The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1898-03-05
Empire Can Wait"

The following communication from a
reader of THE SUN who does not always
agree with THE SUN-and it is our pride
and satisfaction to know that there are
many s~uch-dcserves candid attention:
ITO THE EDITOR OF THE sUS-sfr: One of the
cardinal crimes of Mr.. CLEvELAsps Administration
according to THE Sun. was his policy regarding
Hawaii-'tho policy Of infamy resulting in the
failure to annex those islands.
THE sun assured its readers that as soon az MI.
MCKINLEY became President that wrong would be
righted and the Stars and Stripes. in a few weeks at
the furthest. would be floating over Hawaii.
ut is just a year since the present Administration
has been in power. and what do we see to-day?
The Hawaiian annexation treaty killed dead as q
door nail in the Senate. and the chances OF q Joint
resolution anuexing Hawaii getting through tho
House of Representatives with Speaker REED at the
helm about as remote rs the chances of . camel get.
ting through the eye of q needle.
"Can THE Sun offer any explanation of this ?
II It was Mr.. CLEvELASD's stubborn opposition to
the overwhelming wishes OF the people that alone
prevented Hawaiian annexation. how is 1t that
President MCKINLEY, who has exerted every means at
his command TO bring about that result, should have
failed to do so?
with the fairness and frankness that always
characterize THE sun I trust 1t will take up these
points. and If the failure to annex Hawaii is tracea.
bic to any particular source let its readers know the
truth. L. HARLRsTos sMoSs.
NEW YORK, March T."
1t is somewhat too early for our CORE
spondent to assume that Hawaiian annex
alton has failed under MCKINLEY, as it
failed under CLEVELAND. As we showed
yesterday, the annexation of Texas was
attempted in 1874 by treaty, and the Sen
ate rejected the treaty yet Texas was an
nnvn1 oil fhn ~ II tunn apnA~aI h.
joint resolution of Congress after the
failure of the treaty.
If the programme of the Senate Com.
mittee ON Foreign Relations is carried out,
there will be a decision to-day as to the adj
visibility of further efforts to procure in
the Senate the two-thirds majority needed
for the ratification of the treaty. If the
one or two Senators who, for reasons best
known to themselves, are blocking the
measure shall persist in their opposition to
the treaty, ordinary ommon sense pre-
scribes a prompt resort to the alternative
method of annexation. But even IL this
Is done, and the treaty is abandoned
to PETTIGREw and the worms. its failure to
be ratified will not signify that the Amer
lean people approve the Cleveland policy of
infamy or are overwhelmingly opposed to
the acquisition of Hawaii. Our cor
respondent Mr.. SIMoNs, we are sure, is
too intelligent a man to attempt to extract
that conclusion from the mere circum.
stance that instead of sixty Senators out of
ninety only afty-nine, or flfty-eight, or fifty.
seven favor the treaty.
AS to the attitude of the Speaker toward
annexation, concerning which Mr.. SIMoNs
writes so positively, perhaps he has in.
formation which The SUN does not yet
possess. All that we know is that two
or three months g Mr.. REED con-
tributed to one of the magazines an
article entitled Empire Can Wait" We
are not inclined to dispute that general
proposition and somewhat orphic senti-
ment. Empire can wait. and often does
walt. Republics also can wait, and they
do wait until the opportunity arrives, as 1t
has arrived in the case of Hawaii. Then the
republic which is wise and knows It's own
interests seizes the opportunity with a
grasp of iron.
Whatever may be Speaker REEDS private
opinion about Hawaiian annexation, we
believe him incapable of using his official
post to assert it against the will of his
parry ~ Nv ihtcIcoIo VI lie country. lie
Is a man of r~esolute temper and ~forceful
personality, but he is not another CLEvE-
A N in immovable self ,conceit. He has
what Mr.. CLEVELAND lacks utterly, a
strong sense of humor; and he is not likely
to set himself up on any occasion as the
preceptor and heaven-appointed guardian
of seventy-fye millions of people.
We are not yet prepared to believe that
the Speaker regards as dangerous, or even
undesirable, the measure of national extern.
sion which is so near to the hearts of the
people of his own State. the State of Maine;
and which the patriotic foresight of JAMES
G. BLAINE indicated as the next necessary
step toward the fulhlment of the manifest
destiny of the United States, the control of
the giant commerce of the Pacific during