The American Government are considerably worried by problems both in
Cuba and the Philippines. Last autumn Cuba raised a loan in America on condition, among other things, that she should make her Budget balance and abolish lotteries. She has not observed the conditions. If persuasion does not serve, America may have to intervene again, as she has the full legal right to do. In the Philippines the trouble is the -result of the ill-working of the Constitution of 1916, which gave the Dependency a Senate and a House of Repre- sentatives. As the members of both Houses are for the most part elected, they may be said to be responsible to the electors ; but, on the other hand, the Governor- General is responsible only to America. The Filipino Nationalists are demanding independence, since they find the veto of the Governor-General a thorn in their flesh. If the Governor-General were not General Leonard Wood, who is well known for his wisdom and experience, the Nationalist storm might have burst long ago. At present it is merely a threatening sign on the horizon which Americans .would like to forget till the PresiT dential elections are over.
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