Willmar tribune., 1900-01-03

The tory press is gradually prepar.
ing the public mind for the annexa.
tion of Cuba to the United States,
But for the manly declaration Of con.
gress, adopted at time when the con.
science OF the nation was aroused by
the high motives which actuated the
people at the beginning of the Span.
ish war, Cuba would today have beer
declared part o: the United States
by our tory administration and our
soldiers would have been hunting
down the ''rObber bands" of Cuban
patriots who would dare to resist the
sovereignty OF our flag. AS it is, the
time for allowing the natives to estab.
lish government of their own will
be drawn out until by some hook or
crook the seeming acquiescence of the
Cuban people can be- secured for an.
nexation. But what at this time
especially is aggravating to the lover
of freedom is the systematic effort be-
ing made to traduce and belittle the
motives of the Cuban patriots who so
manfully for many years resisted op-
preston and tyranny. Says a paper
we have before us:
''The principal adherents to the in
dependence idea are the men who COM
posed the Cuban army. At their head
are to be found the officers who,
through personal daring, ability,
kinship to other leaders, or mere Chi
canery, have imbued the people-the
masses with their ideas, thereby
gaining an influence very hard to
cOunteract.
"Among these commanders, gener-
ais, "chiefs," colonels and minor Off
cials one finds, practically, but one
motive in insisting on the independ-
ence OF Cuba; i. e., personal aggrand-
izement. Almost to a man, they are
office e-seekers-disappointed totally or
partially"
All! Isn't there something familiar
in the sound? It isn't enough that
these battle-scarred old Cubaps are to
see their old dreams of SCUBA Libre''
vanish, but the glory they achieved in
the ten years war and the later strng-
giles for liberty must be robbed from
them and patriotism, sealed in thous-
sands of cases by their lifeblood,
must be termed selishness by these
pitiable penDy-a-liners in the pay of a
p]utocratic press, whose highest am
bition is to SO, we'll serve their mast
ers that they may be given some small
official position under the tory govern:
ment they haye helped to establish.
But what do such craven beings know
of the impulses of true. patriotism.
TO them patriotism is best expressed
by the beating Of tomtoms aud waving
of flags by hlreling hands, and a roy
al decree from an. imperial govern
nlent is too sacred even to be ques-
toned. Bah! Is it any wonder tba
such people cannot explain the love OF
liberty Or of country except upon the
hypothesis of self-aggrandizement?
Then again the paper says:
''The majority of Cubans-meaning,
OF course, a majority of the whole
favor the idea from a purely sentilnen
tai standpoint. Fifty-five per cent OF
the native population is upeducated.
All are extremely credulous, passion
ate, and pliable-in the hands of sup
eriOr members of the race.''
0Sentiment and ignorance! There
are the same old pleas that have
served would-be superior races in
holding down others for all time past.
That is our excuse for downing the
Filipinos-whom Dewey said were bet
ter fitted for selt-government than the
Cubans-and that is the excuse of the
British for trying to annihilate the
Beers. Fl.
The time will soon be here when the
American people will say by their
votes whether that noble declaration
by congress guaranteeing independ-
ence to Cuba shall stand or be repudi-
ated. 1t behooves every American
citizen to allow his love of free in
stitutiops to overshadow his party
fealty, and freeing himself from
party prejudice and jealousy strike
d blow for human freedom that shall
echo down ages to come and check the
dangers which now have invaded our
own country. '@'