The Days of a Man 1909 



accepted without question by the Canadian Council, 

 subject to approval by the United States. But here 

 Fatal a discomfiting setback awaited us. It had been our 

 delay understanding that as the treaty as a whole was 

 already approved by the Senate, the regulations 

 would not need to be submitted but would go into 

 effect on proclamation by President Taft and Sir 

 Wilfrid Laurier. To be on the safe side, I had asked 

 the State Department for an interpretation in this 

 regard, and had been referred to Hoyt, whose deci- 

 sion as given (to me) was worded as follows: "It is 

 agreed by Mr. Bryce and Mr. Hoyt that this can be 

 done 1 . . . without waiting for legislation." 



But the new officials ruled that the Senate's con- 

 sent to all details must be secured. This decision 

 changed the whole aspect of affairs, proving practi- 

 cally fatal to the Bryce-Root plan, 2 for overfishing 

 prevailed on our side of the boundary only, and any 

 restriction upon it would of course be irksome to 

 some interest which had but to appeal to a Senator 

 to cause delay or disagreement. As a matter of fact, 

 one prominent operator whose revenue might be 

 affected openly boasted that by such means he would 

 "make monkeys of the Commission!" Another, 

 writing to his Senator, said in substance: "We are 

 depending on you to put a stop to this business." 

 Nevertheless, the leading interests in Maine and on 

 the Great Lakes outside of Huron looked farther 

 ahead and gave the plan their approval, while the 

 Alaska Packers Association, representing the largest 

 salmon industry, expressed no opposition beyond a 



1 That is, putting the provisions of the treaty into effect. 



2 In Lake Erie and Puget Sound, the really crucial points, the total suppres- 

 sion of all Canadian fishing would scarcely have relieved the situation. 



C 270 n 



