The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1902-09-23
President Roosevelt Talks Of
the War With Spain.
Task Which Was Left by 1t Is q
Hard One.
RELATIONS WITH CUBA
Reciprocity Will Do No Harm to
Any American Interest
And Will Be a Benefit to the
Entire People.

'"
came to an end with a banquet ten
dered him in light guard armory BY the
Spanish war veterans. the opening of
whose third annual reunion he attend
ed. 1t was a brilliant event. Nearly
500 men sat at the tables on the floor
of the big armory, and the galleries
were crowded to their utmost capacity
by brilliantly gowned women and their
escorts. The armory was decorated in
green and white maple branches and
electric lights We're everywhere.
When the president rose to begin his
address, which was the first of the
evening, he received an ovation. The
men on the floor stood up and cheered
again and again, while the clapping of
hands from the gallery was like the
crackle of musketry. The president
after speaking of Michigan's important
part in the Spanish-American war,
said:
The war itself was an easy one. The
tasks left behind U.S.. though glorious,
have been hard. You, the men of the
Spanish war, you and your comrades in
Rico and in the Philippines, won re-
nown for the country. added 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 little can be said about it. In
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
the islanders have now greater oppor-
tunities for life. liberty and the pursuit
of happiness than ever they have en-
joycd before during their recorded his
tory. Last week 1 ordered a taking of
the census of the islands, and two years
n ~
gress, the first steps will be taken in
the direction of giving the Philippine
people a legislative assembly. No other
Oriental country in the possession of an
alien pOwer-indeed, no other Oriental
country, save Japan-has been given
any such measure of self-government
and personal freedom as we have al
ready given to the Filipinos.
"One of the most important recent
measures has been the providing of
cable for the Philippines, this being
necessary both from a commercial and
from a military standpoint.
With Cuba the matter is different.
We pledged ourselves solemnly at the
outbreak of the war with Spain to give
to Cuba independence The world at
large sneered at the pledge and even
some of our own people scOffed at the
thought that we Intended to keep it.
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 a Wolter OF anarchy. we
first administered the affairs of the is
land until order had been brought out
of chaos, until the cities had been clean
ed, the courts purified, an educational
system started and a just and efficient
government introduced. Then we turn
ed the new republic over to the hands
Of those whom its people had elected as
its servants and babe 1T God speed in
its journey of independence. But neither
our duty to. nor our interest in the is
Establishment of it's independence. Cuba'S
immediate proximity to the United
States renders it's we'll being of such in
terest to US that we were forced to in
terfere in its interest by force of arms.
For the same reason its future welfare
can not be but a matter of grave con-
Germ to us. We do not desire Cuba to
stand toward any other nation in the
same relations of intimate friendship
and alliance that we desire to see it
adopt toward us. 1t must therefore be
in certain sense part of our political
system and it accepted this position
when it accepted the Platt amendment.
But it is out of the question for US to
expect that 1T will assume such a posi-
ton toward us with regard to interna>
tional politics without at the same time
sharing somewhat in the benefits of our
economic system. 1t was for this reason
that President Mckinley urged and that
l have since urged and shall continue to
urge the need of establishing closer re-
latlOnS WITH CuDd Dy reciprocity. we
urge reciprocity because it is for our in
terests to control the Cuban market,
because we are bound to place the Gu
bans on peculiar standing econom-
ically when they consent in our in
terests as well as their own to assume q
peculiar status internationally and be-
cause it is fitting for a great and gen.
erOus republic to stretch out a helping
hand toward her feebler sister just
starting to tread the path of indepen-
nd
there can be no other like it.
Porto Rico, Hawaii and the Philip
pines have relations ofvarying intimacy
to us; and they have either been adj
rnitted within our economic system OF
have been given some of the benefits
thereof Cuba though independent also
stands in peculiar position toward us
and should receive in similar fashion a
clusion within our system. The ques.
lions that ordinarily concern us as OF
prime weight in a tarifr matter, do not
come in here as of primary Importance
We can not choose what the articles are
which Cuba shall export. Doubles:
very many of US would prefer, for rea-
sons connected with our own tariff
policy that her Inhabitants were en-.
gagged in different Industries from those
which they. as matter of fact, nov
follow; Just as doubtless others of on,
people would prefer that the market of
fered to Cuba was one for other thing!
tnan those winch Sne actually demands
But we can neither determine the want!
nor the productions of Cuba. We mus
accept them as they are and we mus
remember that In dealing with the is
land especially now that we are abou
to build the fsthmian canal and our In
terests in the West Indian waters hav'
become so great, we must shape oul
policy with far sighted regard for tn,
future and for the interest and honor O
the nation as a whole. do not believ,
a n
American interest from the adoption o
with Cuba. am certain that the adop
interest of our people as a whole. Abov,
all. while fully acknowledging the higl
mindedness and moral sincerity Of thos,
of my associates with whom on thi
point I differ, yet feel most strongl,
that by every consideration of q gen
erous and far sighted public policy w
are bound to prove to Cuba on
friendship with her in her struggle TO
the material well being which must un
derlie healthy national development.
You men OF Michigan have becl
mighty in war and mighty in peace
You belong to q country mighty in wa
and mighty in peace, q country of
great past whose great present is blu
an earnest of an even greater future
The world has never enjoyed more mar
velous prosperity than that which w
now enjoy and this prosperity is no
ephemeral. We shall have our ups an,
downs. The wave at times will recede