Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1898-09-02
What the War Has Brought.

able because of the strong, logical and
questions forced upon us by the new
territory which we have acquired, and the
national duty which lies before us because
Of it. 1t is not "imperialistic' in its tenn
per on the one hand, and it does not, on
the other hand, shrink from full view in
the face of the responsibilities which are
before us. The writer's position is admi-
rably stated in these sentences near the
opening of the article: "The people, there
can hardly be doubt, prefer to retain the
territory that has fallen to them by the
fortune Of war, and they do not share the
foreboding Of the intelligent minority,
whose indvidualism estranges them from
the national feeling, and who see grave
danger TO our institutions in such addi-
tions to our political tasks. National feel
ing is a safer guide 70 national develop
ment than the mere reasoning process of
critical minds. At any rate, it at last be-
comes the only guide" This is hard
thrust at the "intelligent minority" but
The writer's position is, in Short that
the result of the war, placing Cuba, Porto
Rico, and the Philippines in our hands,
commits us to solemn duties toward the
people of those islands which we cannot
avoid. We are not to make those islands
our colonies" after the European fash
ion, and there is no reason why they should
ever become American states. The re-
sponsibility which is set for us is to give
heir people stable and responsible self
government at the earliest possible mo-
ment.
ave cannot leave the people of these
Stands either TO their own fate, or TO the
mercy of the now defeated and disorganiz
ed Spanish rule, or yet to the mercy of any
predatory nation that might SEIZE them.
We are become responsible for their de-
yelopment To predict that we shall make
failure in the effort to prepare them for
,ef-government is a childish distrust of
our capacity. We have never had task
Just like this, but we have had tasks more
difficult.
THE main result of the war, the freedom
Of Cuba from Spanish misrule, has been
achieved but the full fruits of it will rip
IN more slowly than most men az first
supposed. The complete conquest of the
island by civilization will be accomplished
through American industry and commerce,
which will now follow American arms.
Brigands are as certain where roads are
lacking as rebellion where government is
oppressive. But the future of Cuba pres
ents no insuperable difficulties, though its
subsection TO civilization may require
considerable time. And the same plan
whereby local self-government will be
built up in Cuba will apply, with modfi-
cations, TO Porto Rico. One island will
become an Independent territory under
our guardianship; the other will be direct
ly ceded TO us. But the essential elements
Of their government under our tutelage
must be the same, for the moral obliga-
tons that we have assumed are the same,
and there is but one great principle of
government that We can adhere TO-"
How much territory we shall or ought to
retain in the Philippines, the Atlantic
writer does not attempt to say. Probably
our people will insist on keeping all the
strategic advantage which our navy has
gained for us, but the essential point is
that "we must fulfil every obligation to
Spain's conquered subjects that our con-
duct of the war in Asiatic waters has put
upon u.s."
By means OF the war we have recovered
our national feeling. 1t has made us for
get all our local differences and 1--WE have
welded ourselves into a conscious unity
such as the Republic has not felt since its
early days"
But there is still another gain from the
war, alike in kind, and even more import
ant. This is
"The increased respect that other ma
tions have for us. The United States was
never before understood in official Europe,
perhaps not even in official England.
When the war was begun, most of the con-
tinental nations failed to conceal their con-
tempt for us; they now respect us as they
never dreamed they should. Nor is it
only our naval victories that have given
given the world a somewhat new concep-
ton of the United States. Quite as i'm
pressive has been the absence of the old
time barbarities of war and of warlike
vindictiveness. To send home across the
ocean a captured army, to parole the Off
GERS Of a captured squadron, to feed not
only the victims of Spanish misrule, but
the Spanish themselves, have laid empha-
sis 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 with
out parallel. Both the power and the aims
of the Republic are more clearly under
stood in Europe than a half century of
peace could have revealed them, and lin
no spirit of boasifulness) we might add the
American character, also.
This is the conclusion finally reached
"Nor will the impulse that asserted it.
self in the war stop with the war, The
spirit of the people once having looked
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 rightfnl place
among the nations. Modern transporta-
tion, which we have done most to develop,
has changed all international political con-
ditions By reason of it we are already
'entangled' with other peoples in ways
that the fathers could not foresee and that
no policy can prevent. The great outward
pressure that all nations feel is the pres
sure of commerce for new markets and
statesmen, whether they know it or not,
minister to trade, and through trade to
civilization. With larger and further
reaching political duties, too, which ap-
peal 10 the Imagination rather than to the
| private greed of men, our public life will