Delaware gazette and state journal. (Wilmington, Del.) 1883-1902, 1901-12-19
A Way TO HELP CUBA.



That tho plight of Cuba industry Is
now serious and pitiful is admitted by
all authorities, high and low, Gen.
Wood agrees with Secretary Root, and
borth are Of one mind with the Cuba
Commissioners now in this country, In
warning us that troublous times are
surely in store for the island unless the
United States comes promptly to the
relief OF its threatened commerce.
Planters are Just now beginning TO grind
their sugar cane, but where to find q
market for their product they do not
know. If 1t continues to be shut out j
by the American tariff, the. immediate +,
prospect for Cuba is trade prostrat,on 4
and widespread misery, with revival
OF brigandage and pillage on large
SCALE That is the admitted situation
which confronts US. How are we to {.
meet it?
The prime conditions of any effective
measure of relief are three: a. it must
be speedy 10y it must be legal; 49, 1t
must disregard the obstinate selfishness
and heartlessness of those protected in
terests which would rather see CUBA
starve than surrender one penny OF their
own tariff advantages. Time of tho
essence OF tho crisis. Unless the QubPn
sugar crop is assured of market before
next May or June, the last state OF tho
island which We rescued will be worse
than the first. This Ia the consideration
which makes delay until after the estRb-
lishment of n Cuban republic mad
missible. The mischief would be done
long before treaty of reciprocity with
Cuba oou be negotiated AID ratified.
We must act quickly, il we are not to
mock at the threatened calamity OF the
Cuhans And we must act legally. The
bill published last week contained
clause providing that 1.-THE people of
! Cuba" were to consent to reduced rates
/ of duty on American goods in their
| ports, in order to obtain free market
or their raw sugar in the United States.
| But there is no Legal way in which ttei
people OF Cuba could do this basore
they have established their own govern
ment They have no organ OF express
sion, no authorized mouthpieoe This
| plan would come to naught through
technical difficulties, or elss through
| fatal delays. We have heard this su2ges-
I on that Gen. Wood, aa Governor of
| Cuba, make treaty with Secretary
Hay, providing for reciprocal markets.
| 1t is possible that the Supreme Court
would present Justice blind enough
| to let such u legal fiction pass; but even
80 The method would be OF dubious
propriety, and would be TOO dilatory to
meet the emergency. What we need IL
an act of Congress that will go swiftly
to the heart OF the difficulty.
Such an act would be one reducing
the sugar duties in the United States
tariff by one half. The simplest verbal
he sufficient. In place of the words
| nj afu Hua -hnndrodfho NJ
cent per pound'' on sugar under num-
Der sixteen Dutch standard, read iifty
one hundredths and instead OF one cent
and ninty five one-hundredths on re-
fined sugar, read one cent. A bill Of
half dozen lines would do the bust
ness, and the Immediate result would
be to give the Cubans market for
their sugar, to make them SO prosperous
that they would increase their orders
for American goods by millions, and,
furthermore, to secure just that rsduo-
ton in American taxation which the
Secretary of the Treasury declaredain
his annual report to he highly desirable.
In the last respect, the cutting in
!, two the sugar tax would no beautiful
] way of making one hand wash tho
other. We want to permit the Oubaps
to live; we want also to knock off
lJUtu uuT OWH ldAoSt ht4uC-
ing the sugar duties by one-half would
do both. MIR. Gage informed Congie ss
that the revenue should be reduced By
| $50, 000,000 He pointed out some
S27,000,000 of internal revenue taxes
! that might be removed. AS to the
: rest, he was silent-reluetant, appar-
) emily, to aruuse protectionist ire by
! singing out any tariff tax TO be lowered
D or abolished. But there lay the revenue
from sugar just waiting to be sliced in
} two. Its average has been for some
years about $50, 900, 600 Reduced one
half it would give Mr.. Gage almost
j exactly the sum he specified as dssira-
| BILE. Why should it not be done? When
: Mr.. Mckinley in 1890 was looking about
8 to reduce the revenue. he settled upon
q tho sugar duties a. the best place to
] make cut His law, in fact, made sugar
Q fres, and did it explicitly in order to
: lower the Treasury surplus. There is
thus good Republican and proteotcnist
precedent for remitting sugar duties
when the revenue is swollen and we
have now, in addition, the urgent
motive Of doing something to keep the
CuEans from sinking back into wretch
edness and despair.
We are perfectly aware of the objec-
I tious that may be offered to this plan
but what we say is, show US better
r one-one that will he more rapid in
operation, mere legal In form, and more
practicable of attainment. lie will be
said that the beet-sugar men and the
), other alarmed protectionists. now de-
+. scending upon Washington would fight
! such measure to the death, But Sc
h they would any measure. If anyth NJ
! is to be doue at all for Cuba, it will
have to be done over their dead bodies.
i, They do not mean to yield one iota oil
Q their special privileges Whether 1t be
/; law or treaty that purposes To allow
:. Cuban products entrance into our
market. they will fight it, tooth and
. nail We saw what their cruel tsndei
mercits were In the Case of the Porto
s Rican tariff. They arc prepared to dis
/, pay the same callous inhumarity
b towards the imperiled Cubaus. They
:; have got to be pushed out of the way.
!, in any case, by the M, raj sense. Of the
: country, ny a public sentiment in sup.
= port of President Rousevelt's position
that this Is question of good faith and
|. humanity, rather than of tariffs. Ane
: the readest way to force the Issue, al
k also to secure the relief SO urgent }
:, needed, would be in some such ms ASSURE
!. as that we have now proposed, 1t would
: be speedy, it would be lawful, and il
IF would enrage the protectionists nc
Il more than any other effective plan tc
Q rescue an end ngered people at ON
l. doors.
i. DEIIUIRE DDTg,