Watertown weekly leader. [volume] (Watertown, Jefferson County, Wis.) 1906-1908, 1908-06-19


portant to the United States than ever
before that there shall be no hostile con-
troll of the route between either of our
great Atlantic and Pacific ports and Tho
ISthmus. For that reason it is OF
especial Importance that the people In
habiting the islands and shores of tho
Caribbean shall maintain independent
peaceful and prosperous governments.
The policy of the United States to aid
them in maintaining such governments
has been prosecuted with special sue
cess during the last four years.
With the active participation of tho
delegates of the United States. The sec
ond international peace conference NJ
The Hague. in the summer of 1907, en-
tered into agreements which, taken to-
gether, have been declared by high
authority to constitute one of the great
est advances ever made toward the rea-
sonahle and peaCeable regulation of in
terna tional conduct. Twelve treaties
agreed upon at that conference. all de
signed for reducing the probability or
mitigating the horrors of war. have rcer
approved by the senate and ratified By
the president of the United States
Important among these treaties was
the agreement proposed and urged upon
the conference by the United State,
under which all the civilized powers
agree not to use force for the collection
of contract debts claimed by their citi-
zens against other countries, so long
as the alleged debtor seeks the protec-
ton of arbitration as to the Justice and
the amount of the debt or time and mode
In which it ought to be paid This
agreement is long step toward putting
an end to that SpeCula ton on the ne
ceSS1tieS of weak and diSordered coun-
tries, which relies for the enforcement
of eXorhitant and fraudulent claims upon
nd Of tI.,
powers.
Following the action Of The Hague
convention in providing greater facili-
ties for the use of the permanent court
of arbitration at The Hague, the United
States has put itself upon the basis of
the peaceful settlement of international
disputes by concluding general treaties
of arbitration with England, France.
Spain, Portugal, the Netherlands. Den
mark, Sweden, Norway Switzerland
Italy, Mexico. ana Japan, while many
other similar treaties are in course OF
negotiation. Under the general treaty
with Great Britain, the two countries
have agreed to arbitrate before The
Hague tribunal the difficult and vexing
questions which, for more than a CEN
fury, have caused so much i'll will and
controversy. regarding the rights of our
fishermen in the fisheries on the coasts
of Newfoundland and the maritime prov
inces of Canada. Congress. at it's last
session, made the necessary appropria-
tons to defray the expense of this ar
bitraton.
The great growth in population and
wealth of our Canadian neighbor has
produced a continually increasing ac-
emulation of difficult and irritating
controversies arising all along the 5000
miles of boundary between Canada and
the United States. In 1898, so pressing
had these questions become that a toint
high commission was created for the
purpose of settling them, but the COM
mission dissolved without reaching an
agreement. Negotiations fer the settle
ment of these questions have been re-
newed and great progress has been
made toward their complete settlement
The surveyors appointed by the two
countries have nearly completed the
marking of the Alaska boundary IN ac-
cordance with the decision of the tri-
bunal of 1908; new treaty has been
made for the adjustment of all other
questions relating to the determination
of the boundary from the Atlantic to
the Pacific; the northeastern fisheries
question is about to be disposed of by
an agreement for arbitration under the
general treaty; new treaty has been
made for the making and enforcement
of joint regulations for the preservation
of the food fish supply in all the boun-
dairy waters, including both the Great
Lakes and the Atlantic and Pacific
waters.
Japan and United States.
The questions between Japan and
the United States, which caused so much
public excitement in the year 1907, have
been disposed of to the satisfaction Of
the people of both countries. The friend
ship and sympathy between the two gov
ernments have now been signalzed by
the general treaty of arbitration con-
cluded between them, by the invitation
and acceptance of the invitation for the
visit of fleet at Tokyo. and by the
response of the United States to the
invitation of Japan to participate in the
great exposition which is to be held at
Tokyo in the year 1912, for which con-
gress has authorized the expenditure Of
one m illion and a half dollars. the
greatest sum ever appropriated for
foreign exposition.
The unfriendly feelings among the
people of China which grew out of the
enforcement of the Chinese exclusion
law and led to the boycott of American
goods have disappeared, and American
trade in China has been restored to it's
natural course The United States has
secured the assent of all the nations
having possessions in the Orient to
united effort with China to put an end
to the curse of opium in the Orient, and
an international conference, under the
leadership of the United States has been
agreed upon to meet at Shanghai on the
LIST of next January for the purpose of
devsing and formulating an interna-
tiOnal agreement to prevent it's pro-
ductiOn, sale, and use.
Threatened tariff wars between the
United States and Germany, and be-
tween the United States and France,
have been averted by commercial agree
ments between the United States and
each of those countries, made under the
given to the president in the
third section of the Dingley tariff act.
But the browning act in this drama
was that in which the president himself
took the initiative, halted the armies of
Russia and Japan, bringing about an
honorable, and, it is to be hoped en-
during peace.
Yet nothing has added so much 70
his just f9 as his persistent and ir-
revocable refusal to break the unwritten
law Of the republic by accepting a nomi-
nation for third term. By this act of
he places his name and
fame in the secure keeping of history
by the side of that Of the immortal
Washington.
With this splendid record of the last
four years in the management of our
domestic and foreign affairs, backed by
the history of nearly half a century Of
policies, the public mind
must rest in the conviction that the con-
tinued ascendency in the Republican
party will best promote the interest Of
the people and advance the glory and
stability of the republic.