The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1899-07-13
The Mississippi will continue falling
slowly in the vicinity of st. Paul.
8 TEMPERATURES.
High*Snnnl
DoDG1xG CRIMINAL AGGREssIoN.'

DODGING CRIMINAL AGGRESSION
It would be granting altogether more
than would those who know him best to
ascribe to the president anything so
statesmanlike as a consistent, continuous,
deep-laid policy relative to Cuba from the
time he washed his hands of the COM
plicatfons, growing out of the adoption by
the congressional policy molders of Gu
ban agitation as a means Of diverting
public attention from financial questions,
by turning the whole matter over to con-
gress. He protested in that message that
war for conquest would be criminal
aggression Doubtless he was sincere as
sincere as an invertebrate ever can be,
but he has been borne along by the cur
rent of events to a point that was plainly
perceptible at the time he repudiated an
nexation, and now contemplates the an
nexation of the island under guise of
plebecite of its people, or of some of its
people.
The G b opposed the declaration of
war with Spain because, with other rea-
sons. it foresaw that annexation would
be an inevitable sequence. and it did not
believe in the Incorporation into our
Union of class of people who, in the
''republlcs'' to the south of US, had, after
seventy years of trial, proved themselves
incapable of self-government as we und-
erstand that term. We did not then ac-
cept the presidential protestations of alb
horrence of conquest as sincere, but took
them mask covering the real purpose
of ultimate, forcible annexation, because
the inevitable consequence seemed too
plain to not be seen even by a man who
had been unable to see so many other
consequences Of action. Subsequent
events compel us to revise that judgment
and to admit that those who know the
president best and say that he is one
who prefers to weakly drift than to
strongly lead are accurate in their esti-
mate of him.
Ever since the occupation we have had
occasional assurances from Cuba that a
large portion of its people look with ap-
prehension upon the independence of the
island under a home government, mind
full of the consequences of such expert
ments in the other Spanish American
states and a desire for annexation ex-
pressed. More recently we have had the
suggestion of annexation submitted to a
vote, with suffrage denied to the ignorant
and the landless, because these would be
controlled by the irreconcilables who
want a government of their own for their
own benefit. Now we are assured that
the president is actively engaged In work
ing out a comprehensive plan for submit
ting the question of independence or an
nexation to the voters of the island. This
gains confirmation from the recent visit
to Washington and counsehng with the
president of Gen. Wood, and his inter
view in which he says that, in his judg-
ment. majority of Cubans would favor
annexation.
This statement has the elements Of
probability in 1t. It affords a convenient
escape from that disavowaI of intent to
annex and avoids the charge of criminal
aggression" 1t COMFORTS with our con-
cept of government and gets, at last, into
line with the doctrine of the Declaration
of Independence regarding the right of
the governed to form their government.
There will have to be some lines drawn,
however, in deciding who among the Gu
bans shall have voice in the matter, if
complications with the irreconcilables are
to be avoided, some such line as sundry
states of our Union have found them
selves obliged to adopt. The plan"
which the president is preparing will
probably attach some educational quail
fication to voting, for 1t would be rather
grotesque to ask a man to pass iudg-
ment on the questions involved In the
various forms of government who could
nei---<r read nor write Perhaps this dis
elimination among men born EQUAL
might be avoided by the adoption of
Mexican methods of election by which
returning officers send In the majorities