The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1897-12-14

Special to the Globe.
WASHINGTON, Dec. 13.-There is q
very considerable number Of Repub-
lican congressman whose position it
Is inaccurate to describe as either for"
or against annexation. They would
like to have the United States 'con-
troP' Hawaii; but they cannot think OF
having statehood in the American
union accorded to those islands as even
the remotest possibility. In short, they
want something that our constitutional
system has made no provision for, and
that is an annexation or alliance which
will not confer either now or at any
future date the political rights now en-
joyed by the states of the Union. The
accessions of territory in the past,
proud as Americans are of these, have
put a severe strain upon the principle
of the equality Of the states in the
senate. The three remaining terrific
ries, Arizona, New Mexico and Okla
homa. are not being very cordially
welcomed into the sisterhood Of states
by the substantial classes of the coun-
try. And while their admission is
naturally only question Of time con-
servative students believe that the free
coinage Of states should stop with our
present boundaries, and even the pros
pect that Alaska may some time be cry
ing out for statehood is not pleasant.
But what assurance is there that If.
Hawaii Is annexed 1t will never be-
come a state of the Union? 1t is not
safe to leave to the powers that will
be" the decision when she is prepared;
for when party feeling runs high a
majority alarmed at the prospect of
vanishing power might reach forth to
save itself by grasping Hawaii and
giving her an electoral vote, and, once
admitted, there could be no undoirg
the mistake. Nevada has never been
fit for American statehood Idaho and
Montana are hardly better, and so who
can say that unfitness will be sufficient
to keep Hawaii out Of statehood pro-
Vided she once becomes a part of the
soil Of the chief American republic?
The proposal to make Hawaii q coun-
ty OF California is believed to be i'm
practicable. If this were done, some
thing heretofore unheard of in the Way
OF county government would have to
be devised, and the electoral troubles
In such case would be merely trans
| ferred from the Union itself to one of
the states. How would the Californians
in g. close gubernatorial or legislative
contest like to have the voters on ISL
ands thousands of miles away over
rule majority Of the people Of the
rest OF the state? 1t is not regarded
| as wise to make any stipulation that
| the islands shall remain permanently
as territory" Besides being
one of the worst systems in the
| world, our territorial government has
always been regarded as an anomaly
| Which time must sweep away. Hence
| the cautious congressman are saying:
Hawaii ought never to be a state
we have too many Of that kind now:
she ought not to remain a territory
| as that is only a temporary expedient
anywhere; she cannot well become n
part of any present state, and so what
are we going to do with her?'
Here is a great opportunity for origi-
nality in craftsmanship. If an aspir-
ing young congressman who has care
| fully studied constitutional systems
would only devise a colonial plan which
| would meet the needs Of such communi-
ties as Hawaii and at the same time
be fully in accord with our fundamen-
tai political theories, he would awake
| to find himself famous. Everybody Is
| looking for some such plan, and saying
| that commission should be set to
work to devise Ii, but is there any
guarantee that such a commission
would be successful in its search? Ha-
waii is thought to be but forerunner
Of Cuba, and perhaps other scattered
parts of the Western hemisphere 1t
would be but natural that the weak
and poorly governed little states Of
| Spanish America should rush towards
| the United States, with our door once
opened Circumstances have brought
| these Pacific islands within American
reach a little earlier than the rest; but
| once admit these, and there is no know
ing where the colonial extension ap-
| petite may end. If Hawaii is to be an
nexed, then, it is Of enormous impor-
tance that some plan should be dis
covered for its government. This is
| the puzzle which makes it impossible
for goodly number of the move care
| full lawmakers to say whether they are
really for or against annexation as the
case now stands.
The division on party lines over the
| Hawaiian question is rather surpris-
| ing. 1t seems as if annexation were
! a matter Of such exceptional breadth
| in national policy that the ordinary
| little issues dividing political parties
! ought not to enter the discussion. Dem
ocrats, as such, are fully as favorable
to the territorial expansion idea as Re
publicans, and yet in this specific case
we find the administration party nearly
| solid for annexation and the opposition
party almost as united against it. Such
is the strength which the doctrine Of
1 g., to-