The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1903-02-04
The Alaskan Treaty.

The Alaskan treaty, negotiated by Sec
rotary Hay and the British representa-
tive at Washington, providing for a trl-
bunal to settle the boundary question
which was dropped by the high joint
commission few years ago. was taken
up in the senate yesterday in executive
session. @
The text of the document, as given to
the public, is interesting, as it appears
that the work of the boundary commission
will be exclusively directed to an in
curry as to what the language of the
original convention between Great Brit
ain and Russia in 1926 was intended to
mean. s.
Great Britain accepted the delimitatio1i
of 1926 as correct. and upon the transfer
Of Alaska to the United States by Russia,
in 1867, the British government uttered
not a word signifying that the United
States In accepting the delimitation of
1926, was taking any territory which
rightfully belonged to Great Britain.
Not word was heard about that bound
airy line until the discovery Of the gold
fields in the Canadian Klondike region,
when the Canadians found that the es-
tablished boundary, or the portion OF it
from Portland Canal on the south to Mount
St. Elias on the 141st degree of longi-
tude, west of Greenwich, cut off the Brit
ish territory from the bays, ports, inlets
and indentations generally on the coast.
| This, Of course, is a great Inconvenience
! for the Canadian gold seekers in the
| Klondike. In order to remove the OBJ
stacle imposed by the convention of 1926,
the Canadians assert that the British
and Russian negotiators of 1925 did not
mean what they said when they, after
! careful examination, and with full
| knowledge of what they were doing, laid
down the line as passing thirty miles
from the ocean following the crest of the
mountains where they do not range over
the thirty miles back, and following the
sinuosity of the coast northward until the
intersection at Mt. st. Elias is reached
From that point to the Arctic sea the Ca.
nadians offer no objections.
A line following the sinuosities of the
coast is inevitably a line which gives tt
the United States the tidewater advan
tages of all the coast indentations. The
maps Of the Russian topogra phical burea,
of 1929; of the surveyor general Of lowe
Canada in 1881; of the United States. coas
survey: Of the British admiralty, frs
: published in 1877 and revised by the by
drographer of the British navy in 1895
all show the established boundary lin
between Alaska and British America run
ming thirty miles inland. Russia's ain
in standing for the thirty-mile strip wa
, to retain for Russian use the bays and in
let's and littora1 and to keep the British
out, unless they paid for the coast priv
ileges, as the Hudson Bay company di
when they rented land and water priv
leges from the Russians when the latte
owned Alaska.
Manifestly the charts which have bee
: referred to reveal the intention of tn
: negotiators of 1925. The commissio
. ought not to find much difficulty in con
" STRUNG plain English. The Canadian
q have published a map showing what the
claim. They would scoop up all tn
valuable American interests in south
eastern Alaska, including several town.
wharves, warehouses, the White Pas
Railway company's property and othe
. things Canada will not get what sf
: wants. Her claim is grotesquely prepos
y ferrous Our government has negotiate
: the treaty magnanimously and in goo
q faith. The senate may well ratify
Il and have the noise of the squalling Ca
?. madam baby stilled effectively.
|