The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1900-01-22
No Chance for Arbitration.

No Chance for Arbitration.
Montague White. said to be bearing
credentials from the government Of the
South African Republic. Ia to appear
before the state department in the in
terest OF the Beers. 1t is reported that
he win ask for official expressions Of
sympathy from the United States, and.
in event Of these being refused, win So
iicit the good offices Of our government
with a view to securing some sort of
arbitration between the two nations
now at war.
1t has ever been the unwritten law
to refrain from doing Just what Mr..
White may ask this government to do.
However deeply the people Of the coun-
try may sympsthize with any nation
that mas drawn the sword. our policy
has been to insist that there shall be
no official ayowal of friendship for
those who may be parties to the strug-
gle. With differences between the gov
ernments Of the other hemisphere we
have no immediate concern, and so long
as our own interests have not been in
volved 1t has been the part of wisdom
to assume an attitude of strict neutral
ity both as regards action and official
utterance.
There have been occasions when the
United States has seen fit to make pub
lie pronounced opinions as 10 conditions
existing without its borders, but 1t has
always been under circumstances quite
different from those now to be consid-
cred with respect to the Transvaal con-
troversy. We did nor hesitate to speak
out and roundiy denounce misgovern-
ments and oppression In Cuba.
but there was justification. be-
cause Of propinquity. There was
willful interruption of old-established
trade relations; our citizens were impris-
oned and denied justice: the arbitrary
and merciless rule OF corrupt governors
was impoverishing the island and its
people. among whom were many citizens
of the United States: military incompe-
tence was making the suppression of
instruction hopeless task, and the
prolonged enforcement OF neutrality
laws by this government had become
an unreasonable imposition. Under the
circumstances there was reason for the
United States insisting that the curtain
on the Cuban tragedy should be rung
down.
We have no such relations with the
Transvaal. Neither the trade of this
country nor the rights of its citizens is
involved in the struggle between Boer
and Briton. 1t Is none of our affair.
and no reason exists why we should
be drawn into 1t. We are remote from
the scene Of hostilities and can be but
slightly affected whatever turn those
hostilities may take. However pro-
foundry different individuals may sym
pathize with the two parties at war, the
country has nothing at stake, and
therefore is not justified in mixing up
with a controversy with which 1t can
have no concern.
Should the Transvaal representative
ask that this country act as an arbi-
traitor, there might be willingness to
proffer our services If they are accept
able to both parties. But there is not
a ghost of show of such a friendly
performance being required. Matters
have gone too far. Great Britain pro-
poses to fight the war out to the bitter
end; her people have been worked up to
such state of feeling that the offer
of arbitration would almost certainly
be rejected with disdain. One of the
largest armies Britain has ever assem-
bled is now in the field or en- route to
the scene of action, and larger rein-
forcements will be sent to the front IL
occasion demands. In spite of reverses
the British are more aggressive than
ever. and such a thing as a retreat or
compromise is not thought
of. With the people in such
temper 1t is a waste of time
to talk of arbitration. for now there Is
nothing over which to arbitrate. The
difficulty must be settled by the sword,
and so long as that opinion prevails
among her majesty's subjects there will
never be any call for the disinterested
services of the United States as an UNI
pre-
1t is the misfortune Of Seattle that she
has not the room to accommodate railways
and steamboats, with convenient and ade-
quate facilities for transacting business
but the boats and the railways, to any
number, can find ample and convenient
facilities at Tacoma without congesting
traffic or driving away any established
enterprise. Tacoma Ledger.