The Elk Mountain pilot., 1901-04-09
Tho Cuban situation.

Cuban sentiment has gone through
exactly the same course with refer
ence to the Plat amendment which 1t
Congress" and army which the
close of the war found claiming au-
thority. The papers in this country
which predict trouble now predicted
trouble then. None came. Those who
assert Cuban rights now asserted
them then. The conservative senti-
ment of Cuba was too strong for the
extremists. 1t is now.
The past week has seen a complete
change in the situation. The remark
able article we publish from La
Lucha," Republican organ, recites
the convincing reasons which have led
Senor Manuel Sanguilly. foremost in
the extreme Cuban party, TO declare
for :he amendments. If trouble We're
to come it was sure to be in Santiago.
In the eastern end of the island the
revolutionary sentiment is far strong
er than in the more conservative and
more populous west. la Republica,"
the organ of the Republican party in
Santiago, has declared for the Platt
amendments. The local organization
has done tie same. This action by
the district and party which elected
Juan Gualberte Gomez, who has led
the party of resistance and protest in
the constitutional convention, has
forced him along the same path The
City Council of Cienfuegos has taken
action similar 10 that in Santiago.
If these men and these regions IA
vor acceptance no resistance will come
from any other source. The reason is
plain. As these terms are discussed in
Cuba they prove both best for Cuba
and consonant with the pledge of the
United States. They do not imply
Sovereignty, jurisdiction and con-
troll" They leave Cuba Sovereign"
under an exclusively Cuban "jurisdic-
ton" and under Cuban control"
They do all this and yet offer the
most promising solution yet proposed
of the difficulty of securing stable gov
ernmerts in Spanish-American COM
munities and regions without direct
government by the United States.
These people and communities have
their own civilization. ideals and as
pirations. They should be free to de
velop them. We have ours. Our sys-
tenn does not suit them. Theirs would
not suit us. For n century they have
fioundered along from revolution to
revolution, involving foreign interfer-
ence, nursing pestilence, wasting
money on debts and putting n pre-
MUM on the ambition of every un-
scrupulous military dictator. Our
own Union has for 112 years solved
the problem of combining central au-
thority and national power with local
government and sovereignty. Its ex-
tension TO regions and populations nom
homogeneous with oup- own is possible,
but not easy, attractive or in all re-
spects desirable.
What is needed is plan under
which Cuba, and in time doubtless
other Spanish-American countries, can
be given larger, looser, more fexl-
bic system. Let them, unlike our own
states. remain alone free. Independent.
Let them have an individual "sover-
eighty, jurisdiction and control" But
let the United States do just enough
and no more to prevent pestilence,
disorder, revolution, extravagant debt,
foreign aggression and unnecessary
military expenditure. Let this be done,
not by direct interference but by
general guaranty. The guaranty by
the Union of "a republican form of
government to each state has needed
no enforcement. This new guaranty,
n free gift to Cuba, over and above the
gift of mere bald independence, may
need as little action in n century. But
it steadies the framework of govern
ment 1t gives the American system
conference and stability. 1t leaves the
North American of Teuton and Celtic
and the South and Central American
of Latin and Spanish origin each to
develop in his own way, without the
friction of a bond too close for mu-
tual comfort.
This political evolution has only to
be stated and studied to be its own
justification and command its own ac-
ceptance.-Philadelph Press.