices of the United States, either_ directly at her cost, _or_ by gift or loan of money to individuals or corporations, _or_ through subscription to or purchase of stocks and shares. The question may well be asked whether, in case the United States had not acquired the Canal territory and had not herself made the Canal, but had enabled a company to construct it by the grant of a loan, or by taking shares, and the like, she would then also have interpreted the words "all nations" to mean "all foreign nations," and would, therefore, have claimed the right to insist upon her own vessels enjoying such privileges in the use of the Canal as need not be granted to vessels of other nations. Can there be any doubt that she would _not_ have done it? And if we can reasonably presume that she would not have done it under those conditions, she cannot do it now after having acquired the Canal territory and having herself made the Canal, for Article IV declares that a change in the territorial sovereignty of the Canal territory shall neither affect the general principle of neutralisation nor the obligation of the parties under the treaty. V. I have hitherto only argued against the contention of President Taft that the words "all nations" mean all foreign nations, and that, therefore, the United States could grant to her vessels privileges which need not be granted to vessels of other States using the Panama Canal. For the present the United States does not intend to do this, although Section 5 of the Panama Canal Act--see above I, p. 6--empowers the President to do it within certain limits. For the present the Panama Canal Act exempts only vessels engaged in the American coasting trade from the payment of tolls, and the memorandum of President Taft maintains that this exemption does not discriminate against foreign vessels since these, according to American Municipal Law, are entirely excluded from the American coasting trade and, therefore, cannot be in any way put to a disadvantage through the exemption from the payment of the Canal tolls of American vessels engaged in the American coasting trade. At the first glance this assertion is plausible, but on further consideration it is seen not to be correct, for the following reasons: