Iowa state bystander. [volume] (Des Moines, Iowa) 1894-1916, 1897-12-10
Belligerency Not Favored.

Belligerency Not Favored.
| regard the recognition Of the belligcr-
| ency of the Cuban insurgents as now I'M
wise and therefore inadmissible. Should
| that step hereafter be deemed wise as a
| measure OF right and duty the executive
| will take it.
Intervention upon humanitarian grounds
has been frequently suggested and has
not failed to receive my most anxious and
earnest consideration. But should such
step be now taken when it is apparent
that hopeful change has supervened
in the policy of Spain toward Cuba? A
new government has taken office in the
mother country. 1t is pledged in advance
to the declaration that all the effort in
the world cannot suffice to maintain peace
in Cuba by the bayonet: that vague prom
ises of reform after subjugation afford
| no solution Of the insular problem; that
with a substitution of commanders must
come a Change Of the past system 81 war
fare for one in harmony with a new pol
icy which shall no longer aim to drive the
Cubans to the horrible alternative of
taking to the thicket or surrounding in
misery; that reforms must be institut-
ed in accordance with the needs and cir
| cumstances of the time and that these re-
| forms, while designed to give full auton-
| omy to the colony and to create a vir-
| tual entity and self-controlled admins
tration. shall yet conserve and affirm the
sovereignty of Spain by just distribu-
| ton Of powers and burdens upon basis
of mutual interest. untainted by meth
! dds of selfish eXpediency
| The first acts OF the new government lie
| in these honorable paths. The policy of
| cruel rapine and determination that so
long shocked the universal sentiment of
humanity has been reversed. Under the
! new military commander d broad clem-
cncy is proffered. Measures have already
been set on foot to relieve the horrors
OF starvation. The power of the Spanish
armies, 1t is asserted. is to be used not
| to spread ruin and desolation but to
| protect the resumption OF peaceful agri-
| cultural pursuits and productive indus
tries.
| On the Hawaiian Matter.
! BY special message dated the six
| teenth day of June last, I laid before
| the senate a treaty signed that day by
the plenipotentiaries Of the United States
and of the republic of Hawaii, having for
its purpose the incorporation of the Ha-
waian islands as an integral part of the
| United States, and under its sovereignty.
| The senate, having removed the injunc-
| ton of secrecy. although the treaty is
| sun pSHulllS oSlCIC tHdI DOuSt tiIc
ject may be properly referred to in this
message because the necessary action of
congress is required to determine by leg
| isla ton many details Of the eventual
| union should the fact of annexation be
| accomplished, as I believe 1t should be.
| While consistently disavowing from a
very early period any progressive policy
of absorption in regard to the Hawaiian
group. long series of declarations
| through three-quarters Of century has
| proclaimed the vital interest of the Unit
ed States in the Independent life Of the
islands and their intimate commercial de-
pendence upon this country. At the same
time, it has been repeatedly asserted that
| in no event could the entity Of Hawaiian
| statehood cease by the passage of the
islands under the domination or influence
of another power than the United States.
| Under these circumstances the logic of
| events required that annexation, hereto
| fore offered, but declined, should in the
ripeness of time come about as the nat
ural result of the strengthening ties that
bind us to those islands, and be realized
by the free will of the Hawaiian state.
| That treaty was unanimously ratified
without amendment by the senate and
president Of the republic of Hawaii on
| the 10th of September last, and only
| awaits the favorable action OF the Am
| erican senate to effect the complete alb
| sorption of the islands into the domain
| of the United States. What the condi-
| tions of such union shall be; the po-
| litical relation thereof to the United
| States; the character Of the local ad-
ministration: the quality and degree Of
| the elective franchise of the inhabitants;
| the extension of the federal laws to the
| territory or the enactment of special laws
| to lit the peculiar condition thereof; the
| regulation, IL need be. Of the labor sys-
| tenn therein, are all matters which the
| treaty has wisely re!egated to the con-
gress.
Recommends q Confirmation.
| If the treaty Is confirmed, as every con-
| sideration of dignity and honor requires,
the wisdom Of congress will see to 1t that
avoiding abrupt assimilation Of elements
perhaps hardly yet fitted to share in the
| highest franchises of citizenship, and hav-
ing due regard to the geographical condi-
tons, the most just provisions for self
rule In local matters with the largest
political liberties as an integral part OF
our nation will be accorded to the Ha-
waiians. No less Is due to a people who.
after nearly five years of demonstrated
capacity to fulfill the obligations OF self
governing statehood. come OF their own
free viii to merge their destinies In our