Perth Amboy evening news., 1920-06-07
Fiue Minutes A Day
With Our Presidents
A Strange Fortune.
BY JAMES MORGAN.

of mice and men. Mckinley en-
tered the race for the Presidency
on the tariff issue. was elected on the
money issue . . > and the greatest
problems that confronted him in the
White House were the fate of a chain
of islands off the o of Asia and
the destiny of China!
Spain had been engaged for two
years in a desolating struggle to hold
In subsection the revolving island or
Cuba, and two happenings pushed
Mckinley into the conflict in spite of
himself. In a private letter. the Span
ish Minister at Washington scoffed at
the President as a "politicastro-in
| plain American, "a peanut politician
land plainly intimated that the fair
promises which the Spaniards we're
giving him were only a trick 10 TOOL
the Administration and the American
! people. Within a week of that ex-
posure the battleship Maine was blown
/ up in Havana harbor, with the loss or
266 American lives.
After withstanding for nearly two
months h popular outcry or re
/ member the Maine" the President
yielded and war was declared. In ten
days Dewey q smashed the enemy
squadron in Manila Bay; In ten weeks
another squadron was SUM or cap
tured off Santiago; in the three
months and a half, poor old spain
threw up the sponge.
Our Navy proved 1t self efficient and
quickly destroyed what small resist
ance the unmatched foe could nope
to offer Our little Army of 275.OO0
men proved to be it's W worst enemy
losing only 345 killed in action or
dying of wounds, but sacrificing 1856
lives to disease-pitiful victims. for
the most part, of ~unsantary m
here at home.
The small expeditionary force In
Cuba easily whipped the armed foe In
front of 1t. but was nearly compelled
to retreat by invisible foes in It's rear;
plaques and hunger. Unframed ana
incompetent line and STAFF officers@
politicians and sons of somebody
were largely responsible for the
breakdown of camp hygiene, the
medical service and h service or
supply.
1t took twice as long to make peace
as to make war. The philippines
caused all the trouble. AS we had not
captured the Islands in the war many
believed that we should let them alone
But Mckinley decided to demand
from Spain the surrender Of the
Philippines.
The members of the Cabinet were
divided, Judge Day, the Secretary OF
State. who became the head OF our
peace commission, favoring the an
| nexatlon of nothing more than a ma
val base. At the end of a long dis
| cussion the Secretary asked why his
motion was not put to a vote. Il was
| afraid 1t would be carried" the Pres
ident replied with a smile.
Mckinley's curse was Influenced
by a fresh outbreak of rivalry among
the European Powers for ports and
| islands and spheres of influence. par
l 4 -, IL ~ tho Ear EJl at and me
| President was ambitious to open for
the country a new era in Its relation
| to the world. The currents of des-
| tiny are flowing through the hearts OF
the American people" he confidently
announced as he felt the public pulse
on a Western tour.
A cry of imperialism was raised
against this plunge into Asia. The
neutrality-suspicious." included some dis
~tinguished Republicans and virtually
all the Democrats, and the treaty or
peace was ratified at last with only
one vote to spare in h Senate
Without waiting for ratification. the
President dispatched a military expe-
dition to take over the Philippines,
proclaiming to the revolving F1lipinos
the policy of benevolent assimila-
tor" The resulting wah dragged its
unpleasant length for two years be-
fore the inhabitants unWillingly
bowed to their new master.
Not yet feeling the economic urge
tina drove Europe into the race for
exploiting far-off lands. Americans
have continued to be Indifferent TO
| commercial opportunities in the Phil
ippines, and the archipelago remains
a liability rather than an asset on the
| National ledger. Having all that we
can do at home, In the development of
resources infinitely richer than those
of any foreign field, there has been a
tendency to leave h islands smore
! and more to the Filipinos on some
what the same terms that we left
| Cuba to the Cubans.
1t was the strange fortune of a
President whose entire public life had
been given exclusively to domestic
questions to plant the flag in the dis
tant Philippines and to send 1t to the
pink walls Of the Forbidden City of
| China. In the march on Pekin for the
| rescue of the foreign legation from
the siege of the Boxers or Chinese
revolutionists, the United States join
| ed other Powers for the first time in a
military expedition. 1t is to the credit
of the Mckinley Administration that
it did what 1t could to curb the capac-
ity Of the Japanese. German and Rus
! sian Governments and soldiery, which
brought infamy upon a campaign that
7 WAS uliotitahth III IN $3.50
humanity. What / want" the Presi-
| dent said. in explaining his position,
SIS the friendship of China when the
trouble Is over"
Under the high craftsmanship of
| John Hay, the Secretary of State. the
United States had already before the
Boxer rebellion. laid a restraining hand
upon the Nations hat were looting
Chinese territory and had drawn from
them pledges to keep an open door"
to trade in the ports they were seiz-
ing at the point Of the gun. The
open door mas remained ever since
the chart OF our course in the East.
II we will only continue 10 follow 1t
and should succeed in inducing others
Ito follow it a while longer until the
| giant of the Orient awakens from his
long slumber and shakes on his for
eign ~despoflers an em~ancipafed China
will be the imposing monument OF
| Wuliam Mckiplsy's Presldencfs