a World Power and that they would not shrink from taking up any
burden which that distinction involved.

When President Cleveland, at the end of 1895, sent his swingeing
message in regard to the Venezuelan Boundary quarrel, Roosevelt
was one of the first to foresee the remote consequences. And by
the time he himself became President, less than six years later,
several events--our taking of the Hawaiian Islands, the Spanish
War, the island possessions which it saddled upon us--confirmed
his conviction that the United States could no longer live
isolated from the great interests and policies of the world, but
must take their place among the ruling Powers. Having reached
national maturity we must accept Expansion as the logical and
normal ideal for our matured nation. Cleveland had laid down that
the Monroe Doctrine was inviolable; Roosevelt insisted that we
must not only bow to it in theory, but be prepared to defend it
if necessary by force of arms.

Very naturally, therefore, Roosevelt encouraged the passing of
legislation needed to complete the settlement of our relations
with our new possessions. He paid especial attention to the men
he sent to administer the Philippines, and later he was able to
secure the services of W. Cameron Forbes as Governor-General. Mr.
Forbes proved to be a Viceroy after the best British model and he
looked after the interest of his wards so honestly and
competently that conditions in the Philippines improved rapidly,
and the American public in general felt no qualms over possessing
them. But the Anti-Imperialists, to whom a moral issue does not
cease to be moral simply because it has a material sugar-coating,
kept up their protest.