The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1900-08-23
Will BEAR wrrcH1Nc

The Official character and work of Gen.
Wood in Cuba has enabled the people of
the United States to accept in the most
perfect good faith the assurances given
by the administration that we would
withdraw from the island as soon as the
work of fairly launching the young re-
public on the waters of interna tional life
had been accomplished.
Recent announcements and more or less
guarded declarations from adherents of
the administra lion have thrown good
deal Of doubt on the good faith of the
Mckinley administration with reference
to the liberty of the Cuban republic Of
the future. This doubt is largely the
product of the recent proclamation call
ing constitutional convention. issued NV
Gen. Wood. That document recited the
purpose of the convention to he "to
frame and adopt a constitution for the
people of Cuba, and as part thereof to
| provide for and agree with the govern
ment of the United States upon the re.
latlon to exist between that government
and the government of Cuba" This at
best Is rather dubious language when
considered with reference to the right q,
national autonomy which has been recoo-
nlzed as belonging to the Cuban people,
since their release from Spanish subtec-
ton. 1t is peculiarly dubious when con-
sidered in correction with the Joint reso-
luton Of congress which preceded tho
war with Spain, which resolution is az
follows:
The United States hereby disclaIms
any disposition or intention to exercise
sovereignty; jurisdiction, Of control ovCr
said island, except for the qualification
thereof, and asserts its determine ton.
when that is accomplished, to leave the
Its people"
1t mas been suggested at one time or
another in the magazines and In the DO
htical articles of the leading admins
tration press that this people was in the
position Of guaranteeing to foreign ma
lions the fitness OF the Cubans for self
government, and their ability to maintain
stable governmental authority before
withdrawing our influence from the ISL
and or allowing the experiment to be
made OF Cuban national independence.
Few have taken such suggestions seri-
ously. There is no such obligation i'm
piled in the foregoing resolution. or even
the suspicion of it. Yet the moral re-
sponsibility might be said to rest on the
United States to see at least that the
government established was no mere
ephemeral creation.
On this general subject Gen. Wood has
recently been making a speech. Here are
some extracts from that speech. The
governor or Cuba says, among other
things, as follows:
THAT 1t is the earnest desire of the
United States to retire as soon as pos
s1ble, and that the people of Cuba could
rest assured that the United States is
In deep earnest in the present movement
and that 1t intends to give Cuba a free
government as early as 1t is at all pos
sible for her to do So The general
stated, however, that the government to
be established must be stable one, and
that all the people of Cuba must join in
the work of preparing for ultimate indie
pendence. He cautioned them against
party differences, and urged upon them
the necessity of an earnest and unani-
nous effort to give their country a form
OF government which would be in the In
terest of everybody, and which would be
the Cuban people are capable of self-gov-
eminent, and that the island has bright
and prosperous future before it,
There is not much chance to mistake
this language. 1t does not expressly dis
avow the statements that have been
made as to the purpose of the admin
istration to give but a qualified form of
political independence to the Cuban peo-
pie, and 1t does refer to the need of es-
tablishing stable government. But its
entire purpose and scope is clearly at