The Prospects for Cuban Independence
It is said that the President “advocates a liberal policy toward Cuba on charitable grounds.” If the situation requires charitable action, what becomes of Cuba’s independence? An object of charity can hardly be said to be independent. It is all right to treat Cuba as an object of charity, if such be the need of the new republic; but if she is really independent, simple justice ought to be sufficient. The prospect is not very flattering for a republic that has to start out under such a handicap. With no opportunity for territorial growth, with practically no privilege of self-defense, and the life-blood of her industries flowing through the veins of American industries, real Cuban independence is what the late John J. Ingalls would have called an “iridescent dream.” The first word this infant’s nurse is teaching her to say seems to be “annexation.”