Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1895-05-03
The Course Of the Administration in
the Corinto Affair.
WARSHIPS SHOULD HAVE BEEN SENT
Unjust Criticism of Certain Officers
of the Navy.
WHAT NIGHT HAVE BEEN

The administration, in the Corinto mat
ter, Is not thought to have been fortunate
In some of its champions, and particularly
in those who have been sneering at both
the public press and the navy. NEWSPAPERS
Independent enough to control their own
columns have been accused Of willfully mis-
representing for sensational purposes the
attitude of the United States in the prem
ises, while the excuse given for the failure
to send ships to the scene of disturbance
has been the fear that some hot-headed
American tar with gold cord on his coat
might lose his balance and do something
1ndiscreet. The talk in spots has been eX-
IRENE and sufficient to warrant any for
efgner unacquainted with and unable to get
at the real facts in concluding that the
American press, as a whole, must be under
very disreputable control and the American
navy differed by a cheap set of brawlers
and swaggererS.
Newspapers Can Take Care of Them
selves.
Inc newspapers, there is a modest belief,
can take care of themselves in this con-
troversy They have given the news pretty
faithfully and accurately, and their COM
ments on the affair have been warmly sus-
tanned by public sentiment. That they are
IN debt for nothing to the State Depart
state Departmental as usual, retired into its
smell as soon as the contention got to be
interesting, and neglected a very valuable
opportunity to assist in keeping the public
properly informed. This action did not
surprise the more experienced of the news
gatherers, who have come to Hook for 1t
from the present administration whenever
information is valuable, and, from the
everyday standpoint, there seems to be an
especially good reason why it should be
given out to the properly accredited news
bureaus. Official news censorship is hardly
more severe at times even in Russia. And
yet IN the lace of this, certain champions
or the administration condemn those Jour-
nails which, dsregarding this censorship
get the news from other sources and have
the temerity to print it,
Why do the newspapers lie SOP" in
CURED an official of the State Department
10 newspaper correspondent recently in
discussing this subject.
They are studying diplomacy" was the
reply.
The subject was not pursued.
Criticism of the Navy.
Friends of the navy, while resenting the
feeling that prompts the criticism of that
arm OF the public service, derive certain
comfort from the criticism itself. They
agree that the navy ought not to be called
IN to help settle any controversy until it
has reached the acute stage. The states
men and the diplomats should first have
tailed. But when the navy Is called in it
ought to be in thoroughly resoute hands,
Hot-headed men may not make the best
OF commanders, but head too cool to
get interested in a controversy is not de-
sirable on the shoulders of a sailor If a
sailor is to err-and even Lord Nelson
was not superior to the infirmity-it ought
not to be on the side of a too marked dis
erection. He is put aboard of his ship to
fight her when the time comes and the
more of willing soul he is to do that
the better for his side of the controversy
But. as friends of the navy point out,
sailor may be all of this, and yet no scrap
per for scrappingS sake. Simply because
he is man of quick and steady courage
does not initiate against his usefulness at
points where ticklish business Is in pro-
gress. President Harrison, whose expert
ence as soldier has taught him much,
was greatly comforted when he found the
assignments in Chilean waters We're sat
isfactory when the United States was in
dispute with Chile. He wanted the best
men on the quarter deck there and when
he was informed that those who were there
We're men to tie to he backed them up to
the hilt in their construction of their duty.
The American navy, it is pointed out, came
out of that affair with flying colors, and
one officer in particular won great distinc-
ton. This same officer, too, the present
sneerers at the navy seem to forget, is in
high favor with President Cleveland, al
though duck-shooting expeditions have af-
forded him of late no opportunity to adj
vance his professional reputation.
Should Have Sent Ships.
1t is still insisted upon that it was i'm
peratively the duty of the administration
to send ships to Corinto as soon as it was
known that English ships were on the way
there. This could not have been construed
as a menace by England, even from the
Administrators point of view. The Eng
fish program was circumScribed, but it
opened up great possibilities of trouble.
The stay of the English admiral would he
brief if the Nicaraguans would promptly
pay up. day in port might suffice for
him to discharge his mission as collector
of smart money, but if that should fail
and his services as fighting man should be
called into requsition, the end or the full
consequences would not be IN the power
of anybody to prevent. The Nicaraguans
might make a stubborn resistance, and all
interests, of whatever nationality, in and
around Corinto, might become imperied
And suppose they should, American inter
ests among the rest; We're Americans to
look to the English admiral for safety and
protection? Were they to huddle together
under the folds of the English flag and
draw rations from an English larder?
No Credit to the Administrations.
That things so far have gone as we'll as
they have at Corinto on the score of the
safety of life and property is nothing to
the credit of Mr. Cleveldnd's adminiStra-
ton. The English admiral has had clear
field, and might have wiped out the little
town any day since he anchored in front CT
it for all there was any American force at
hand to protest or restrain him.
CONVENTION OF RAILWAY MEN.