New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1899-12-25
A CHRISTMAS GIFT TO MILLIONS.

The best gift it is possible to give to any coun-
try is good government. For the first time the
! United States has been able TO make Christmas
happier for millions of people outside its bOr-
dcrS. and bestOws on them the best gift Of all
The change in the administration Of affairs In
Cuba makes for peace and good government.
| The suppression of rebellion in the Philip
pines. where uSurpng minority sought TO
fasten upon the rest Of the inhabitants rule
more corrupt cruel and ignorant than that of
Spain, gives at this Christmas time fresh hope
to millions Of inhabitants who want only strong
honest and kind rule and fair treatment 10 make
their islands perpetual delight. The Amcr-
cans have first 10 Subdue the lawlessness and
violence before they can bring the blessings OF
peace and justice TO ALL but they are doing II
at great cost, even that of noble lives The
honor IS theirs, but the gift with its blessings
for all time goes TO the millions who have been
lifted from Spanish oppression.
The gift TO the people Of cuba is one which
not even the giver can yet appreciate. Few
Americans know what Spanish rule has been to
that island. what crucltcs have been pcrpc
tratcd there for centuries. what horrible inius-
| icc has prevailed. even i'm the courts and the
seats Of authority. how the lives and the labor
generations by systematic cxtortion and plum
dering TO enrich favored families in Spain how
enterprise has been crippled and Industrial prog
rcss arrested by misrulc. until instruction came
with civil war 10 dcvastate the land. Even Gov
crnor General Wood, when he made il his first
official task 10 visit the prisons and see what
victims of wrong were hidden there, perhaps
had little conception how laws framed for Span
IT..
His opening of the prison doors at Havana. let
ting in the light of justice, means for the whole
people Of Cuba the beginning Of a reconstruction
the blessings Of which they will not fully realize
for years. But the gift is not for one generation
only to enjoy, but for ALL
Nor Is it the less real and valuable because the
form it may take is not yet entirely disclosed
Whether more or less Of self-government will bc
for the highest happiness of the people Of Cuba
or the Philippines this year or next they do not
know. nor are Americans clear. But the steps
to be taken toward that end will gradually dis
close what Is the best thing Americans can do
for these millions Of liberated islanders. and It
is the sincere purpose to give them the best
Annexation, enforced assimilation. with a
national life dominated by men of different
speech and race, might prove for the liberated
neither the best nor the most enjoyable change
Government of their own creation. which some
of them now strongly desire. might prove for
them the hardest and most tosome Of all the
many roads toward better things.
Matters will be easier and happier for all If
those who give and those who receive alike re-
member that il is a genuine Christmas gift
which the American Republic Is bestowing upon
the millions il has relieved from the yoke of on
preston. The people mean to make it as valua-
bic a gift as they can. They do not want 1t
spoiled by impatient haste nor by blind devotion
to form rather than substance. II those who
receive will set themselves in good faith to
make the gift Of freedom as valuable for them
selves as il can be, and TO show how II can be
made more valuable they may rest IN the GER
tainty that the spirit of the givers Is that which
| befts a Christmas gift OF one thing they are
| certain-that no form which their freedom can
| take will be less than an inestmabe blessing
| compared with the state Of bondage from which
| American arms have liberated them