82 The Fishery Question, 



useful unless it contains not onl)- the promise 

 but the potency of a new treaty or an Inter- 

 national Commission. 



The Importance of fairness in attempting 

 a solution becomes evident when it is remem- 

 bered that the relations of the rival interests 

 vary with every phase of development on the 

 North-east Coast ; with every new method of 

 catchinor fish ; with the fluctuations of markets 

 and the possibilities of speculation. The 

 fishermen are of the same race and have many 

 characteristics in common. A proportion of 

 them may be found under one flag or the 

 other, as the conditions favor the United 

 States or Canada. The unfriendliness of de- 

 priving a neighboring country of a natural 

 market for Its products, and the right of a 

 nation to protect any or all of its industries, 

 provoke passionate discussion of purely eco- 

 nomic theories, wherein active politics often 

 denies facts and forces the Interpretation of 

 treaties. The nature of the connection be- 

 tween England and her colony, with its party 

 lines strongly defined on both sides of the 

 Atlantic, Is germane to the subject, as well as 

 the necessity of reforming the present trian- 

 o^ular relations between the United States, 



