States, in the absence of a Federal treaty, is a subject of State rather than of Federal jurisdiction. Congress has the paramount right to regulate navigation in the navigable waters of the United States for the benefit of all the citizens of the Union, but Congress has no authority, in the absence of treaty regulations, to pass laws to regulate or protect fisheries within the territorial jurisdiction of the States. (McCready v. Virginia, 94 U. S., 391; Lawton v. Steele, 152 U. S., 133.)

The question for consideration, therefore, is whether the United States by treaty may deprive the riparian States of the power of control and regulation over the fisheries in the waters within their respective jurisdictions conterminal with the boundary between the United States and Canada. It is obvious that if by the exercise of the treaty-making power the regulation of this subject is assumed by the Federal Government the respective State governments will be deprived of jurisdiction over that subject in the same.

waters.

The regulation of fisheries has been recognized as a proper subject for international agreement. By the treaties with Great Britain in 1854 and 1871 certain rights of fishing were granted by the United States to citizens of Canada in the waters within the 3-mile limit of the States from Maine to Delaware. The nature and habits of fishes, the means necessary to their preservation from extinction, and their protection in spawning time are such as to render it of importance that laws regulating their capture shall be uniform and uniformly enforced over the whole extent of the body of water which they inhabit. Where a lake or river is divided into two jurisdictions by a boundary line between two nations, it is manifest that it would be not only convenient but almost necessary for the adequate regulation of the subject that an agreement by treaty or other stipulation should exist between the governments of the two countries, in order to make any system of regulation. and protection effective. The several States are by the Constitution forbidden to enter into any such treaty or regulation with any foreign power, and unless the United States may regulate the subject by treaty it is impossible of

regulation by uniform and reciprocal rules. I advise you, therefore, that the regulation of the fisheries in these boundary waters is a proper subject of the treaty-making power vested by the Constitution in the President.

If it be suggested that such a treaty is beyond the constitutional power of the President and the Senate to effect, because it deprives the States of jurisdiction and authority now vested in them, and practically would annul their laws and destroy one subject of State sovereignty, without going into a history of that clause of the Constitution above quoted, which declares that all treaties made or which shall be made by the authority of the United States shall be the supreme law of the land (the discussions of which in the Constitutional Convention and in the State conventions called for the adoption of the Constitution were very extensive and interesting), it is sufficient to say that it has been held by the Supreme Court of the United States that it is no objection to the validity of a treaty that it establishes within State jurisdiction a different law and standard of rights from that established by the laws of the State. That court has decided in the interest of a British subject that a treaty can annul a statute of a State confiscating the debt due to a British subject. (Ware v. Hylton, 3 Dallas, 199.) It was held in the case of Hauenstein v. Lynham (100 U. S., 483) that a State law forbidding an alien to take lands by descent must give way to a treaty which confers the right of inheritance upon a subject of a foreign power. So that it is established by judicial decision of the highest authority that the mere fact that a treaty provision annuls and supersedes the law of a particular State upon the same subject is no objection to the validity of the treaty. In the case of Geofroy v. Riggs (133 U. S., 258) Mr. Justice Field declared that the treaty power of the United States extends to all proper subjects of negotiation between our Government and the governments of other nations. "The treaty power as expressed in the Constitution is in terms unlimited except by those restraints which are found in that instrument against the action of the Government or of its departments, or those arising from the nature of the Government itself and that of the States. It would not be contended that it extends so

far as to authorize what the Constitution forbids, or a change in the character of the Government or in that of one of the States, or a cession of any portion of the territory of the latter without its consent. But with these exceptions it is not perceived that there is any limit to it touching any matter which is properly the subject of negotiations with a foreign country."

My conclusion is that the United States has power to enter into treaty stipulations with Great Britain for the regulation of the fisheries in the waters of the United States and Canada along the international boundary.

I have the honor to be, very respectfully,

The SECRETARY OF STATE.

JOHN W. GRIGGS.

STAMP TAX-PROMISSORY NOTE-PLEDGE.

Upon promissory notes a stamp is required of the value of 2 cents for a sum not exceeding $100, and for each one hundred dollars or fractional part thereof in excess of $100, 2 cents additional.

In fixing the amount of tax required upon a mortgage or pledge of stock or property given to secure the payment of a promissory note for a definite and certain sum, the actual value of the stock or property is immaterial.

A paper or instrument stipulating that certain securities or other property shall be held as indemnity or as a basis of credit, or a guaranty generally, without specifying particular property as security for the payment of a definite and certain sum, is not liable to tax under the provisions of the war-revenue act.

Such a paper, being a pledge of property for the payment of a debt, is not to be construed as a power of attorney and stamped as such, as it only authorizes the holder, in case of default, to make the securities available for the purposes for which they were deposited.

A power of attorney is an instrument by which the authority of one person to act in the place of another, as attorney in fact, is set forth.

DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE,

September 21, 1898.

SIR: I have the honor to acknowledge receipt of yours of 30th August, ultimo, in which you submit certain papers and instruments, and request my opinion as to the stamp required under the provisions of the war revenue act.

The first question is as to the stamp required upon a note and instrument as follows:

"No.

"On demand

I -, promise to pay to the order of the Northern Trust Company at its office in Chicago one hundred thousand dollars for value received, with interest at the rate of per cent per annum after date.

66

66

Accompanying this note, and upon the same paper, is the following instrument:

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I - have deposited with and pledged to said The Northern Trust Company, as collateral security for the payment of above and foregoing note and all other liabilities of the undersigned to said trust company or its assigns heretofore or hereafter contracted, the following property, viz: One thousand shares of Chicago and Northwestern Railway common stock, the market value of which is now $ In case said trust company, or any of its officers, agents, or assigns, shall at any time be of opinion that said property is of less value than above stated, or that the whole or any part of said property has declined or may decline in value, or in case any liability or liabilities of the undersigned to said trust company or its assigns shall be at any time increased, then in all, any, or either of such cases said trust company or its assigns may, in its or their discretion, call for additional security satisfactory to the holder of said note, and failure to furnish the same before 12 o'clock noon of the day next after the day of such call shall make said note and all other liabilities of the undersigned to said trust company or its assigns, without notice or demand, at once due and payable. Said call for additional security may be made by giving any of the undersigned oral or written notice thereof, or by leaving written notice thereof at any office, place of business, or usual abode of any of the undersigned. The undersigned hereby give said trust company, or any of its officers, agents, or assigns, irrevocable power to sell said property or any part thereof,

without advertising or demanding payment or giving notice at public or private sale or sales or at any brokers' board, in case said trust company, or any of its officers, agents, or assigns, shall at any time be of the opinion that said property or any part thereof has declined or may decline in value, or is or may be of less value than above stated, or in case such additional security, if called for, shall not be furnished as above provided, or in case said note or any other liability or liabilities of the undersigned to said trust company or its assigns shall not be paid at maturity. If said sale or sales shall be public or at any brokers' board, said trust company or its assigns may purchase said property or any part thereof at such sale or sales. The net proceeds of such sale or sales, after payment of all expenses and attorney's fees growing out of or connected with said property and the sale and delivery thereof, may be applied upon all or any of the liabilities (whether due or not), of the undersigned to the holder of said note, and the surplus, if any, shall be paid to the undersigned. If the net proceeds of such sale or sales shall not pay in full all the liabilities of the undersigned to said trust company or its assigns, then all such liabilities remaining unpaid shall become at once due and payable and bear interest at the rate of seven per cent per annum from the time of such sale. In case of any exchange of or substitution for, or addition to said property or any part thereof, the provisions of this agreement shall extend to such new, exchanged, substituted, or additional property. And the undersigned hereby authorize said trust company at any time, at the discretion of any officer or agent thereof, to apply any money or moneys which said company may have or hold on deposit or otherwise for the undersigned toward the payment of said note and other liabilities, whether due or not. The word liabilities herein shall include all liabilities of undersigned, whether of same class as said note or otherwise, and whether of undersigned alone or jointly with others. The undersigned hereby expressly empowers said trust company at its option to subscribe for, take, and hold as additional collateral to any and all of the indebtedness above named all stock increases and stock and