836 



UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



shores of narrow inlets that indent the coast 

 more than 10 leagues. The most important of 

 these inlets, the Lynn Canal, runs nearly a hun- 

 dred miles into the mainland. It forms two har- 

 bors, on one of which have been built the towns 

 of Dyea and Skagway at the enlrances of Chil- 

 koot'and White or Skagway passes, which lead 

 to the Klondike mining fields, and over the latter 

 route a railroad has been built 40 miles to the 

 head waters of navigation on the Yukon. Pyra- 

 mid harbor, the other arm of the inlet, gives ac- 

 cess to the Dalton trail, over which 250 miles of 

 land carriage is necessary before navigable water 

 is reached. The Canadians claimed all the land- 

 ing places, including the American towns, as 

 natural Canadian gateways. The coast was sur- 

 veyed by joint commissioners in 1895, but the in- 

 ternational delimitation of territory was not car- 

 ried out. The Legislature of British Columbia 

 had already passed a law preventing the acquisi- 

 tion of mining rights by Americans in the recently 

 discovered gold field at Atlin lake, and after the 

 adjournment of the commission the Canadians 

 made a law forbidding the export of logs, al- 

 though Americans owned a great deal of standing 

 timber in Canada, which they were accustomed to 

 export in the form of logs to be sawed in mills 

 that they had constructed for the purpose. Ne- 

 gotiations on the Alaska question were carried on 

 direct between the British and American govern- 

 ments, and a proposition made by the Secretary 

 of State was regarded as acceptable by Lord Salis- 

 bury, especially after a further concession had 

 been obtained. The Canadian Government, how- 

 ever, rejected it, and the British Foreign Minister 

 thereupon not only withdrew his provisional ac- 

 ceptance, but refused to proceed with the revi- 

 sion of the Clayton-Bulwer treaty regarding Ni- 

 caragua until Canadian claims in Alaska were 

 satisfied. Before separating, the commissioners 

 had signed a protocol fixing a provisional bound- 

 ary at the summits of the White and Chilkoot 

 passes, and leaving the provisional boundary on 

 the Dalton trail and further details of a modus 

 Vivendi to be arranged, if possible, by direct nego- 

 tiation. The death of Lord Herschell and Nel- 

 son Dingley, and the resignation of Senator Gray, 

 necessitated changes in the commission, in which 

 the British representatives were Lord Russell, Sir 

 Wilfrid Laurier, Sir Richard J. Cartwright, Sir 

 Louis G Davies, John Charlton, and Sir James 

 S. Winter, and the American representatives were 

 Senator Charles W. Fairbanks, Charles J. Faulk- 

 ner, Sereno E. Payne, John W. Foster, John A. 

 Kasson, and T. Jeiferson Coolidge. Before Aug. 

 2, when the joint high commission was to meet 

 again, it was agreed to postpone the meeting in- 

 definitely. A proposal for a lease of a port on 

 the Lynn Canal to Canada, first made by the 

 American commissioners, was renewed by the 

 English Government. A provisional boundary on 

 the Dalton trail was agreed upon, and a modus 

 Vivendi was signed on Oct. 20. The arrangement 

 does not give Canadians access to the head of the 

 Lynn Canal on their own territory, nor even 

 a free port under American sovereignty. The pro- 

 visional boundary running along the summits of 

 the White and Chilkoot passes is protracted by 

 an undefined line to a point on the Dalton or 

 Chilkat route about a mile and a half above the 

 village of Klukwan. This is 22 miles above tide 

 water at Pyramid harbor, and is even north of 

 the head of canoe navigation. The line begins on 

 the west at a peak west of Porcupine creek; 

 thence running to the Klehini river in the direc- 

 tion of the peak north of the river, it follows the 

 right bank of the Klehini to its junction with the 



Chilkat river at the point above mentioned, 

 whence it runs to the summit of the peak east of 

 the Chilkat river. Persons proceeding to or from 

 Porcupine creek are to be freely permitted to 

 follow the trail between the creek and the junc- 

 tion of the rivers into and across the territory on 

 the Canadian side of the temporary line wherever 

 the trail crosses to that side, and, subject to 

 reasonable regulations of the Canadian Govern- 

 ment, for the protection of the revenue, may carry 

 with them such goods as they desire, without 

 payment of customs duties. It is understood that 

 citizens or subjects of either power found within 

 the temporary jurisdiction of the other shall suf- 

 fer no diminution of the rights and privileges that 

 they previously enjoyed. The fixing of the pro- 

 visional boundary is without prejudice to the 

 claims of either party in the permanent adjust- 

 ment of the international boundary. 



Supreme Court. At the close of the October 

 term, 1897, 316 cases were not disposed of. The 

 number of cases docketed at the October term, 



1898, was 523, making the total number pending 

 at that term 839, and of this number 531 cases 

 were disposed of during the term. The number 

 actually considered by the court was 408, of 

 which 255 were argued orally and 213 submitted 

 on printed arguments. 



Keck r*. United States, decided Jan. 9, 1899. 

 Herman Keck, charged with smuggling diamonds, 

 was held not guilty as charged. The cosr in- 

 volved the construction of a paragraph in the 

 Wilson tariff act, under which it was contended 

 that it was intended to admit diamonds free, be- 

 cause a semicolon follows the word " diamonds " 

 in the paragraph. Diamonds were held subject to 

 duty. In this case the attempt at smuggling was 

 not completed. The court held that mere acts 

 of concealment of merchandise on entering tin- 

 waters of the United States do not, taken by 

 themselves, constitute smuggling or clandestine 

 introduction. Justices Brown, Harlan, Brewer, 

 and Chief-Justice Fuller did not concur in the 

 opinion, especially in reference to the definition 

 of smuggling which required that the goods shall 

 be actually unladen and carried upon shore. 



The case of Allen r*. Smith, decided March <. 



1899, involved the question of title to the bounty 

 on sugar under the act of Oct. 1, 1890, and the 

 subsequent act of March 2, 1895. The court said : 

 " Bounties granted by a government are n< \n 

 pure donations, but are allowed either in con-M 

 eration of services rendered or to be rendered, ob- 

 jects of public interest to be obtained, production 

 or manufacture to be stimulated, or moral obli- 

 gations to be recognized. To grant a bounty 

 irrespective altogether of these considerations 

 would be an act of pure agrarianism ; and to de- 

 termine who is entitled to the benefit of the 

 bounty is but little more than to determine who 

 has rendered the consideration." 



In United States rs. Buffalo Natural Gas Fuel 

 Company it was held that natural gas brought in 

 pipes under Niagara river and used for fuel and 

 for illuminating should be admitted free of duty. 

 as it comes under the head of a crude mineral 

 or crude bitumen. 



In Scott rs. United States, Scott was a lcil<>r 

 carrier, charged with purloining money. It was 

 held that a decoy letter, addressed to a fictitious 

 person, mailed for the purpose of discovering 

 frauds of a letter carrier, was to be trentnl as 

 real letter, intended to be conveyed by the mail, 

 within the meaning of the statutes on that sub- 

 ject. It is the same to all outward appearance 

 as other letters, and the duty of the carrier who 

 takes it is the same. 



