Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1896-04-02

] Ii Uncle Sam decides to take an ac-
tive part in freeing Cuba from the
domination of Spain it will be good
4 deal like big boy whipping u little
boy. But under certain conditions,
when the big boy has an abundance OF
right on his side and the little boy is
/ all wrong, no one can critieise the big
clap for walloping the little chap,
/ particularly when the latter has been
! stabbing a baby in which the big boy
has a fatherly interest.
Spain, however, must not be likened
too much to the little boy. In fight
ing men it is midget compared to
the United States; in money, the bone
and sinews of warfare, Ii is pauper
by comparison, and in naval strength
II is plgmy. But its very weakness
gives 1t the strength of desperation
and therein lies the danger,
Already the Spanish leaders are
talking of the kind of war Spain will
wage against this country Ii the two
nations come to blows, and they say
1t will be of the guerrilla order, both
on land and sea. To come out in the
open and fight pitched battle with
strength against strength would be
certain destruction TO the weaker side.
Spain is too shrewd to venture into
that, 1t will be a campaign of swoop-
ing down suddenly, do what injury 1t
can in the weakest places, and then
off again 1t will be an Indian fight
on large scale.
1t has been pointed out that Spain
conquered Napoleon by a system of
guerrilla warfare. and If the emer-
gency arises, it hopes to do the same
with this country. 1t has planned to
fit out tremendous fleet OF speedy
priyateers for the single purpose OF
destroying the maritime commerce OF
the nation, and in fact sweep the At
lantic of American ships This is big
talk by little power, but then the
average Spaniard has no idea OF the
magnitude or resources OF the Ameri-
can people.
II only takes glance at the naval
strength OF Spain to show the barren
ness of any hope it might have of
vanquishing the United States on the
sea. In armored ships Spain has
eleven vessels against thirty-niue
owned by the United States. Spain
has great many unarmored ships for
use in the colonial waters. but they
ran hardly be considered The num-
ha,. fks ufbf l,. al INT
has but twenty-seven the guns q the
latter outnumber those OF Spains fleet
almost two TO one. For instance, the
high caliber guns on SPANS fleet OF
140 vessels number 1879 and the guns OF
the secondary battery number 156,
while the high caliber guns on Uncle
Sans fleet OF twenty-ssven vessels
number 239 and the guns of the sec
ondary battery number 23S. Thus the
fleet of twenty vessels has al
most twice the fighting strength of the
fleet of 140 vessels. Spain is well
equipped with torpedo boats, having
fifty-nine of the first class and seventy
of the second class, while the United
States has only eight of the former
and one of the latter. In all Spain
has 935 guns on her war ships against
1856 on our fleet.
In regard to land forces SPANS
army has a peace footing Of t01 209
men, of which 45,137 compose the in
fantry, 1922 compose the cavalry
1927 compose the artillery, and the re-
mainder. 1858, compose the engineers,
camp. baggage train, etc. The war
strength is placed at 45S643, as men
of the first and second reserve armies
number more than 100000.
The number Of young men annu-