Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1899-01-18
j. B. Lippincott Company
VIM. Ballamtyne & Sons,
428 Seventh Street NV, Washington, d. c.

will become, Colonel Bliss thinks entitled
to positive flag in lieu of the present neg
alive ones. AS it is now understood, there
Is no one on the island at present who
can authorize a private vessel to fy the
American flag. The vessel either has the
right or must acquire it as prescribed by
law. No restriction is placed upon proper
trade, whether vessels are owned by Span
laras or Cubans engaged in trade upon the
revival of which everything depends The
owners live in Cuba. expect to die there
and all their interests are there There
mas not yet been heard Of a single instance
where Spanish owner was unwilling to
take the oath and surrender his Spanish
registry. But of necessity they can learn
but slowly of what is required by the new
regulations.
How the Spanish Laws Operate.
One great necessity of the situation is to
avoid the mere appearance of things evil -
The Spanish laws as to collections of rev.
enues are perfectly good. But in their ap-
pllcatlon, the subordinate officials were he
says, accustomed to daily receive intjma-
ton from the head to pass goods of rich
ana influential men that owed money to
the treasury for customs dues
They knew this was the result of bribery
However honest they might be at the ont .
set, they felt that they We're only carving
water in a sieve. No wonder if ali became
tainted as the result of absolute hopeless
ness, IL nothing worse. To counteract tbis
every man feels that he Is an actual and
eflcient guard of the treasury. Property
Tor the troops Is free of duty But he has
the inspectors examine ship load of Ium-
Der Tor the quartermaSter as carefully as a
load OF merchandise for private merchant
otherwise they would all say ooh yes II
Is the old trick; the officials are smupplinp
for their own benefit"
A Graver Problem.
A graver problem it is believed is before
the people OF the United States than the
mere collection of a certain amount of
money ana the scientific adjustment of
these COLLECTIONS to the power of the several
industries to bear the burden and thrive
under IT, 1t Is to so organize an important
bureau of the administration. and one
which in the popular mind is not the svno-
nym or omciaI corruption. That its daily
operations shall be daily lessons in honesty.
that Its employees when they walk the street
shau be pointed out as men whose intepritv
needs no other guarantee than the cl1sfonn
| house uniform, and, as a necessary conse-
quence, that 1t shall be model branch of
the administration, such that when turned
over TO a new government, it will simply he
impossible to use 1t for purposes of corrun-
ton without reorganizing 1t for that pur-
pose. And this must be DONE If successful
says that he does not delude himself with
hopes of too rosy hue. While he does NOT
know what attitude International politics
may ultimately force his government to
take, he is forced to the conclusion that its
present attitude is that of a school tea cher
giving lessons in self-government. He has
one class in the school and one problem
and. though not over sanguine he believes
he can succeed.