Page:The Presidents of the United States, 1789-1914, v. IV.djvu/105

 WILLIAM McKINLEY 77 Malietoa. For ten years Germany, Great Britain, and the United States had exercised joint control over the islands. This position of the three powers, coupled with the continuous fighting among the na tives, seemed to promise a serious problem for the president, but by perfect coolness and uniform good judgment he brought the matter to a satis factory issue. On the proposal of Germany, each of the three powers appointed one member of a commission to visit the islands and to investigate the entire question, beginning with the return of Mataafa and the election of 1898. Bartlett Tripp was appointed by the United States, Baron Speck von Sternberg by Germany, and C. N. E. Eliot by Great Britain. The commission unanimously rec ommended the abolition of the kingship and radical changes in the administration of Samoa. The three powers, however, recognizing the inexpedi ency of continuing any tripartite government of the islands, agreed upon an arrangement by which England retired from Samoa in view of compen sation made by Germany in other quarters, and both powers renounced in favor of the United States all their rights and claims to the islands east of 171, including Tutuila, with the fine harbor of Pago-Pago. The president s appointments for the delegation to represent the United States at the peace confer ence called by the czar of Russia in 1898, which as-