The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-12-04

Senate on August 1 and was formally ratified by the two governments on Mo- yember 15 last. The rules and a method of procedure emlssdied in the award pro- vided for determining by an impartial tribunal the reasonableness of any new | fishery regulations on the treaty coasts
 of Newfoundland and Canada before such | regulations could be enforced against American fishermen exercising their | treaty liberties on those coasts, and also l for determining the delimitation of bays on such coasts more than 10 miles wide, I In accordance with the definition adopted | by the tribunal of the meaning of the word bays as used in the treaty. In l the subsequent negotiations between the two governments, undertaken for the purpose of giving practical effect to these
 rules and methods of procedure, 1t was
 found that certain modifications therein
 were desirable from the point of view of both governments. and these negotia-
 tions have finally resulted in the agree ment above mentioned by which the
 award recommendations as modified by
 mutual consent of the two governments
 are finally adopted and made effective, thus bringing this century-old contro-
 versy to final conclusion, which is equally beneficial and satisfactory to
 both governments.
 Imperial Valley and Mexico In order to make possible the more ef- | fective performance of the work neees- sary for the confinement in their pres ent channel of the waters of the lower | Colorado river and thus to protect the people of the Imperial valley, as well as ] in order to reach with the government | of Mexico an understanding regarding the distribution of the waters of the Colorado 1 river. in which both governments are | much interested negotiations are going 1 forward with a view to the establish- ment of a preliminary Colorado river commission. which shall have the powers
 necessary to enable it to do the needsul work and with authority to study the question of the equitable distribution of | the waters. There is every reason to believe that an understanding upon this point will be reached and that an agree ment will be signed in the near future. Chamizal Dispute
 | Tn the interest of the people and city of El Paso this government has been assidious in it's efforts to bring to an early settlement the long standing Cham l izal dispute with Mexico. Much has been accomplished, and while the final solu- | ton of the dispute is not immediate, | the favorable attitude lately assumed | by the Mexican government encourages
 the hope that this troublesome ques- | tlOIf Miti De SdtfSldGlOIi1Y dHu utHfitely settled at an early day.
 International Commission of. Juries In pursuance of the convention of Au- gust 23, 1906, signed at the third pam American conference. held at Rio de Ja- neiro, the international commission of | jurists met at that capital during the month of last June. At this meeting | Is American republics were represented, including the United States, and com prehensive plans for the future work of the commission were adopted. At the | next meeting fixed for June, 1914, com | mittees already appointed are instructed to report regarding topics assigned to them.
 Opium Conference
 | In my message on foreign relations communicated to the two houses of Con
 gTess December ', 1911, I called especial attention to the assembling of the opium conference at The Hague, to the fact | that that conference was to review all pertinent municipal laws relating to the opium and allied evils and certainly all international rules regarding these evils,
 and to the fact that it seemed to me most essential that the Congress should take | immediate action on the antinarcotic leg | isIation which has been before the last | two Congresses It was most unfortunate | that this government, having taken the in- itiative in the international action which ev ventuated in the important international l opium convention, failed to do it's share 1 in the great work by neglecting to pass the necessary legislation to correct the ldeplorable narcotic evil. in the United States as well as to redeem international | pledges upon which it entered by virtue of | the above mentioned convention. The l Congress al it's present session should en- act into law those bills now before it
 
 | in collaboration between the department of state and the other executive depart ments, and which have behind them not only the moral sentiment of the country. but the practical support of all the legiti- mate trade interests likely to be affected. | Since the international convention was signed. adherence to it has been made by several European states not represented at the conference at The Hague and also by r Latin-American republics.
 Europe and the Near East
 The war between Italy and Turkey came to a close in October last by the sigma ture of a treaty of peace, subsequently to which the Ottoman empire renounced sovereignty over Cyrenafca and Tripol- tania in favor of Italy. During the past year the near east has unfortunately been the theatre of constant hostilities. Almost simultaneously with the conclusion of peace between Italy and Turkey and their arrival at an adjustment of the com | piex questions at issue between them, war broke out between Turkey on the one hand and Bulgaria, Greece, Montenegro and Servia on the other.
 The United States has happily been in- volved neither directly nor indirectly with
 the causes or questions incident to any of the hostilities and has maintained in regard to them an attitude of absolute
 neutrality and of complete political disin- tefestedness. In the second war in which
 the ottoman empire has been engaged the loss of life and the consequent dis tress on both sides have been appalling, and the United States has found oc casion, in the interest of humanity, to carry out the charitable desires of the