ARGUMENT OF 

 THE HONORABLE ELIHU ROOT 



ON BEHALF OF THE 



UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 



Senator Root: Mr. President and gentlemen of the Tribunal: 

 I beg you to accept my congratulation upon the approach of the 

 end of this long task which has been imposed upon you, to listen 

 attentively and laboriously to the arguments of counsel. It has 

 been, necessarily, a severe tax, not only upon the time, but upon 

 the powers of the members of the Tribunal, for so long a period 

 to listen and not to act. Yet I caimot doubt that you will feel 

 that the dignity and importance of the controversy which is sub- 

 mitted to you justifies the demands that have been made upon 

 you. It is not alone a controversy that, through lapse of time, 

 has acquired historic interest, that, through the participation 

 of many of the ablest and most honored statesmen of two great 

 nations through nearly a century, has acquired that sanctity which 

 the sentiment of a nation gives to the assertion of its rights, but 

 it is a controversy which involves substantial and, in some respects, 

 vital interests to portions of the people of each nation. 



The fishermen on the coast of Massachusetts and of Maine are 

 poor and simple folk. They live upon the fruit that, with hard toil 

 and danger, they win from the waves. They are not as important 

 a part of the United States to-day as they were in 1783 or in 

 1818; but, while their comparative weight and importance have 

 declined, their positive importance is as great now as it was then, 

 and greater still. Every consideration that moves a sovereign 

 nation to regard and maintain the interests of its own people urges 

 the United States to press upon you this view of its controversy. 



The Attorney-General has pointed out that behind these fish- 

 ing commimities upon the New England coast stand the eighty-five 

 millions of people of the United States. Ah ! yes. But behind 

 the fishing communities and traders of Newfoundland stand the 



