The morning journal-courier., 1908-12-09

! ut the pIeSlutnli anu tdCH suCll CNVS- utiye body should be under the im- mediate supervision of a cabinet min lster
 Statehood
 1 advocate the immediate admission of New Mexico and Arizona as states, This should be done at the present session of the congress The people of the two territories have made it evl- ident hy their votes that they will not come in as one state The only alter native is to admit them as two, and l trust that this will be done without l delay
 Interstate Fisheries.
 l call the attention of the congress to the importance of the problem of 1 the fisheries in the interstate waters, On the Great Lakes we are now un- der the very wise treaty of April Il of tRis year, endeavoring to come to an international agreement for the preservation and satisfactory use or the fisheries of these waters "hlch cannot otherwise be achieved Lake Erie, for example, has the richest fresh water fisheries in the world; but 1t is now controlled by the statutes of two nations, four states and one province, and in this province by dlf- feront ordinances in different coun- tries All these political divisions work at cross purposes and in no case can they achieve protection to the fisheries. on the one hand, and justice to the localities and individuals, on inc other. The case is similar In Puget sound
 But the problem is quite as pressing | In the interstate waters ot the United States. The salmon fisheries or the Columbia river are now but fraction of what they were twenty-five years rago, and what they would be no" II the United States government had taken complete charge of them by in- teryenine between oregon and Wash ington. During these twonty-hVe years the fishermen of each state have naturally tried to take all they could get. and the two legislatures have never been able to agree on joint ac- | ton of any kind adequate in degree for the protection of the fisheries. At the moment the fishing on the Oregon side is practically closed, while there l Is no limit on the Washington side of any kind, and no one can tell what the courts will decide as to the very statutes under which this action and non-action result. Meanwhile very few salmon reach the spawning grounds and probably four years hence the fisheries will amount to nothing and this comes from a strug- gle between the associated or gill net, fishermen on the one hand, and ,he owners of the fishing wheels up the river. The fisheries of the Mis- e.ssippi, he ohio, and the Potomac are also in a bad way For this there is no remedy except for the United i States to control and legislate for the interstate fisheries as part of the busi- ness of interstate commerce. In this case the machinery for scientific 'n- vestigation and for control already ex- lsts in the United States bureau Of fisheries, In this as In similar prob lens the obvious and simple rule should bo followed of having those matters which no particular state can manage taken in hand by the ,nitcd States, problems, which in the seesaw of conflicting state legislatures are ab- solutely unsolpablc, are easy enough for the congress to control.
 Fisheries and Fur Seals
 Tho federal statute regulating inter state traffic in game should be cx- tended to include fish. New federal fish hatcherIes should be established. The administration of the Alaskan fur seal service should be vested in the bureau of fisheries
 Foreign Affairs,
 This nations foreign policy k based on the theory that right must be done between nations precisely as between 1 individuals. and in our actions for the last ten years we have in this mat ter proven our faith by our deeds. We have behaved, and are behaving, towards other nations, as in private l life an honorable man would behave towards his fellows.
 Latin-Americnn Republics.
 The commercial and material pro- grcss of the twenty Latin-American republics Is worthy of the careful att tentlon of the congress. No other section of the world has shown 1 greater proportionatc development of i it's foreign trade during the last ten years and none other has more spe- cial claims on the interest of tho l United States. It offers to-day prob ably larger opportunities for the lcgt- l innate expansion of our commerce than any other group of countries, These countries will want our products in greatly increased quantities, and we shall correspondingly need theirs. The international bureau of the Amer ican republics is doing a useful work i in making these nations and their re- sources better known tO us, and in aCquanting them not only with us as a people and with our purposes to- wards them, but with what we have 10 exchange for their goods. II Is an international institution supported by all the governments of the two Ameri- . cas-,
 Panama Canal.
 The work on the Panama canal is being done with q speed, efficiency and l entire devotion to duty. which make it a model for all work of the kind No task of such magnitude has ever bo- fore been undertaken by any nation, and nc task of the kind has ever been better performed. The men on the Isthmus, from Colonel Goethals and his fellow commissioners through the entire list of employees who are faith fully doing their duty, have won their