New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1881-11-27
war and to horde of make-beleve soldiers
who never saw aScamp or a battlefield.
PROFESSOR KINDS AGAIN.


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PROFESSOR Kinds AGAIN.
The combative Nova Scotia professor, who a
few months ago appeared in PRINT with an ac-
cusation against the official Canadian statlstl-
clans of classifying the reports OF the Dominion
fish trade to deceive the Halifax Commission,
RETURNS to the charge with a fresh array OF
Goures and argument. lie is evidently not the
sort of person to be put down by the ridicule
and abuse To which nc has been treated by
q norton of the Canadian press or by the con-
| temptuous silence with which the Canadian
Government has passed by his statements. lie
now reprints his former letters and adds new
one addressed to the Marquis of Lorne, in
which he reviews the history of the Commission
businoss and makes another appeal for confess
sion and reparation on the part of the Cana
dian authorities Professor Kinds also pub
fishes n letter to the Earl of Kimberley, the
British Secretary of State for the Colonies, in
which he accuses the Dominion Government
of grossly exaggerating the value of the
lands and misreprcsentinS the character OF the
climate of the unsettled region between Win
nipeg and the Rocky Mountains, for the pur-
pose of advancing railroad schemes and attract
ing immigrants. With this question, as Il
pnrely Canadian affair, we in the United States
can have no concern.
With the matter of the fisheries award and
the statistics upon which it was based, our only
interest is one of curiosity to know the full ex-
tent to which we were dupcd and oyerrcached
1t would, Of course, be pleasing to us if Great
Britain should take up Professor llinds's
charges, sift them thoroughly, make an explain
alton of the inflated statistics if any can be
made, and if not frankly apologize and offer TO
make good to us the amount the Halifax Com
mission unjustly compelled us to pay. This,
however, we have no lively expectation of ever
seeing come to pass. Our Government, 1t
should be understood, is not asking any action
in the premises. The business was settled by
tribunal TO which we agreed that it should be
submitted, we paid the award adjudgcd against
lis, and that ended the matter so far as We are
concerned. True, we now see that We were
outwittcd in the appointment of the Commits
sion, that the umpire was practically named by
Great Britain and was in his feelings rs much
an Engiishman rs a Belgian, and that our own
case was poorly presented and weakly de
fendcd but for all tins our own diplomacy was
chiefly Mt fault. We know that the umpire
took the short cut Of halving the Canadian
claim, and assuming that to be fair adjustment
because it split the difference between an ex
acgcrated amount and nothing, never invcsu-
eating with any care the nmsy grounds upon
which the demand of the provinces for DAM
ages rested Still, as we accepted the judge we
were bound by the Judgment. however illogical
YVES the process by which twas made up. After
it was rendered we paid the money without hest
tation or complaint; and while we are not eX-
pecting or asking to have any part of it paid
back, il does seem to the American public as II
such explicit charges as those of Professor
Kinds deserve other treatment than silence
from the Canadian authorities IL is no answer
TO them for the Canadian newspapers to say
that their author is crazy or is a blackmaicr.
The Professor has been trusted with important
official positions in times past. He must have
been regarded rs u trustworthy sort Of person
when he was put in charge of the Canadian
Assiniboinc and Saskatchewan Exploring Ex-
petition, and later when lac made the
compiler of the analytical index to the docu
ments of the Halifax Fisheries Commission
Furthermore, the figures cannot he crazy If he
is. Professor Kinds contrasts the tables of the
official trade returns of the Canadian fisheries
with the statements ostensibly compiled from
those returns and laid before the Commission.
Here, he says in substance, are the genuine
figures here are the inflated ones. The differ
ence is 50 much the object of classifying the
statistics was to eXaggcrate the value of the
Canadian fish catch aud of the privileges given
to the Americans, and thus TO secure an unjust
award this object was attained now let us
acknowledge the fraud, put the responsibility
where it belongs, and make reparaion.
The whole question at issue would seem 10 be
one of arithmetic. The statistics compiled for
the Commission are of record so are those in
the trade reports. What is the explanation of
the discrepancy 1t is not, rs we have said the
part of the United States to ask for an explana-
ton, because the whole business has been adiu-
dicated 1t would seem, however, 10 be only
courtesy and fair dealing for Canada to nvcsti-
gate the charge that the adjudication was made
upon Il false presentation Of evidence. In the
interest of future affiliations Of international
disputes, this matter should not remain an open
scandal. A few millions of dollars are of small
account TO either of the two great English
speaking countries which now lead the van of
the worlds progress, but it is of great impor-
lance that the peaceful method of settling
differences which they adopted in the eases OF
the Alabama claims and the Fisheries contro-
versy should not fall into disrcpute.
TIE ABUSE or RTDICULE
On recent Sunday stranger listened to one
of fl,a ola Of 81,