The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1900-06-20

complied with: the people of the is
land are content, the vast mass of the
American people approve, and we have
avoided precedents that might vex us
when we come to deal with the prob
lens that finally await us In the es-
tablishmept of our permanent relations
towards the people of the Philippine
Islands.
CONSTITUTION AND FLAG.
There has been much discussion dur
ing the past few months in respect
to the extent of the power of this
country to deal with Porto Rico and
our other possessions. and 1t has been
frequently contended by the De-
mocracy that as soon as we became the
owners of any of these islands the
Constitution of the United states at
once extended over them, or in the
oratorical but misleading phrase, "The
Constitution follows the Flag" The
argument is specious, but 1t will not
bear investigation. The same question
was raised in 1903, at the time of the
Louisiana purchase, and the doctrine
then established by congress that we
could acquire foreign soil by purchase,
that congress had the right to estab-
lish there such government as IL saw
fit, and that the Constitution did not
of its own force extend over such terri
tory. The doctrine was never question
eu until IN tdlnOun ) llllle IL Was SOuSlL
to be denied in the efforts to extend
human slavery into the territories.
The Supreme court of the United
States has more than once determined
| the question, and the contention con-
cerning it now by our opponents is not
because anybody believes that the
| laws we have enacted for the govern
| ment of the island are unjust, but in
order to embarrass the administration
| in dealing effectively with our new
| possessions. The flag went to Mexico
! in 1S4S, the Constitution did not. The
! flag went to Cuba and was carried
| into Santiago, and is there yet. But
| our Constitution not only is not there,
! but we are busy encouraging cuba TO
prepare q constitution of her own.
! When any portion of our territory be-
| comes a sovereign state, then is our
! Constitution its cornerstone. In the
! territory of the United States not in
! cluded within state boundaries con-
| gross alone determines the extent to
| which the provisions of the Constitu-
| tiou extend.
When we took possession at the
| close of the war we found the con-
dtons existing in Cuba to be deplor-
able. Under the conservative and wise
management of Generals Brooke and
| Wood vast improvements have been
| effected, and we have given the peo-
pie the first good government they
| have ever known. We found it's cities
| beds OF pestilence. We have stamped
/ out yellow fever and made Havana as
healthy a city as exists at that lati-
tude. We took it's starving reconcen-
| tradoas who had survived the war, and
its other poverty stricken people, and
| fed and clothed them. We organized
public school system, and have
| everywhere established law and order.
This had first to be done. Then fol-
lowed a compliance of the terms of
| the treaty which gave the Spanish in
habitants until April 11th to determine
| whether or not they would register as
citizens of preserve their allegiance to
Spain. Meanwhile n careful census of
| the island was made. Then came the
fixing of the qualifications for the
right of suffrage, which were fairly
bestowed. The island was divided into
nunicipa iitieS and the registration pro-
| vided for. And last week municipal;
elections were held all through the is
land. as the first and preliminary step
| toward the establishment of a national
government and the adoption of a
| constitution.
CUBAN POSTAL FRAUDS.
And in this connection it is Citing
| to say that the peCulationS and frauds
committed in Cuba by subordinate otti-
cials 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. 1t is no more to be
charged to the party than would a
theft by a trusted employe be charged
against the character of the mer-
chant who employed him. The party
that shields and protects dishonest
officials forfeits public confidence. not
the party that exposes and Furnishes
| hn hppn
rarely the victim of misplaced conf
dence in it's officials. In this instance
the appointments were made with the
greatest care, many of them from the
classified service. Whenever fraud has
been discovered the guilty have been
pursued unsparingly and with the
greatest publicity. So has 1t been with
these thieving postotiice officials, SO
has it been always.
We are dealing with Cuba in a spir-
it not only of fairness but of gener-
osity and of absolute unselfishness
and whenever the inhabitants of that
island eVinCe and declare their ability
to take over it's government and con-
troll, that day they shall receive it,
and until then we shall continue to adj
minister IT'S affairs under a rule Salu
tary and satisfactory TO all good citi-
zens in Cuba, and creditable to the
administration at Washington under
whose OruerS lne SoNeIHllleHl Is Coii-
Quoted.
OUR COLONIES.
We have never coveted the posses
sions of foreign principalities and land
lust is unknown among u.s. We would
fight to the death to protect that which
is riGhtfully ours; to avenge a wrong
sought to be perpctrated upon us, anG
to guard this hemisphere from any at
tempt by foreign powers to further ex'
| tend their rule over it's soil.
The future of nations, however, like
the future of man, is hid from morta
vision, and, no more than man may
a nation choose it's own duties. Wher
this war ended and we faced our vic
tory in all its completeness, we foun(
eight millions of people living upor
uncounted islands delivered into ou
hands. Abandonment of them would
be confession that while the oppression
by Spain of a million and a half o
Cubans demanded our armed interfer
enCe, greater barbarity and cruelty t
millions of Filipinos, less able to pro
tect themselves, was a subject of nj
| concern to us. No civilized nation il
the world, no Christian nation coult
have turned these people back t.
Spain Our commissioners, when the!
insisted upon our retention of the Phil
ippines, voiced the sentiments anC
wishes of the American people; anC
this nation has assumed with opel
eyes and with full realization OF tn
J difficulties which may be encountered
the grave responsibilities imposed upoi
us by the treaty of Paris.
We are told that the islands are ricl
in all the products of the tropics, II
: mineral wealth, and in the possibil
tiles of their future development. S.