US History/US History (Bureau Development Inc.)(1991).ISO/dp/0022/00229.txt

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$Unique_ID{USH00229}
$Pretitle{15}
$Title{Our Country:  Volume 7
Chapter CL}
$Subtitle{}
$Author{Lossing, Benson J., LL.D.}
$Affiliation{}
$Subject{islands
states
united
nation
government
state
american
exports
period
president}
$Volume{Vol. 7}
$Date{1905}
$Log{}
Book:        Our Country:  Volume 7
Author:      Lossing, Benson J., LL.D.
Volume:      Vol. 7
Date:        1905

Chapter CL

The Roosevelt Regime:  I - New Historical Era begun with War with Spain -
Sound Statesmanship and Vigorous Administration of President Roosevelt - The
London "Spectator" on his gifts and characteristics as a Typical Whig -
Colonial Expansion of the Nation - Ameliorating effects of American
Interference in Cuba - Autonomy in the Island Republic and withdrawal of the
United States - Our Insular Possessions in Porto Rico, Hawaii, Guam, and the
Philippines - Education in the Latter - Commercial Gains in our Dependencies
qualify incipient dread of Imperialism - Change of Masters and its effects,
near and prospective, in our, New Possessions.

     THE new historical epoch which the previous chapter relates as having
dawned upon the Nation is one of obvious and notable distinction.  It dates
from the period of our War with Spain, in 1898, and the eventful incidents
which marked that conflict with the effete Old World Power whose dominance,
before the regime of political janizaries brought it to impotence, was once
great in the New World.  We have since travelled a long way from that fateful
period, and a still longer way from the era when these United, States were
first proclaimed a confederation or league, consecrated to liberty and devoted
to the cause of human advancement and rational freedom.  Coincident with the
War with Spain, and a result of its triumphs by the military and naval forces
of the Nation, has come the extra-continental expansion of the Republic and
its assumption of dominion, imperial almost in its sway, in tile neighboring
West Indies and the Far East.  That our new departure as a Nation, which began
with our righteous, interposition in Cuba, to save its people and a blighted
colony from wanton misrule, tyrannous oppression, and a hated
race-aggrandizement, and give them and it the advantages of independence and
freedom from the plundering civil and military officials of an inept and
atrophied Old World kingdom, has been without its drawbacks and a certain
misgiving as to its far-reaching results, we do not say; but it would seem to
have been providentially designed in the interest of advancing civilization,
and as such welcome to numberless devout as well as humane hearts in the
Nation, and at the same time gratifying to the patriotic ardor and high
national instincts of the far-seeing, progressive portions of our people.

     In taking this onward, progressive trend, the United States has had, at
this momentous period of its career, the great advantage of having at the head
of its administration a man of uncommon, indeed of rare, mould one who, while
forceful and energetic, is at once sound and sane in all he says and does, and
whose principles are those of a just yet fearless, righteous and God-fearing
man.  In succeeding to the Presidency on the lamentable death of William
McKinley, President Roosevelt assumed his high administrative office at an
eventful moment, the War with Spain, in which he took part, being over, and
the Nation needing guidance in the peaceful settlement and political and
social reorganization of its newly acquired, oversea possessions.  What he
has accomplished, aided by his Cabinet officers and the heads of the
administrative departments in this delicate, crucial work is well known. Under
his sane rule and virile, inspiring force, he has striven admirably to guide
the ship of State in approved, unsensational directions, and in the foreign
affairs of the Government has sought to hold high the head and front of the
Nation.  At the head of the national Executive, "he represents," as the London
Spectator has recently remarked, "the sanest and most honorable traditions of
American public life, instilling into every branch of Government that high
sense of public duty with which he is himself inspired." "Under his guidance,"
the able, critical journal we have quoted continues, "he neither fears the mob
nor the plutocrat at home; nor does he allow the greatness of the United
States abroad to dwindle or grow dim from `craven fears of being great.' " As
a typical Whig (using the term in its best and most worthy historical sense),
the Spectator speaks of President Roosevelt "as a man who makes reason and
moderation his guide in public affairs, and who at the same time is inspired
by a lively faith in the principal of liberty and justice - who believes that
in the last resource a man is his own star, and that it is the business of
the State rather to preserve liberty of action for the individual than to
attempt to play the part of a fostering Providence."  The true Whig - the
journal goes on to say - "hates the extremes of socialism and tyranny equally,
and desires a sane man in a sane State rather than any impossible ideal of
material equality.  The Whig insists that no career in the State shall closed
to individual exertion, but does not wish to see a jealous or interfering
Government.  He can tolerate the rich man as well as the poor, provided that
tile rich man makes no oppressive use of his wealth, and owes nothing to the
favoritism of the law or the Executive.  This is the kind of Whig the Whig set
forth in the writings of such men as Macaulay and Sydney Smith which we
believe the President to be.  This standard of reason and justice, moderation
and common-sense, we expect to see President Roosevelt apply to the internal
affairs of the United States as far as the Constitution will permit him.  That
he has now every right to apply it (with our experience of his first period in
office) who can deny?"

     "The people of the Union knew from the experience of three years what,
kind of man he was, and what were his views; and he may fairly take his return
to power by so enormous a majority as a mandate from the people to carry into
action the policy which he has placed before them since he went to the White
House.  In home affairs we expect to see his influence used to prevent the
vast accumulations of capital which are so marked a feature of modern American
life being used oppressively or unjustly.  The President will prove no enemy
to capital where it has been fairly earned and justly maintained.  He will,
however, oblige it to respect the law, and where it is used either to defy the
law or to oppress the individual, he will take means to regulate it.  But his
determination that the millionaires and the undertakings which they control
shall not form an imperium in imperio - a privileged State within the State -
will not prevent him from insisting also that Labor has its duties as well as
its rights, and that no excuse can be allowed for any dereliction in respect
to such duties.  The State which gives Labor, considered apart from the rest
of the community, a privileged position is as much to be condemned as the
State where the rich man, because he is a rich man, is allowed to override the
law."

     Besides this deserved compliment to the President of Our Country and his
high administrative gifts, the Spectator thoughtfully comments on other topics
of national and international interest, and expresses its conviction that the
United States, under Mr. Roosevelt's regime, will see the Panama Canal
constructed; popular government in the Philippines continued in the true
interests of their inhabitants; the navy strengthened; and tile Monroe
Doctrine modestly yet stoutly maintained, in the letter and spirit, as our
American people desire, though without any undue assertion on dangerous
grounds that might lead to unwise foreign entanglements.  It also expresses
confidence in President Roosevelt's known wish and desire to deal justly with
the negro question and that he will place the race, socially as well as
politically, in no equivocal or inhumane position.  The article concludes with
an eulogium on the high personal character and sound common sense of President
Roosevelt -" two qualities which are combined in every ruler whose schemes and
policies come to fruition" - and affirms its belief "that his administration
will leave indelible traces on the larger half of the English-speaking race,
and that for the whole of that race it will be a lesson and an example in
sound and sane government."

     The significance of events following upon the War with Spain has not been
sufficiently appreciated.  The effect upon Spain herself, whose colonial
possessions, chiefly in Africa, are now reduced to an area of 80,500 square
miles, we need not stop to consider.  To that nation, the loss of her old-
time colonies in the New World and in the Pacific, humiliating as it has been
to her ruler and people, may be a blessing in disguise, since it deprives her
greedy officials of opportunities for indulging in wanton prodigality and
oppression, while it relieves the kingdom of heavy expenditure in maintaining
dependencies which it has been shown she has no aptitude for properly
governing, either in those she was compelled to relinquish to this country, or
in the islands in the Pacific she parted with, by treaty in 1899, to Germany.
In her internal affairs, under her young King (Alfonso XIII.) she has enough
profitably to occupy her, especially in the way of national reorganization,
and hampered as the country is with a partially demoralized government, a
jealous and obstructing opposition, a heavy debt and a draining taxation, and
with parts of the Kingdom (Catalonia and the Basque Provinces, especially)
affected by a chronic disposition to revolt.  Her recuperative powers, if they
are fortunate enough to have fair play, are however great, for her soil is
very productive, her grain, sugar, orange, and wine trade is large, her cotton
manufactures are prosperous, while parts of the Peninsula are rich in
minerals.  Liberalism, for a time, gave promise in Spain of accomplishing much
in the way of reform, especially during the life-time of the gracious and
humane as well as disinterested and patriotic queen-mother, Maria Christina;
but the absolutism with which it had to contend, together with political
incapacity and indifference and bureaucratic hostility to liberty and
self-government, have choked its growth and retarded the efforts it might have
made, in spite of the anarchy that prevailed within and without the Kingdom,
in effecting reforms and modernizing the Government and the nation.

     In Cuba, the ameliorating effects of American interference and invasion -
after a long period of tolerance and forbearance - has been wholly good, and
changed the dire aspect of affairs which prevailed when We were forced to
interpose to quell disaffection and put an end to the brutal regime of General
Weyler.  Since our relinquishment of and withdrawal from the island and its
assumption of the position of an independent State, under President Estrada
Palma, Cuba has made much progress socially, politically, and economically.
In the latter point of view, We may state, - that her exports have grown from
a total of under 50 million dollars in value in 1899 to a total of 78 1/2
millions in 1905.  The staple products of the island, which form the bulk of
her exports, are sugar, tobacco, fruits, molasses, and rum, together With
mahogany and other forest growths.  The sugar exports, which are largely to
Great Britain, have doubled in value since 1901; while the exports of tobacco,
both of cigars and leaf tobacco, have also grown, as has the iron-ore shipped
to the United States, aggregating 50,000 tons a month.  The trade relations
with this country are, naturally, close as well as profitable to both
countries, as are those with our other marine possessions once held by Spain -
Porto Rico, Hawaii, and the Philippines:  The bulk and reciprocal character of
this trade, which since our occupancy of these island domain has been a
steadily expanding one, may be seen from the following figures.  In the case
of Cuba, now an independent State, our exports from the island have grown in
value from 53 3/4 million dollars in 1890 to 77 million dollars in 1904, while
our imports to it, during the same period, have expanded from 13 to 27 million
dollars in value. Equally remarkable have been the growth of trade and the
interchange of commodities, within a like period, in the case of both Porto
Rico and Hawaii - our exports to Porto Rico having increased from 2 to nearly
11 million dollars in fourteen years (seven of which it has been in our
occupancy), and our imports to it have increased from 4 to 11 1/2 millions;
while our exports to Hawaii have grown from 4 3/4 to 11 3/4 million dollars,
and our imports from the island have grown from 12 to 25 millions!

     The progress of the Hawaiian (or Sandwich) Islands, since their
annexation in 1898 as a Territory of the United States, has been very
striking.  By the Census taken in 1900 the islands had a total population of
154,001, an increase in four years, chiefly of Americans, Japanese, and
Chinese, of almost 45,000.  The population of Honolulu, the capital, on the
Island of Oahu, was 39,305, made up, in the way of creeds, of Protestants.
Roman Catholics, and Buddhists, with a sprinkling of Mormons.  Here, and
throughout most of the islands, schools have been established.  English being
the chief language taught; while elementary education has been made free. Six
lines of steamers connect the islands with the United States and Canada,
Australia, China, and Japan; and besides various lines of tramway in the towns
there are 130 miles of railway throughout the different islands, while all are
connected by wireless telegraphy.  Honolulu, moreover, is lighted by
electricity, and is traversed by electric cars and rapidly extending lines of
tramway.  The islands, which are characteristically mountainous and volcanic,
are exceedingly fertile, sugar and rice being extensively raised, besides the
coffee bean, and the banana fruit.  In 1903, the year's output of sugar
exceeded 387,000 tons.

     In Porto Rico, which became a possession of the United States in
December, 1898, and was given representative government in 1901, the area is
3,606 square miles, and the population in 1899 was 953,243.  The chief towns
are San Juan, Ponce, and Mayaguez.  In them an efficient school system was
organized in 1899, the teachers being mainly from the United States.  Besides
elementary schools, the island has been given some degree of higher education,
including the work of normal schools and an agricultural college. The products
of the island embrace besides coffee (the chief export), sugar, tobacco, and
fruit, including bananas, oranges, and pineapples.  Mining is as yet in its
infancy, though there is a large industry in the salt works, whose annual
yield is 10 million pounds of salt.  Porto Rico has an adequate railway
service, 140 miles in extent, with 470 miles of telegraph lines.

     Of the other insular possessions of the United States the most important
of those ceded, in December, 1898, by Spain, following the effectual
demolition of the Spanish fleet in Manila Bay by Admiral Dewey, and the
suppression of Filipino insurgency under Aguinaldo, is the extensive
Philippine group in the Southern Pacific.  The area of the group, including
the Sulu Islands, together with the two main islands, Luzon and Mindanao, is
about 127,853 square miles, with a population, estimated in 1903, of
7,635,426, of whom 647,740 are said to be uncivilized.  The capital of the
archipelago is Manila, now constituted as a province, with 219,928
inhabitants, chiefly of the Malayan race, including (in the islands as a
whole) about 25,000 Americans and Europeans, 100,000 Chinese, and some Negrito
tribes.  The Philippines have a fine, though tropical, climate, while the soil
is very fertile, but lacks labor for its proper cultivation.  The chief
article of commerce is hemp, of which $21,800,000 worth was exported in 1904;
the other principal exports are sugar, tobacco, oil-nuts, and copra. In 1902
Congress passed an Act giving the Philippine people civil government,
following upon the cessation of disturbances in the islands and the
termination of military rule.  In that year, Wm. H. Taft was appointed
Governor, and, in December, 1903, he was succeeded by Luke E. Wright.  The
Central Government is composed, besides the Governor, chief of the Executive,
of seven Commissioners (four Americans and three Filipinos), who constitute
the legislative body.  There are four Executive departments, those of the
Interior, Commerce and Police, - Finance and Justice, and Public Instruction,
of which the American Commissioners are secretaries.  The islands are
subdivided into forty provinces, each having a local governor and other
functionaries; while local municipal government has been instituted in over
900 towns.  There has also been established a Philippines Constabulary and
Municipal Police for the maintenance of public order.  For the administration
of justice there is a Supreme Court with seven judges, sixteen judicial
districts, each with a court of first instance, a court of land registration
with two judges, and a court of customs appeals with two judges.

     Education is another of the advantages given to Filipinos by the United
States on becoming Masters of this and other insular areas in the Pacific.
English is taught in all the public schools of the islands, of which there are
about 3,000 with 227,000 enrolled pupils (in March, 1904), besides night
schools for adults, with 25,000 in attendance.  The educational machinery is
under the direction of the Secretary of Public Instruction, under whom,
besides a general superintendent, there is a teaching staff of American
teachers for all grades, Filipino teachers on Government pay, and Filipino
instructors paid by the municipalities.  The cost of maintaining this teaching
staff, Americans and natives, is in the neighborhood of $1,720,000 per annum.
A school for training teachers is also part of the educational equipment.
while industrial and trade schools have recently been established. At Manila,
there is, moreover, the St. Thomas University, with several faculties.
including one of Medicine.

     Philippine commerce has not been slow to feel the impulse given to it by
American ownership and occupancy, as the following statistics show.  In 1900,
the total exports of the islands amounted to $27,990,000 whereas, in 1904,
they had increased to $37,033,185; while, in the same period, the imports had
risen from $24,864,000 to $34,327,481.  Within the past four years the
exports to the United States alone, from the archipelago, have more than
doubled in value, the figures in 1900 being $5,971,208, while in 1904 they
were $12,066,934.  The imports of the Philippines from the United States, for
the same period, indicate a proportionate advance - the figures, in 1900,
being $2,640,449, against a value of $4,831,860 in 1904.  Gratifying as are
these statistics representing the trade expansion of the Philippine Islands
within the brief period of American possession of them, there are indications
that the economic situation will be vastly improved in the next few years.
The justification for this surmise arises from the known wealth of the
Islands, not only in valuable forest timber, gum, and dye woods, but in
lignite coal of the best grade, iron ore, and other minerals, which, like
agriculture, are hardly as yet developed.  It is also justified by what is
reported of the efforts being made by the local bureaus, agricultural and
forestry, in establishing experimental farms and distributing for general
cultivation improved quantities of plants, seeds, roots, etc.; while giving
instruction in combating destructive insects, in raising the grade of live
stock, and in suggesting more scientific methods of curing tobacco and
producing a better quality of hemp.  Forest rangers have also been appointed
to protect and care for the valuable timber and dye woods, and to encourage
the re-planting of the more important native trees.  Prospectors have also
been sent out to examine and report upon the mineral lands over a wide area,
and to test the qualities of the ores.

     The value to the United States of the islands of Guam and Tutuila is
chiefly as naval and coaling stations for our war-vessels and commercial
marine in the waters of the Pacific.  Both have exceptionally fine.
roadsteads; while the islands, lying as they do in the path of vessels making
for Manila, in the Philippines, or for Auckland, New Zealand, are advantageous
as ports of refuge or call, since they are now connected by cable with San
Francisco.  Guam belongs to the Ladrone Archipelago, in the Pacific, while
Tutuila, with its magnificent harbor of Pago-Pago, is one of the Samoan group.
Both are luxuriantly wooded, well watered, and fertile, the former having an
area of 200, and the latter an area of 54 square mild with a population
respectively of 9,000 and 3,800.  Copra is found largely in Tutuila, and has
begun to be exported; while Guam's exports consist of sugar, rice, cacao,
tobacco, and tropical fruits.

     Such, in brief, is the story of United States gains as the result of our
War with Spain, gains that, as yet, are only in an immature state; but which,
ere long, must have a vastly increased influence, alike on the United States
nation, and on the various peoples inhabiting our new possessions who have
come within the national aegis and jurisdiction.  The gains are such as
materially to qualify, at home, the incipient dread of imperialism; while,
abroad, it must make for the increased prestige and repute of the American
Republic, as a nation keeping abreast of the great currents of national life
and activity, and looking kindly on the advance of progressive ideas and
world-wide political, commercial, and social influence.  Nor is it the least
gratifying feature in our now expanded nation to note with what justice and
fair-dealing, as well as with what ability and vigor, we have won and
occupied, as inalienable possessions, these extensions of our dominion, and
how beneficent, to the colonies themselves, must be the results of bringing
them within the range and influence of American civilization.  In the change
of masters, they have already recognized that the Nation now having authority
over them is not a decrepit and extortionate Old World Power, steeped in
corruption and superstition, and from the galling dominion of which they are
glad to escape; but a strong, just, and helpful modern nation, whose greatness
and restrained, disciplined force is their protection, and whose healthy
training in political life is certain to be beneficial in its influence on
rising communities beginning a new and more hopeful career, with every freedom
to carve out a prosperous industrial and social future for themselves and
politically and morally to rise in the scale of being.