Evening star., 1939-07-23
Corridor to Alaska
By Frederic J. Hnskin.

III the united states had not, for
brief period back in the James K. Polk
administration, momentarily felt more
friendly to Great Britain than to Rus
sia, and if the forces which brought on
the Civil War had not reached an aR-
gravated stage, today there would be q
continuous land connection between the
States and the vast Territory o. Alaska.
But forces which are somewhat difficult
to understand fully today and issues
which now are dead determined other
wise
Nevertheless there is now opinion In
the United States that some effort should
be made through negotiation for the
cession by the Dominion of Canada of
a strip of land which would connect
Alaska directly with the States The
United States has been the chief pro-
moter of the project to construct high
way from TERRA del Fuego, at the south
ern tip Of South America, to Point Bar
row or some other far northern point In
Alaska, thus linking the seas of the two
poles. Already it has spent much money
on the project and Latin American
countries have made an important start
on their share. Hundreds of miles Of
highway already are in use in Latin
America and further construction is
going on. 1t has been urged that the
highway should continue northward
wholly on United States territory.
In view of the fact that the Dominion
OF Canada and the United States have
presented to the world an example of
how two great nations can live in peace
for generations with a 3OOO-mile un-
fortified border between them, it has
been suggested that it might be possible
to bring about the cession of the Pacific
httoral of what now is British Columbia
in order to provide a continuous land
connection between the two great Amer
lean territories.
That such cesSion could be brought
about without good deal of debate
would be too much to expect While it
is true that Canadian American rela-
tlons have been for the most part an1ic-
able in an exemplary degree. there have
been times when the keenest, one might
almost say the bitterest rivalry. has sub
sisted. The story of the Alaskan bound
airy is a chapter of immense controversy,
controversy which almost brought on.
at one time, war.
Boundary and Trade Disputes.
The story goes back to 1899, when the
Emperor Paul of Russia issued an i'm
perial ukase which stated that Russian
America and the waters which laved it
were inviolate and that all other nations
must keep off that land and out of those
waters. This provoked a resounding
storm. AS the diplomatic correspondence
of the time reveals, Great Britain was
not interested in the land at all, but she
objected frantically to Russian pre-
emption of large part of the Pacific
Ocean. 1t challenged the British title
Of Mistress of the Seas.
In 1924 the United States concluded a
treaty with Russia providing for permis-
sion to trade with the Indians and fish
IN RuSslan-American waters for 10 years
Great Britain sought a similar treaty
save that she asked for permission II
trade and fish there forever The Ca
rejected this as prepOsterous. In 1928
the British did conclude treaty similar
TO the American pact.
While the paramount British interest
was freedom of the seas. the British
government also was solicitous of the
Canadian interest. Canada was a COL
ony then: not Dominion. At that time
prit t,11 u
with how far the Russian territory
should extend south as how far 1t should
extend east.
The southern limit was of great inter-
est to the United States, however. There
were three e-cornered negotiations. The
Americans wanted the northern bound
ary pushed up to the approximate 54th
parallel and the threatened war was to
be fought under surveyors slogan
Flfty-Four-Forty or Fight. Because the
Russians were being brusaue with Amer
lcan traders and sealers, but probably
most Of all because the then dominant
South was fearful that another Free
State would be added to the Union,
President Polk ceded to the British what
now is British Columbia. AS matter of
fact it could scarcely be held that the
United States had the right to cede this
territory. 1t was a sort of no mans
wilderness, partly unexplored and unoc-
cupied save by Indians There was one
trading post and that British. Thuo a
5OO-mile coast on the Pacific which would
have connected this country directly with
Alaska was lost. But, of course. We did
not own Alaska then, did not want it
and had no expectation of ever want
ing it.
A treaty finally confirmed this new
boundary and it remains substantially
the same today. There was long dis
pute between Russia and Great Britain
in which the latter power argued that 1t
should have the headwaters OF the fjords
or estuaries which struck inland, but
Russia would not consent to this, with
the result that today they belong to the
United States as a part of the long
southern panhandle.
Russia insisted that the eastern bound
ary follow what were described as the
sinuosities of the coast The boundary
should be 10 marine leagues inland and
so the boundary lies. 1t is very irregular
because the coast has many sinuosities.
Stewards Folly.
While negotiations for American &C
Quisition had started earlier, it was not