The Progress. (Shreveport, La.) 1892-1900, 1898-12-10
the vast resources of the nation and the
determination Of the people to uphold their
countrys honor.
TEMPORARY CUBAN GOVERN
MENT.

I'm oitAitl CUBAN hpN DltN =
MENT.
As soon as we are in possession of
Cuba and have pacitied the island It
! vii be necessary to give aid and deCis-
ion to its people to form a government
Of themselves. II should be undertaken
at the earliest moment consistent with
| safety and assured success. It is i'm
portant that our relations with these
people shall be Of the most friendly
character and our commercial relations
close and reciprocal. 1t should be our
duty to assist in every proper way to
build up the waste places of the island.
encourage the industry Of the people,
and assist them to form a government
which shall be free and Independent.
thus realizing the best aspirations of
the Cuban people.
Spanish rule must be replaced by a
| just, benevolent and humane govern
ment. created by the people of cuba,
capable of performing all International
obligations and which shall encourage
thrift. industry and prosperity, and
promote peace and good will among all
of the inhabitants, whatever may have
been their relations in the past Neither
revenge nor passion should have a place
In the new government. Until there Is
complete tranquility in the island and
a stable government inaugurated mill
tary occupation will be continued
INTERNATIONAL, RELATIONS
With the exception of the rupture
with Spain, the intercourse OF the Uni
ted States with the great family of ma
tons has been marked with cordiality
and the close Of the eventful year finds
most Of the issues that necessarily arise
states adjusted or presenting no serious
obstacle to a just and honorable sou-
ton by amicable agreement.
A long unsettled dispute as to the ex-
tended boundary between the Argentine
Republic and Chile, stretching along
the Andean crest from the southern
border of the Atacama desert to Ma
gellan straits. nearly third of the
length Of the South American CONT
nent. assumed an acute stage in the
early part of the year and afforded to
| this government occasion to express the
hope that the resort to arbitration. al
ready contemplated by existing CON
ventions between the parties. might
prevail. despite the grave difficulties
arising in its application. ! am happy
to say that arrangements to this end
have been perfected, the questions of
fact upon which the respective commits
sioners were unable 10 agree, being in
the course of reference to her Britannia
majesty for determination. A residual
difference touching the northern boun-
dairy line across the AtaCama desert,
for which existing treaties provided no
adequate adjustment bids fair to be
settled in like manner by q joint com
mission. upon which the United States
minister at Buenos Ayres has been in
vited to serve as umpire in the last re-
sort.
CABLE TREATIES.
| l have found occasion to approach the
Argentine government with view to
! removing differences of rate charges
| imposed upon the cables Of an Ameri-
can corporation in the transmission be-
tween Buenos Ayres and the cities of
Uruguay and Brazil of through messa-
ges passing from and to the United
States. Although the matter Is com
| plicated by exclusive concessions by
Uruguay and Brazil to foreign compan.
les. there Is strong hope that good
understanding will be reached and that
the important channels Of commercial
communication between the United
States and the Atlantic cities of South
America may be freed from an almost
prohibitory discrimination. In this re-
lation l may be permitted to express
my sense of the fitness of an interna-
| tional agreement whereby the inter-
change OF messages over connecting
cables may be regulated on fair basis
OF uniformity. The world has seen tho
postal system developed from con-
geries independent and exclusive SER
vice into a we'll ordered union, OF which
all countries found the manifold ben
tons not in time brought to realize that
modern civilization, which owes so
much Of It's progress to the annihilia.
ton OF time by the electrical force. de-
mands that this all important means of
communication, a heritage of all people,
be administered, and regulated in their
common behalf. A step in this direc-
ton was taken when the international
convention Of 1884, for the protection of
submarine cables. was signed, and the
day Is, I trust, not far distant, when
this medium for the transmission of
thought from land to land may be
brought within the domain Of interna-
tional concert as completely as in the
material carriage of commerce and cor
respondence upon the face of the wa
tiers that divide them.
RELATIONS WITH CENTRAL
AMERICA.