414 STATE BOARD OF- AGRICULTURE 



THE ANNEXATION OF CTBA. 



I was not iinniiiulfnl of tlio pei*iilexiii<; i)i-obk'iiis tlirust upon us by 

 the annexation of oni- island ^tosscssions, present and i»ossihle. We 

 catch our bi-eath in appielieusion %\ hen we consider the political and 

 social tangle in the Sandwich Islands, small as they are, we look with 

 doubt and misgiving upon Porto Kico, a cold sweat breaks out when 

 we turn our eyes to the Philip]tines and think of the 1). 000, 000 savages 

 on our hands that we must civilize and iinally take into full citizenship, 

 asking them to help govern our country — a veritable "old man of the 

 sea" that we cannot shake off and dare not let go! If with the wide 

 rolling waves of the racific we could wash oui- hands clean of the whole 

 motley crew! Then think of the !.l,(HHI,<l()0 blacks and mixed races at the 

 south whose political and social management is straining the bonds of 

 constitutional construction almost to the breaking point, and ask our- 

 selves whether we want, in addition to all these perplexing problems to 

 take on our hands the yet more incongruous millions of Cuba — a people 

 alien in race, foreign in language and without the national instincts that 

 dominate our peoj)le. 



We have accomplished great results and have changed the ma.i) of 

 the world in three years. Let us pause in our swift course, catch up 

 with ourselves, and take our bearings in the SAvift moving tide of na- 

 tions. Let Cuba, full of plots and intrigues and without the cohesion 

 of a uniform race, have lime to heal her dissensions, educate her peo- 

 ple, and unite her discordant and belligerent tribes into a homogeneous 

 political system before she is welcomed into the sisterhood of American 

 states. Let her remain for a decade a probationer before she seeks ad- 

 mittanre. 



More than this, at the very outset of our conflict with Spain we gave 

 the world our solemn jiledge that we would not annex Cuba. If we break 

 our word and annex "the gem of the Antilles," how will the nations of 

 Europe treat such manifestation of bad faith? How about Germany, 

 envious of our marvelous growth and looking with sullen disdain upon 

 our Monroe doctrine? 



THE COMMERCIAL I'ROBLKM. 



In addition to these considerations, a great commercial problem con- 

 fronts us. Leaving out of account the states bordering on the Mediter- 

 ranean (excluded from this industrv bv climatic conditions), the whole 

 of central Europe from the Atlantic to the Black Sea, is deeply inter- 

 ested in the beet sugar industry. With all these nations a foreign mar- 

 ket for beet sugar is a question of first imi»ortance, and they will not 

 tamely accept their exclusion from the best market in the world. If by 

 annexing Cuba and pouring into that tropical island American ma- 

 chinery, skill and capital, we forestall the sugar market of America, 

 we shall thereby give the nations of central Eui'ope a common rallying 

 point to concentrate their scattered forces against our people to cripple 

 our commerce. 



