Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1895-08-29
England in Alaska.
New Bedford Standard J

New Bedford Standard }
If Father Barnham, a San Francisco
Catholic priest who has just returned
from Alaska, has seen things as they are
England is preparing to appropriate big
slice of Alaska. There has always been
more or less discussion as to whether that
country was worth the price that the
United States paid for it, but there was
no doubt that 1t was bought and paid for
and until within few years there has
been TO dispute about the boundary be
tween Alaska and Canada. 1t was in
1867 that the United States purchased
Alaska, paying for it $1,000, 600. Eng
land did not then raise any question as to
the boundary. For the forty two years of
Russian ownership and for seventeen
years of United States control up to 1884,
no question arose. All maps, charts and
British official documents represented the
line as the United States still claims to
hold it. III 1854, the Dominion OF Canada
prepared some maps in which the line
was changed with no 9th r apparent rea-
son than the desire to appropriate valu
able section of the Alaskan territory.
This was the first step; the second was
for the British government to recognize
the Canadian claim and the third was to
induce the government of the United
States to agree to commission to defin c
the boundary The United States appears
to have been rather lame here, for as IL
boundary had been recognized by every
body for more than half century, there
was no need Of making even quasi
acknowledgment of dispute. At the
present moment, as related by Father
Barnham, the English government has Il
surveying party in Alaska engaged in
stalking off such territory as Great Britain
wishes to acquire, and in working up a case
in behalf of its retention The time that
was allowed to complete surveys and sub
NIT final reports ended Nov %, 1894, but
1t was extended to Dec. 81, 1895, and
England is making the most of her
time.
The lands under dispute are in the
southeastern division of Alaska, in the
region that has been nicknamed the Pan
handle. England claims a strip 800
miles long, and of varying widths up to
$50 miles, including about one hundred
miles of seacoast, with its harbors and
all the adjacent islands. This strip is
one of the most valuable parts of Alas
ka. Within 1t, are located most of that
country fish cannerles which last year
did a business of fully three million dol
lars, There are vast untouched forests,
greater than any in the United States
There are large deposits of copper, iron
coal and marble. 1t is likely that the
British have an eye on the coal fields as
being of great Importance, as their locality
makes them well accessible to the sea
coast.
We do not know what the United
States government is doing, if 1t Is doing
anything, to confirm its csse. The gem
orally tlabby conduct of this admini.tra-
ton in matters where foreign govern
ment is involved warrants suspicion
that the whole of Alaska would go to
England, if England were to set up
claim for it. Still where another nation
seeks TO filoh piece of ground which has
been bought and paid for, it is high time
that somebody got up with a determine
ton to prevent such a robbery.
Senator Harris ard the School Fund.
Washington Post.l
Speaking of Harris said an old
Washington man, formerly of Tennessee
1t Glanced that was in Parson Brown-