And State Papers 89 



making appointments to the insular service, the ap 

 pointing power must feel all the time that he is act 

 ing for the country as a whole, in the interest of 

 the good name of our people as a whole, and any 

 question of mere party expediency must be wholly 

 sjwept aside, and the matter looked at solely from 

 the standpoint of the honor of our own nation and 

 the welfare of the islands. We have gotten along 

 so well in Porto Rico because we have acted up to 

 that theory in choosing our men down there gov 

 ernor, treasurer, attorney-general, judges, superin 

 tendent of education every one. You will find 

 among those men all the shades of different political 

 opinion that we have here at home; but you will 

 find them knit together by the purpose of adminis 

 tering the affairs of that island on the highest plane 

 of decency and efficiency. 



Besides acting in good faith, we have acted with 

 good sense, and that is also important. We have 

 not been frightened or misled into giving to the 

 people of the island a form of government unsuit 

 able to them. While providing that the people 

 should govern themselves as far as possible, we have 

 not hesitated in their own interests to keep the power 

 of shaping their destiny. 



In Cuba the problem was larger, more compli 

 cated, more difficult. Here again we kept our 

 promise absolutely. After having delivered the 

 island from its oppressors, we refused to turn it 

 loose offhand, with the certainty that it would sink 

 back into chaos and savagery. For over three years 



