Ottumwa semi-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1899-1903, 1903-01-29

came the prosperity which we now en-
joy. All that was foretold concern
ing the well-being which would follow
the election of Mckinley has been
justified by the event.
Faces New Questions.
But as so often happens in our his
tory, the President was forced to face
questions other than those at issue
at the time of his election. Within:
year the situation in Cuba had become
literally intolerable. President Nc
Kinley had fought too well in his
youth, he knew too we'll at first hand
what war really was, lightly to enter
into a struggle. He sought by every
honorable means to preserve peace, to
avert war. He made every effort con-
sistent with the national honor to
bring about an amicaple settlement of
the cuban difficulty Then, when it
became evident that these efforts
were useless, that peace could not be
honorably entertained, he devoted his
strength to make the war as short
and as decisive as possible. 1t is need
less to tell the result in detail. Suffice
it to say that rarely indeed in history
has contest so far-reaching in the
Importance of it's outcome been
achieved with such ease. There fol-
lowed harder task. AS a result of the
war We came into possession of Cuba,
Porto Rico and the Philippines. In
each island the conditions were such
that we had to face problems entirely
new to our national experience, and,
moreover, in each island or group of
islands the problems differed radically
from those presented in the others.
In Porto Rico the task was simple
The island could not be Independent.
1t became in all essentials a part of
the Union. 1t has been given all the
benefits of our economic and financial
system Its inhabitants have been
given the highest individual liberty,
while yet their government has been
kept under the supervision of officials
so well chosen that the island can be
appealed to as affording model for
all such experiments in the future;
and this result was mainly owing to
the admirable choice of instruments
by President Mckinley when he Sc
lected the governing officials.
Kept Pledge.
In Cuba where we were pledged to
give the island independence, the
pledge was kept not merely in letter
but in spirit. 1t would have been
betrayal of our duty to have given
Cuba independence out of hand. Pres
ident Mckinley, with his usual singu-
lar sagacity in the choice of agents,
selected in General Leonard Wood the
man of all others best fit to bring the
island through its uncertain period of
preparation for independence, and the
result of his wisdom was shown when
last May the island became in name
and in fact free republic.for 1t start
ed with a better equipment and under
more favorable conditions than had
ever previously been the case with
any Spanish-American commonwealth.
The Philippine Problem.
Finally, in the Philippines, the
problem was one of great complexity.
There was an insurrectionary party
claiming to represent the people of
the islands and putting forth their
claim with certain speciousness
which deceived no small number of
excellent men here at home, and
which afforded to yet others chance
to arouse a factious party spirit
against the President. OF course,
looking back, it is now easy to see
that it would have been both absurd
and wicked to abandon the Philip
pine Archipelago and let the scores
of different tribes-Christian, Moham-
medan, and pagan, in every stage of
semi-Asiatic barbarism-turn the is
lands into a welter of bloody savag-
cry, with the absolute certainty that
some strong power would have to step
in and take possession. But though
now it is easy enough to see that our
duty was to stay in the islands, to
put down the Instruction by force of
arms, and then to establish freedom
giving civil government, it needed
genuine craftsmanship to see this and
to act accordingly at the time of the
first revolt A weaker and less far
sighted man than President Mckinley
would have shrunk from a task very
difficult in itself, and certain to fur
nish occasion for attack and misrep-
resentation no less than for honest
misunderstanding But President Nc
Kinley never finched. He refused to
consider the thought of abandoning
our duty in our new possessions.
While sedulously endeavoring to act
with the utmost humanity toward the
insurrectionists he never faltered in
the determination to put them down
by force of arms, alike for the sake of
our own interest and honor, and for
the sake of the interest of the island
ers, and particularly of the great
numbers of friendly natives, including
those most highly civilized, for whom
abandonment by us would have meant
ruin and death. Again his policy
was most amply vindicated. Peace
has come to the islands, together with
greater measure of individual iiber-
ty and self-government than they nave
ever before known. All the tasks set
us as a result of the war with Spain
have so far been well and honorably
accomplished, and as a result this ma
ton stands higher than ever before
among the nations of mankind.
President McKinley's second cam
paign was fought mainly on the issue
OF approving what he had done in his
first administration, and specifically
what he had done as regards these
problems springing out OF the war
with Spain. The result was that the
popular verdict in his favor was more
overwhelming than it had been be-
fore.
I, ;e+o