The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1903-09-03
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 3, 1903.
THE BOUNDARY COMMISSION.

! The Alaska boundary commission
will begin it's sessions in London to-
day, but all speculation as to it's con-
illusions is reduced to single item:
What will the British representative
do? The commission consists of six
members; three selected from the
United States, two from Canada, and
one from the mother country. The
votes of five of these are already de-
termined, Irrespective of any evidence
waste of time for them to make argu-
ments or listen to them.
The three American representatives
are committed by their known opin-
ions and practically pledged to the
country to stand for the American
contention, first, last and all the time.
The two Canadian representatives are
equally bound to vote according to the
If the British judge shall regard only
the facts as they come before him and
free himself from the natural inclina-
ton to side with a British dependency,
then the commission can settle some
thing by putting a permanent end to
the Canadian contention. If he shall
take the Canadian view, then the whole
matter must rest exactly where 1t was
before.
The country has never exactly faith
omed the purpose Of congress in au-
thorizing the creation of this commits
sion. Formally, it Is a board of ar
bitration. In fact. it has nothing to
arbitrate; and in constitution, it gets as
far away as possible from the arbitra-
ton idea by consisting not of men with
open minds and the judicial temper,
but of men thoroughly Convinced In
advance and determined to vote as
they are expected. 1t thus becomes a
mere pretense. and the only purpose
that it could possibly serve would be
to set aside the claim of Canada.
In fact that claim has not a leg to
stand on. In the whole history of
boundary disputes and territorial
claims between nations there is none
more absurd and unfounded than this.
From the first discovery and occupa-
ton of Alaska down through the. pc
riod of Russian supremacy and the
treaties between that country and
Great Britain and the United States,
there is no doubt about the boundary.
Delimitation is as clear as it could
possibly be made, and the idea of
questioning the terms Of the boundary
agreement never entered the mind of
any human being. All the documents,
all the maps. all the local evidence, all
the treaties are to one effect.
Just six years ago there began to
be boundary question. The discov-
cry of gold in the Klondike country
started the great development of
Alaska and made British Columbia and
the whole of the Northwest Territory
appreciate the Importance of securing
a seaport on Lynn canal, in southeast
ern Alaska. Then this preposterous
contention began to be heard of. Then
Canadian authorities attempted to per-
form official functions on America
soil. Then the boundary dispute orig
mated.
That is all there is to the claim
Such arguments as are advanced in
support of it are afterthoughts, and
have been worked up carefully to help
out position without validity or rea-
son. Canada wants seaport. ex-
actly as we should like to control the
port OF Montreal. But there is no
more basis for claim in the one di-
rection than in the other. This is the
reason why there can be no arbitra-
lion; why it is just to use the expires