The United States of America, after more than a century of continental growth and development, has, upon the threshold of the Twentieth Century, taken a new and radical step forward in its national career, having added to its dominions a large number of tropical islands, situated on the opposite sides of the earth, and inhabited by peoples strikingly distinct from those of the great republic of the West. The question, What shall we do with them? is one which necessarily arises, but which only time and experience can answer. Some of these islands have been accepted as territorial acquisitions of the United States; others stand at present as wards of the republic, their future status left open to the decision of events. In the new and untried situation into which this country has entered, any hasty settlement of these momentous problems would be unwise and might prove disastrous. A period of watching and waiting is what wisdom dictates, - of drifting on the tide of events until circumstances shall point the way and judgment grow mature. This is not as many would have it. There are numbers eager to settle all questions in a breath, ready to adopt the first half-considered decision - and repent at leisure.
