The evening times., 1900-05-01
The Danish west Indies.

The sensational article which appeared in
the New York Times; this morning. in
connection with Secretary Roots MouIoe
Doctrine war speech, will create good
deal more indignation than surprise IN
this country. If the facts Of the Danish
West Indies deal are as alleged IN the
columns of our New York contemporary.
the exposure will still leave the attitude
OF Mr. Rect in a condition of myste.y.
except on one hypothesis of which we
shall speak later
As for the story. it is, in brief that
a Standard Oil magnate made an Cffsr
10 the Danish Government TO negotiate
sale of the islands of St John, St. Croix.
and St Thomas to the United States, IN
consideration OF a ten per cent commits
sion on the purchase price. The proponent
represented that his corporation controlled
the United States Senate and could there
fore secure whatever legislation might te
required It is alleged that. afterward.
he declared to the agent OF Denmark wto
recently visited this country. that there
were twenty-siX United States Senators
who would always vote as they were or
dered TO by the Standard OIL Company
As might be expected, King Christian
and his ministers were a bit skepticaI
about the ability Of a private citizen or
corporation to control the highest branch
of the American Legislature; but the
Standard Oil man is said TO have furnished
convincing proof ou this point. and. there
fore. was instructed to go ahead with the
deal He was getting along with il all
right. apparently, when the Danish Gov
ernment sent its agen 1ver to cooperate
with him. The official and unofficial ne
got.Stors appear to nave fallen out Prob
ably the Standard Oil man became sus-
picious that his colleague might be at
tempting TO undermine and freeze him out
of his commission. Be that as it may. the
noble Dane in the transaction took UNI
bragg at something, and, according to the
narrative, hied him to Washington where
he made a full confession TO Secretary
Hay and Senator Lodge. The result was
that the negotiations were broken of.
Both of the eminent Statesmen referred 10
are said TO have declared that "the Stand
ard Oil Company does not yet own the
Government" If they made this asser-
tion, it is manifest tnat they were either
ignorant Of facts commonly known. or
inexcusably insincere. Technically speak
ing, the Standard Oil Company does Iot
own the Government in all its branches. /
But. in conjunction with other trusts and
monopoIies syndicated with it for public
purposes. it does own and control the Re-
fapb arsrr leo
tration now in power at Washington. and
the legislative majority in both houses
of Congress 1t required much proof to
convince the Danish Government of such
a state of things. 1t does not require ary
to convince the American people of what
they know already, and what ii is strange
was unknown to Messrs. Hay and Lodge
The alleged consequence OF the overthrow
of an entirely usual trust deal. with public
money and property as the subject-matter,
is that His Danish Majesty is angry and
dsgusted with the whole business. and is
negotiating to exchange the islands with
Germany for piece Of Schleswig- -Holstein.
He is quoted as saying that he has made
ali the concessions to the Monroe Doctrine
like his course. we are at liberty TO remain
in that negative frame OF mind indefinite
Iy.
The history thus developed would seem
to explain the situation to which the Hon !
Elihu Root referred so earkly and with
such sanguinary vigor at the Grant dinner
The general opinion this morning seemed
10 be that he had in mind the criminal
intent of Denmark TO beat one Of the Ad-
ministration trust magnates out cS a mod
est commission Of Valf a million dollars
or so, and thus pcthaps affect the integrity
OF the Republican campaign barrel On
this hypothesis we are able to conceive
how the Administration might suddenly de-
eide to recognize the Monroe Doctrine
which it has been trying for months TO |
destroy by means Of the Hay -Pauneefote |
Treaty. II it did not hesitate 10 violate |
the Constitution in the matter of Porto Ri |
CO, at the command OF three or four trusts |
Why might it not experience miraculous |
shange CT face and revive the Monroe Doc /
trine at :he bidding OF one of them?
AS the matter appears, Dir. Root was |