The Hawaiian gazette., 1893-02-14
OUR ISLAND NEIGHBORS.

1Q6Ie scouS uO uOuOt, says IuS
New York Observer, of January II
that the time is near at hand when
the United States will be forced to
consider seriously what permanent
relations it shall bear to the neigh
boring islands which, independent
or owing allegiance to other ma
tions, have by irresistible gravita-
ton become its commercial depend
encies. With respect to Hawaii
final decision may be forced at any
moment by a revolutionary move
ment fatal to the reigning house,
while the Cuban question is fast
becoming an American one in the
incompetence of the Spanish gov
eminent to rule, the desire of the
people for annexation to the United
States, and the fact that the island
is already a commercial depend
ency of this country. The letters
of a staff correspondent of the Tri-
bune, of this city, leave no doubt
of the favor with which annexation
is regarded by all classes of the
population, save the meagre hand
full Of officials sent out by the
mother country to administer the
government of the island, an adj
ministration conducted with the
sole view of exacting the largest
possible amount Of revenue.
This popular attitude is in
marked contrast to that which OBJ
tanned prior to the Civil War, when
the question of Cuban annexation
was raised by the Southern slave
owners, and is due to the change
in economic conditions which has
transferred the market of the island
from Europe to America, and
to the conviction of the people
that the only relief from mis-
government and ruin is to be !
found in political union with the
United States. Indeed, so settled |
is the conviction of the islanders, |
Spaniards and native Cubans
alike. that both their material and
political interests are indissolubly
allied with those of this country,
that the fact has passed out of the
range of discussion no question
existing that as a part of the Am
erican Union market would be
found for the sale of their produce
and. from which supplies could be
obtained free from taxation, and
that their local government would
be conducted by the people for the
people. If the advantages to the
are so great and so po-
tent that it is no wonder that they
look to Washington for relief from
an almost intolerable position,
those on the side of this country, if
not so easily defined, are so consid-
cradle that they should be care
fully weighed, without the preju-
lice which formerly obtained
against responsibility for outlying
possessions.
With the extension of its do
mains from the Atlantic to the Pa
,ific, the interest of the United
States in Cuba, like that in Ha-
vail, has become a vital one, and
lot only from a commercial but a
military point of view vastly supe-
Tor to that possessed by any Eu-
opean power. The time is rapid
y approaching when the Wash
ngton government will control an
5thmian canal, and whether it be
ither the Panama or Nicaragua
anal, the strategical position of c
iuba will be of commanding i'm Z
ortance to it and the island one
f the keys that should be in Am
rican hands. With the formid-
BILE line of marine fortresses esta-
lished by England off the Atlantic
eaboard, reaching from Halifax to
and thence to Jamaica
nd Castries, if the canal is COM
leted without the acquisition of a r
ommanding naval station in the L
lest Indies, Britain will control
S entrance. With the nearest
merican base of supplies at New
rleans, and without a naval sta
on in West Indian waters, Eng
nd, with her powerful fortifca-
Ons at st. Lucia and Kingston,
,r navy yards and coaling sta p
ons, can close the canal to Amer
an commerce and convert it into
| English waterway at will. To
ait to acquire properties capable
impregnable defence and afford =
g facilities for preventing such
tack, until the emergency requir-
6 them arises, will be to wait too
ng, and it is a serious question
neither the time has not come for
'cisive action in the matter. It
all the more a question because +
Americans do not recognize the -
numerical and political value of
lba, it is evident that other ma AS