Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1896-03-03
BATTING THE BULL
Reply Of the House to the Hys.
tsrics Of Spain.
HITS RESOLVES RUSHED THROUGH

Only Thirty-nve ssisusss Allowed for d.
bste-vote Almost Unanimous IN Their
Favor. but sevensesn Voting No-senass
Passes Measures Loohing somewhat wss.
Hike and Cell Proposes Some Demands On
the spaniasd-spsin Dissvows the Mo6's
Doinss as Bsreelooa, Madrid and 1lss.
where.
IN apology for the conduct Of the mobs In
barcelona and Madrid and Is guarding
American property vigilantiy. So that in.
cident may be considered over. That other
incidents" arc likcly-indeed imminent
--is without doubt, for on both sides Of
what has really become n quarrel between
the United States and Spain there are hard
words being said md actions done that
nrc little less than hostile. The house
has passed the resolutions on Cuba that
give the president power practically to do
clare war, while tho senate has passed
under high pressure measure that would
not be necessary IL war was not expected
sooner or later.
Biii Co Strengthen the Navy.
A bill passed by the senate was for tho
increase Of the navy. In explaining the
measure Hale. who reported It from tho
naval committees. said that whilc no did
not believe the United States would be in.
voived In war rs n r,sult Of the present
troubles, yet he considered It desirable to
give the president authority In :caso Of
emergency to call out the naval militia
aud charter private ships for naval trans
ports The bill as passed authorizes tho
addition of i,oo0 enlisted men to the navy,
the cnlisting for not more than two years
Of tho naval militia forces in case Of emcr.
rcncy. and the chartcring of transport
ships In case os emergency The bill passed
under the flvc minute rule and by unani.
nous vote.
some Demands on the spsuiartl
Tho ncSt thing that came up TO aggrs-
~atc the situation was resolutions by Call,
of Florida, that the president Of the United
States bo requested to demand Of the gov
crnmcnt OF Spain q statement as to tho
truth Of the charges made In n letter pub
lishcd In the newspapers purporting to be
from Mr.. Gomez, late editor of La Tucha,
n newspaper published In Havana. that
hc had been tortured while confined in .
dungeon In tho. barc ground for two
months In Ccuta, the penal colony Of
SpoiR, to cxtort from him evidence against
Julius Sanguilly, n naturalizcd citizen Of
the United States. and subsequently kill.
Ing the said Gomez; also to insist on a
full rrport of the evidence and all the
proceedings in tho alleged civil trial OF
Julius Sanguilly, In which II Is charged
that the said Sanguilly was condemned to
Imprisonment for liz. at Ccutn on aus.
picion only and without evidence.
Nicholson and Bctancourt Case.
Tho resolutions then gu on to request
tho president to demand the release Of
Charles Nicholson and Lorcnzo Betan-
court, correspondents OF tho New York
newspapers, who arc charged only
with entering the insurgent lines to OBJ.
tain information; also, to demand Of
Spain that all American citizens who
shall he captured by the Spanish forces
shall bc treated rs prisoners Of war, and
bc accorded humane treatment, and to
inform the Spanish government that the
United States will insist upon this de-
mand." Call rcad from newspaper cx.
tracts tho report of alleged barbaritics
pcrpctratcd ON Gomez and others. These
set forth that the wife Of Gomez had 10.
ccivcd u letter from him. written In his
blood. shortly before he died in the
Spanish penal colony in Africa.
BIg Vote for Hitt's Resolutious.
Call said Americans who enlisted In the
rebel army are being shot TO death when
captured by tho Spanish. without trial.
Sherman seemed To think that the rcsolu-
tions would bc all tho better for n little
consideration, and moved their reference
To the foreign relations committee, which
was done. Tho vote in tho house ON the
Hit resolutions was about unanimous.
there being only II against :thcm out ol
nearly 80 voting. The speeches against
them wcro necessarily brief and Boutelle
was not rs fiery as had bccn expected In
view Of his objection last week. But
thirty-fvc minutes were given for debate.