CUBA'S PROSPECT | AdventAI

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Jun 19, 1901

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 27, No. 25.

CUBA'S PROSPECT.

AS REPORTED last week, the Cuban Constitutional Convention adopted the Platt amendment; but it did so by incorporating into its acceptance the explanation recently given to their delegates in Washington by cabinet officials. The Cubans who desired that the amendment should be accepted, thought it necessary to do this in order to insure its acceptance when the matter came to a vote in their convention. In any case, it was a wise thing for the Cubans to have expressed in their acceptance, in undeniable form, the understanding given them of the meaning of the Platt amendment. If that explanation was what was really intended, it would seem that there could be no objection to having it incorporated in that document. However, the Cubans have learned to their astonishment and dissatisfaction that the work of their convention has been rejected by the Washington Government, and that it must be done over again; that the Platt amendment must be accepted "substantially" and as it stands, and without any printed explanations. The question now is whether the convention which accepted the amendment with the explanations included in it by a majority of one vote only will be able to pass it now without the explanations attached. The outlook for the acceptance of the amendment by the Cubans seems darker now than at any time in the past, especially since the officials have shown an unwillingness to have their "explanations" go into print. The prospect of real independence for Cuba grows less with each new difficulty. Should the Cubans become exasperated and begin a war, and American troops be sent to the island to suppress the outbreak, the island could never hope for independence, and the declaration of Congress that

the people of Cuba "are and of right ought to be free and independent" would be hustled out of the arena along with the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence. The spirit of large humanity and justice which begat the American Government is fading out of the ethics of the nation at large, and this is manifest in nearly every national transaction.