8 'Cbe Conservative.
.19
with the colors iu his hand nt Ohautilly ;
it is a narrative which it will do any
American good to read. It shows a pic
ture of one of our best types of men.
One of our bankers , Colonel Wilson ,
happened iu as I was examining the
books , and stopped to relate some inci
dents of Ohautilly , and of General
Stevens' military funeral , which he
witnessed.
A. T. R.
THE CUBAN CASE.
The politic.il problem of Cuba has
been solved. The government "of inter
vention , which has administered affairs
here for the last three years and a half
with such distinguished fidelity and
success , is on the eve of resigning its
trust. The new government , about to
be installed , brings with it the assur
ance that peace will , continue and that
integrity will characterize its adminis
tration. It will receive at the hands of
the American trustees a simple and
workable system of civil government ,
with revenues ample for immediate re
quirements.
The municipalities of the Island have
been reorganized and made self-depend
ent ; their police protection gives secu
rity ; their educational facilities , al
though new to them , are practical ,
popular and growing , and their sanita
tion is effective , if not yet complete.
Contagious diseases , including the
dreaded yellow fever , have been en
tirely eliminated. Hospitals are ready
to receive the sick and afflicted , and
charitable institutions are provided for
the poor and helpless. For the Island
itself there is the customs revenue ser-
yice , scrupulously administered , and
post offices and post roads have become
general. The entire machinery of a
modern , well-organized state is today in
free and effective operation. The
American administrators , directed by
the tireless energy of the Military Gov
ernor , have done their part well , having
earned the approval of their govern-
rnent , the gratitude of this people , and
the commendation of the civilized
world.
But the primary cause which led to
war , to Cuban independence , and to in
tervention , by the United States is not
removed. Good government has ameli
orated the conditions , but it cannot
change them. The best government
cannot long bo maintained hero , if the
present economic conditions shall con
tinue. There would have been no up
rising in 1894 if Cuba had not been ae-
pendent then , as she is now , upon the
production of sugar ; and economically
her people are no better off today than
they were then. To leave her now , as
it is proposed , without relief , but still
the victim of the world's sugar tariffs
and crushed by the appalling misfort
unes which the last ten years have
heaped upon her , would bo to cast to
the winds every shred of the admirable
fabric of free government which the
Americans have created. American in
tervention cannot stop at this point.
Good sense , business foresight , fair
play and common honesty will all unite
to prevent it. It is not the practice of
the United States to let good work go
backward , to miss opportunities for
business advancement , to ignore her ob
ligations , or to inflict needless suffering
upon any people. And she would be
guilty of all these if she withdrew from
Cuba at this time without securing to
the Island industrial as well as political
freedom.
The United States has wisely exacted
that this "government shall not assume
nor contract any public debt , to pay the
interest upon -which and to make reasonable
enable sinking fund provisions for the
ultimate discharge of which , the ordi
nary revenues of the Island , after de
ducting the current expenses of the
government , shall be inadequate , " but
her tariff laws make it absolutely im
possible for this government to meet the
ordinary expenses of the modest system ,
established by the inter venters , let alone
the obligations that will necessarily
have to be met in carrying out the
further exactions of the American gov
ernment as prescribed by the Platt reso
lutions. This government shall guar
antee by adequate sanitation the free
dom from pestilence of the southern
coast of the United States. Adequate
sanitation does not merely involve the
outlay of millions for the sewering of
every considerable town in the Island ,
but also the constant expenditure of
millions in surface draining , hospital
maintenance , scientific investigations
and protective measures against epe-
demic from the outside.
This government is properly enjoined
to maintain internal peace and to safe
guard the property rights which Span
ish and French , German and English , as
well as American investors have already
secured in the island ; but who can in
sure peace and who can protect property
when the people are in enforced idle
ness and hunger is their portion ? Never
theless it is guaranteed iu the constitu
tion itself , put there at the behest of
the government of intervention , and
this government must fulfill the pledge
at the peril of being swept aside by a
second intervention. Far better that the
present admirable administration should
be continued than that such a contigen-
cy should be allowed to rise.
It is also written in the constitution
that Cuba shall grant the American gov
ernment suitable sites , to be selected by
the latter , for coaling stations , as bases
for naval operations in defense of the
vast interests which that country has
both now and iu contemplation in the
Gulf of Mexico. The new government
cheerfully acquiesces in this imperial
grant , although it is realized- that the
United States will equip and defend
these stations "with munitions of war
far more powerful thaii anything that
this island can hope to acquire. Liter
ally , therefore , for all the purposes of
war , this island and its nascent govern
ment will be part and parcel of the pow
erful republic which rightfully insists
upon dictating the policy of "America
for Americans. " Cuba is grateful for
the strong arm thus thrown about her ;
but she contends , justly and insistently ,
that an' imposed protectorate carries
with itself inevitably the moral obliga
tion to insure to the weaker nation the
means of carrying out her part of the
enforced contract. It is idle to think or
speak of Cuba as a free national entity.
Cuba will no more be allowed to-make a
contract or a treaty with another na
tion , excepting the United States , than
Florida or New York. She will no
more have the right to declare war than
Massachusetts. Cuba is a quasi-mili
tary department of the United States
and her position will never be less re
stricted. To treat her , therefore , as an
alien nation and keep up against her
commerce a tariff wall as high as against
that of. the most dangerous commercial
rival , would be a course on the part of
the United States as singular .as it
would.be reprehensible.
There are but two relations between
nations. One is the relation of warand
the other that-of peaoej which latter in
the twentieth century means commerce.1
Cuba has been taken willingly or un
willingly , into a union for war by the
United States , and now she asks to be
taken into a union for commerce. She
makes this appeal , not in the attitude
of a beggar , but as one who has a pro
quid quo to offer. It is not free trade
that she asks , for the necessities of the
island demand that custom houses shall
remain ; but a reduction in the tariff
rates of the United States upon her pro
ducts , offering iu exchange a similar re
duction or differential iu her duties upon
imports from the Uuitod States. It
means an even exchange. Cuba will
pay dollar for dollar for many yearsand ,
the profits will be mutual. A golden
opportunity for investments , not less
than $50,000,000 annually , will be the
immediate share of the United States ,
while Cuba's portion will be the full de
velopment of her unlimited resources.
The sixty or seventy millions' worth
of necessities which the 1,500,000 people-
of the Island have been buying during
each of the last three years , and which ,
the United States might have supplied
for the asking , are merely the first poor
offerings of a. war-stricken people.
Given reasonable time , some of the
capital which the United States has in
such abundance , and the American cur
rency with which to apply the capital , ,
and Cuba will triple her imports. Cu
ban credit has been strained to the *
limit , the deficit reaching $42,000,000 , or :
a fifth of the total import value , in