Arizona republican., 1904-02-04

many has large interests in the island, and many Germans live there, having succeeded in making themselves agree able to the islanders in both commer- cial and social relations. There have been intermarriages between the Ger man settlers and the natives. and many of the Dominican young men are grad
 uates of German schools. These con ditionS afford a favorable basis for successful negotiations looking to the ultimate establishment of a German protectorate,- or even annexation to Germany; and certainly some sort of protection and assistance from some outside source have become impera- lively necessary. The circumstances of the, islanders are desperate to the last degree. They have no capital for do- ing business and practically no avail able sources Of revenue. The native currency-all of nickel and worth about twenty cents on the dollar-is abso- lutely valueless off the island. Neither local nor foreign loans are possible, There is an enormous national debt
 not penny. of interest on which has kbeen paid for long time.
 Plainly this is a state of things which must come to some end forth with; and sthere is no apparent prob ability or. fpossibility of self-help. whichever of the three parties of revo- lutionists now ppposing one another on the island may presently establish it. self in a nominal power. The experi- fment of self government has been tried there long enough to prove that pres. ent conditions it's failure is inevitable, Relief must come from outside, and it must come soon. Some foreign gov ernment must step in, either as we did in Cuba, to reorganize the country and start it under proper safeguards and guarantees on new independent career, or to establish there a perma- nent protectorate, or to annex the is- land once for all. Germany would doubtless be ready to undertake th: task if the United States offered no ob- jection. But our position in the mat
 ter has already been taken, so far 9s Germany is concerned, and we surel: could not consent to abandon it now.
 On the other hand we cannot decen.- | ly forbid other nations to take up the work and refuse to undertake it our selves. The march of events in fact Ic circumstances that have not been in our control, are forcing us whether ws | like the duty or not to intervene in
 Santo Domingo as they have forced us to intervene in other parts of tho world where till lately we had not
 supposed that we had any responsibil' | ities whatever. We cannot shrk thi4 | new duty. There will be differences oi opinion as to what form the interven tion should take, but intervention O; some kind is inevitable. Our respon-
 sibility as a world power, as the dom inant, and order-preserving nation oi the western hemisphere and our self interest alike require it. Not only ou. trade with the island, present and DO
 tential, which requires permanen
 safe guarding, and the investments O
 our business men there, which must b.
 protected from both local disorder ana
 foreign injustice-not only these con
 alterations compel us to act but tn geographical position of the island. a
 the center of the west Indian arch
 ipelago, with a harbor in which tn
 fleets of nations might anchor, of vi
 tai strategic importance in relation t'
 the Panama canal and the future com
 merce in the main track of which 1