Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1913-01-14
FATE or THE WEST lNel
As Viewed From a City of Ne i-4


The ultimate destiny If the "
Indian archipelago, isla maater Of e
teresting speculation. Sine 1893 ~
have moved rapidly Porto II ca M
been annexed by TIE United at n
a virtual proteeterate las been throw
over Cuba by the great republic vhi
the finances OF sSahto DAminso have
come to be administered by the sam
power Porto Rico. for the last =
years. has been growing more and
more prosperous and has been. taken in
within the tariff walls of the United
States. So advantageous to Porte
Rico has been this inclusion that il is
commonly said in the West Indies that
two hours work in that fortunate is
land produces as much as long days
work in the smaller islands. And yet
the Porto Ricans are not happy. They
have a grievance. none the less real
for being a sentimental one, that is,
that they are not full fiedged American
citizens. The supreme court of the
United States has decided that the
Porto Rieans are entitled to American
passports when they travel, and to
the fullest protection OF the govern
ment. Citizenship viii come in time.
no doubt, but it is to be acknowledged
that the present position of the Porto
Ricans in an anomalous one.
Cuba is prospecting. but the politic-
ians of that island have also a griev-
ance, and that is the Platt amendment
which gives the government at Wash
ington q certain control over their
finances. They may not squander their
revenues nor make ruinous loans
abroad. This fact greatly irritates the
Cuban politicians, but is not displeas-
ing to the creditors of Cuba.
Hayti is in a parlous way Its in
haibtants have reverted to the darkest
African savagery, and coodoism pre-
walls in the interior and taints the
mind of the jewellers on the coast. 1t
may be said that wherever the blacks
preponderate in the West Indian is
lands there is a marked tendency to
revert to barbarism. And in most of
the Islands the blacks do preponderate.
Right here may be forecast a politico-
social problem for the near future.
The European owners of the French,
Dutch and Danish islands, from ST.
Thomas to Curacao; are shamefully
negligent of their duties and response
bilities to the ISLANDERS; IT is a case
of wilful abandonment, and the clock
of civilization runs backward.
The British islands are in some
what better position although they
have suffered economically from the de-
cline of the cane sugar industry. In
Jamaica a successful effort has been
made to replace the lost trade BY the
growing and exportation of tropical
fruits to England and Canada. Some
British politicians would like to have
Jamaica give tariff preference 10 the
wares Of the mother country, but this
would lead to retaliation on the part
of the United States. which would
practically ruin the island, This fact
is perceived by all intelligent Jannai-
cans There is some quiet talk. among
them of annexation to the great re-
public which is drawing them toward
her with an almost IRE sistible force,
The manifest destiny OF tse West ln-
dies is absorption by the powerful na-
ton mentioned; it may Genre in hAlt .
century although 1t may not take
place for hundred years. Mexican
Herald.