The times., 1898-03-05
m. Admiri.tration Policy.

The Administration Polcy.
How strange are the dispensations OF .
Providence. Here was our kind and
excellent President. toiling night and
dav-bllt never on Sunday-to place his
esoteric Cuban policy upon sound
financial basis. against the fateful first
of March. when he intended to present
it as a spring offering to an admiring
world and. as he hoped, a recipient
Congress.
In the very midst Of these fresh and
fruitful preparations, the destruction of
the Maine came like a frown from the
awful face of Mr. McKinley's divine
patron. 1t almost seemed to him, for
the moment. that heavenly favor had
been temporarily Withdrawn. But sad
thoughts like these quickly gave way
before a feeling Of annoyance and irri-
tation that the Spainiards, for whom he
| has made every national sacrifice short
of hoisting the Spanish ensign on the
/ White House, should select such an un-
I fortunate time to accidentally massa-
ere two hundred and sixty American
/ sailors in the haTbor Cf Havana, and
thus not only postpone but actually inn
peril the success Of his pious and pat
Iiotic plans That such a thing should
happen, through mere popular indigna-
ticn over mountain Of wTeckage and
a fostering mass of moist, unpleasant
bodies in the dirty waters Of Blanco's
bay. was indeed a subject of mortifica-
ton and prayer. In his chagrin. Mr..
Mckinley must have felt for the noble
man Of whom Shakespeare writes. and
vino visited Hotspur on a field Of bat
tie:
And 'luisl ms finger and his thumb he held
a pouucct box, which and anon
h gave his nose and took I away again;
And a. the soldiers bore dead bodies by,
lie called them utaught knavcs, unmamcrly
To bring a slorcny. unhsndsome corse
BctsyiNt The wind and his nobility
But the advance agent Of the Span
ieh-Cuban settlement, even then, was
not without resources. 1t did not take
him long TO learn from his presiding
]
One around the stump. Straightway.
/ therefore. he assumed the innocence of
his faithful ally. took out his 'acci-
dent policy, decided to suppress all
disagreeable particulars, and trusted to
the healing quality Of time to assuage
his country's grief and anger, and to
give him new and golden chance 10
carry out what had been resolved upon
long ago.
What that was and is, We have fire.
quently and almost daily called atten-
ton to in these columns. The plan Of
procedure is not news to readers of The
Times. 1t is simply to go before Con-
gress with a scheme to secure the in
dependence of Cuba by giving the
guarantee of this mighty nation for the
payment Of the Spanish Cuban debt.
Il is the same old gigantic syn
dicate bond deal of which We
have heard So much. and the
American end OF which is being so
shrewdIy manipulated by Mr.. J. J. Nc
/ Cook. of New York. who has been in
Washington a great deal Of late, and
Is here now.
The plot is rife With the simplicity
oC greatness. Recognition Of belIiger-
ency al any time would have enabled
the Cubans 10 Iiberate their country.
and 10 secure its independence free of
debt Hence. neither this nor the pre-
ceding Administration ever could be
brought to tolerate such action. Be
fore Mr. McKinley's election the syndi-
cate was formed TO pick up and control
the Spanish bonds which had little
value in the markets. and to secure the
! most magnificent profit ever made on
? a single transaction by compelling the
American people To make them good
This syndicate is composed Of finan-
ciers in Boston, New York London
, Paris, and Berlin. or the Spanish
Cuban debt. of something over $500,
0e0.0O0. il controls about $40O, 900, 600 IT
. is not believed that this stupendous
face value represents an actual cost 10
} or liability Of the syndicate, to amount
TO more than So 900, 900 at the outside.
, With the guarantee Of the American
Government. these bonds will be worth
more than par. II is this deal" which
has dictated our Cuban policy for three
years, and does so today. Even allow
ing for all probable scaling, if consum-
mated, it viii net the conspirators any
thing from hundred to two hundred