New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1898-08-14
No other can bring to the island the enormous
financial resources needed for inc deVeiopiieh'
Of It's incalculablc material wealth.
THE VICTORY.

ono of fine shortest wars Of history has end
ed Not quite hoodless il was one OF Inc least
costly of human history in blood and lives All
told tho SpaDisl lost less than would be lost
in one battle of ordinary neutrality-suspicious.
thousand when Dewey smote the Spanish Meet
ot Manila and six hundred more In the recent
fght There some hundreds In various lombard
ments pcrhapS two thousand before Santiago.
, thousond in The destruction Of CeTvera's Meet
and a few hundred in Porto Rico. With 80
small a loss i'm lives, never before has n nation
been Obliged 10 give up snch widercaching and
importan, possessions. And the small loss OF
the vlctors makes this war uncXampled In
history. only orc sailor in the two great bat
ties which will live long In memory as proof
Of American skill only about a dozen in small
naval affairs and not thousand lives in the
Santiago battles. have been given to purchase
n victory of such worldwide Importance that
IowcllS words are again fitting:
Come Peace not like mourner bowed
For honor lost and dear ones wasted.
Bat proud. to meet people proud,
with eyes that tell Of triumph tasted
Come. w:ih hand gripping on the mt
And step that proves YOU Nictory's Caughter'
And bring fair wages for brave men.
a nation saved race delivered.
The Nation is .avpd only from the shame OF
non-fulhimont Of duty. The mixed bloods OF
Cuba and Porto Rico will show In time whether
they are worthy Of freedom. and the Tagal race
does not vet suspect what its deliverance may
moan For our own Nation the fruits Of the
war are an opportunity. What il may do.
in Atlantic or Pacific islands. will go far 10
shape the history OF this country and the world.
1t is in territorial importance one Of the great
est wars in history. though few In days and
small in losses. Porto Rico alone would he
for 50 brief contest a large result. Cuba
would be IN American hands enc of the richest
possessions on earth The Philippines, If or
ganized ard directed with the best intelligence
of which Americans are capable, would he in
comparably more valuable than both the West
India islands Put what the Nation has con
Qucrcd is mainly an opportunity.
When we look down the long aisles Of the
future and see the possible ten million pros
porous and happy Americans in Cuba, the pos
sbe five millions in Porto Rico. and the up
lifting of the Philippine Islands from barbar-
ism 10 the front Of civilization, the change in
the face of the world by four months of 1898
seems scarcely credible. and is quite mmeas-
urable But it is all an opportunity and not
vet realized fact, The greatest and best work
Americans have yet done in self-cOnrrol, ana
in organization and development outside their
own personal habitudc, has TO be done before
the full value of the lives given and the wealth
expended in 1898 car he realized. Yet the on
looking world. seeing the calm and wise states
manship and the resstess resolution or the
American Republic and its President thus far.
looks for grander results In the future than
most people of this country have yet contem-
nlated.