The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1899-01-01

liberately entering upon an armed con-
flict for purely Humanitarian motives
but it was the first occasion in which
took up the sword for the righteous
purpose of combating despotism on
neighboring soil, of bringing freedom
to weak and sorely distressed people,
and of extending republican principles.
This the coming historian will recog-
nize. He will say that the United
States reaped more than it sowed that
IN trying to serve humanity in the per-
sons of one oppressed people, it was
made the guardian in humanity's name
of millions of people abiding as far
away as the Philippines or as near our
homes as the island of Porto Rico in
the very track of our midwinter pleas
uring. The treaty of peace, signed at
Paris Dec. II. assures to Cuba the free
dom for which her sons have lung
fought, cedes to the United States Por-
to Rico and the smaller Spanish islands
in the West Indies, together with the
island of Guam in the Ladrones, and
provides for the REIMBURSEMENT Of
Spanish sovereignty in the Philippines
upon payment by the United States
to Spain of $20,o00,ooO This, then, is
what the war is going to stand for in
universal history-the final expulsion of
Spain from the western hemisphere
which Columbus won for her and over
which she at one time exercised almost
1at rty-o1 ma bo re
democratic system of government to
Cuba, Porto Rico and the Philippines
A democratic and independent govern
ment, shall we say? In the case of
Porto Rico it is already determined to
the contrary. That island, as result
of the war of 1898, has already become
part of the United States. In what
form democracy shall come into it's
own in Cuba and the Philippines will
be one OF the contributions of 1899 to
history.
To be classed with the events of the
war. though peaceful one, is the an
neyation of the Hawaiian islands We
to-day, dazzled by the seeming mate
rial advantages of the acquisition
of a fertile group of islands in the di-
rect path of trans-Pacific commerce,
perhaps realize less clearly than will
the future historian how radical was
the deviation from national precedent
and from the established constitutional
procedure involved in extending the
sovereignty of the United States for the
first time to territory beyond the seas.
Crete Freed From Turkish Misrule.
Of completed episodes in the great
politics of the world comes first the
final expulsion of the Moslem power
from Crete and the instalment there
of Prince George of Greece as high
commissioner by authority of the allies,
England Russia, France and Italy
This notable forward step for the cause
of humanity and progress has been taxi
en- only after prolonged and discredit-
able delay due to disagreement among
the powers. The Concert of Europe"
has shown itself vastly less competent
to grapple with an international shame
and ihfamy than has the United States
England's Triumph at Khartoum.
Int CLOSE OIL lne year nfldS England
exulting in the recovery of the prestige
lost by the abandonment of Gordon to
his fate at Khartoum in 1885. For more
than two years an army of British and
Egyptian troops to the number of about
$4,000 has been pressing deliberately up
the Nile, meeting determined opposi-
ton from the Deryishes, who have
shown themselves among the best fight
ing men of the world. The campaign,
under the generalship of the sirdar.
Lord Herbert Kitchener, was planned
with the precision of a piece of en-
cheering and executed by the aid of
machinery. The beginning of the end
came when the Dervishes were defeated
at Atbara April s, leaving thousands of
their dead on the field. Sept > at ON
durham, new town near the ruins of
Khartoum, the forces of the khalifa