The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1897-10-08
PROBABLY WORTHLESS.

PROBABLY WORTHLESS.
1t will be an agreeable disappoint-
ment to those who are acquainted will?
the character of the Spanish govern
ment and it's methods of dealing with
it's subjects if the proposition which
comes from the new ministry to grant
autonomy to Cuba is any advance in
liberality Of policy whatever. 1t Is
doubtless true that the queen and the
Sagasta ministry feel that it is desir-
able and necessary for the government
to come to some sort of terms with the
Cuban insurgents. They recognize bet
ter than any one else can the impossl-
bility of continuing the war indefinite
Nv. They know the state of their own
finances and the dangers Of popular
turmoil The throne of Spain itself
does not rest upon foundation so Sc
cure that it may not be shaken by the
continuance of war abroad with In
creasing taxation and poverty at home.
Some sort of peace with Cuba is a nee
essary condition of any degree Of quie-
tude and prosperity in Spain. 1t is
natural, therefore, that the authorities
should turn to their proposition for au-
tonomy with hope, and also natural
that they, with their hide-bound views
Of popular liberty and popular rights
should consider it an advance equiva-
lent almost to surrender on their
part.
We do not expect the Cuban people
to look at it in this way. The proffef
comes too late to be of any value, even
if it were expressed in more definite
terms. Had the Spanish government
been possessed of sufficient foresight.
humanity and courage TO offer auton-
omy to the Cuban people few years
ago, not only would this costly and
bloody instruction have been spared,
but Spain would probably have retain
ed Cuba to the end Of all time as her
most loyal and devoted colony. That
which would have seemed an almost
priceless boon then is worthless now;
when the whole island has been deVa5-
tated, it's industries ruined and it's peo
ole made either poverty-stricken cap
tiyes in the large towns or outlaws in
the native forests, with price upo7
their heads. Men who have dared all
and sacrificed all for an object need not
accent less than the whole of their de-
mand General autonomy would once
have seemed more than enough; indie
pendence is none too little now.
The Cuban people will be further JUS
tilted. in all probability, in rejecting
these advances when they come to un-
derstand what they actually include.
The term autonomy" may mean al
most anything. If we are to judge
from the general point of view and past
action of the Spanish government, au-
tonomy, in it's case, will mean some
thing little better than the serVltude
imposed upon Cuba in the past Among
Anglo-saxon peoples it means practl-
cal Internationally relation, for eX-
ample, existing between Canada AMI
Australia and the British croWn-com-
pIete control of local affairs, and even
immunity from taxation for imperial
purposes, with only political bond OF
union and the acknowledgement OF SUI
zerainty. We do not believe thar
Spain has any such idea in view. ''Au-
tonomy'' in her mouth in the past has
meant only a partial surrender even
of the conduct of local government.
while it has implied the complete
domination of the Cuban fisc by Spa1l',
and the acceptance by the province of
all the regulations regarding taxation
and revenue that the mother country
chose to prescribe.
We have already heardathat Spain
suggests the acceptance by Cuba of all
war charges and of the Spanish Gus"
toms tariff No doubt, this consists en-
tirely with her idea of autonomy
but Cuba will not and ought not to &C
cept it. Autonomy, as we understand
it, meaning such right as the people Of
an American state have to manage
purely state affairs, or the relation Of
a colony of Great Britain to the crown,
is a conception which has never yet
made itself familiar to the Spanish
mind. Unless a profound change has
come over the rulers Of that coun
try, the latest proposition will bear no
more fruit than those that have pre-
coded it.