Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1900-06-20

Y CAAD0lAdoo tho ~
in dealing effectively with our new
possessions.
The circumstances associated with
our possession Of Cuba are new and
unparalleled in the history of con-
quests. We solemnly disciaim n
disposition or intention 10 exercise
sovereignty or control over the island
except for its pacifcation. To this
declaration we still rigorusly adhere.
And in this connection it is fitting
to say that the populations and frauds
committed in Cuba by subordinate Of
ficials have made every American blush
with shame, and until the last of the
guilty men is arrested and convicted
and sentenced that shame will know
no abatement.
The Great Humiliation
is that the thefts we're from people of an
island towards whom we sustain a jul
dietary relation, and whose confidence
we ask. That this government makes
good the loss is not enough, and per-
haps the lesson has not been in vain
if it shall serve to stimulate US to even
greater care in dealing with these peo-
pie for whom we have poured out our
blood and treasure, and whom we hope
some day to welcome on terms of clos
est friendship as citizens of a sister
republic.
We are not a warlike or a quarrel
some people. We have never coveted
the possessions of foreign principali-
ties, and land lust is unknown among
us.
The future of nations, however, like
the future of man, is hid from mortal
vision, and, no more than man may a
nation choose its own duties. When
this war ended and we faced our vic
tory in all its completeness, We found
eight millions of people living upon
uncounted islands delivered into our
hands. Abandonment of them would be
confession that while the oppression
by Spain of a million and a half of
Cubans demanded our armed iHterfer-
ence, greater barbarity and cruelty to
millions of Filipinos, less able to pro-
tect themselves, was a subject of no
concern to us. No civilized nation in
the world, no Christian nation, could
have turned these people back to Spain.
We are told that the islands are rich
in all the products of the tropics, in
mineral wealth, and in the possibili-
ties of their future development. So
much the better. But if they were as
barren as the Libyan desert, we would
have taken them just the same.
We haven't been there long, but
long enough to reach two conclusions:
One is, that the first thing we intend
doing is to suppress the Tagal insur-
rection and to establish law and order
throughout the archipelago. That is
the first thing we shall do. And the
last, the very last thing we intend do
ing, is not to consider, ever for a mo-
ment, the question of giving up or of
abandoning these islands.
We Are Actually Owners
of the Philippines by an u%ndisputed
and indutiable title. We are there as
the necessary and logical outcome of
our victory over Spain.
The obstacles to the establishment
of a civil government in the Islands
are many, but we shall overcome them.
Mistakes will undoubtedly be made,
but we shall remedy them. Meanwhile,
American enterprise and ingenuity and
push may be depended upon to develop
the of the islands, and make
them an added source of wealth to our
country. The wise craftsmanship of
the President and III able Secretary of
State has already brought from the
countries of Europe a recognition of
right to share in the vast CONNER
cial advantages which will follow the
opening of the Chinese Empire to for
eign trade; the Nicaraguan Canal will
be oon constructed: Hawaii, with its
valuable harbor, is ours; we possess
the best of the Samoan Islands, with
its magnificent roadway; the Philip
pines are almost at the door Of China,
and if counsels of fear do not pre-
vail, this generation will see the Amer
lean nation girdling half the globe with
it's flag, extending its foreign COM
merce to the uttermost parts of the
earth, and taking its place among
h Great worId-Nations,
a power for good. for peace. and for
righteousness.
Whatever may be in store for us in
the new apd unbeaten track upon
which we are entering, we shall not
be found with the unlit lamp and the
ungirt lion" Our way is new, but it
is not dark. In the readjustment of
world-conditions, where we must take
our place with the other great nations
of the earth, we shall move with eau
ton, but not with fear. We seek only
TO lift I'D men to better things. to