And State Papers 237 



to avert war. He made every effort consistent with 

 the national honor to bring about an amicable set 

 tlement of the Cuban difficulty. Then, when it 

 became evident that these efforts were useless, that 

 peace could not be honorably entertained, he devoted 

 his strength to making the war as short and as de 

 cisive as possible. It is needless to tell the result in 

 detail. Suffice it to say that rarely indeed in his 

 tory has a contest so far-reaching in the importance 

 of its outcome been achieved with such ease. There 

 followed a harder task. As a result of the war we 

 came into possession of Cuba, Porto Rico, and the 

 Philippines. In each island the conditions were such 

 that we had to face problems entirely new to our 

 national experience, and, moreover, in each island 

 or group of islands the problems differed radically 

 from those presented in the others. In Porto Rico 

 the task was simple. The island could not be in 

 dependent. It became in all essentials a part of the 

 Union. It has been given all the benefits of our 

 economic and financial system. Its inhabitants have 

 been given the highest individual liberty, while yet 

 their government has been kept under the super 

 vision of officials so well chosen that the island can 

 be appealed to as affording a model for all such ex 

 periments in the future; and this result was mainly 

 owing to the admirable choice of instruments by 

 President McKinley when he selected the governing 

 officials. 



In Cuba, where we were pledged to give the isl 

 and independence, the pledge was kept not merely 



