US Presidency
1902

This recommendation was merely giving practical effect to President McKinley's words, when, in his messages of December 5, 1898, and December 5, 1899, he wrote: It is important that our relations with this people ( of Cuba ) shall be of the most friendly character and our commercial relations close and reciprocal. * * * We have accepted a trust, the fulfillment of which calls for the sternest integrity of purpose and the exercise of the highest wisdom. The new Cuba yet to arise from the ashes of the past must needs be bound to us by ties of singular intimacy and strength if its enduring welfare is to be assured. * * * The greatest blessing which can come to Cuba is the restoration of her agricultural and industrial prosperity. Yesterday, June 12, I received, by cable from the American minister in Cuba, a most earnest appeal from President Palms for legislative relief before it is too late and ( his ) country financially ruined. The granting of reciprocity with Cuba is a proposition which stands entirely alone.