Bisbee daily review., 1916-05-28
ilOW ROOSEVELT
 KEPT PEACE
By WILLIAM HARD
h METROPOLITAN MA GAZINE

It seems to me I once heard man
 say: Now if Roosevelt were presi-
 dent, we would have been plunged
 into this terrible war straight of" In
 truth heard this remark so frequent
 ly that I determined to go over the
 diplomatic records of the two Roose-
 welt administrations.
 I find that Roosevelt had many
 bully opportunities to plunge the
 United States into foreign conflicts.
 find that he wassobliged to face and
 handle three great crises with three
 Of the greatest countries in the world.
 l find that he was obliged to take a
 hand. decisive future-fxing hand. in
 the affairs of three small countries
 small but nearby and turbulent and
 dangerous to the worlds peace. l find
 that he was obliged to have dealings
 with many other countries in matters
 capable of bearing fruit either Of
 friendship or of hatred. find that
 he wrote on a visiting card the terms
 on which a violent European contro-
 versy was settled. I find that for -eigners think of him as a great his
 torical figure not because of the part
 he took in railway legislation or in
 pure-food legislation or in conserva-
 tion legislation or in any other activ-
 fty of domestic politics. but because Of
 the part he took in international poll
 tics--in the politics of the world at
 large find that Europe and Asia regard him as having been primarily for good or for ill-a diplomat.
 This is the Roosevelt least known to Americans.
 ' The Alaskan Boundary Question. His first difficulty was with Great Britain. It was acute. Ii had to do with the Alaskan boundary. The British put forth a claim which. as Roosevelt remarked. was just as in idefensible as if they should now sud denly claim the island of Nantucket ! Alaska is a kite. It has main body and then. fiuttering southward along the Pacific coast toward the state of Washington, tail The dimensions iof this tail were determined, long be- fore Alaska passed from Russia to the United States, by treaty of the year 1895 between Russia and Great Bri- lsain. It provided that the boundary ibetween Alaska and the British pos ! essions shogld run along the crest of K he mounta'ns by which the coast was
 aralleled The United States accord ingly occapied the coast region with out resistance.
 In 1888 however. there was dis covery of a considerable quantity of gold in the Klondike. The Canadians Immediately insisted on also discover ing seni-submerged coastal noun tain range which spent a large part of it's time under the waters of the Pacific and which. when it rose to the surface rose principally in the form of scattered headiands. Here was the boundary, along the crest Of this ab- surd range. leaping from headiand to beadlanl across great bodies of navi- gable vrter, The United States would get a succession of headland- sion of deep-water inlets. on one of which was situated Skagway. the best entrance to the Klondike goldfields. ! This line. calculated to fatten the part of any vaudeville performer. be- came automatically serious in the ex- treme Under Mckinley Joint Commission was appointed to con ,sider twelve topics in dispute between the British Empire and the American Republic One of the twelve was the Alaskan boundary. The representa- tives of the Empire refused to come to terms on any of the others until their version of the Alaskan boundary had been conceded to them. It could not be conceded. and the Joint Com mission" collapsed.
 At this point Roosevelt became president. Quietly. in the routine of diplomatic intercourse, he refused ab- soluteIy to accept Great Britain's am phibious mountain-range line and re- fused also. with equal absoluteness. to arbitrate it. John Hay, as Secretary of State, pointed out the fatal tendency of arbitrators to compromise" This matter could not be compromised. AS Roosevelt said on another occasion, Uncle Sam does nos intend to wrong any one. but neither does he intend if his pocket is picked or his face slapped. to arbitrate' with the wrong doer" What them A Commission was erected. It was not a Commission with a third-party arbitrator on it. It was a Commission equally divided be- tween the two countries. The repre- | sentatives of the United States were | Lodge of Massachusetts and Root of | New York and Turner of Washington. | The representatives of the British ! Empire were two Canadians and one | Englishman. The Englishman. was i England's Lord Chief Justice-Alver- | atone.
 This Commission met in London in ! 1903. It's purpose was indicated both ! by Roosevelt and by Hay. Roosevelt ! said (through strictly diplomatic chan | nels): q wish to make one last effort i to bring about an agreement which ] will enable the people of both coun- tries to say that the result represents l the feelings of the representatives of both countries"
 In the meantime Roosevelt moved ! United States troops into Alaska He | let it be strictly Automatically known | that those troops. if the Commission should fail. would be used ito reduce | the country to possession" He paused. 1
 On October 20. 1903. the Commis- | sion uttered it's decision. Lord AL yerstone voted with the three repre- sentatives of the United States against lis own two Canadian colleagues | Great Britain bowed to the applause of the world The Pacifists perceived that the honor of a nation can easily | be preserved without the slightest