Omaha daily bee., 1922-05-05
Cuba and the Philippines
conssass In Elects OF Policy
Pursued BY the United States.
(Prom ,hs Boston Transerip,.)

Cuba Is undoubtedly in q sorry plight Very
largely. as We must believe. through the ineam.
feienee or worse Of lis own government IL is
on the brink OF financial collapse, There Is much
talk OF American intervention either al our own
initiative under the Plat amendment or, not i'm,
probably. Al the request OF Cuba herself. Such
action ought. OF course, 10 be taken II necessary
10 save the island from bankruptcy and chaos,
But u would be almost regfetisble 10 be COM
PEELED 10 take Il. from more than one poin, OF
view. II would doubtless eanse some TO urge
that our reoeeupaiion OF the island be made per-
manent. There are those who have always de.
pored our action in giving Cuba autonomy in
stead OF annesing the island The fact is. how
ever. that we did pledge ourselves not to annex
Cuba and that pledge must Of course be faith
fully kept
II. however. we cannot undo that act OF self.
abnegation. We can avoid performing another
such act in circumstances which afford not a
milonth part OF the reason for doing so that
we had in 1898; indeed. in circumstances which
make Il tantsmount 10 breach OF faith We can.
that is say. refuse 10 let the Philippines fall into
the financial Generalization that now afiets
Cuba. Those islands have already got into q
bad plight We arc told that all public works.
including some OF most vital importance. have
been suspended. and that the school teachers
have been unpaid for months, because Of bad
management OF finances and consequent empti-
ress OF the treasury.
II may be well asked. II under native rule.
aided and abetted by an American governor gen.
eral committed TO the ecu, and run" policy. the
finances OF the islands have been so badly man
aged. what would happen Il we should scp,,le
out and leave the islands 10 absolute inde-
pendencel There is ample reason to expect that
they would speedily fall into a worse plight than
that which is now causing Cuba TO wish that she
were still under United States rule. and that il
would be practically necessary for this country
or some other-to intervene for their salvation
from bankruptcy and chaos.
In such circumstances, what would be the
moral ii not the legal responsibility OF the United
States toward the other nations Of the world!
We must remember that by the Treaty OF Paris
in 1898 we established permanent and perpetual
sovereignty over the Philippines. The treaty
provided for their cesson to US, outright and
complete. There was no hint, as in the case OF
Cuba. OF limited occupancy OF the islands. to
be followed by the bcstowa OF independence
upon them. The treaty unmistakably intimatcd
and those who made the treaty unquestionaby
understood and intended. that our annexation OF
the islands was for all time. The other nations
Of the world so understood it. as they had every
reason to do and many OF their citizens went to
the Philippines and made important investments
there solely on the implicit understanding that
the islands were always to belong to and be con-
trolled by the United States In what light
should we stand before the world il we should
scuttle out. repudate the responsibility for the
islands which we assumed in l89S and bid those
who have been depending upon our endorsement
OF the islands that our endorsement is not worth
the ink with which it is written?
., 1t was one of the most astoundingly culpable
contradictions in our policy that the very ad-
ninistration which gratuitousy, aggressively, and
without due warrant imposed our suzerainty and
indeed our actual ruership over Haiti, Santo
. Domingo. and Nicaragua, should at the very
same moment have striven to withdraw our law
full sovereignty from the Philippines. 1t strove
to establish our sovereignty where we had no
right to it. and to renouncc our sovereignty
where we not only had a right to it but also
where we were under the strongest moral obli-
CATION to maintain it.