Ill 



THE UNITED STATES AND SAMOA 



DIFFERENCES between nations are necessarily of a serious 

 character, because the settlement of such disputes affects 

 directly or indirectly the fortunes of many individuals. 

 They are also attended with danger, because close behind 

 international misunderstandings lurks the spectre of war. 

 In every heart exists a belligerent chord, and the most im- 

 partial of men will magnify the shortcomings of other nations 

 while they laud the virtues of their own. Race prejudices are 

 always more or less acute. War quickly appeals to popular 

 favor when quarrels over personal rights or privileges expand 

 into national issues, and then patriotism is likely to assume 

 the form of blind passion without reason or forbearance. 



However trifling, then, an international dispute may appear, 

 it possesses, nevertheless, a hidden element of danger. It is 

 partly on this account that the Samoan imbroglio, though 

 now happily relieved, is worthy of attention. In the world's 

 history the story of Samoa can never expect to find a more 

 prominent place than a footnote. In the annals of diplo- 

 macy it must figure as a farce. Robert Louis Stevenson 

 aptly characterized the Samoan wars as an " infinitesimal 

 affray " ; Samoa was like a tea-|>ot_m which a tempest raged 

 while three great nations jostled each other in fussy endeavors 

 to keep the little pot from boiling over. 



If the Samoan episode appears trivial to the general 

 observer, it possessed nevertheless a pathetic side to the 

 philanthropist, who could not fail to see in this South Sea 

 enterprise of England, Germany, and the United States, 

 another demonstration of the withering influence of civiliza- 

 tion upon semi-barbarous peoples. The assumed burden of the 

 white man to protect and educate the black-ona.x)iterLjaiilts 

 in the undoing of the latter. The result comes naturally, 



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