The representative., 1900-09-20


The Independent has always had
serious doubts of the intention of Nc
Kinley ever losing his hold upon Gu
ba. Too many things indicating an in
tention to annex that island are all
the time coming to the notice of the
people. Just as certain as Mckinley
is elected, will we have another war on
our hands, for the Cuban patriots who
have fought for thirty years for inde-
pendence will not submit to annexa-
ton, except at the end of another war.
Many Republican papers are now bold
ly advocating the reputation of our
promises to the. Cuban patriots, among
them the United States Investor, which
says:
1--WE will admit that the statement
first quoted does sound brutal. But the
mistake which we made as a nation
than it was reasonable to suppose we
ever should do. This paper has con-
tended for the past two years that this
country would never relinquish it's hold
upon Cuba. When we went to war
with Spain we were open in our
avowals that we had no selfish motive,
and that it was our purpose to give
the Cubans fgovernment. No doubt
we were quite honest in our protesta-
tions, but the trouble is, we did not
koll
Americans are not a discreet people.
They say what is in their mind at the
moment, and they promise anything
that may be asked of them so long as
they do not perceive the difficulty that
is bound to beset them when it comes
to fulfilling their promise. Up to 1898
we had not had sufficient experience in
interfering in the affairs of other peo-
pie to know what must be the inevi-
table consequences of such a line of
action, and it did not occur to us that
our feelings regarding Cuba would be
very different after we had driven the
Spanish away from the island from
what they had been before. We are
now beginning to see what Cuba really
means to this country, and it is prob
ably only an occasional person who
now really believes that the United
States will ever relinquish their hold
upon the island.
"The wrong, if there be any wrong
in the matter, consists not in our pur-
pose to hang on to the island, but in |
our thoughtless promise at the start |
to do more than we ever really in |
tended to do. We shall be told, of |
it is our duty to abide by it regardless !
of consequences. Let us ask those !
who talk thus if they believe this |
would be safe rule to apply to in
dividual conduct. No moralist will con-
tend that bad promise should be
lived up to. An honorable man will
hesitate to make promises for fear he
may afterwards discover that he Is
obliged to ignore them. That Is what |
this country should have done when
But it did not do so, and it is disin
genuous in any one to claim that it
should live up to its assertions at that |
time for no other purpose than to make
good it's word. To retire from Cuba
would be a crime on the part Of this |
country, which could not be justified by
any promise made in ignorance to the
Cubans. Such policy could not be |
advocated except by persons who, for /
the sake of foolish consistency, were I
prepared to sacrifice the peace and
prosperity of $1,000, 900 people.
''It ought not to be necessary to ar
que the question of the crime involved
in our retiring from Cuba. The longer
we live the more we are forced to be-
lieve that the past and future alike
are a closed book to most persons. 1t !
must be so, otherwise history would
not be forever repeating itself. HUI |
man experience is continually describ-
ing circle, which may be accounted
for by the general ignorance which
each generation has of the meaning Of
all that has gone before. Failing to
understand the motives which have
been back of the events of history, and 7
being apparently incapable of connect
ing effect with cause in their study of
the past the generations have gone on
repeating the mistakes of those that
have preceded them. History, instead
of being a we'll ordered science, is, we
fear, to most persons, maelstrom,
vortex into which all the occurrences
of the past have been whirled in
hopeless tumble. The trouble. we sus-