Marietta daily leader. (Marietta, Ohio) 1895-1906, 1901-05-02

VIZ vi lhISi lutiOHdl pOllCS uuty, we, dl
any rate, have never sought aggrand
izement as a result of our action: and
whoever feels we were not justified in
what we did ought logically to object
to all exercise of the police power al
home. We would have been branded
with infamy had we not taken immed-
late measures to put stop to the un
speakable cruelties of the Boxers, and
to protect our accredited representa-
tives at Pekin from the half official at
tack upon them. Proud, indeed,
should we be as Americans that the
Stars and Stripes fluttered among the
flags whose approach meant safety
from torture and ihGrder and worse
than torture and murder to the hunt
ed women and children and despairing
men who stood at bay behind their
crumbling legation walls.
In Cuba we have had to face a hard
er, because a less simple task. We
were pledged to bring peace and free
dom to the islands, and we have been
resolutely bent upon keeping that
pledge, not merely in the letter, but in
the spirit. To have driven out the
Spaniard and then Immediately with
drawn our own forces, would have
meant the breaking of our own pledge,
for it would have thrown the islands
into a chaos but one degree better than
the tyranny which it succeeded. More
over such a course would have meant
the absolute certainty of our being
speedily forced to interfere again. We
would commit a grave wrong to our
own people if we permitted the great
island which is our neighbor once more
to become plague spot of civilization;
a still graver wrong if we permitted
the possibility of its ever being used
against us by some strong alien power.
opment of those qualities in the Gu
bans which would render them able to
solve the difficult problem of self-gov.
ernment; to further every movement
for decency in the island; and to give
our aid to the new Cuban common
wealth as it strove to walk alone This
has been our consistent endeavor; and
Providence has given us an instrument
fit to carry it out in the person of
Governor-General LeCnard Wood. We
ask that the Presidents policy be
judged by it's fruits. Compare what
Cuba now is with what it was three
years ago; compare the peace and or
Ter and justice Of today wifi tho ur.
speakable misery. the bloody jumble of
anarchy and tyranny of three years
ago. Think of the stride made in the
school system and the courts; think of
what has been done towards the cleans
ing of the cities. towards stamping out
disease. Remember that the change is
solely due TO the fact that we dared to
go to war for righteous cause. If
ever in history an action has justified
itself, our action in interfering in Cuba
has thus furnished it's own justnica-
ton.
In the Philippines the difficulties
We're greatest of all Perhaps few bet
ter tests of our worth as nation have
ever been offered that this Philippine
problem. The temptation was great to
shirk it altogethr. Such a course
would have appealed not only to many
thoroughly honest and excellent people
who are imperfectly informed, or who
were misled by false analogies Or hy
sentimental consideration, but it would
also have been greeted with enthusiasm
by all shortsighted people and by dll in
whom the legitimate dislike needless
effort and worry tends to become IN
unhealthy fear of all risk and trouble.
But as we look back we can now see
that the national duty was really plain.
We could not give the islands back to
Spain; We could not see them taken by
some other European power; and
least of all could we turn them over to
be scrambled for by insurgent leaders.
most of whom were but little above The
level of banditti and the success of
any Of whom meant destruction to the
peaceful and law-abididng portion of
the islanders, and more or less swlft
relapse into l9rbaI" SIN of the entire
population. Thn first thing to be lore
was TO roa.ur" oiter by puttln& a stop
to the ins rec, Cn. This has a. last
been practically accomplished in a sue
cession Of campaigns which have
brought out into bold relief the daring,
the skill and the indomitable resolu.
tion Of Our Officers and men. Our ar
my has been most merciful in its deal
!nes. With equal wisdom and clemency
we have refrained from exacting the
penalties which by every principle of
military and international law we had
a right to exact from our foes. The
record Of the Gtrupo-ln i'm tho pI,iIir