Arizona republican., 1904-03-05

l the Philippians Literally "sunburned'O are a brown people of the Semitic
 closely akin to the Arabians. They i are a people of long and distinguished
 descent, too. Their emperor. Menelik, ! claims lineal descent from an earlier
 Menelik, who was the son of Solomon.
 and Makeda, or Balkis. Queen of Sheba. If so, there is no other royal dynasty in the world SO old or so il- lustrious in origin. Whether or not
 that claim is we'll founded, We know
 that Ethiopia was great empire long before the Christian era, and that in i the early centuries of that era its cap ital AXum, was a large and splendid
 city. It held sway over Yemen and
 Sheba, and thus commanded both
 shores of the Red Sea, and was the
 one great bulwark of Christianity
 against Mahometanism in that quarter
 of the globe. Against it the whole
 power of the Mahometan world was di-
 rected and its isolation prevented it
 from getting aid from Europe, so that
 it had to maintain the struggle alone.
 The odds against it were too much,
 and the splendOr Of AXum was de-
 stroyed. But a considerable part of the
 empire never was conquered by Is
 lam. but has remained Christian and independent to this day. triumphant
 alike over Caliph of old and Mahdi or
 later days.
 It is with that interesting remnant
 of a mighty and historic people that this country has now established dip lomatic and commercial relations We have already given in our columns an account of MT Skinner's picturesque
 int mt ViSir inc capital and court of Menelik, and of
 the treaty which he made with that sovereign. MT. Skinner's report to Mir. Loomis, the assistant secretary Of state has been published by the de-
 partment of commerce and labor. and makes what has tersely been called mighty interesting reading" It is no small achievement to establish for the first time such relations with a nation of perhaps ten million people, occu- pying a country of undeveloped but probably rich resources. We shall see at the St. Louis fair, to which Abys- sinia will send an exhibit, something of the products of that country. It is by no means improbable that we shall learn something of practical value from them. and shall find it advan- tageous to develop an import trade from Ethiopia. Still more probable is it that some of our manufactured pro ducts will be found desira ble for use in the empire of the Negus, and that we shall build up considerable Ethlo- plan export trade. Such a trade has indeed already been founded in ad- vance of any commercial treaty or the settlement Of any American commer- cial agent in that land. In the new conditions now established, and with the steadily increasing wants and pur- chasing power of the people, we may look for its rapid and substantial growth.
 Our state department has in this matter done a real service to the na- tion, and has won a victory not in- ferior in practical value to others which have been more showy and have caused more sensation. Its achieve i, ment contrasts strongly. to it's own | advantage, with the action of some other governments which have sought to gain similar ends by political in triguc or by use or menace of militarv | force. It is not always necessary to l gain political ascendency in a country 1, in order to establish advantageous re- lations with it, and it is possible to | open a profitable commerce with a | country without shooting goods into | it from cannot or thrusting them into | 1t upon the points of bayonets. The ! opening of Ethiopia to our trade has ' been effected peacefully, quietly and ! unpretentiously, and because of those | very conditions it is the more worthy | of grateful regard as an achievement | both profitable and honorable to both i the nations concerned in it.