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fully three times as large annually as the amount paid for the whole territory, and this does not in any way consider any of the other assets.

One or two attempts were made at late. dates to purchase one of the islands in the West Indies for a naval station, but the sentiment of the country seemed to be against the same, and it was abandoned. It was not until Hawaii, after many ups and downs, finally was annexed to the United States that we again expanded. But the late Spanish-American war, which is so recent as to need no present allusions, unexpectedly brought to us Porto Rico, Guam, Wake and the Philippines through the treaty of peace at Paris in 1899, and today the question of colonies is the one foremost in the minds of many of the people. It being a matter of politics, we will not enter into it at the present time, but let every person draw his own conclusions from the evidence that he may have on either side. But it is well to note in closing that the history of expansion has been practically for 100 years, and there has never been a single act or effort to expand the United States but that it has been coarsely and rudely assailed as imperialism or some similar name, and looked upon as the downfall of the American Republic.

By looking at the map accompanying this article the reader will see explained the acquisition of all the territory depicted therein, excepting the Oregon country. The status of the 299,000 square miles of territory is somewhat different from the others and our claims to this territory rested on somewhat different and disputed grounds which were not fully agreed to until our treaty with Great Britain in 1846. Our claim to the Oregon territory was as follows:

Captain Gray, in 1792, discovered the mouth of the Columbia River and sailed up that river and laid claim to the unknown country of Oregon in the United States of America, and that has always been the foundation of our claim to the Oregon country-its discovery by Captain Gray in 1792. Oregon is no part of our Louisiana purchase, and the maps of the United States, now issued by the Land Office, show upon their face that Oregon was no part of the territory we purchased from France in 1803. Our title to Oregon depends, first, upon the discovery of the mouth of the Columbia River by Captain Gray in 1792. It is a law of nations that any country that discovers and occupies the mouth of a river thereby becomes entitled to all the unoccupied territory watered by that river.

The next ground of our title to Oregon was the treaty of 1819 with Spain, whereby Spain, at the time she ceded Florida to

the United States, quitclaimed to the United States all of that territory north of what was then called Upper California.

From a poor, struggling, weak republic one hundred years ago, the United States has expanded into one of the largest countries in the world, and today has more wealth per capita than any nation in the world. Notwithstanding the doleful prophecies which have always been made, the course of expansion in the United States has been attended with equal prosperity; and not only this, but notwithstanding the prophecies that the republic must fall, America stands today among the great powers, if not the leading nation of the entire civilized world.

HISTORY AND DESCRIPTION OF OUR

NEW POSSESSIONS

TH

HE recent acquisition to the territory of the United States, brought about by our war with Spain, is the Philippine Islands, Porto Rico and the island of Guam in the Ladrones group; Wake, by the right of discovery; by annexation, the islands of Hawaiian group; by treaty with Great Britain and Germany, the island of Tutilia of the Samoan group. The United States, like "Old England," can boast that the sun never sets upon her possessions; these island territories are stepping stones around the world, and the name "American Citizen" means more today than it did two years ago. But, with this added importance comes the added responsibility; along with the privileges of extended territory comes the duty of Christianizing and educating. The college bred young man and woman who have no stronger responsibility at home, should sacrifice a few years of life, and carry talent and American manners into our far off lands, and scatter among our less fortunate brothers the seeds of education, morality and thrift; besides, from the following description of these island possessions, may be seen the great advantages presented in the agricultural and mineral wealth of these lands.

After the defeat of the Spanish forces on land and sea, the proud country of Spain with her cherished memories of past wealth and power signified her willingness to negotiate for terms of peace. The President, together with the wise counsel of his Cabinet and trusty advisers, drew up a Protocol that should be the basis on which the peace negotiations should proceed, and was as follows:

1. That Spain will relinquish all claim of sovereignty over and title to Cuba.

2. That Porto Rico and other Spanish islands in the West Indies and an island in the Ladrones, to be selected by the United States, shall be ceded to the latter.

3. That the United States will occupy the city, bay and harbor of Manila pending the conclusion of a treaty of peace which shall determine the control, disposition and government of the Philippines.

4. That Cuba, Porto Rico and the other Spanish islands of the West Indies shall be immediately evacuated, and that Commissioners, to be appointed within ten days shall, within thirty days from the signing of the Protocol, meet at Havana and San Juan, respectively, to arrange and execute the details of the evac

uation.

5. That the United States and Spain will each appoint not more than five commissioners to negotiate and conclude a treaty of peace.

The commissioners are to meet at Paris not later than the Ist of October.

6. On the signing of the protocol hostilities will be suspended and notice to that effect will be given as soon as possible by each government to the commanders of its military and naval forces.

The commissioners for Porto Rico and Cuba met respectively in San Juan and Havana, where the terms of evacuation were arranged.

The commissioners for Cuba and Porto Rico were for the United States: Major General Wade, Rear Admiral Sampson and Major General Butler. For Spain: Major General Parado, Rear Admiral Montoro, in behalf of Cuba. For the United States, Major General Brooke, Rear Admiral Schley and Brigadier General W. W. Gordon. For Spain, General Ortigo, Commodore Vallarivo and Judge Advocate Sanchez del Aguila, in behalf of Porto Rico.

The Paris commissioners are given under the history and description of the Philippines.

HAWAIIAN ISLANDS

The Hawaiian Islands have for long years previous to 1893 been a kingdom and absolute monarchy; however, in that year the queen, Liliuokalani, was deposed by a revolution and Sanford B. Dole was elected president. The revolution was organized by foreigners, mostly by Americans, who set up a provisional government and delegated commissioners to the national capital at Washington to ask that these islands be annexed to the United States. Under the Cleveland administration this offer was rejected, but the provisional government called another convention, drew up a new constitution, under which the republic of Hawaii was formed and Sanford B. Dole, by birth an American, was elected as its first president.

In 1894 the new republic was declared. The president was assisted by a council and there was also an elective legislature. A treaty for annexation was drawn up in 1897, signed by representatives of both countries on June 16, submitted to the United States Senate to be ratified and formally declared one of the new United States possessions in August, 1898. When the treaty providing for the annexation of Hawaii to the United States was transmitted to Congress in December, 1897, by the president, and had been ratified by the Congress of Hawaii, the annexationists expected that the two-thirds vote would quickly be received.

They were disappointed, however, for the debate lasted until March and the party in favor of annexation were apparently losing ground. The only way in which annexation seemed possible was by a joint resolution. This subject had seemed to be dead, as Congress turned its attention to the trouble with Spain. The question of annexation was reconsidered soon after Dewey's victory at Manila in 1898, for this brought more clearly to our minds the interests of the Americans in the Pacific ocean. June 15, 1898, the House adopted the Newlands resolution providing for annexation, by a vote of 209 to 91, and on July 6 the Senate adopted it by a vote of 42 to 21.

In the House the vote by the parties were as follows: Fusionists 4, Populists 8, Democrats 18, Republicans 179, all affirmative. In the Senate two Republicans voted a negative vote and six Democrats voted in the affirmative. The following is a summary of the resolutions as adopted.

In the preamble, the Republic of Hawaii offers to cede to the United States all of its sovereignty and absolute title to the government and crown lands. The resolutions also provided that the

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