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Messages and Papers of William McKinley V.2. by William McKinley

W >> William McKinley >> Messages and Papers of William McKinley V.2.




Comprehensive codes of civil and criminal procedure according to
western methods, public instruction, patents and copyrights, municipal
administration, including jurisdiction over the former foreign
settlements, customs tariffs and procedure, public health, and other
administrative measures have been proclaimed. The working of the new
system has given rise to no material complaints on the part of the
American citizens or interests, a circumstance which attests the ripe
consideration with which the change has been prepared.

Valuable assistance was rendered by the Japanese authorities to the
United States transport ship _Morgan City_ while stranded at Kobe.
Permission has been granted to land and pasture army horses at Japanese
ports of call on the way to the Philippine Islands. These kindly
evidences of good will are highly appreciated.

The Japanese Government has shown a lively interest in the proposition
of the Pacific Cable Company to add to its projected cable lines to
Hawaii, Guam, and the Philippines a branch connection with the coast of
Japan. It would be a gratifying consummation were the utility of the
contemplated scheme enhanced by bringing Japan and the United States
into direct telegraphic relation.

Without repeating the observations of my special message of February 10,
1899, concerning the necessity of a cable to Manila, I respectfully
invite attention to it.

I recommend that, in case the Congress should not take measures
to bring about this result by direct action of the Government, the
Postmaster-General be authorized to invite competitive bids for the
establishment of a cable; the company making the best responsible bid to
be awarded the contract; the successful company to give ample bonds to
insure the completion of the work within a reasonable time.

The year has been marked by constant increase in the intimacy of our
relations with Mexico and in the magnitude of mutually advantageous
interchanges. This Government has omitted no opportunity to show its
strong desire to develop and perpetuate the ties of cordiality now so
long happily unbroken.

Following the termination on January 20, 1899, by Mexico of the
convention of extradition of December 11, 1861, a new treaty more in
accordance with the ascertained needs of both countries was signed
February 22, 1899, and exchanged in the City of Mexico on the 22d of
April last. Its operation thus far has been effective and satisfactory.
A recent case has served to test the application of its IVth Article,
which provides that neither party shall be bound to deliver up its own
citizens, but that the executive authority of each shall have the power
to deliver them up if in its discretion it be deemed proper to do so.

The extradition of Mrs. Mattie Rich, a citizen of the United
States, charged with homicide committed in Mexico, was after mature
consideration directed by me in the conviction that the ends of justice
would be thereby subserved. Similar action, on appropriate occasion,
by the Mexican Executive will not only tend to accomplish the desire
of both Governments that grave crimes go not unpunished, but also to
repress lawlessness along the border of the two countries. The new
treaty stipulates that neither Government shall assume jurisdiction in
the punishment of crimes committed exclusively within the territory of
the other. This will obviate in future the embarrassing controversies
which have heretofore arisen through Mexico's assertion of a claim to
try and punish an American citizen for an offense committed within the
jurisdiction of the United States.

The International Water Boundary Commission, organized by the convention
of March 1, 1889, for the adjustment of questions affecting the Rio
Grande frontier, has not yet completed its labors. A further extension
of its term for one year, until December 24, 1899, was effected by a
convention signed December 2, 1898, and exchanged and proclaimed in
February last.

An invitation extended to the President of Mexico to visit Chicago in
October, on the occasion of laying the corner stone of the United States
Government building in that city, was cordially accepted by him, with
the necessary consent of the Mexican Congress, but the illness of a
member of his family prevented his attendance. The Minister of Foreign
Relations, however, came as the personal representative of President
Diaz, and in that high character was duly honored.

Claims growing out of the seizure of American sealing vessels in Bering
Sea have been under discussion with the Government of Russia for several
years, with the recent happy result of an agreement to submit them to
the decision of a single arbitrator. By this act Russia affords proof
of her adherence to the beneficent principle of arbitration which her
plenipotentiaries conspicuously favored at The Hague Disarmament
Conference when it was advocated by the representatives of the United
States.

A suggestion for a permanent exposition of our products and manufactures
in Russia, although not yet fully shaped, has been so cordially welcomed
by the Imperial Government that it may not inaptly take a fitting place
in whatever legislation the Congress may adopt looking to enlargement of
our commercial opportunities abroad.

Important events have occurred in the Samoan Islands. The election,
according to the laws and customs of Samoa, of a successor to the late
King, Malietoa Laupepa, developed a contest as to the validity of the
result, which issue, by the terms of the General Act, was to be decided
by the Chief Justice. Upon his rendering a judgment in favor of Malietoa
Tanu, the rival chief, Mataafa, took up arms. The active intervention of
American and British war ships became imperative to restore order, at
the cost of sanguinary encounters. In this emergency a joint commission
of representatives of the United States, Germany, and Great Britain
was sent to Samoa to investigate the situation and provide a temporary
remedy. By its active efforts a peaceful solution was reached for the
time being, the kingship being abolished and a provisional government
established. Recommendations unanimously made by the commission
for a permanent adjustment of the Samoan question were taken under
consideration by the three powers parties to the General Act. But the
more they were examined the more evident it became that a radical change
was necessary in the relations of the powers to Samoa.

The inconveniences and possible perils of the tripartite scheme of
supervision and control in the Samoan group by powers having little
interest in common in that quarter beyond commercial rivalry had been
once more emphasized by the recent events. The suggested remedy of the
Joint Commission, like the scheme it aimed to replace, amounted to
what has been styled a _tridominium_, being the exercise of the
functions of sovereignty by an unanimous agreement of three powers.
The situation had become far more intricate and embarrassing from every
point of view than it was when my predecessor, in 1894, summed up its
perplexities and condemned the participation in it of the United States.

The arrangement under which Samoa was administered had proved
impracticable and unacceptable to all the powers concerned. To withdraw
from the agreement and abandon the islands to Germany and Great Britain
would not be compatible with our interests in the archipelago. To
relinquish our rights in the harbor of Pago Pago, the best anchorage in
the Pacific, the occupancy of which had been leased to the United States
in 1878 by the first foreign treaty ever concluded by Samoa, was not to
be thought of either as regards the needs of our Navy or the interests
of our growing commerce with the East. We could not have considered any
proposition for the abrogation of the tripartite control which did not
confirm us in all our rights and safeguard all our national interests in
the islands.

Our views commended themselves to the other powers. A satisfactory
arrangement was concluded between the Governments of Germany and of
England, by virtue of which England retired from Samoa in view of
compensations in other directions, and both powers renounced in favor
of the United States all their rights and claims over and in respect
to that portion of the group lying to the east of the one hundred
and seventy-first degree of west longitude, embracing the islands of
Tutuila, Ofoo, Olosenga, and Manua. I transmit to the Senate, for
its constitutional action thereon, a convention, which besides the
provisions above mentioned also guarantees us the same privileges and
conditions in respect to commerce and commercial vessels in all of the
islands of Samoa as those possessed by Germany.

Claims have been preferred by white residents of Samoa on account of
injuries alleged to have been suffered through the acts of the treaty
Governments in putting down the late disturbances. A convention has been
made between the three powers for the investigation and settlement of
these claims by a neutral arbitrator, to which the attention of the
Senate will be invited.

My annual message of last year was necessarily devoted in great part to
a consideration of the Spanish War and of the results it wrought and the
conditions it imposed for the future. I am gratified to announce that
the treaty of peace has restored friendly relations between the two
powers. Effect has been given to its most important provisions. The
evacuation of Puerto Rico having already been accomplished on the 18th
of October, 1898, nothing remained necessary there but to continue the
provisional military control of the island until the Congress should
enact a suitable government for the ceded territory. Of the character
and scope of the measures to that end I shall treat in another part of
this message.

The withdrawal of the authority of Spain from the island of Cuba was
effected by the 1st of January, so that the full re-establishment of
peace found the relinquished territory held by us in trust for the
inhabitants, maintaining, under the direction of the Executive, such
government and control therein as should conserve public order, restore
the productive conditions of peace so long disturbed by the instability
and disorder which prevailed for the greater part of the preceding three
decades, and build up that tranquil development of the domestic state
whereby alone can be realized the high purpose, as proclaimed in the
joint resolution adopted by the Congress on the 19th of April, 1898,
by which the United States disclaimed any disposition or intention to
exercise sovereignty, jurisdiction, or control over Cuba, except for
the pacification thereof, and asserted its determination when that was
accomplished to leave the government and control of the island to its
people. The pledge contained in this resolution is of the highest
honorable obligation and must be sacredly kept.

I believe that substantial progress has been made in this direction.
All the administrative measures adopted in Cuba have aimed to fit it for
a regenerated existence by enforcing the supremacy of law and justice;
by placing wherever practicable the machinery of administration in the
hands of the inhabitants; by instituting needed sanitary reforms; by
spreading education; by fostering industry and trade; by inculcating
public morality, and, in short, by taking every rational step to aid
the Cuban people to attain to that plane of self-conscious respect
and self-reliant unity which fits an enlightened community for
self-government within its own sphere, while enabling it to fulfill
all outward obligations.

This nation has assumed before the world a grave responsibility for the
future good government of Cuba. We have accepted a trust the fulfillment
of which calls for the sternest integrity of purpose and the exercise of
the highest wisdom. The new Cuba yet to arise from the ashes of the past
must needs be bound to us by ties of singular intimacy and strength
if its enduring welfare is to be assured. Whether those ties shall be
organic or conventional, the destinies of Cuba are in some rightful
form and manner irrevocably linked with our own, but how and how far
is for the future to determine in the ripeness of events. Whatever be
the outcome, we must see to it that free Cuba be a reality, not a name,
a perfect entity, not a hasty experiment bearing within itself the
elements of failure. Our mission, to accomplish which we took up the
wager of battle, is not to be fulfilled by turning adrift any loosely
framed commonwealth to face the vicissitudes which too often attend
weaker States whose natural wealth and abundant resources are offset
by the incongruities of their political organization and the recurring
occasions for internal rivalries to sap their strength and dissipate
their energies. The greatest blessing which can come to Cuba is the
restoration of her agricultural and industrial prosperity, which will
give employment to idle men and re-establish the pursuits of peace.
This is her chief and immediate need.

On the 19th of August last an order was made for the taking of the
census in the island, to be completed on the 30th of November. By the
treaty of peace the Spanish people on the island have until April 11,
1900, to elect whether they will remain citizens of Spain or become
citizens of Cuba. Until then it cannot be definitely ascertained who
shall be entitled to participate in the formation of the government of
Cuba. By that time the results of the census will have been tabulated
and we shall proceed to provide for elections which will commit the
municipal governments of the island to the officers elected by the
people. The experience thus acquired will prove of great value in the
formation of a representative convention of the people to draft a
constitution and establish a general system of independent government
for the island. In the meantime and so long as we exercise control over
the island the products of Cuba should have a market in the United
States on as good terms and with as favorable rates of duty as are given
to the West India Islands under treaties of reciprocity which shall be
made.

For the relief of the distressed in the island of Cuba the War
Department has issued supplies to destitute persons through the officers
of the Army, which have amounted to 5,493,000 rations, at a cost of
$1,417,554.07.

To promote the disarmament of the Cuban volunteer army, and in the
interest of public peace and the welfare of the people, the sum of $75
was paid to each Cuban soldier borne upon the authenticated rolls,
on condition that he should deposit his arms with the authorities
designated by the United States. The sum thus disbursed aggregated
$2,547,750, which was paid from the emergency fund provided by the act
of January 5, 1899, for that purpose.

Out of the Cuban island revenues during the six months ending June 30,
1899, $1,712,014.20 was expended for sanitation, $293,881.70 for
charities and hospitals, and $88,944.03 for aid to the destitute.

Following the exchange of ratifications of the treaty of peace the
two Governments accredited ministers to each other, Spain sending
to Washington the Duke of Arcos, an eminent diplomatist, previously
stationed in Mexico, while the United States transferred to Madrid Hon.
Bellamy Storer, its minister at Brussels. This was followed by the
respective appointment of consuls, thereby fully resuming the relations
interrupted by the war. In addition to its consular representation in
the United States, the Spanish Government has appointed consuls for
Cuba, who have been provisionally recognized during the military
administration of the affairs of that island.

Judicial intercourse between the courts of Cuba and Puerto Rico and of
Spain has been established, as provided by the treaty of peace. The
Cuban political prisoners in Spanish penal stations have been and are
being released and returned to their homes, in accordance with Article
VI of the treaty. Negotiations are about to be had for defining the
conventional relations between the two countries, which fell into
abeyance by reason of the war. I trust that these will include a
favorable arrangement for commercial reciprocity under the terms of
sections 3 and 4 of the current tariff act. In these, as in all matters
of international concern, no effort will be spared to respond to the
good disposition of Spain, and to cultivate in all practicable ways the
intimacy which should prevail between two nations whose past history has
so often and in so many ways been marked by sincere friendship and by
community of interests.

I would recommend appropriate legislation in order to carry into
execution Article VII of the Treaty of Peace with Spain, by which the
United States assured the payment of certain claims for indemnity of its
citizens against Spain.

* * * * *

The United States minister to Turkey continues, under instructions,
to press for a money payment in satisfaction of the just claims for
injuries suffered by American citizens in the disorders of several years
past and for wrongs done to them by the Ottoman authorities. Some of
these claims are of many years' standing. This Government is hopeful of
a general agreement in this regard.

In the Turkish Empire the situation of our citizens remains
unsatisfactory. Our efforts during nearly forty years to bring about a
convention of naturalization seem to be on the brink of final failure
through the announced policy of the Ottoman Porte to refuse recognition
of the alien status of native Turkish subjects naturalized abroad since
1867. Our statutes do not allow this Government to admit any distinction
between the treatment of native and naturalized Americans abroad, so
that ceaseless controversy arises in cases where persons owing in the
eye of international law a dual allegiance are prevented from entering
Turkey or are expelled after entrance. Our law in this regard contrasts
with that of the European States. The British act, for instance, does
not claim effect for the naturalization of an alien in the event of his
return to his native country, unless the change be recognized by the law
of that country or stipulated by treaty between it and the naturalizing
State.

The arbitrary treatment, in some instances, of American productions in
Turkey has attracted attention of late, notably in regard to our flour.
Large shipments by the recently opened direct steamship line to Turkish
ports have been denied entrance on the score that, although of standard
composition and unquestioned purity, the flour was pernicious to health
because of deficient "elasticity" as indicated by antiquated and
untrustworthy tests. Upon due protest by the American minister, and it
appearing that the act was a virtual discrimination against our product,
the shipments in question were admitted. In these, as in all instances,
wherever occurring, when American products may be subjected in a foreign
country, upon specious pretexts, to discrimination compared with the
like products of another country, this Government will use its earnest
efforts to secure fair and equal treatment for its citizens and their
goods. Failing this, it will not hesitate to apply whatever corrective
may be provided by the statutes.

* * * * *

The International Commission of Arbitration, appointed under the
Anglo-Venezuelan treaty of 1897, rendered an award on October 3 last,
whereby the boundary line between Venezuela and British Guiana is
determined, thus ending a controversy which has existed for the greater
part of the century. The award, as to which the arbitrators were
unanimous, while not meeting the extreme contention of either party,
gives to Great Britain a large share of the interior territory in
dispute and to Venezuela the entire mouth of the Orinoco, including
Barima Point and the Caribbean littoral for some distance to the
eastward. The decision appears to be equally satisfactory to both
parties.

Venezuela has once more undergone a revolution. The insurgents, under
General Castro, after a sanguinary engagement in which they suffered
much loss, rallied in the mountainous interior and advanced toward the
capital. The bulk of the army having sided with the movement, President
Andrade quitted Caracas, where General Castro set up a provisional
government with which our minister and the representatives of other
powers entered into diplomatic relations on the 20th of November, 1899.

* * * * *

The fourth section of the Tariff Act approved July 24, 1897, appears
to provide only for commercial treaties which should be entered into by
the President and also ratified by the Senate within two years from its
passage. Owing to delays inevitable in negotiations of this nature, none
of the treaties initiated under that section could be concluded in time
for ratification by the Senate prior to its adjournment on the 4th of
March last. Some of the pending negotiations, however, were near
conclusion at that time, and the resulting conventions have since been
signed by the plenipotentiaries. Others, within both the third and
fourth sections of the act, are still under consideration. Acting under
the constitutional power of the Executive in respect to treaties,
I have deemed it my duty, while observing the limitations of concession
provided by the fourth section, to bring to a conclusion all pending
negotiations, and submit them to the Senate for its advice and consent.

Conventions of reciprocity have been signed during the Congressional
recess with Great Britain for the respective colonies of British Guiana,
Barbados, Bermuda, Jamaica, and Turks and Caicos Islands, and with the
Republic of Nicaragua.

Important reciprocal conventions have also been concluded with France
and with the Argentine Republic.

In my last annual message the progress noted in the work of the
diplomatic and consular officers in collecting information as to
the industries and commerce of other countries, and in the care and
promptitude with which their reports are printed and distributed, has
continued during the past year, with increasingly valuable results in
suggesting new sources of demand for American products and in pointing
out the obstacles still to be overcome in facilitating the remarkable
expansion of our foreign trade. It will doubtless be gratifying to
Congress to learn that the various agencies of the Department of State
are co-operating in these endeavors with a zeal and effectiveness
which are not only receiving the cordial recognition of our business
interests, but are exciting the emulation of other Governments. In any
rearrangement of the great and complicated work of obtaining official
data of an economic character which Congress may undertake it is most
important, in my judgment, that the results already secured by the
efforts of the Department of State should be carefully considered with
a view to a judicious development and increased utility to our export
trade.

The interest taken by the various States forming the International Union
of American Republics in the work of its organic bureau is evidenced by
the fact that for the first time since its creation in 1890 all the
Republics of South and Central America are now represented in it.

The unanimous recommendation of the International American Conference,
providing for the International Union of American Republics, stated that
it should continue in force during a term of ten years from the date of
its organization, and no country becoming a member of the union should
cease to be a member until the end of said period of ten years, and
unless twelve months before the expiration of said period a majority
of the members of the union had given to the Secretary of State of the
United States official notice of their wish to terminate the union
at the end of its first period, that the union should continue to be
maintained for another period of ten years, and thereafter, under the
same conditions, for successive periods of ten years each.

The period for notification expired on July 14, 1899, without any of the
members having given the necessary notice of withdrawal. Its maintenance
is therefore assured for the next ten years. In view of this fact and of
the numerous questions of general interest and common benefit to all of
the Republics of America, some of which were considered by the first
International American Conference, but not finally settled, and others
which have since then grown to importance, it would seem expedient that
the various Republics constituting the Union should be invited to hold
at an early date another conference in the capital of one of the
countries other than the United States, which has already enjoyed this
honor.

The purely international character of the work being done by the
bureau and the appreciation of its value are further emphasized by the
active co-operation which the various Governments of the Latin-American
Republics and their diplomatic representatives in this capital are now
exhibiting and the zealous endeavors they are making to extend its
field of usefulness, to promote through it commercial intercourse, and
strengthen the bonds of amity and confidence between its various members
and the nations of this continent.

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We do not know the women's names, but their voices are quite distinct. All are pregnant. But while the first woman awaits the birth of her baby with a moon-like serenity, the other two are not so lucky. One, whose previous pregnancies have failed to go to term, is experiencing a heartbreaking late miscarriage; the other is a young student whose accidental pregnancy will end in her child being put up for adoption.

Sylvia Plath's only play was never intended for the stage, being broadcast instead on BBC radio in August 1962. Less than six months later, Plath killed herself, but not before the burst of astonishing creative energy that produced her extraordinary, terrifying Ariel poems.

Anyone who knows Plath's poetry will see the connection between Three Women and Plath's subsequent poems, particularly in the way she talks about the agony of childbirth, the rush of love for this tiny alien being, and both the wonder and wounded rawness of motherhood. It is a beautiful piece, full of startling imagery that draws you in through the sheer intensity of its femaleness, and because it so precisely articulates the emotions that are often thought but seldom voiced by women - certainly not in the early 1960s - about men, motherhood and our relationship to our bodies.

It's been 20 years since there has been an attempt at a professional stage version and - in a theatre world that happily accepts the poetic offerings of Sarah Kane and Debbie Tucker Green, or the staged possibilities of The Waves, one of Plath's own inspirations for the piece, I see no reason why it shouldn't be brought to life. Sadly, it doesn't breathe here, in a production by Robert Shaw that is clearly a labour of love, but which never finds a way to give the internal a physical reality. Plath's poetry, like most babies, is more robust than it appears - and won't break if treated with a little less reverence and considerably more grit.

Instead, what we are offered is tinkling piano music, mournful mood lighting, an innocuous pale setting, as well as three perfectly good but indisputably ladylike performances that capture none of the wounded redness of Plath's poetry, and do her the disservice of making her sound bleached and somewhat prissy. It's a pity. What might have been a wonder ends up a mere curiosity.

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