The Washington herald., 1916-06-24

The attention OF the country was for
the time being drawn from the tarln
to other things. There had come cay
the day to which Mr.. Cleveland had look
ed forward and of whose approach he
had warned the government Of spain
when the patience OF the country with
regard to the situation in Cuba was e&-
hausted.
Much as the pItiful process Of sub
jugation still dragged, moving as was
the spectacle of a fair country devastated
to bring, not healing peace. but mere
submission, opinion might for little
while longer have been held on from
dangerous heat in the matter had not
a sudden, startling incident. tTssfcl ana
full of every element calculated TO sur
passion, sent a final thrill Of excitement
through the country.
On the evening Of the 18th OF February.
1898 Saint Valentines Day, the United
States battleship Maine. lying in Havana
harbor upon a visit Of courtesy, was
blown to pieces. and two Of her ofhcers'
two hundred and fifty-eight OF her crew.
killed upon the instant
The most careful investigation failed
to disclose the origin OF the explosion
but an examination of the twisted wreck
made Il plain that II had come from
no accident within the ship itself. me
explosives which had destroyed her had
lain beneath her at the bottom Of the
harbor where she had her anchorage.
Within two months Spain and the
United States were at war-not because
a vessel Of the American navy had been
destroyed in a port Of Spain, but because
opinion leaped upon the provocation OF
that tragic incident from quiet inquiry
TO hot impatience with regard to all the
ugly Cuban business. There was no evil
dence whatever that any one connected
with the exercise of Spanish authority
in Cuba had had so much as guilty
knowledge Of the plans made TO destroy
the Maine: but that unhappy explosion
had changed the whole air Of opinion the
country through.
There was no calculating the forces OF
excitement tina. were abroad; there wss
no determining their origin or their real
power. No doubt influences were at work
which did not walt upon opinion, which
made opinion their covert merely and
means of justification. Sensational news
papers exaggerated every phase Of the
disturbing incidents Of the time, to make
news and increase their sales; men who
saw personal gain in store for then
amidst the risks Of war bestirred them.
selves to make interest against Spain in
the houses at Washington; politician rs
were quick 10 say and do what they
hoped would enhance their credit and
the influence OF their party with the
country; personal ambitions were not
neglected in the eagerness OF Congress
to make some stroke in behalf Of Cuba
and for the ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF the power
Of the United States in the West Indies
Mr.. Mckinley had no such mastery az
could hold the impulses OF members IN
check He had spent fourteen years or
the floor Of the House Of Representatives
His point Of view with regard TO the ex.
erCise OF his constitutional powers wa.
not that which Mr. Cleveland had ex
emplihed. He did not act as an inde.
pendent, originative force in the deter.
mination Of policy, but rather as a power
intimately associated with the law-mak.
ing branch of the government. He was
not only sensitive to opinion out-of- doors