The Billings gazette. [volume] (Billings, Mont.) 1896-1919, 1902-10-24
AMERICAN POSITION REGARD
INC KING OSCARS DECISION.
IT REJECTS THE PRINCIPLE
Government Declines to Accept Rul-
ing AS Establishing Prece-
cedent But Will Pay.

Washington, Oct. 22.-An intimation
has been received here that King Oscar
OF Sweden, who is acting as the arbitra-
tor of the issues between the United
States, Germany and Great Britain,
growing out of the Samoan rebellion of
1899, will decide that the facts present
ed to him in the briefs of counsel, which,
have been pending for nearly a year, war
rant him in proceeding to assess the
damages sustained by foreign residents
as a result of the landing of a combined
force OF American and British sailors
and marines and the distinctions of prom
erty incident to the ensuing fight with
the rebels. BY the terms of the treaty by
winch the three powers agree to submit
these claims to arbitration, the arbitra-
tor was hrst to declare whether the
Americans and British were at all liable
tor damages and if so he was to deter
mine the mount of liability. He has. il
is understood, concluded to decide the
first question in the affirmative, though
It is stated here hat no official notice 70
that effect has yet been conveyed to our
government.
The next step is to fix the amount of
damages and this must be done by King
Oscar upon the basis of the facts now to
be presented by the representatives of
the governments concerned. The Ger
man claims are far larger than the
Others, amounting to $1O3,91S, while
the American claims are $77, COS, and
the British only $6,2s5. There are also
smaller claims of nations not parties RI
the arbitration that may be included in
the final adjustment.
The Principle Involved.
1t is not the amount of money involved
in this approaching decision of the ar
bltrator than concerns the government
OF the United States, but rather the
enunclation of the principle which. if
accepted as a precedent, would be I'M
palatable and would so seriously re-
strict the assertion of Americas rights
IN foreign countries in case of revoln-
ton or rioting, jeopardizing the lives
and property of our citizens, that it
would mount to the total withdrawal
of protection.
n can never be admitted and so
1T ma be stated positively that while
the United States will respect the arbi-
tration Loyalty and pay any damages
assessed against it, it will utterly refuse
to be bound by such a principle or recog-
nize it as establishing a precedent.
Otherwise the United States government
could be held liable for enormous dam
ages IN cases where it lands troops upon
the lsthmus of Panama, resulting in a
collision OF rioters or rebels, even though
the government is solemnly bound by
treaty to preserve free traffic across
the 1sthmus. For, it is pointed out
that, similarly the government of the
United States was bound by a treaty in
the ease of Samoa, to preserve the in
tegrity of the %titular, and it was in the
course of a effort to discharge this duty
that the claims were originated. If our
naval vessels cannot interfere to preserve
life and property in the presence of a
specific treaty, OF course, they would be
still more helpless without a treaty and
they could not land marines in any of
the West Indian or Central or South
American ports in an emergency without
r,sking liability for heavy damages.
These considerations will lead to the de-
.cllnation to recognize the decision as a
precedent and incidently to the submits
sion OF the next similar case to The
hague tribunal in the hope of another
and different decision