The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1898-08-24

help weak people TO self-goVernment.
And II will be found that the government
of each island will present itself not as
1t now presents itself to the timid, as
task involving revolutionary dangers to
ourselves and complications with all the
other governments Of the world, and a
denial OF the doctrines OF the fathers,
but rather as a practical task that prae-
tical and patriotic men can successfully
accomplish.
The main result of the war, the free
dom of Cuba from Spanish misrule, has
been achieved, but the full fruits of IL
will ripen more slowly than most mon
az first supposed sympathy with the
Cuban insurgents has led many persons
to regard them as capable at once of self
government; but the conduct OF part OF
them during the war has confirmed the
judgment of those men who knew them
best-that the removal Of Spanish rule
Will not Immediately nor easily lead to
the self-government of Cuba. The COM
plete conquest of the island by civiliza-
tion will be accomplished through Amer
lean industry and commerce. which Will
now follow American arms. Briganhs
are as certain where roads are lacking as
rebellion where government Is oppressive
But the future Of Cuba presents no IN
sUperable difficulties though its subjec-
ton to civilization may require con-
siderable time. In his proclama tion con-
corning the government of Santiago, the
president indicated the proper course to
pursue; local government to be permitted,
to be required, in fact; the United States
to maintain military control so long US
military control is necessary for the Sc
curity of life and property, but to relax
1t, and at last to give il up, when COM
petent local government has been Gre
ated and tested. TIE process will not be
very different in principle from the pro-
cess of the reconstruction of the local
govern ments of the southern states thirty
years ago. If the Cubans do not at first
show capacity for self-government. the
certain increase of American influence
| and even of American population in the
| island Will greatly hasten it's coming.
| The engineer will follow the soldier. The
| harbor of Havana will be opened to the
gulf stream-a necessary and easy piece
| OF sanitary work that the Spaniards have
been going to do for century; The cities
will be properly drained and yellow fever
will be eliminated from the scourges OF
| our own shores Cuba will present no
very serious difficulty till the time comes
| when 1t may wish to be admitted into the
American Union as a state.
| q
| And the same plan whereby local self
| government will be built up in Cuba will
| apply, with notifications, to Porto Rico
| One island will become an Independent
| territory under our guardianship; the
| other will be directly ceded to us. But the
| essential elements of their government
under our tutelage must he the same,
| for the moral obligations that we have
| assumed are the same, and there is but
| one great principle of government that
| we can adhere to. How much territory
| Il may be wise to retain in the Philip
| pine Islands it is impossible to foresee;
but the principle that should govern our
| action is clear. We want no colonies"
| can indeed have no colonies" in the con-
| tnental sense; but we must fulfill every
obligation to Spain's conquered subjects
| that our conduct of the war in Asiatic
| waters has put upon us, without regard
| to the colonizing ambitions of the Euro
pean nations; and we shall hardly fail,
| moreover, to keep whatever strategic ad-
vantage our navy has won, in either
| ocean.
| The war, then, brings within the sphere
OF English-speaking civilization two of
the most valuable of the Antilles: Incl
dentally the Hawaiian Islands, and per-
haps part of the Philippine group. and
| these results can be only good. But in
achieving them we have achieved other
results quite as great, and no less great
| because they were unexpected. We have
recovered our own national feeling. Four
months ago, we were a great mass OF peo-
pie rather than a compact nation con-
| SClOuS Oh IdllOnal strength ana unity. BY
forgetting even for this brief time our
local differences, we have welded our
selves into a conscious unity such as The
| republic has not felt since its early days
Not only have the north and the south
forgotten that they were ever at war
for time and industry had already WELL
| night brought this result-but the Pacific
states are nearer 10 the rest of the Union
| than they ever were before, and the
| great middle west is no longer estranged
from the seaboard. We can work out
our own problems and build our own fu-
ture with steadier purpose.
| O.
| This consciousness is the keener be-
cause of the increased respect that other
| nations have for US. The United States
was never before understood in official
Europe, perhaps not even in official Eng
| land When the war was begun most Of
| the continantal nations failed to con-
ceal their contempt for us; they now re-
spect us as they never dreamed they
should. Nor Is it only our naval victories
| that have given the world a somewhat
new conception of the United States.
Quite as impressive has been the absence
OF the old-time barbarities of war and CT
warlike vindictiveness. To send home
| across the ocean a captured army. to pa
role the officers of a captured squadron,
| to feed not only the victims of Spanish
nisrule, but the Spanish themselves, have
| laid emphasis on other reasons for war,
| than the old reasons of the punishment
of enemies and the conquest of tribute
bearing territory. In humanity to the
enemy this war is without parallel Both
the power and the aims of the republic
| are more clearly understood in Europe
than half-century of peace could have
revealed them, and lin no spirit of boast
fulness) we might add the American
character, alsC.
1t is to be hoped, too, that we have had
some effect on the medieval diplomacy
of Europe. We have often been called
| blunt and discourteous in our diplomacy
no doubt with truth; for European diplo-
macy is a dilatory art that has always
been as courteous as it has usually been
mendacious. Ministers have seldom said
what they or their masters meant. Now,
| If the dealings of civilized governments
with one another are ever to advance be-
yond evasion and cunning, the old di-
plomacy must change to republican d.
rectness and frankress. 1t need not take
on discourtesY in manner, but 1t must
speak the truth and keep faith. If we
have even in slight measure discredtei
the old mendacious and dilatory meth
ods, we have done something toward fur
thering political civilization.
| o.
} Nor will the impulse that asserted It,
self in the war stop with the war. The
! spirit Of the people once having looked
J outward, American enterprise will seek
new fields of conquest-not by arms but
by trade and legitimate adventure. Our
navy has revealed to ourselves not less
than to the rest of the world our rightful
place among the nations. Modern trans
portation, which we have done most q
develop, has changed all international
: political conditions. BY reason of it we