THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



79 



it upon them was to bring about the sad 

 results that are now before us. Congres- 

 sional interest was not sufficiently excited 

 in their behalf to pass laws looking to their 

 welfare and questions, vital to her, were 

 never introduced in Congress, while many 

 of the regulations that were passed were 

 never enforced. For as Mr. Jordaji says: 

 "What is every body's business is generally 

 nobody's business, and what happens in 

 Alaska is generally nobody's business." 

 That is the reason why at the present day 

 "starvation is inevitable along the whole 

 line of the southwestern coast." Thirty- 

 one years ago when we purchased Alaska 

 from Russia it had a native population of 

 32.000: now in many of the villages the en- 

 tire native population is huddled together 

 in a single cellar, while starvation and 

 want are everywhere. With such a record 

 in our own colony it is a case of the "pot 

 calling the kettle black," to censure Spain 

 too severely for her colonial policy. The 

 same cause is at the bottom of the trouble 

 in both cases. 



Says Mr. Jordan %i We try to throw the 

 burden of self-government on people so 

 situated that self-government is impos- 

 sible. We impose on them statutes un- 

 fitted to their conditions, and then leave 

 to them the enforcement." As an ex- 

 ample, there are laws in Alaska regulat- 

 ing the salmon fishing, etc., but the sal- 

 mon company would have to arrest and 

 punish itself if it infringes the laws, as the 

 native would not be capable of doing so. 



From this one can see how very little 

 provision is made for the enforcement of 

 any laws that may be made and how little 

 the native population is considered. 



The lesson Mr Jordan draws from our 

 Alaskan failures is. that before we accept 

 colonies we must count the cost and that 

 if we do accept them we must protect and 

 care for them, foster their industries and 

 look to their welfare, no matter how ex- 

 pensive a proceeding it may be. There 

 are races living under our flag that are at 

 present not capable of self-government, 

 and uutil they are, some sort of colonial 

 bureau must be established to look after 

 their welfare. The following words of 

 Mr. Jordan should be echoed by every 

 loyal American: "If we cannot afford to 



watch them, (the colonies) to care for 

 them, to give them paternal rule when no 

 other is possible, we do wrong to hoist 

 our flag over them." This country has 

 taken a great responsibility in annexing 

 new territory and we echo the sentiments 

 of the writer when he says: ''It may be 

 that the final loss of her colonies, misman- 

 aged for two centuries, will mark the 

 civil and moral awakening of Spain. Let 

 us hope that the sme event will not mark 

 a civil and moral lapse in the nation which 

 receives Spain's bankrupt assets." 



The Clayton- Editorial mention was made 

 Treaty^ in last month's AGE of the 



Nicaragua canal project. That we will 

 soon have to have an isthmian canal is 

 generally conceded, on account of our re- 

 cent territorial acquisitions in the Pacific, 

 bat whether it is to be the Nicaragua or 

 the Panama canal is still an open question. 

 The friends of each project are busily ag- 

 itating their respective canals and both 

 will probably come up before Congress 

 this winter. A question that has come up 

 regarding the proposed Nicaragua canal 

 is whether the Clayton-Bulwer treaty of 

 Great Britain is still in force. This treaty 

 was made between the United States and 

 Great Britain in 1850. the terms being that 

 England and the United States should 

 have joint control over any canal which 

 might be built across the isthmus, provid- 

 ing that Great Britain should on her side 

 pledge herself never to annex any part of 

 Central America. Ex-President Cleve- 

 land, during his term of office, considered 

 the treaty as binding, though previous to 

 his administration official notice had been 

 given England that, owing to her having 

 formed a colony in Central America while 

 this country was engaged in its great civil 

 war, she had violated the treaty and it 

 would henceforth be considered null and 

 void by the United States. Different 

 views are taken by public men and by the 

 press on both sides of the water as to 1 he 

 validity of the treaty. The Spectator (En- 

 glish) advises that England abrogate the 

 treaty at once, thus removing what might 

 possibly be an obstacle to the construction 

 of the canal an enterprise whose success 

 means almost as much to Great Britain as 

 to this country. 



