New-York tribune., 1906-09-27

results Of permanent occupation. They are
neither hard hearted immoral in their for
eign policy and their treatment OF dependent
colonies and states. Yet after their protrac'eo
experience In carrying the white mans burden
they cannot be censured If they take a practicaI
rather than a sentimental view. both OF their
own work in the world and of the experiments
of other nations in promoting the ends OF civil
ization. The prevailing English theory is
that a strong nation ought not TO invade
weaker country unless it be prepared to remain
there and 20 justify intervention by good work
That is a sound principle for a workaday world
The moral force of that contention remains
when the truth is admitted that the British En-
pire has been founded on enlightened self-in-
terest
There is no unfriendliness IN English COM
ments on American policy in the West indies.
The Spanish marriage has not affected public
Judgment, nor is there disposition to rejoice
the perplexities and embarrassments Of
the Washington government. The conclusion
reached by the best informed writers is that
the island cannot be trusted with the direction
OF its destinies. and that sooner later
the Americans will have 10 return and do their
work over again. with Increased difficulties and
unnecessary waste OF blood. The Morning
Post" for example, after pointing out that the
island is admirably fitted for guerilla tactics
and that annexation will be an undertaking
costly and troublesome in the extreme, adds
this tudicous comment:
So long as the Cubans dislike American in
tervention so much as to give up civil war
rather than endure it, the American Republic
will be able TO secure peace IN Cuba by Sx-
pedients no more costly than official speeches
and the dispatch of ministers missions Of
personal observation and conferences. All this
is very satisfactory so far as 1t goes. Does II
go far enough-or, rather, will IL last? Will
the Cubans always dislike the United States
more than one another? VIII the United States
always be able to look TO this dislike to save
them from the dilemma of either governing
Cuba themselves or leaving Cuba without ef-
whether the United States will long find them
selves in this fortunate position, whether they
will not. soOner or later, be forced to take up
an independent state the island was handi-
capped from the start, politically and economi-
cally by racial divisions, by social demoraliza-
tion by generations Of weak government and
by years of civil war. 1t may we'll be ques-
toned whether that initial disadvantage can
ever be made up from the internal resources
Of Cuba herself, whether II does not demand as
inevitable the expenditure of money and lives
and vigor drawn from the abundant resources
of the neighboring nation.
This is another way of saying that Spanish
misgovernment involved one sacrifice of Amer-
can blood and treasure, and that American op-
timisn, which miscalculated the capacity Of the
Cubans for self-goVernment' Will De respohsloie
ultimately for another sacrifice even more Sc
rious. The English method OF securing orderly
government in the island would have been per-
manent military occupation from the outset.
and the government OF the country either as
a territory or as a colonial dependency, with
foreign relations and financial administration
controlled absolutely from Washington. 1t
would have run counter 20 the unnecessary
pledges adopted the eve of the war with
Spain, and it would not have fitted in with the
Pan-American gospel Of goodwill proclaimed by
Secretary Root in South America It would
have been. however, a practical method Of
doing the work which the Spaniards neglected
in Cuba until they brought about their own ex-
pulsion. and 1t would have forestaled an an
nexatfon movement which will inevitably meet
with as strenuous opposition in the island as in
America !. n. r.