Evening star., 1902-08-23

| We kept our promise absolutely. After hav-
ing delivered the island from its oppressors.
we refused to turn 1t loose offhand with the
certainty that it would sink into chaos and
| saVagery. For over three years we admin
istered it on a plane higher than it had ever
| reached before during the four centuries
| since the Spaniard first landed upon its
| shores. We brought moral and physical
| cleanliness into the government. We stamp
ed out yellow fever-in itself an inestimable
| service both to the Cuban people and to
| the people OF our own southern states. We
established school system. We made life
| and property secure. so that industry could
J again begin to thrive. Then. when we had
] laid deep and broad the foundations upon
which civil liberty and national indepen-
dence must rest. We turned the island over
| to the hands Of those whom the people had
| chosen as the founders of the new republic
1t is a republic with which our own great
| republic must ever be closely knit by the
ties of common interests and common as
| pirations.
Cuba must always be related to US in
| international politics. She must in inter
national AFFAIRS be to a degree a part OF
our political system. In return. she must
| have peculiar relations with us econom-
| fcally. She must be, in a sense, part of
our economic system. We expect her to
accept a political attitude toward US which
| We think wfsest, both for her and us. In
return we must be prepared to put her in
| An economic position regards our tariff
system which will give her some measure
| of the prosperity which We enjoy. We
| cannot. in my judgment. avoid taking this
attitude II We are to perSevere in the course
which we have outlined for ourselves a
| nation during the past four years; and.
1 therefore. l believe that it is only matter
! of time-and. L trust only a matter of
very short ume-before enter into re-
| ciprocal trade relations with Cuba
The Isthmian Canal Problem.
THE isthmian canal represents what is
ha fn ha he afnCr pins ino
| feat-the greatest feat OF the kind-of the
| twentieth century. Before We start upon
| the construction of the canal certain ques-
| tions of detail and of our relations with
| the people owning the soil will have to be
| settled. When this has been done the first
question will come upon choosing the COM
mission which is to supervise the building
of the canal. Here. again, we have to deal
with an enterprise so vast and so far-reach-
ing in its effects that but one thought is
permissible-how to get the very best men
in the tion, the men OF the highest engl-
neering and business and administrative
skill. who will consent to undertake the
work. II possible, l should like to see those
men represent different sections and differ
ent 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.
Absurd Policy Proposed.
"A less easy but infinitely more absurd
course would have been to leave the islands
ourselves and at the same time to assert
that we would not permit any one else to
interfere with them. This particular
course would have combined all the posi-
bic disadvantages of every other course
which was advocated 1t would have
placed in humiliatng position. because
when the actual test came 1t would have
been quite out of lie question for us, after
some striking deed of savagery had oc-
CURED in the islands. to stand by and pre-
vent the re-entry of civilization into them;
while the mere fact of our having threat
ened thus to guarantee the local tyrants
and wrongdoers against outside interfer-
ences by ourselves or others would have
put a premium upon every species OF
tyranny and anarchy within the islands.
Finally, there was the course which We
adopted-not an easy course. but one
fraught with danger and difficulty, as Is
generally the case in this world when some
great feat is to be accomplished as an incl
dent to working out national destiny. We
made up our minds to stay in the islands,
to put down violence, to establish peace
and order and then to introduce just and
wise civil rule accompanied by a measure
of sef-government which should increase
as rapidly as the islanders showed them
selves fit for it. Well, it certainly a
formidable task; but think of the marvel
ously successful way in which it has been
accomplished.
The first and vitaly important feat was
the establishment of the supremacy of the
American flag, and this had to be done by
the effort of those gallant fellow-AmericanS
of ours to whom so great debt Is due
the officers and enlisted men OF the United
States army. regulars and volunteers alike.
In succession of campaigns, carried on IN
unknown tropic jungles against an elusive
and treacherous foe vastly outnum5erlng
tI.Np a fnrN OF
climate weather and country, our troops
completely broke the power of the insur-
gents, smashed their armies and harried the
broken robber bands into submission. In
its latter stages the war against our rule
sank into mere brigandage: and what our
troops had to do was to hunt down the
parties of ladroneS. 1t was not a task
which was humanely possible to accom-
plish in a month or a year. but month by
month year by year, with unwearied and
patient resolution, our army in the Philip
pines did the task which 1t found ready to
hand until the last vestige of organized in
surrection was stamped out.
Commercial Future of Islands.
THE awakening of the orient means very
much to all the nations of Christendom,
commercially no less than politically, and
it would be short-sighted craftsmanship on
our part to refuse to take the necessary
steps for securing proper share for our
people OF tnlS COINIneTclal lulure- ne pDS-
session of the Philippines has helped us.
as the securing fthe open door in China
has helped us. Already the government has
taken the necessary steps to provide for the
laying of Pacific cable under conditions
which safeguard absolutely the interests of
the American public. Our commerce with
the east is growing rapidly. Events have
abundantly justified, alike from the moral
and material standpoint, all that we have
done in the far east a sequel to our
war with Spain.'
After his address at the Coliseum
the President was the guest of Executive
Secretary John T. Robinson on Asylum ave-
nue.. The President invited Mayor Sullivan
to meet him at Mr.. RobinSon's home. The
mayor is eX-clerk who was elected by
the laboring men, a fact the President was
familiar with, and he expressed desire TO
have a personal chat with Mr.. Sullivan.
President Roosevelt expressed his salts
faction at the substitution of drives for
conventional handshaking. This method of
entertainment seems to have given the peo-
pie the opportunity desired OF seeing him.
1t obviates- the crush that has been so OBJ