The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1899-12-06

The message of President Mckinley
enterprise of the daily press of the coun-
try, as Well as to the keenness and COM
p}eteness with which great popular ques-
tiors have. been undergoing discussion
among US during the past year. That
document presents no view on any cur
rent topic of national concern, save one,
which has not long since been stamped
with the stamp Of the administration
opinion and policy.
The message Is little more than a neces-
sarily incomplete epitome of the conclu-
sions reached and the results accomplish
ed through the various forms~of national
activity. 1t outlines nothing bold or
original in any direction. It is the work
Of statesman who swims with the tide
Of party opinion, and trusts rather to the
guidance of the current that he treads
than TO any inherent sense of his master
ship Of the power which urges him for
ward From the beginning to the end
Of the document one looks in vain for
even statement of a disputed PROPOSE
ticn with a force or originality Of it's
own. Not even in his prolonged defense
of the Philippine policy IS there an argu-
which which is not borrowed from some
other source, or a consideration which
had not received already the full meas
ure of public scrutiny and Judgment.
In one respect at least the presidential
message realizes the expectations Of all
patriotic men, without regard to party.
The programme of the administration.
as it is outlined by tbs president, with
reference to the affairs of the island of
Cuba, is one which must be read with
unqualified pleasure by every man who
holds the honor of the nation above all
considerations Of political expediency or
commercial gain. 1t rests the national
obligations toward Cuba on broad and
elevated plane, and sets them forth in
clear candid and dignified fashion. More
than this. In telling the progressive
steps. from the initiative Of a complete
census, followed by the establishment of
local control through the free exercise
Of the franchise, and leading upward to
the holding Of a representative conveD-
tlon for the adoption of the form of gov
ment by which Cuba is to enter upon her
career as free nation, the president
gives assurance to the world that both
the American and the Cuban peoples will
reap the fun fruit of the grand work
successfully accomplished in putting an
end forever to Spanish dominion on this
continent
There is but little else to distinguish
the message from the most commonplace
tulfillment of the constitutional obliga-
ton of the executive that he shall. from
time to time, give to the congress infor-
nation Of the state of the Union, and
recommend to their consideration sucb
measures as he, shall judge necessary and
expedieut." Its statement of the situo
ton in the Philippines is distinguished
neither by literary nor controversial skin
But 1t is so extended as to show clearly
the. extreme Importance which. from tba
purely party political point of view. the
president attaches to carrying at least an
approach to conviction to the public mind
on the justice and wisdom of the course
pursued by the administration in the Ma
lay archipelago. 1t will be accepted nv
the adherents Of that administration 40
convincing presentation of the case
from their standpoint; but 1t is not I'M
reasonable to express the belief that II
will not carry conviction to the mind Of
a single citizen who is not already a be-
Hever In the policy of expansion.
Had the president devoted anything like
the same degree Of thought to what the
vast majority Of the American people re-
gard as the leading subject of national
interest. the upbuilding of an American