Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-11-17
KEY WEST KICK.
Residents of the Island Send q Protest %
Secretary Blaine Against the Actions
Of the Spanish Consul There
Why They are COM

" AnO OpunA8u OOu9uA
Why They are COM
planning.
ESPECIAL TELEGRAM TO THk DIsPArcH.i
KEY WEST. FLA, November 16.-The
report OF the committee appointed to inves-
tigate the alleged interferences of the Span
ish Consul with the Cubans domiciled here,
has been mailed to Werner Fleming for
official transmission to Secretary Blaine,
and was made public by the Board of Trade
to-day. 1t is as follows:
Your committee, throughout its inYestiga-
tions, has been amazed at the adroitness of the
spanish Consuls lntrigues here during the
past Few weeks. Everywhere and through
every ramihcatiOn of the strike the subtle
hand OF the Spanish authorities IN Cuba can be
plainly traced. Never before have strikes
been marked by foreign interference, but in
the present instance the sorry spectacle has
oeen presented OF an unwarranted interference
IN the local affairs of this country by the repre-
sentative of foreign nation, whose hospitality
he is enjoying upon the protessed assurance Of
good will and amity toward it by his Govern
ment, melting and urging the laborer to hos
tility and hatred toward his former employer
and benefactoT.
We do not desire to appear discourteous to-
ward the Spanish Consul here, believing that
he IS merely the instrument assigned to carry
out the instructions of his superior, but the
evidences of his cupidity and cunning have
confronted us at every step. At the very
threshold of the strike we ind him attending a
meeting of the committee called to discuss the
situation. He was there, not in the interest OF
peace. nor to urge return to work, to arb1-
trate their grievances. but with professed pc
cnniary aid for conveying the workmen ana
their families from this island Meantime, his
paid emissaries we're not idle. The influence
of Spanish gold was being invoked and pro-
visions sent from Havana, and the dissatisfied
laborers whose feelings and sympathies were
tins cantura6 nrQn6
Even now, after four weeks, when the COM
mercial interests of the island have been
forced to the verge of bankruptcy, several
manufacturers have partly yielded to the de-
Inands of the workmen and resumed work, we
find a house-to-house canvass still being made
by agents alleged to be IN the employ Of the
Spanish Consul, urging. workmen to avail
themselves of the final trip of the gunboat, and
return to Cuba before, as they are led to be-
heve, starvation overtakes Them. We invite
attention to the remarkable unprecedented oc-
currence of a Spanish naval vessel sent here
on four different occasions to convey Cuban
workmen to Havana. Over 1000 laborers with
their families and effects have been trans
ported to Cuba.
any foreign Government to extend its protec-
tion to its subjects when in distress, bet when
we find a representative of that Government
violating the hospitality which he IS permitted
to enjoy in the country under the guise OF
friendship. by melting and urging its peaceful
inhabitants to abandon their adopted homes,
and furnishing them transportation in public
vessel, even the children Of naturalized Amerf-
can parents. we feel that the limit Of patience
has been reached, and a halt should be called
to administer fitting rebuke. The fact that
those conveyed on the Spanish war vessel were
permitted to carry their furniture and house
hold effects. having a market value greater
than the fare charged by private convey
ance, removes any assumption Of destltution.
Attention is also called to the telegraphic
columns of La LUchd, the official organ Of
Havana, in which appeared telegram from
Madrid congratulating Captain General Sala-
manca on having removed the Cuban colony at
Key West, which menaced Spanish interests
in America; also to an extract from La EpocG.
published at Madrid. commenting on the favor
able impression which has been created in the
Cortes by the announcements that the Cuban
residents of Key West are returning to Cuba,
thus making a signal victory for the Autono-
mists.