the
American Navy. The treaty, ratified February 6, 1899, provided that
Spain should cede to the United States Guam, Porto Rico, Cuba and the
Philippines, and that the United States should pay to Spain twenty
millions of dollars. As in the case of the Mexican War, the United
States took possession of the territory and then paid a bonus for a
clear title.

The losses in the war were very small. The total number of men who were
killed in action and who died of wounds was 289; while 3,949 died of
accidents and disease. ("Historical Register," Vol. 2, p. 187.) The cost
of the war was comparatively slight. Hostilities lasted from April 21,
1898 to August 12, 1898. The entire military and naval expense for the
year 1898 was $443,368,000; for the year 1899, $605,071,000. Again the
need for a larger place in the sun had been felt by the people of the
United States and again the United States had won immense riches with a
tiny outlay in men and money.

Now came the real issue,--What should the United States do with the
booty?

There were many who held that the United States was bound to set the
peoples of the conquered territory free. To be sure the specific pledge
contained in the joint resolution of April 20, 1898, applied to Cuba
alone, but, it was argued, since the people of the Philippines had also
been fighting for liberty, and since they had come so near to winning
their independence from the Spaniards, they were likewise entitled to
it.

On the other hand, the advocates of annexation insisted that it was the
duty of the United States to accept the responsibilities (the "white
man's burden") that the acquisition of these islands involved.

As President McKinley put it:--"The Philippines, like Cuba and Porto
Rico, were entrusted to our hands by the providence of God." (President
McKinley, Boston, February 16, 1899.) How was the country to avoid such
a duty?

Thus was the issue drawn between the "imperialists" and the
"anti-imperialists."

The imperialists had the machinery of government, the newspapers, and
the prestige of a victorious and very popular war behind them. The
anti-imperialists had half a century of unbroken tradition; the accepted
principles of self-government; the sayings of men who had organized the
Revolution of 1776; written the Declaration of Independence; held
exalted offices and piloted the nation through the Civil War.

The imperialists used their inside position. The anti-imperialists
app