The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1896-08-30
BOUNDARY DISPUTES.

i, BOUNDARY DISPUTES.
Disputes as to the location of the
line that divides portions of the earth's
surface claimed by different people
have been some of the results of the
abandonment of nomadic for agricul-
tural life, and have ranged in magnf-
tude from the squabble of the owner of
a city lot or of a farms acres up to
armed contests Of nations We have
had our own contentious with our
neighbors to the north and the south,
and the Democratic party, fifty years
ago, proposed to have our northern
boundary made '4f1fty-four forty or
fight" If 1t had been, Canada's terri
tory west Of the Rockies would be ours;
giving us, with the Alaska purchase.
the control of the entire Pacific coast
from California to Behring's strait A
further consequence would have been
that no Canadian Pacific railway would
now be thorn in the sides of our
vantage or disadvantage of which de-
ponds wholly on the point Of view.
New England, earlier, had it's fever
over the northeastern boundary dis
pute, and Maine armed her militia and
sent them up into the Aroostook region
to build forts and hold the land in spite
of John Bull and his redcoats. This
probably accounts for the belligerent
attitude of New England statesmen to-
wards England in the Venezuela mat
ter.
The annexation Of Texas involved us
in fdrther contention as to the correct
lineftbat divided the acquired terri
toryfrom that Mexico was allowed to
retaM because it was considered worth
lessMT1e difficulty came with the line
west fron thesRio Grande across coun-
try TEXAS, not. content with her own
bigness, Claimed a part of New Mexico,
and. unnindfu of past obligations, de-
man9ed 100000 600 for it's concession,
and she got it. 1t took another $40 000,-
600 to settle Mexico's claim and get the
line established by the Gadsden pur-
chase. Until the rising of Mr.. Towne
as a. statesman, it was thought that
every ineident of our northern boun--
dairy was closed, but he sought fame by
frying to estahlishyas claim to Hunters
Island on our northern Boundary. an eff
fort he has, we believe, abandoned for
the more Immediate one Of getting
back to congress by the sixteen-to-one
route. - Is 49,
putes sink into insignificance beside
the one Maryland is asking the federal
supreme court to adjust between her
self and West Virginia, inherited by the
latter from the mother. state, 1t only
involves a cone-shapede piece, three
fourths of a mile wide at it's base. and
tapering to a point thirty-seven miles
away. but it has been in existence for
150> years. 1t, rose in. the bIunder of
Lord Fairfax, Virginias governor, in
1746. fns mistaking the north branch Of
the Potomac river for the continuation
of that stream instead of the south
branch, Lord Baltimore, proprietor of
Maryland, made protest as soon as
he found it4out, and ever since then the
two colonies and later the states, have
been trying, by the means of commits
sions, the one to keep and the other
to get the strip. The dispute survived
the French and Indian wars, that of
the revolution and of the rebellion, and
is now as frisky as in it's youth. At
last, wearied with the play Of commits
sions, Maryland invokes the aid of the
United States supreme court to decide
it, and the case is one to be submitted
at the coming term.