Mower County transcript. [volume] (Lansing, Minn.) 1868-1915, 1890-02-26
I'll E FISHERY QUESTION.

THE FISHERY QUESTION.
whv Selfish Interests Should Not Enter
Into Their Decisions.
If the sea IS incapable of dominion, it
matters not that Russia was the first
civilized power to hold the shores OF
Behring sea. Rights incapable of be-
Ing acquired can not be transferred. If
Behring sea had been what it was not,
gulf entirely inclosed by Russian ter
ritory, with an entrance which could
have been defended from the shores, its
status as q closed sea could possibly
have been transferred to the United
States, although it's shores after
such transfer would be held
by different nations. But, on the
north, Behring Sea is connected
with the Arctic ocean by Behring strait,
which is thirty-six miles wide, and
through which commerce has been car
ried on by the United States for half a
century. On the south, there are in
Vulnerable passes through the Aleutian
islands almost equal in width to Behring
| strait. Between these islands and the
! Commander group, on the shores of Asia,
| there is gap of water where half the
navles OF the world might ride abreast,
and be out OF sight of land and of each
other.
That the seal fisheries ara in danger
OF destruction by pirates and maraud-
ers, reckless of the future, is no justif-
cation for the revival of the claim of
mare chausa'a Thatit is the duty Of the
Government TO do all in its power to
| prevent the indiscriminate destruction
OF the fur seals is admitted; but this
should be done by International ar
rangement. The proposition seems to
have met with the general approval of
the nations most interested, and it is to
be hoped that it will be persisted in
until Behring sea is patroled by police
of the nations.
In order to justify the seizure of the
Black Diamond, the United States Gov
eminent must advocate rules of interna-
| tlonal law inconsistent with those urged
! in connection with the northeastern
fishery dispute, and opposed to the posi-
ton assumed by it in every case which
has arisen in the last hundred years.
On the east shore it is justly and hon.
estly urging liberal and enlightened
policy in consonance with the spirit of
the age. 1t can not afford to support an
illiberal policy of restriction on the
northwest shore.
Our difficulties with Canada should be
treated as a whole, and in liberal and
enlightened spirit. The commercial
and personal relations between the two
countries are too intimate, their present
and future interests are too closely en-
twined, to admit of a narrow and intol-
Grant policy. Questions of commercial
policy and interest should not be per-
mitted to blind people to those princi-
pies of universal right and justice which
are acquiesced in by all civilized ma.
tions, simply because they are
right Commercial relations, tar
ifs, and reciprocity treaties are
for statesmen, to be disposed
of as..the present interests of the whole
country dictate. Questions of interna-
tional law should be for jurists and
courts, and selfish interests should not
enter into their decision. The failure
to appreciate this distinction is one OF
the causes of these dangerous conten
tions growing out of the conflicting views
of fishery rights If the questions OF
law were once solved, negotiations
could proceed with some prospect of a
reasonably satisfactory issue. But so
long as the negotiators start with
directly contrary views of the
law Of the case, there is nc
chance of an issue which one party
will not consider an absolute surrender.
1t would be an easy matter for the
United States and Great Britain to agree
upon case in which the issues of law
involved in the northeastern and north.
western fishery disputes could be stated.
1t is reasonable to suppose that the ma
lions which could submit to arbitration
such burning questions as the Alabama
claims and the fishery trouble in 1871
could agree to submit these purely legal
questions to an international tribunal,
composed of three or five of the great
judges of the world; for instance, the
Chief Justice of the United States, the
Lord Chief Justice of England, and a
third, equally eminent and learned.
The decision of such q tribunal, pro.
nounced after full hearing, would be
received with respect and acquiescence.
With these questions settled, there
would be something tangible, some
point of departure for negotiations 1t
is not to the credit Of the two great En-.
glish-speaking nations of the world tina,
these irritating disputes have extended
over almost the entire history of the
United States. Many questions of great.
or and less Importance have been dis.
posed OF, but these fishery disputes still
remain as fruitful sources of irritation
and bitterness.-Charles B. Elliott, in
Atlantic.
How Altar of Roses Ii Made.
The manufacture of altar of roses fur
nishes employment to hundreds of per.
sons. A visit to the rose-delds is some
thing one will remember lifetime
The largest rose-felds in the world are
at Kezan Lik, in Bulgaria. There the
roses from which the perfume is made
are cultivated most extensively. The