Arizona republican., 1898-06-22
THE FALL OF AN EMPIRE.

country which fail to grasp the true in- wardness of the changed conditions which have confronted the United States ever since the destruction of the Spanish fleet in Manila bay. It was not imagined by any statesman in Europe, so far as we know, that three hours cannonading by a flying squadron of cruisers would cause the complete collapse of European power wbich for three hundred and fifty years had held undisputed possession of a group of hundreds of islands in Asiatic seas. Our administration at Washington which had sent Commo- dore Dewey of to chase a fleet sud- denly found itself surrounded by the wreckage of kingdom, on which were floating ten millions of natives and hundreds of millions of wealth. It was as impossible for President Mckinley to abandon the archipelago as it would be for the captain of a man-of-war to refuse to stand by an emigrant steamer which he had run down in a thick fog.
 The whole aspect of the war was changed ata flash from the relief of Cuba to the rescuing of great tracts of territory teen1ing with population. Without moments hesitation plans had to be formed to send relief expedi- tions to rescue these innocent people from submersion in the dark waters of anarchy. Soon the American flag will be flying over regions which common humanity will compel us to guard. No lust of conquest entered into the dec laration of this war, there was no shall lowness in the pretext that the condi- tions in Cuba had become intolerable and must be stopped. The government which starved reconcentrados and blew up the Maine could not be tolerated as a neighbor for another moment, and it would have been unworthy of our traditions had we not insisted upon the immediate evacuation of the island. Then we began firing at the Spaniards wherever we first met them, as is GUS tomary in all wars, and within an hour 1t was revealed to us that the struggle was not with even fourth-rate power, but rather with thing of shreds and patches covered by thin veneer of tradition.
 Since the first day of May we have pou had a dozen hours fighting with Spain, but we have had busy time with our hurried preparations for car rying on the work of rescuing millions of helpless people. We all at once needed an army of three hundred thou of France to keep order in far away places that few weeks ago were as little thought of as the Balearic is lands. We started ir to the jungle to kill a reptile ard suddenly a mighty genii rose out of the earth before us and placed in our hands a jewel case full of the wealth of the tropics. The administration at Washington is con- fronted with problems such as would have perplexed Bismarck or Julius Caa- sar.
 The sudden acquisition of wealth is very generally regarded as calamity, but Yankees have stumbled upon un- expected fortunes before now and have not lost their equilibrium. This great nation is going to take up its work with courage, as soon as it re-
 
 by its magnitude. How small do some of the issues now appear which were so eagerly discussed during the last political campaign. We shall probably annex Hawaii in a few days, because it will be necessary coaling and wa tering station on the through line to the Philippines. The possession of that group is now no more worth hag- gling over than was the acquisition of the Aleutians when we bought Alas ka. All our perspective has changed. and many estimable individuals will be a little slow at first in adjusting their glasses to the altered range of vision. We have for thirty years been taking on the resources and population of a first class power and now we are compelled to assume the world wide responsibilities of great e1npire? We can turn out a deep and straight furrow if we are only given time to grasp the blow handles firmly and make out the point across the misty field toward which we must guide our team.