Albuquerque morning journal. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1903-1926, 1910-01-27

Cherry, Illinois, the scene of Amer
ica's most horrible mine disaster, ha:
left with us a memory which lapse o.
time alone can efface.
According to the press reports
when the miners realized that theil
exit had been cut off and that they
were prisoners, real prisoners, with
fire, smoke and gas their captors, the
application of the usual principles oil
law and order became somewhat un-
settled. Some of the stronger thought
to set up a despotism based upon the
old fallacy, Might makes right.
Others thought the strong should pro-
tect the weak; that water should be
given to the sick; that the principles
of humanity were applicable below as
well as above ground, in extreme, as
well as ordinary cases. The latter
class accepted the leadership of two
scientific miners of long experience,
and protected the water supply, cared
for the sick, curbed the rebellious ele-
ment, though not without some fight
ing.
The struggle between the two con-
tending forces in Cherry pit was only
q continuance of the world conflict
which has been waging for centuries.
only within our own time has any
thing like uniform success attended
the efforts of the humanitarian. The
progressive ideals of religious and sec
ular teachers are now becoming reali-
ties in international relations. True,
the transformation has been gradual,
but no permanent structure can be
erected from material which is not
well seasoned.
In the early days, good men stood
out prominently because the age was
corrupt. Now the good predominant
and every day, matter-of-fact heroes
are so numerous that the world ac-
cepts them as ordinary men, doing or
dinary n necessary things.
We are doubly happy because we
realize that the b%rotherly feeling is
not confined to any one nation or
people. This mutual adjustment one
to The other is the oracle which prom
ises better things, 1t indicates that
reason is the king of kings and that
he Yields the scepter of progress. BY
his community of thought mar is
marked as essentially different from
his ancestors. The things which they
adored we despise. The ideals which
they cherished have value to us only
In so far as they show u advance.
IT is for us to observe the path in
which countless millions have left a
tran of lost opportunity. In no way
is this more noticeable than when We
consider the laws governing the sea.
During the sixteenth century many
nations claimed absolute ownership of.
certain sections Of the open sea as
well as certain routes thereon. These
claims received the support Of GER
tain learned publicists. The right to
exclude the vessels OF other nations
from such waters was asserted. A
discussion covering centuries resulted
in the freedom of the high seas and in
limiting claims to waters within three
miles from a coast.
After the ocean became recognized
as a comomn highway for the use of
all nations, it was but another step to
free the rivers from bondage. The
French, as early as 1902, threw open
the rivers Meuse and Scheldt to the
vessels of neighbOring states, but up
to the time OF the Congress or Vienna,
1915, the great rivers were closed to
free navigation. That congress threw
open to m all the rivers of
Europe except the Danube, which was
opened by the treaty of Paris, 1856.
Then it was that the tolls which had
been extorted by river barons became
merely an historical fact. Between
the years 1S51-1S59 the great water
courses of South America were opened
to the ships of all nations, and in
1858 the Amazon was placed upon the
free list. The Congo conference of
1885 brought the rivers Congo and
Niger TO international use, and, one
by one, the worlds carrying streams
been reckoning the commerce
Of distant lands.
These international rules have be-
the protection of the weak state
and the dignity of the strong.
Though the natural avenue of COM
.erce were becoming emancipated,
some nationas were obstructing, by
own laws, their free use. AS an
instance, the navigation laws of
Britain were enforced against
the m of all nations. Their
purpose vas to prohibit the import
alton into England and Ireland of any |
products or articles, except in Eng |
or Englisll-owned ships. |
These acts we're first aimed at the
Dutch who were then (1650) the great
of the world. A similar act
enforced against the United states
its independence, and the new
nation retaliated, collecting certain
duties per ton, on all English ves-
sells bringing goods to it. A spirit of
.lliberality and selfishness prompted
acts and it was not until 1880
hat the United States, by diplomaticl
recourse, secured q satisfactory set
of the problem. The enforce
nent of these laws resulted in antag-
>nism as well as a general decrease
trade. From its inception, the
United States government has favor
ID freedom of commerce with such
lations as have been willing to adopt
like policy. Said jefferson, "Com-
nerce should be relieved from all its
hackles in all parts of the world"
after a struggle of two centuries un-
Ter the weight of navigation laws,
England became convinced that re-
trlctons recoil upon those by whom
hey are imposed. and that an illiber-
} policy had not been productive of
ational good, because of retaliatory
nactments. A flourishing commerce.