The people's journal. (Pickens, S.C.) 1891-1903, 1896-11-26

'P"'' >"h Nt\tf o'OD the havoc &c
Life and rroperty--Thc United
States Must Interfere.
Tue following article is contributed
| to the New York journal from the pcI
| OF Con. Bradley r.. johnson, who has
spent several months in Cuba recently.
circumstances arc stronger than
| congress and events control Prcsi
| tents.
The Administration OF MIR. Clcvc.
and is now confronted by a grave
| public duty, such a. has rarely pressed
! President Of the United States. The
sland of Cuba lies right at the mouth
Of the Gulf Of Mexico. Its nearest
point to tho United States is only sixty
| miles Oif-haruIy three hours by
steamer from Key West. The south
western limit is only sixty miles from
Yucatan. Through these narrow straits
passes, to a great extent, the commerce
of the Valleys of the Mississippi, tho
OHIO and the Missouri, soon to be titled
by seventy millions of intelligent, pa
triotic and energetic American citi-
Z2nS.
What the mouth OF the Mississippi
was to MIR. JctfcrsOn's Administration.
so is Cuba to that Of Mr.. Cleveland. 1t
VIII be the key to tho commerce of the
great American Mediterranean, of the
great country cast OF the Rockies, aud
whcu the lsthmus Canal is completed
Us IT must be in few years, Of tho
trade OF the Pacific States and Of China
and japan. 1t is geographically and
gcologicaly but an extension of
Florida. Politically, it is an Integral
part OF the great American Union
the leader ot free thought and free
labor III ;.il the centuries and the ma u
nope and protector Of the liberties
Of mankind while civilization lasts.
Americans now own property there to
Il value exceeding fifty millions of dol
lars.
The insurrection now raging there
is dcSti o!ing it day by day, aui hour
by hour. There ought to be no mig
understanding OF what this means. The
line IL sharply drawn in Cuba. An
All SpHniar0S are on the side Of the
Govcrn.H~G,. There is practically no
exception 10 this rulc. There il no
line G! race diStinctiOn--th line of
nativity is the only dividing one. 1t
Is not Il negro iHsurrCctiun, not re-
petition OF iiayti, Or san Domingo.
Ihc education, the property, tho patrio-
tism CT tlir Island are with the Cubans.
The population clCsoly resembles
That OF Firginia-about two white men
IL one crlored man, and coored men
include all the mixed races, whites,
negroes. Indians anu Caribs. The
negro is much less in evidence in
Havana tlan in !tichmond The
walters in tho hotels, the cabdrivers,
all the class that in Virginia are color
cd, are white in Havana. Therefore,
the Independence Of Cuba does not
rncan negro republic. Independence
and annexation mean the prompt estab-
llShmcEt OF American laws, customs
and in: 3itutiOns in Cuba as it did in
California
The war being wagcd if allowed to
continlc can only result in making it
Il desolate wilderness. Tho Cubans
say: II we have the sky and the
SOIL, we can restore Cuba /; with the
Spaniarl VIC never can. Therefore We
will starvc him ou%; We will DESTROY
all Tue country estates, which AFFORD
his soldiers food, and the country houses
which give him shelter and defence.
Therefore all property must go. AS
tho Russians fired Moscow to save
thcmsai\ es from the French, and the
Dutch cut the dikcs in Holland to de-
feat the Spaniard in Alva's time, so
We will barn our homes TO drive the
Spaniard out Of Cnba.'
The Spaniard naturally rctorts by
deliberately setting to work to cxter-
inmate race capable OF destruction,
" "Deicnla est Cathago' is the mandate
that has gone from Madrid to CAPTAIN
General Weylcr, and he is only eXccut-
ing the orders OF his Government when
he is using al! his power to eradicate
such race Of incendarics ana insur-
rectionists, in the Spanish view.
Between the two-for war is n rough
game, and neither roscwutcr nor Kid
gloves suit it-&50, ,000, 900 of American
property IS being destroyed and thou
sands OF American citizons reduced TO
abjcct poverty. This is no highly
coiorcd picture; it is fact. Mon, wO-
men and children arc murdered and
tncir homcS burned daily ard hourly.
international law Is not regulated bv
sontmCnta' humanity. It. stands and
il rnforccd the eternal foundation of
Justice and right. And it is to the
everlasting honor OF American institu.
Jions that her sympathies have ever
been with the lowly AMI weak and tho
oppressed. War on tho naughty;
spare the humble" is the chivalric
maxim ot tho American.
IL is plain to all The word that SDain
can never stop this waste and bloc |.
shcd. AMI it Is also plain that It mus.
be stopped, and Ut once. Therefore
the duty Of the Ua':,u States is to
recognizes the independence OF tho
Cuban Republic, and in tho interest Of
humanity, In the interest Of American
citizcns, and OF the imperial control OF
all America, to support her position ly
such an exhibition of physical force as
will rCndcr resistance puerile.
Tate t,1C 4 1
deed alone, on her sole responsibility
to history, to humanity, aud to right