The Birmingham age-herald., 1902-08-23


 miners in Alabama in July, mining opera lions were shut down for about three weeks, and during part of the time all furnaces had to be banked because Of
 
 to follow instead of what to avoid. First and foremost in Porto, we have consist entE striven to get the very best men to administer the affairs of the island. It is through our public service to secure high standard of efficiency and integrity -st after all, here at home we always have in our own hands the remedy TOT any failure to provide such quahues. III far-off island things are different. There wrone-doing is more easy and those who suffer from 1t are more helpless while there is a less efficient check fin the way of that public opinion to which public men are sensitive In consequence the administration of these islands Is beyond all other kinds of administration In our country, the one in which the highest standard must be demanded. In making appointments to the insular service IL is necessary to disregard any question or mere party expediency, and to LOOK at the matter solely from the standpoint or the honor of our own nation and Of the welfare of the island itself. This has been the standpoint adhered to In select Ing the men who represent our govern ment in Porto Rico. In consequence, all Americans should feel a real pride in which their compatriots who are responsl- ble for the government of the island have administered 1t. Moreover, in shaping the government of the island. We have acted with good sense, as well as with good faith. We have not been frightened or misled into giving the people of the island form of government unsuitable to them; and, while providing that they should govern themselves, so far as possible, we have not hesitated in their own interest to keep the power of shaping their des- tiny.
 Problem In Cuba.
 sIn Cuba the problem was larger, more complicated and more difficult. Here, gain, we kept our promise absolutely. After having delivered the island from it's oppressors, we refused to turn 1t loose off-hand with the certainty that 1t would sink Into chaos and savagery. For over three years we administered it on a plane higher than 1t had ever reached before during the four centuries since the Spaniard first landed upon its shore We brought moral and physical cleanliness into the government. We stamped out yellow fever-in itself an inestimable ser vice both to the Cuban people and to the
  established q school system. We madc life ard property secure, 50 that industry could again begin to thrive Then, when we had laid deep and broad the founda- tons upon which civil liberty and na- tional independence must resr, we turned the island over to the hands of those whom the people has chosen as the founders of the new republic. It is re- public with which our own great repub- lie must ever be closely knit by the ties of common interests and common aspira- tions. Cuba must always be peculiarly re- lated to us in International politics She must in international affairs be to de- gree a part of our political system. In return, she must have peculiar relations with us economically. She must be- in sense, part of our economic system We expect her to accept a political attitude toward us which we think wisest both for her and us.
 'In return, we must be prepared to put her in an economic position as regards our tariff system. which will give her some measure of the prosperity which we en- joy. We cannot, in my judgment, avoid taking this attitude, if we are to per severe in the course which we have out lined for ourselves as a nation during the past four years and, therefore, I believe that it is only a matter of time-and, I trust only a matter of a very short time before we enter into reciprocal trade relations with Cuba.
 The lsthmian Canal.
 "The isthmian canal represents what is probably to be the greatest engineering feat-the greatest feat of the kind-of the twentieth century. Before we start upon the construction of the canal certain questions of detail and of our relations with the people owning the soil have to be settled. When this has been done, the first question will come upon choosing the commission which is to supervise the building of the canal. Here again, we have to deal with enterprise so vast and so far-reaching in it's effects that but one thought is permissibe-how to get the very best men in the nation, the men of the highest engineering and ad- ministratiye skill, who will consent to undertake the work. If possible I should like to see these men represent different sections and different political parties. But these questions are secondary. The primary aim must be to get men who, though able to control much greater salaries than the nation Is able to pay, nevertheless possess the patriotism and the healthy ambition which will make them willing to put their talents at the governments service.
 Labor and Toll Necessary. 'It is rare. indeed. that great work work supremely worth doing-can be done save at the cost not only Of labor and toll. but of much puzzling worry during the time of tse performance. Nor mally. the nation that achieves success, like the individual who achieves great ness san do so only at the cost of anxiety and bewilderment and heart-wearing ef- fort. Timid people. people scant of faith and hope, and good people who are not accustomed to the roughness of the life of effort. are almost sure to be disheart- ened and dismayed by the work and the worry, and cvermuch cast down by the shortcomings, actual or seeming, which in real life always accompany the hrst stages even of what eventually turn out to be the most brilliant victories.
 All this Is true of what has happened during the last four years in the Philip pine islands. The Spanish war itself was an easy task but 1t left us certain other tasks which were more difficult. One of these tasks was that of dealing with the Philippines. The easy thing to do the thing which appealed not only to lazy and selfish men, but to very many good men whose thought did not drive them down to the root of things-was to leave the islands. Had we done this a period of wild chaos would have supervened - ~~xi-. ' s--~<---~ ~--.-----~