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

dent, instead Of saying to Spain, You
must grant Cuban independence on
such and such TERMS from saying to
the insurgents, You must accept au-
tonomy in some form unless you bring
the war to a close befure such and
such q date by driving Spain out of
the island" This would not place him
in a position inconsistent with that
which he assumed voluntarily in writ
ing his message.
IF autonomy was an experiment
worthy Of our consideration in Deem
Der, why should 1t be any less respect
able in March? And if the object of
the United States in intervening at all
is merely to bring a disastrous war to
close for benevolent reasons, and not
to take away one Of her children from
a friendly nation, why should we con-
fine all our international curtain-lectur-
Ing and our ultimatums to one party
to the contest? This view will be
brought to the presidents attention
side by side with the proposal to guar
antee Cuba's indemnity fund. He
might object to it on the ground that
1T would be an unpopular idea in the
United States at large; but who knows
this until 1t is actually laid before the
people and their opinion canvassed?
The Alternative.
There Is another alternative which
we are bound to consider in any discus
sion which occurs before the report of
: the naval board of inquiry comes in:
What If the board should discover that
the disaster had occurred through an
accident which might have been
avoided If the authorities at Havana
had exercised greater care for the safe
ty of the Maine-for none except the
ignorant fanatic proceeds upon the
theory that the Spanish government
had any willful share in causing the ex-
ploslon! Damages in money would be
the form of demand consistent with
precedent in such cases. If Spain de-
clined or delayed payment, there would
then arise once more the question of
the presidents duty. In this domain,
again, his advisers have already been
at work. They have considered and are
still considering how far the admins
tration would be supported by the peo-
pie at large in treating the whole mat
ter upon the basis Of a money indemni-
ty. This is what Is done in cases of
tort arising between man and man in
civil life. There are many injuries for
which no amount of money can posi-
bly, atone to the injured parties. But
in the interest of civilization, the law
everywhere recognizes the necessity Of
reducing such things to a pecuniary
footing. When 1t comes to the question
Of making good the loss Of human life.
for instance, wherein does the taking of
more human life in any way meet the
necessities Of the case? After the de-
struot1on of AS property by B, how far
Is A benefited by having BIS property
destroyed in turn?
1T Is just here that the sober COM
mon sense Of the American people must
be brought into play, and 1t would be
wise for them to begin getting ready
for it. Should anything happen-which
heaven forfend-to give the hot
heads an excuse for trying to crowd the
president into war for satisfaction Of
what they call the national honor, they
will be very promptly at the front with
their proposals. The only way that the
more sensible people can overTeach
them is by being equally we'll prepared
in advance with their sober arguments
and their machinery for pressure The
presidents disposition in this matter is
all right; but he is human, and is a lit
tie better, as we'll as a little happier.
for having support from his fellow citi-
Zens even when he is heading in the
right direction Those good Americans
who believe in being always right be-
fore we go ahead, and that war should
be reserved, like the activities of the
police power, for q last resort after all
judicial processes have failed, would do
well to organize their sentiment now,
and be ready to act without an hours
needless delav IL neceSsarVo