VENEZUELA AND AFTER 345 



commercial advantage of the taker; Cuba was 

 summarily denied by superior force indulgence 

 in her long-wonted pastime of civil war all 

 these by virtue of conditions produced directly 

 by the war with Spain. Indirect results of this 

 war were no less striking. American troops 

 joined with those of other great powers in 

 quelling the tumult of the &quot;Boxers&quot; in China, 

 and American diplomacy wrought effectively to 

 maintain the open door in Chinese trade and 

 the very existence (&quot;administrative entity,&quot; 

 Secretary Hay obscurely called it) of native 

 government in China, when the rivalry of 

 Russia and Japan threatened it with extinc 

 tion. The terrific clash of arms between these 

 two powers was brought to an end on the soil 

 of the United States and through the agency 

 of its chief executive. It became suddenly 

 apparent to all the world that the American 

 democracy was a force of the first magnitude 

 in the general international situation. 



The effect of this revelation was not without 

 its humor to the philosophical observer. In the 

 world and the half-world of universal politics 

 rumor and gossip ran wild over the possible 

 results of the new phenomenon. Veteran dip 

 lomats saw copious visions and retired admirals 



