The Washington times., 1902-09-23
President Urges Granting Of Tariff Conces-
sions to Young Republic Before Citi-
zens of Sugar Beet State.

unique feat for an inland State of man
ming one of the war vessels of the ma
tiou.. more striking tribute to the
national militia of the State could not
be paid than was paid when in their
custody was placed the honor and in
terest of the United States. for there is
no pert of our honor and interest which
We more jealously guard than that
bound up in the fate of any one of the
! war vessels of the nation.
1T has been my good fortune while
Assistant Secretary of the Navy to
come here and witness for myself the
zeal and workmanlike efficiency Of the
| officers and enlisted men of your naval
militia 1t die not need a long ac-
quaiptance with them to convince any
/ one that they meant business, that they
had in them the stuff that would make
it safe to trust them in time of trial.
and that they had diligently and assidu-
ously Improved their opportunities in
| learning all that they could of their
profession When the period arose to
utilize as many as possible of our people
who were trained to go down 10 sea in
ships. it was natural and fitting that
cne Of our war craft should be manned
by your naval militia.
A Difficult Task.
1T is of course a far more difficult
and complicated thing to learn war duty
afloat than war duty ashore. for the
naval profession is highly specialized
one peculiar mode of honor there
fore rightly belongs to the naval mill
tia and especially to the naval militia o.
the inland waters, who SO quickly and
well responded to the call made upon
them.
"Michigan's action is but one illustra-
tion of how closely bound together all
our interests are in this nation. There
are many such illustrations. Every
State in this country had its sons rep
resented on SOME of the war craft which
won honor in that short struggle during
the summer of 1898. The names OF the
ships no less than the birthplaces of the
officers and men aboard them bear wit
ness to the fact that our navy, like our
army, is indeed national in character.
THE war itself was an easy one. The
have been hard. You, the men of the
Spanish war you and your comrades
in arms who fought in Cuba and
Porto Rico and in the Philippines,
won renown for the country. add
ed TO its moral grandeur, and to
its material prosperity, but you
also left duties to be done by those who
came after you. In Porto Rico the duty
has been merely administrative, and it
has been SO well done that very little
need be said about it.
The Philippine Problem.
I'm the Philippines the problem was
one of extreme difficulty But after three
years of bitter fighting peace has been
won by the valor of our soldiers. and
civil government has been introduced,
so that She islanders have now greater
opportunities for life, liberty. and purS
suit of happiness than ever they have
enjoyed before during their recorded
history. Last week / ordered taking
of census of the islands, and two yearA
hence, according to the law OF Con-
gress the first steps will be taken at the
direction of giving the Philippine peo-
pie legislative assembly. No other
oriental country in the possession of an
alien power-indeed. no oriental coun-
try at all. save only Japan-has beea
given any such measure of self govern
ment and personal freedom as We have
already given to the Filipinos.
'One of the most important recent
measures has been the providing OF a
cable for the Philippines, this being
necessary both from commercial and
from military standpoint. 1t is only
just to the representative TO Congress
from Detroit to say that we owe to him
more than to any one man the fact
that this cable is to be laid down upon
terms absolutely satisfactory to the
Government, which guarantee to the peo-
pie of this country that their every
right to and interest in the cable shall
be amply safeguarded. With Cuba the
matter is different. We pledged ou--
selves solemnly at the outbreak of the
war with Spain to give to Cuba inde-
pendence.
Further Duty to. Cuba.
pledge, and even some of our people
scoffed at the thought that we intended
TO keep 1t. But we have kept 1t in
good faith, and with keen regard for
the welfare of the. Cubans. We did not
turn Cuba loose to sink into welter
of anarchy. We first administered the
affairs of the island until order had
been brought out of chaos, until the cit
les had been cleaned, the courts purified,
an educational system started, and a
just and efficient government introduced.
Then we turned the new republic
over to the hands of those whom it's
people had elected as its servants. and
bade il God speed on its journey of in
dependence. But neither our duty to
nor our interest in the island has come
10 an end with the establishment of
its independence. Cuba's immediate
proximity 10 the United States rendered
its well being of such interest to us
that we were forced to interfere in its
interest by force of arms. For the same
reason its future welfare cannot but be
as matter of grave concern 10 u.s. We
do not desire Cuba to stand toward any
other nation in the same relations OF
intimate friendship and alliance that
we desire 10 see it adopt toward us.
Part of Our Politics.
1T must, therefore. be in a certain
sense part of our international politi-
cal system, and 1t accepted this position
when it accepted the Platt' amendment
But it is out of the question for us to
expect that it will assume such a posi-
tion toward US with regard to internA-
tional politics without the same time
sharing somewhat In the benefits of our