The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1898-02-28

house and senate, respectively. These
answers have been prepared, and have
simply been pigeonholed, by common
consent, to await the conclusion Of the
more pressing business.
IF the report of the board investi-
eating the Maine disaster confirms the
accident theory-that is, the theory
something which happened strictly
within the ships own jurisdiction
congress will make known its desire
to pass from the consideration Of that
topic to the discussion Of the CORE
spondence furnished to it by the presi-
dent, and the stories Of the suffering
of the reconcentrados.
''The sympathetic nature of the West
ern people will probably cause a good
deal Of commotion in their section Of
country over revelations made by the
state departments correspondence, and
the effect of this agitation upon con-
gress Is likely to be the adoption Of
some measure looking to our peaceful
Intervention between the contending
parties in Cuba.
Purchase of Cuba.
Much will depend then upon the
good sense Of the leaders in congress
who have not hitherto lost their heads.
The plan which has been most strong
ly urged upon the president, and which
he has given some indication of q de-
sire to lay before congress, is not the
outright purchase of the freedom of
Cuba, as some of the guessers have
put it, but the offer of the United
States to guarantee payment of such
an indemnity as may be agreed upon
between Cuba and Spain as the first
preliminary to Spain's. cessation of war
and withdrawal from control of the
island.
There Is the same difference between
the purchase proposition and the guar
anty proposition that there is between
the payment of a note or draft and it's
mere Endorsement or acceptance. If
we guaranteed Cuba's indemnity pay
ment we might never have to pay down
dollar Of cash, whereas under the
purchase plan we should be obliged to
pay our money and take our chance Of
getting 1t back later. The annexation
lists, of course, would prefer our pur-
chase Of the island, because that would
be obviously only a first step toward
taking it into the American Union, and
the second and last step would be q
very easy one. But the guaranty plan
would appeal to q good many persons
who are not actually annexationists,
yet who feel as If the United States
owed something to propinquity, and
must sooner or later interfere in their
neighbours quarrel.
But while we are discussing peace
full intervention merely on the humane
ground Of desiring to spare further
sacrifice of life and property, 1t seems
strange that nobody should have sug-
gested negotiation with Spain and
Cuba on a basis, not Of Cuban indie
pendence, but of autonomy simply.
Autonomy.
'"The president himself, in his mes
sage, took a stand distinctly favorable
to autonomy. At the time he wrote
he knew enough about the autonomic
plan to be able to judge of It's inherent
fairness, and to form some impression
Of the satisfaction 1t would be likely
to give the property-owning, conserva-
tive classes in Cuba. If he had be-
ieved it a bad thing, or dangerous. it
was his place to say 50 then. The fact
that he begged congress to wait and
give the scheme an opportunity for
trial showed that he considered that it
was practicable at least. That it was
not acceptable to the Cubans generally
In it's original form is no argument
against the principle, but only against
the particular method of its applica-
ton. Recent dispatches indicate that
some notifications Of the original pro-
gramme are already in preparation,
and 1t probably would not take long
to amend the system so as to elm
mate its chief Objectionable features.
What, then, is to prevent the presi-