Milford chronicle. [volume] (Milford, Del.) 1878-1974, 1901-05-31
WASHINGTON NEWS.

stands, only future and not past
disputes can be required to be arb
itrated under any general rule
which the Congress may adopt.
In consequence of this limitation,
Peru, Bolivia and Argentina, all
of which have acute disputes with
Chile, which they wish arbitrated,
nave objected seriously, though /
only the frstnamed has refused to
take part if the limitation stands. |
1t is believed, however, that all
will think better of this, the half
loaf of being able to demand arb
itration with their powerful neigh
Dor, i'll the future, being a good
better than the sulky satisfaction
of no arbitration at all Chile oc-
cupies the same position to the
rest of South America that the
United States doNAto all three
Americas, being by far the most
aggressive and powerful country
down there, and it is a great gain
if she will consent to any arhitra-
ton rule whatever. The position
of the United States in the con
troversy is rather peculiar. At
the first meeting of the committee
of arrangements Assistant Secre-
tary Hill, who represented our re-
public, voted with all the rest of
his colleagues to grant the con-
ditions demanded by Chile, but
when the motion to reconsider was
entered he declined to vote, thus
leaving the question open for the
consideration and determination of
the conference at Mexico.
Vice. President Roosevelt and
Senator Lodge have of course pro-
voked the diplomats here by their re
cent fiery Monroe Doctrine speech
es, and the State Department is
compelled to look sympathetic in
consonance. AS a matter of fact,
however, the Department is pretty
we'll satisfied, with the proceeding.
! One member of the Administration,
for instance, say: "The speeches
will serve a good purpose after all
! We are confident that no power is
getting ready to infringe OH the
/ Monroe Doctrine, but the more we
advertise to the world that it shall
not and must not be interfered with;
the more we convince the world
that every man in America is ready
to fight for it at the drop of the
hat; the surer shall we be that nc
power will try to encroach upon it
Inasmuch as the doctrine is a sort
of chip on our shoulders, and we
do not intend to take it down, it is
a good idea to let the world know
at once in awhile that whoever
touches it must prepare for trouble
Otherwise they will forget" Al
the same time, Mr. Lodge does &C
too far when he intimates that Ger
= many cannot acquire a coaling sta
I ton III the West Indies withou
violating the Monroe principle
Our government has never tal1el
f that attitude as yet, and may never
take it. We should prefer tina
Germany get coaling stations else
where, but the Monroe Doctrine
D does not bar her out of this con
5 tinent in that regard.
f Uncle Sam is wondering what h,
! can do with the Porto Rican tele
: phone system which fell to him By
conquest from Spanish Government
5 Up to now he has continued it, ant
e the question is whether he shall
{ continue to do so or shall dispos
of it to some private corporation
Under the Spanish system conces
, sions for telephone lines were grant
Il to the highest bidder at a publ
d auction, the bidding being on tn
n per centage the government re
! ceivcd from the total collection, tn
y minimum of which was 6 per Ger
II of the collections. Concessions ar
5, granted for a period of twent
v years, counted from the date of til
: drafting of the instrument contain
:. ing the contract. Upon the e.
. piration of the period of conce,
"a sion the telephone lines and al
~ paratus becomes the property {
re the government, which is not r
quired to pay the CONCESSIONS
anything for it. General Greel
who has turned this telephone sy
l. TEN over to the insulars governor
as believes future telephone conce
ty sions granted for Porto Rico
.v the United States should be und
:, the same rules that were i'll for,
" during the Spanish occupancy. \
. decision i'll the matter has yet bee
e. reached.
lie There is good authority for sta
10 ing that the report from Cope
- hagen that treaty for the sale
the Danish West Indies to IL
III United States has been made
ur premature. 1t is intimated tn
ly such a treaty is being negotiate
of and that all points have been settl,
- except that in regard to the stat
: of the inhabitants. Denmai
5h wants these to become Americ:
Ike citizens by treaty stipulation. II
vo Administration does not assent
be this proposal. 1t is the desire
81 the Administration not to incC
porate within the national donna
any part of the West Indies
N have no island state. The p1
on vailing spirit i'll government circl
We here ism sympathy with that poll
- which would refuse actual annex
ton to both Cuba and Porto Ri
To- and treat all our West Indian {
ng tendencies as self governing colo
les pure and simple. Obviousl
the Administration cannot intel
gently proceed with this part of
programme till it shall have learn
10 what the Supreme Court of t
lg- United States is going to say abe
Ike the Constitution and the flag. NJ
NO that we have Poto Rico, the Oh
real reason why we should buy t
Danish Islands is to keep The
from falling into the hands of G.
:ity many, which it is believed, is {
of xious to get them in order to
de, tablished a coaling station in the