The National tribune., 1898-12-08
THE GOVERNMENT OF THE ISLANDS.

gross 10 tHat vi pioNiuiHS AoI th'
Government of our newly-acquireo
possessions. Something has to be done
at once, for the Presidents war powers
will terminate with the signing of the
treaty of peace, and what is done there
after by bis orders in Cuba, Porto Rice
and the Philippines will be warranted
by the law of necessity rather than by
any strictly legal authority. But
strenuous as we have always been IN
strict adherence to the letter of the law
in such cases made and provided,
vet where there was no law, or where
the law was plainly insufficient, we have
been very unanimous in sustaining our
Presidents in doing whatever was
thought necessary to be done. This has
been a great establishment to the
publicists of the old world. They have
seen the freest people in the world. and
those most jealous of their freedom,
applaud their President for exercising
powers that a Europen monarch might
not.
Undoubtedly, the people of the
United States and Congress would be
we'll content to let President Mckinley
GO on governing the islands as he might
see fit, through such officers as he should
appoint, until at least we could be better
informed as to what is the best thing to
do.
| So far both Senators and Representa-
tives have been singularly silent as to
what our colonial policy should be.
Yet something must be done before this
Congress adjourns three months from
now, or an extraordinary session 81 tie
Fifty-sixth Congress must be called TO
do it. The law increasing the military
establishment expressly limited Its opc-
ration to the existence of the war.
When the Spaniards sign the treaty of
peace, which will lie within few days,
the reduction of the army must begin.
This viii del rive tie President not only
Of the men who are needed to maintain
our authority, but tie officers who must
for the time administer the Govern
ments of those islands. If, as seems
likely, the better way would be to con-
tinue purely military Governments for
some years, until the situation develops
more clearly, then the President should
be given powers necessary to that policy,
and such an increase Of the rank and
file of the army as will make the Gov
ernments effective in the highest degree.
We have promised the world that we
shall give those peoples Governments
which shall protect person and property
and be just, vigorous and highly devel-
opmental.
The administration by Gen. Wood of
the City and Province of Santiago has
fully met that promise, and more than
justified expectations. That of Gen.
Brooks in Porto Rico seems to have been
satisfactory, and it is not unlikely that
Congress may think that the best thing
to do is to extend the same system
throughout, and content itself by
authorizing the President TO do go, and
giving him the means. In this way it
may adjourn any decisive adoption of
colonial policy over for a year, leaving
the next Congress, which will have
gained fuller knowledge, to deal with
the situation.
In many respects this would seem to
be the better way. We shall make a
great mistake if we attempt to apply
general principles, derived from the
Government of this country, to that of
those islands. We must take a leaf out
of the book of England's experience,
and deal with each people according to
their character and conditions. What
may suit Cuba may not suit Porto Rico
or the Philippines at all, and vice versa
England does not attempt to govern any
two of her dependencies precisely alike.
She simply insists on maintaining the
essentials of good Government in all of
them, and beyond that lets each follow
its natural bent. In one way or another
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