New-York tribune., 1901-05-30
THE CUBAN "SETTLEMENT."

The action of the Cuban Constitutional Con
vention in adopting by bare majority some
what carbled version OF the Platt amendment
can scarcely be regarded as iustifyng the joyous
exclamation of La Discussion will come
| immediate independence" Neither does II jus
tify the conclusion expressed in this country in
spirit of hasty optimism. that the whole
Cuban question is now finally settled. II would
be pleasant 10 record the fact Of complete settle
ment. II may he hoped that such record may
soon he made But the plain fact Of the case is
that the Cuban Constitutional Convention did
not accept the Platt amendment. but as we
have said. garbled or amended version thereof,
consisting of the amendment enlarged and
modified by certain interpretations Of some OF
its clauses. Those interpretations. or com
mentaries. are said by the Cuhans 10 have been
made orally by the Secretary of War with the
approval of the President. 1t may he that Mr..
Root in conversation with the Cuban delegates
expressed his and the Presidents views CON
cerning the Platt amendment and the inter
probation which he and the President thought
should and hoped would he put thereon. But 1t
is not conceivable that either the Secretary of
War or the President authorized the ncorpora
ton of the Cuban recollection of such oral
explanations into the amendment as an in
tegral part Of il, or sanctioned the investment
Of them with any more authority than that pro-
ceedng from purely personal opinions. For the
Platt amendment was and is act of Con
gress. just as much as any other act law.
and there is no power in the land that can alter
II by so much as single word Congress
itself and there is no power that can author
tatively interpret il save the Supreme Court of
the United States. The Cubans would be doing
the Secretary of War and the President himself
great wrong if they should impute TO them
TO either of them any design of usurping the
constitutional functions OF Congress or of the
Supreme Court. 1t was proper and commend
able for the Cuban delegates TO report to the
convention for its enlightenment what the Presi-
dent and the Secretary of War said to them
concerning the matter But To inject such obiter
dicta into act of the United States Congress
Is performance which must be regarded with
more surprise than approval.
Despite the action of the convention on Tues
day. therefore. it will be prudent to withhold
rejoicings over the full and final settlement of
the Cuban question until the Platt amendment
pure and simple, without a word added TO or
Subtracted from il. is adopted by that conven-
tiOn, until the Supreme Court of the United
States has formally sustained the version they
have adopted as accurate and valid. Since the
Cubans are supposed 10 be desirOus of speedy
settlement OF the matter. they can scarcely
wish 10 have ii remitted 10 n tedious course of
judicial procedure. 1t must therefore be re-
gretted, for their sake, that they did not
deal with the amendment in a different spirit,
and did not recognize the fact that an act of
Congress is not thing 10 be garbled or ampli-
fed at will by any extraneous body. They had
the option of either accepting or rejecting the
amendment. They had not the privilege of re-
yising il 10 suit themselves. And in doing the
latter they will have only themselves to blame
If they find they have postponed that indepen-
dence which LA Discussion" halls as immedi-
ate. Certainly there is no power In the United
States outside of Congress or the Supreme
Court that can accept and act upon the doings
of Tuesday in the Cuban convention as n salts
factory adoption Of the Plat amendment and
a satisfactory adoption of that amendment is
the only thing that finally secure Cuban
( government of Cuba
After such adoption of the Platt amendment
! the next step for the Cubans would be TO enact
an electoral law. under which the insular gov
ernment provided for by their constitution might
he established. ut is assumed that the conyen-
ton will do that next week. Then. ninety
days after the PRONUNCIATION of that law n gen
eral election must be held for the officers pre-
scribed by the constitution. These are Presi-
dent and Nice-President, TO be chosen by an
absolute majority OF the popular vote. for