The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1900-11-27
CLOSING THE LID.

The exalted view of public questions
with which the st. Paul Dispatch has
been identified for many years is well
understood by newspaper readers gener-
ally in this community The highest ex
preston of public ethics finds an echo
from time to time through it's columns
which resounds through the dim CORR
doris of mems moral consciousness.
In its consideration few days ago Of
the project of raising the wreck of the
Maine without having recourse to ex-
plosives, a course which Naval officer
Young expresses his determination 10
pursue, our gay contemporary fairly
outstripped itself. It beheld visions of
the embarrassing consequences which
were likely to ensue in a certain event.
and was greatly perturbed- thereby.
AS the o b e delights to give the
world the benefit of the high moral sense
which finds expression from time to time
in the columns especially the editorial
columns-of our contemporary, it here
reproduces the picture of what the
Dispatch foresaw unless explosives
were used in the work of removing the
ruins of the Maine. 1t says:
Suppose. for moment, that it should
now be shown that the plates of the
hull show an outward bend that would
plainly indicate an internal explosion,
where would we be at? Spain insisted at
the time that such must have been the
case, and asked permission to have her
officers join in the examination, a request
that was rather brusquely declined.
Would We not be morally Obliged to adj
nit our error and to make full restitu-
ton? Would we not be bound in morals
to restore to her the West Indies and
the Philippines? Would she not be bound
to give US back those 100000? Were
there a court open to her could she
not obtain judgment against us for the
damages she sustained, including the
loss of CerVera'S and Montejo's fleets?
Lieut.. Commander Luc- en- Young, We sub
nit is taking the lid off Pandoras box
with extreme thoughtlessness. Secretary
Long should close the lid down with
bang, and nail it down tight"
All must admire the provident spirit
in which the Dispatch approaches the
question of explosives or non-expIosives.
1t is itself. of course slightly explosive
in the forcible manner in which it i'm
presses its moral view of the question
on the country. But it's thoughtfulness
for the pecuniary interests of a nation
which is struggling along under greatly
enhanced public burdens is, notwithstand-
ing, entitled to the highest commenda-
ton
There is only one circumstance which
might be said to lessen in any degree
whatever the shrewdness and wisdom
of the Dispatches advice That is that
some persons with a tendency toward
research may be disposed to dispute the
proposition-that the blowing up of the
Maine was the sole cause of the war.
Such persons might be disposed to take
the optimistic view that the Hanna Nc
Kinley administration was animated
throughout only by its exalted conception
of the duty of great nation lfkethfs
to interfere on behalf of a neighboring
people deprived of their liberties and sub
jected to great cruelties by their gov
eminent. But since such a purely senti-
mental view never recurs to the intel
lect of practical supporters of the ad-
ministration, like the Dispatch, save
about election time, that circumstance
may hardly be worthy of any consid-
GRAFTON whatever.
1t may be possible to close the lid down
on contingent discoveries in the case of
the Maine, but you can never close down
the lid and keep it closed on the moral
conceptions of our contemporary.
The excessive demands for indemnity
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