OUR AMERICAN LETTER.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 333, 21 October 1908, Page 10

OUR AMERICAN LETTER.

( A WHITE LEACUE. '"HANDS ACROSS THE PACIFIC." ' (rttOM OUR SPECIAL CORKSrONDENT.) •' A movement is on foot in the coast States looking toward a league of the white peoples in tho Pacific area. The suggestion is mado that a somi-official union of the whit* countries bo effoctad with the object of increasing the friendly spirit already existing among theso pnopios, developing their trade relations, improving their mail and shipping facilities, adjusting their tariffs, competing in sports, and doing whatever else might be, necessary to build up a, community of interests; Ultimately the object of the league would be, I presumo, to operate defensively against the brown and .vollow peoples in the Pacific. Sooner or later the European and Asiatic peoples will meet in conflict in tho Pacifio, and whatever tho white peoples can do now to prepare themselves for tho struggle, bo that struggle either- in war • or in commorce, should be done with foresight and dispatch. Tho bonds that bold New Zoalanders to tho Qomc Country are, of course, strong,:but it is quits possible that some day the interests of tho two countries' will run contrary, and then Now Zealand will find its defence in alliance with peoples of its own kind and purpose, In America, \va have boon pleased at the reception accorded to our fleet in Now Zealand waters, Was not the warmth of that reception determined in part by the feeling that, in time of streSß Now Zealand might find it convenient to employ such a fleet to protect its interests f The Pacifio idea. • The Pacific idea, I take it, is that of cooperation and fellowship; in short, in the broad sense of tho term, it is Sooialism, The European States wer© oreatcd by antagonisms and hence they learned to find completeness within themselves. The European, state— philosophy, so to speak—is individualism. Id largo .."measuro this is the philosophy that informs tho American Constitution, But of late the "general welfare" olause in the Constitution lias been extended to apply, to cases quite outside the conception of tho "fore fathers," and undoubtedly the modern movement is broadly Socialistic. The idea of. the common good is that for whioh Now Zealand seams to stand, and this is .probably to become the prevailing jdoa of tlie Pacifio States, Japan has gone farther in this direction than any State, and to meet the competition of a kingdom devoted, to the commonweal all the white peoples of the Pacific must develop tho social spirit to a degree beyond anything they now know-. commercial Depression In the States. The panic-forces of last winter and spring bavo about spent themselves, and business is assuming normal ■ proportions.' ■ The depression lias not been marked at any timo on the coast, exoept in the large oities, for the reason : that California and the other const States' aro largely agricultural.- As a peoplo wo are getting our "living"—and something tnoro—from t£e land, California is the farmar's paradise. Wo harvest crop# every month id the year, and if one crop fails wo plant another. Altogether it is the American farmer that has given stability to conditions and i prevented what otherwise would have been a serious depression. Tho grand aggregate value of farm products the last year wag'estimated'at eeven'aftd a half billion dol* larp-—ati;'iijeohcoivably 'colessal sum. In the last few years l tho' American .farmer ha,' pasßed from tlie debtor to-the oreditor class. Instead of having his farnj -mortgaged to Wall' Street interests,. Wall Street is ing^the'farmer's money. 'So long : as this condition lasts there ; tvju bo no depression of any signifieanceV. • '• Btfosißv > drt ! '3 i Ifitlir'sljwe 1 5ucfi-.'?<?ea'm President Roosevelt recently appointed o commission, whoso function should bo w study the conditions-of farm life in America antt.report, upon .ways and means- to improyo them.. In California the-fanner has many of .the advantages of the city and/few of its disadvantages. Our farms are small'-five tu forty acre*—and so we have the community without the necessity of crowding. We linvo daily papers, daily mail delivery, telephones, and electric railways.. We raise almost every farm and garden product, ajid .tbo'most delicious fruits in the world. . Just, now tbo peach orchards are loaded with fruit in such quantities that the limbs. breals beneath tho burden. Qrapes—tlie'flaroo Tokay, the white Malaga,:,tbo. dark Zinfandel—are sweetening under our bright suns and'are almost ready for tho pickers, Tho melon season is about over, out the sweet potatoes are coming to market in largo numbers, So when you read, of depression in the States remember that, in California at least we are attending, to business and, letting tho rioh man take care of. himself—or with the crumbs that fall from our table. A Trip Through California, Recently I travelled the length of, the central Valley of California, starting at Turlock, the suburb of the great Turlock Irrigation District. This district is com' posed of a sandy loam, and under irrigation produces tbo most marvellous grapes, peaches and melons, and sweet potatoes. Southward the valley closes in gradually, tho soil growing redoor'and blacker, and tho traveller passes through. one of tho vast grain areas for which the State is noted. Here you will seo estates of from ten to twenty thousand acres, devoted exclusively to grain cultuio-™ little kingdoms with manor houses set far apart. ; But farther south at Fresno tho farms ■ dwindle in sizo, and one enters tho rsgion of vineyards., Fresno is the centre of tho raisin industry, the grapes drying and sweetening to perfection here under the constant sua. At' Bakersfield, near the divide, begins the.' oil district', from which California gets' most of its petroleum for heat and light, In the mountains are bee farms, the bees feeding upon the mountain sage and producing a most delicate and swoet honey. Then tho train falls down into another valley, the San Fernando, where the olives grow to such perfection. Hore at Sylmar—sea of trees— you see nothing but the groy-greeii foliage of the olive, One orchard of olives is advertised as the largest olive orchard in the world —which doubtless it is, for nowhere outside of California are products grown in such quantities and over such areas.. At Gloudalo you will seo field after field of strawberries. And then come, tho oranges with their leaves of dark green. Tho Cos Angeles district is tho orango district par oKoellonce. Again . ono must deal with superlatives. But in California ojja go(s used , to that. Along the coast tho apple grows to perfection, one .little Valjey,. shut m by hills but open to the, sea, Ppjaro by name, producing apples that are famed the world over. Surely this Stato is what I have said: the farmer's paradise. When panic strikes the apples, the peaches, the oranges, thp olives, and melons of California, you may tall; of depression. Canadian outlet at Hudson Bay. I have just seen a report issued by the Canadian Government dealing with the.important ' question of a railroad to Hudson Bay and steamship lines through that to European ports. This new ,outlot for the grain of tlio North-west is shown to bo feasible, and its adoption in view of the development of the gi-ain-produoing area is said to bo a necessity. Summaries aro given of various explorations in tho . regions through which a line could bo constructed from the wheat region to the coast, and theso districts aro said to contain Jiearv deposits of iron and copper ore, besides cWI and timber. At Churchill,-' on Hudson B»y, there-is a port open for several months 111 the year, and a site for a city with immense fisheries at its door and mineral wealth of great quantity in its neighbourhood. TJie American Temple pf peace, On May 11, before representatives of the twenty-one republics of North and South America, President Roosevelt laid the coin ori',to»H of the budding for the International Union of American Republics. Tho building ii to bo raised at a cost of a million dollars

contributed by Mr. Carnegie and the govern* mcnts of the republics concerned, and will be known as the Building of tho American Republics. It stands near the White Housa in Washington on grounds given by the United States Government. Tho intention of tho structure is well expressed by the President in his dedicatory address"This is a memorable occasion for all tho peoples of tho Western Hemisphere. Tho building) tho corner stone of which we lay to-day, emphasises by its existence tho growing sense of solidarity of interest and aspiration among the peoples of tho New World. It recocnitiou of the need to knit together all the republics of the Western Hemisphere through the kindly bonds of mutual justice, G°od will, and sympathetic comprehension." There is a growing sentiment that tho interests ef tho United States are.more closely intertwined, with the interests of the other • peoples of the Continent .than with those of any other nations and this building, dedicated .to international friendship, will do much to foster^ this sentiment. The buijding will contain in assembly chamber) ,to bo known aa the "Hall of tho American Ambassadors," which will be the only room in tho United States especially designed for international. conventions. It will have a reading-room.-with all periodicals -from the twenty-ono republics on file, and translators will be at 1 hand to assist aIT students. The President took the occasion of the dedi« cation to thank' the peoples of South'" America for tlieir cordial • reception to tbo fleet at the portß where the squadron touched in its memorable voyage around tho Horn—a voyage whioh had as.-ono of its first purposes the establishment of tho American union upon a firmer basis than over. Secretary * Root voiced the feelings of the. ten thousand'spectators at tho event in these words: "It is too much to expect that there - will not ba . controversies between American nations to whose dosiro for harmony wo now bear witness; but! to every controversy will apply the truth that there aro-no international controversies so serious that they cannot be: settled peaceably if both parties really dosiro peaceable settlement, while there are few causes of dispute so trifling that thoy cannot be made the occasion for war if either party really desires war. Tho'matters in dispute . hotwOen nations aro nothing; tho spirit which deals witli them is every, thing." The last sentence quoted was greatly. applauded, and the: President r®-. ftrred to it as a . sentence • that. should l btf. used as an inscription in the building.; ■ ' Tlio Panama "Scrapi" While theso lofty sentiments of peace audi goodwill are boing'.'uttcrcd by the Ambassadors at Washington, tho- habit of. revolution at home docs'-not abate,- Tho last re-, public to break forth is Panama, and tho domestic fcroil complicates matters somewhat f ' at tho Canal. The situation may call for tha intervention of'the United States as in thacase of Cuba. This habit of armed. revolution seems to us at lemst peculiar, but aa a matter ' of fact any Amerioan who haa. ; passed through the year of the presidential .elebtioii in the States ought not to find .tha political, "swaps" of the South American republics hard to understand, .In,. the - United States we elect delegates and tola conventions-and indulge our enthusiasms ;in, •, shouting for this man or that: in South American they organise a little revolution under the leadership of the man who-in tha : States would be the leading politician, The Paolfio Cod Banks. It ia a far cry from Panama to the bleak J shores of Alaska, and Siberia, where, under-,, the midnight sun, tho. world is drawing ' upon its.greatest storo of codfish. : 1 refer to this at : this point;; for, while international peace is a good" thing"atid "revolutions of a political sort are. important, the real re-' volution that is taking, place, on this continent is of an industrial order and beara upon the transference of commercial interest from tho Atlantic ,to the' Pacific, For. v v "' centuries the world has fed on tho swarming codfish hiyiks 'of,the Atlantic; r but it is truo; almostslieyoni'byiqf 'that;tH"o' r day of fumiW;-' in- thair i iO^V.;li?.-ntar"'i't'3 U haM, .and^'th'o™ call for * food. his be£n sent across H-he 'eon-'; tinent to the Pacific—a call that comes"' from Spain, Italy, . and Portugal, .as from ; Canada, 'Brazil,' '■ niul~ tho,-'West'-; Indies.' \ ' '' ' " ■ Gloucester and Boston, on the Massa-' obusetts coast, have. been, for a century the ; centres of tbo' codfish' trade: ••'Oft their; wharves you.will see great piles Of the dried' fish, which are handled with 'pitchforks, and ' seemingly in" endless store.' It js asserted that tho codfish business has netted its fol-' lowers not less than half a billion of dollars. With the'decline of/ the industry in the Eastern ' Oopan, the' opej'atorg are turning'' to tho ports of JPuget Sqund,in the Stato, of Wasliinctbn. 'lii the Pacific thero are fish for all, and 'beyond the - possibility of ''Countless millions disportunmolested on beds larger than many of* tho States of the Union. Among tho roost' prominent banks are the Baird, Slime, Portlock,'and' Albatross;' the first'_ mentioned' having an area of 9200 square miles! Other' fields are' being discovered in tho' BchruiK, and. Okhotsk seas by both American and' Japanese fishermen, In the open sea' tha' fishing has not been extensive, but' where! practised tho catches are largo, Tho fish; m known waters are numerous enough- to' warrant a" fleet as;, great as ever set sail' from tho fishing ports of Mas?achusetti,' Main6j' and Newfoundland. '

At present the Pacific Fleet hardly numbers fiftjythough these are much larger than the Glbucestor schooners. In 1900 thirty ves- ; sels landed'fifteen million pounds of fish or'" within thres million pounds of tho total credr" itcd to Gloucester, In 1906 tlje total "take"'' Amounted t0'4,000,00.0 fish, There aro noir ; nine cooipanies' ongaged in the industry, San ; Francisco being-'tho principal headquarters of the packing business, with Anaeortes and; Seattle on the Puget Sound as dose second?, 1 Of all tho codfishiiig ports, Anacortes seems' destined to become the Gloucester of the Pacific, on account of; its nearness to the fish-. ing grounds, Tho town has taken the lead in - up-to-date methods, and its fleet of vessels,'., manned largely by fishermen' brought from ' Gloucester, makes heavy catches each year. . The journey to the fields, which are nearly' 2000 miles distant, is begun in March in large schooners of 250 tons, and in length about 125 ft. The orow numbers from 20 to,, 36. 'The men provide their personal outfit j; ths packers tho vessel, its equipment ana stores. From Anaeortes the voyage occupies. jlbout two weeks. After tho schooner reaches the banks it is anchored, Each man is givon ; a dory and handlines, equipped with two,-, books each, Once in' their dories, the men - go where they please, and return when they wish. If fish aro plentiful and hungry a boat may bo filled in two or three hours, A good day's catch is 250 or 300 fish, The menare'paid according to their, catch, the rooro export earning as high as 25,00 dollars .per, day. Tho fish aro dressed and given their-, first salting and curing on board tho pchooner,; -At the packing bouses ashore they are thoroughly, washed and then dried, on bpeu racks. In California the fish are dried in the sun,-along Puget Sound, in artificial drying-houses, The packing is done mainly by. wopicfl &fld girls, who vnll turnbut a "brick" looking as nice and palatablo as a roll of oroamcry butter, Japan, with her usual astuteness,, has on- - tore" energetically into tho codfish industry. In the Okhotsk Sea she hns a great opportunity, It seemed at one time that if a conflict came about between Japan, and tlio United States, tho occasion woulo arise in. connection with the fishing industry of theNorthern seas- '