THE UNITED STATES AND SAMOA 251 



The treaty as finally ratified provided an elaborate system 

 of government for the islands, and the United States stood 

 pledged, for the first time in its history, to share the respon- 

 sibilities of good government in another nation and to assume, 

 in a measure, the role of protector. 



It will be seen that a variety of causes, leading step by 

 step, in the settlement of the Samoan difficulty, induced the 

 United States to ignore those precedents which the wisdom 

 of its earlier statesmen had established. American trade 

 relations in Samoa were comparatively insignificant, and the 

 number of American citizens residing there was ridiculously 

 small. From a political point of view, the Samoans were 

 like children, and it was recognized, both at Washington in 

 1887, and at Berlin in 1889, that a purely native government 

 could not maintain itself. No two of the powers would 

 consent to invest the other with exclusive control, so the only 

 possible solution of the problem seemed to be a tripartite 

 agreement to establish and support some form of government 

 at Apia in which all three powers would participate. 



But just there lay the weakness, perhaps the folly, of the 

 American attitude toward the whole question ; it was fear 

 that the rule of another nation in Samoa would operate 

 adversely to the private interests of American citizens in 

 Apia. It would have been far more economical, if expense 

 is a consideration, to have bought outright all the American 

 private interests in the islands, or indeed, from a sentimental 

 standpoint, if the sense of ownership is pleasant, to have 

 bargained with Germany and England for American annexa- 

 tion of the group. Possibly an altruistic desire to promote 

 the happiness and welfare of the natives by aiding them in 

 the establishment of good government may have influenced 

 the United States to some extent, but this supposition will not 

 bear too close analysis. Nations do not scatter the seeds of 

 philanthropy broadcast, but are far more likely to plant their 

 crops where the soil is good or the position is advantageous 

 for military or other good reasons. At all events, the United 

 States drifted out of an old channel into a new one. In 

 signing the treaty of Berlin, the American nation entered 



