The San Juan islander. [volume] (Friday Harbor, Wash.) 1898-1914, 1903-10-22
DECISION In
BOUNDARY CASE
UNITED STATES WINS ALL HE'D
CONVENTIONS
With the Exception That the D.
land Canal Goes to Canad.
Lord Aiver'tone Voted With the
American Menu ers of the o.
mlssion--smali Islands Concea.a


London, Oct. 19.-The Alaska born
Diary commission reached a dec;s;a-
Saturday whereby all the Amar;non
contentious are sustained, with the s~
ception of those in relation to the po,t
land canal, which Canada wins An
that now remains to be done ia for tha
commissioners to affix their signatrraS
to the decision and complete the MAJ
which will accompany it.
On the map will be marked the bou,.
Diary line definitely fixing the division
of the American and British territorv
on such basis that NO American cit;.
zen will lose foot of land he ALREADY
believed he hell, while the United
States will get all the waterways to The
rich Alaskan territory, with the excen.
ton of the Portland canal, which gives
Canada the one outlet she 30 mucb
needed.
The long standing dispute was only
settled after week of keen, trying se.
cret deliberation between the arbitra.
tors. Even up to noon Saturday there
was an acute possibility that a disa.
greement might result, and the whole
proceedings fall to the ground.
Reach a Decision.
Lord Alverstone, though openly in
clined to believe IN the justice of the
American argument that the United
States was entitled to the heads of in.
let's as contained In question five, held
out that Canada had established her
case in questions two and three, deal
ing with the Portland canal.
After lunch Senator Lodge, Secretary
Root and Senator Turner agreed to con-
cede these points and to start the Amer
lean boundary line from the head of
the Portland canal, thus giving the
Canadians that channel and some small
islands on which there are only q few
disused storehouses. This accomplish
ed, the majority of the tribunal agreed
to fix, with this exception, the entire
boundary as outlined in the American
case.
Whether Messrs. Aylesworth and
Jette, the Canadian commissioners,
will refuse to sign the decision and
make it unanimous. is not known, but
it will not affect the validity of the
agreement if a minority report is SUBJ
mitted. By this afternoon it is hoped
that everything will be in readiness for
signature, though the actual marking OF
the line on the map which shall iorev-
er determine the respective territories
is considerable task.
The majority of the commissioners
left the foreign Office hurriedly during
the latter part of the afternoon in order
to catch trains for weekend visits to
the country.
Taken BY Surprise.
The successful termination of the
Alaska boundary arbitration came as
a complete surprise to ali interested in
the case, except perhaps the commits.
sioners themselves. When the tribunal
adjourned at 1920 p. m. ii was under
stood that no decision had been reach
ed. Indeed, 30 general was the i'm
preston that no decision would 90
reached until this week that several OF
the counsel and others employed In the
case left London soon after the adjourn
ment.
However. the Associated Press learn
ed that vota had been taken and that
the dec sion to grant all the American
except .hat of the Portland
canal. which goes to Cansda, had peeh
arrived at.
No hitch occurred during the entire
deliberations and as these progresseu
tho coincidence of the American COM
missoners that decision substantially
the American claim woula
be given increased. but 1t was admit1eo
tina it would be necessary to agree 10
compromise on the POI tland canal.
The only disquieting feature Tor 'ns
during the last few days nau
been a vague idea that Chief JUSTICE
Alverstone, even If he concluded 70 tako
the American view, might be unwiilins
to 90 on record with decision TO 'ha.
effect, and that disagreement was no'
unlikely.