Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1897-12-17


state, to whom liberal commission Will
be allowed.
A NATIONAL, NOT PARTISAN QUESTION
Sew York Tribune.
advocating thc annexation Of Hawaii
President Mckinley should not be SUPP
posed to act from partisan motives.
Addition to the territory of the United
States should never DE partisan mca-
sure. Since lie whole nation must be
called upon to defend au acquisition ifit
ever needs defence. ana must share the
burdens If any are involved. and also
all the benefits that may accrue, it is
peculiarly desirable that annexation of
territory should always be considered
and decided upon purely non-partisau
grounds. Were the question one of
party. it might be pertinent to ask
whether those who opposed the acquisi-
ton of California or Texas or Louisiana
or Florida ever gained anything IN pub.
lie estimation. But every such question
ought to be treated on higher plane.
No partisan advantage can be suggested
which the annexation of Hawaii could
secure, nor is there a reason for sup
posing that opposition to it will benefit
any party.
When Captain Mahan wrote so strong
ly of the immense superiority which
possession of the Hawaiian Islands
would give to a naval power in the
Northern Pacific he was not inspired by a
blind and bigoted partisanship. His
Impressive statements, the truth of
which has been recognized by the ablest
tacticians of all nations, 90 far to explain
the antagonism to the Hawaiian treaty
which is found working underground at
Washington, not openly, because it
would help the treaty if the eXertOns of
certain foreign powers against it were
known, but mainly under pretence of
anxiety about national expenditure, or
elevation of citizenship, or particularly
the sugar interest, 70 put the latest
preteXt aside it is enough to say that the
rapid development of sugar-beet culture
in Pacific states, although in direct com
petition with the cOolie labor which has
been employed in Hawaii, but could not
be under United States laws, sullices to
prove that sugar production in the
islands without that advantage could
not embarrass the industry in this
country. The hands are those of Esau,
Il,
foreign power.
1t is childish to ignore the fact that
every addition of territory involves some
possible cost. This year the United
States is for the first time called upon to
pay something for the maintenance of
government in Alaska, although the
purchase from Russia by Secretary
Seward was in its day denounced with
extreme bitterness as wanton waste of
public money, and as sure to involve in
calculable expense thereafter. The ma
ton begins to pay something of cOnse-
quence for its far-ol possession when
that possession comes to be of value.
The Hawaiian Islands are not icebound,
nor can their acquisition be derided as an
act of folly. They are already produc-
tive, without the advantages which
would attract American settlement and
enterprise. But the main question is
whether it would not cost more every
year not to have them in expense of
Notifications and naval defence of COM
merce on the Pacific coast than it would
cost to accept, fortify and defend them
as American territory.
1t is pity that there should grow up
anything like partisan antagonism to
this measure. When some of the ablest
and most Jealous Democrats are foremost
in advocating it the antagonism is the
more likely to be attributed to partisan
interests, and yet the truth is that the
leading statesmen of both parties for
many years have maintained, and have
acted upon the belief, that the Hawaiian
islands must ultimately become part of
the United States, and be settled and
controlled by citizens of the United
States. 1t is only an accident that the
time has come under Republican adj
minlstration when this nation must de-
eide whether to accept this additional
territory, or, by repelling it, to insure
the occupation of the Islands by other
powers. The situation is not one which
calls for the partisan feeling shown by
some at Washington, and it may be
hoped that a broader spirit of patriotism
will prevail before the question is finally
decided