The Montgomery advertiser., 1902-10-03
A New Page of California History

During this month of SeptemDer one oL
 the greatest ethical events Of the age mas
 been associated with the fame Of Call fornia. Ocean cables have told Of the as
 sembling of the Ha sue Conference as the
 acknowledged Supreme Court of the
 world. At the first meeting of this au-
 gust tribunal the arbitrators have been
 met with the problem which has long d.
 yided the United States and Mexico.
 As the student of California history $
 aware. the Pious Fund originated In lo9',
 in gifts made in trusts to the Society or
 Jesus for the establishment and support
 of Catholic missions among the Indians
 of California. When Mexico became ln-
 dependent junta was established there
 for the charge of the fund. After the ces-
 sion of California to the United States,
 Mexico ceased to pay the interest due
 and the non-payment of arrears was pre-
 sented in a claim by the prelates of Cal ifornia before the mixed commission Edward Everett Hale says in recent is- sue of The Boston Transcript: rhe case was carried before the British am bassadors Sir Edward Thornton as um-
 ,pire, the Mexican delegate and United States disagreeing. held that the interest
 of the fund should be apportioned equaily between the church. in Upper and that
 in Lower California, and that Mexico should pay to the Upper California Church an annual interest Of S45,VSo'9S' which for twenty-one years from Febru. ary l, 1S4S to 1869. when ratitcauonS or the claims convention were exchanged. amounted to $904, 700. .79. This amount was paid in full. After that time Mexico made no further payments and for twenty eight years nothing was done until 1897, when on complaints made by the Roman Catholic Bishop of California, Minister Clayton was instructed to press vigor- ously for payment or over $l.0OO,0OO or withheld interest. Mexico repudiated the indebtedness, holding that the umpire in 1869 had exceeded his jurisdiction, which did not extend beyond the time of the treaty."
 An agreement was made at the Pan- American Congress last winter to sup
 init the disputes between the American
 republics to the Hague Conference.
 No subject of history affords more pic
 turesque elements than the coming of the early missionaries to the Pacihc Coast, and the eyes of civilization are now turned upon those races which have
 been defrauded of the gifts of philan- throphy and menaced by intrigue and aVarice At this time, when the anniVer- sary Of the death of our martyred Pres
 ident is fresh in the hearts of the Amer ican people, we, as Californians. would lose something of the Object-lesson of the hour were we to forget that William Me- Kinley was one of the eminent statesmen who, three years ago, succeeded in or ganizing the twenty-four nations into a tribunal. whose duty to the world is similar to that of the Supreme Court Of this country to the federation of States. By tnlS conference IL must DSCOilS HUI v and more apparent that the most exalted product of all civilizations is the ethical development which makes justice the
 white, crowning blossom of it's tree or life. It's stability will be greater than all the fortresses of the earth, for the armament of character is power strong CT than physical force.
 Yet while as a nation we have just pride | in having furnished a model for the | Hague tribunal in the federation of na- l draw in closer n- l ionship with our aboriginal brothers If we remember fact of historic interest. l While the impulses, endorsements and l inhibition 'sof our ethical life are receiv- | ing so wide an attention, page from | L.loyd'S edition of Morgans League of l the Iroquois, will show another pictur- | esque glimpse of American life. The l author points out that while our nation obtained it's languages and free institu-
 tions from England, it's civilization and 1 art from Greece and its religion from | Judea "the red men of the forest have wrought some of the chief stones in oui | national temple. Franklins plan Of union, in which was seen the beginning of our Federal republic, was directly in- | spired by the wisdom, durability and in l herent strength which he had observed | in the Iroquois cOnstitution."It is re- 1 ma rked that we managed our affairs fOJ l q dozen years on the IroQuois plan, and 1 when the colonies became the United | States the Iroquois themselves pointed | out the similarity of our league or states
 and gave them the name of The Thir- l teen Fires" While the Indians left few monuments to art. it is a farreaching | thought that these races, who made the I forgotten history of this continent, fur ] nished the administrative ideals for this | century in the federation of the Hague | Conference.
 | Is there not here new incentive to l the preservation of those ancient land
 marks of the early Spanish possession
 by which California is allied to the tradi- | tons and poetry of a picturesque past | The poet and painter of the future whc
 would depict heroic figures may find them
 in the shadows of this session of the | Hague Conference. They are to be seeH
 among the brave missionaries who set l the cross on these shores. They arc | among the old Dons with their large
 gifts of philanthrophy: A shadowy array | of red men in all their mysterious sym l bolism of color is part of the perspective | The faces of purposeful and courageous
 men look from the mists of time, Yer | acity of knowledge and spirituality of view must see in the moving drama that
 halo of ideality by which California | h, tha StGtarhOnA of