The Politics of Intervention

The Revolt That Never Was 175

are too cowardly to fight their own battles/'^24 The Speaker

was most unhappy with the way America's Cuban policy was

working. It was based on "the very sublimity of altruism,"

but American capital (which "induced improvement" wherever

it went) would not benefit Cuba unless American control was

increased. Didn't the Cubans realize the Reciprocity Treaty

was costing the United States $10 million annually, Cannon

asked? As Moore summarized the Speaker's assessment of

the Cuban problem:

We had found the baby on our door-step and the spirit of father­

hood required that we should put it asleep o' nights and provide for

its maintenance. We were doing something for the baby, but its appe­

tite was enormous and its disposition to cry at unseemly hours was

characteristic. Indeed, the baby seemed to be getting the best of the

bargain all the way through, for it was still doing business for itself

under the protection of its new-found parent.^25

Cannon, according to Moore, told his Havana audience
that although the American people would not now accept
involuntary annexation, "it is not unnatural, however, that we
should look forward to the time when Cuba will become a
part of the United States, and when the other islands of the
Caribbean Sea shall be so regarded."^26 No doubt the Speaker's
words heartened the "professional Cubans... men of re­
finement and property" whom he addresesd. At the con­
clusion of their visit, the congressmen generally agreed that
they supported Roosevelt's course in Cuba. If there was one
more revolt, however, "may not the American people fairly
insist that the time has come to protect Cuba against her foes,
within or without, by annexation?"
27
As Moore saw the
Cuban problem:

... Shall we continue to govern her by proxy at our own expense
and annoyance, or shall we end the trouble once and for all in the way
the United States may be trusted to end it—firmly, but with justice and
humanity, and with due regard to the right of Cubans to the pursuit
of life, liberty and happiness.^28

And back to New York sailed Speaker Cannon and his friends,

while Magoon and his advisers must have wondered what