The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1896-03-22
SUNDAY, MARCH %. 1896.
AS MURAT HALSTEAD SEES 1T.

The country is indebted to Murat
Halstead for the lucidest explanation
OF the situation in Cuba that has yet
appeared. Mr.. Halstead was certainly
a competent observer. his military ex-
perience and his knowledge of men and
affairs peculiarly fitting him for the
task TO which he addressed himself
What he writes bears and air of truth
and candor. He does not go to extremes.
He does not. for instance. share the
opinion that General Weyler is an I'M
mitigated butcher. He says: General
Weyler. in my opinion. is very able
man, and there is no doubt he has
shown severe frmness and striking ca
pacbty in the proceedings of his first
month as captain-general and COVER
nor-general of Cuba. l hope not to in
cur the ill-will of the patriots of Cuba,
but am bound in candor to say they
generally believe a good many things
of this man that. in my estimation of
the evidence. are incredible and impos-
sible. Whether General weyler is
great military man remains to be
seen"
AS for the relative strength and
fighting abilities of the confronting
forces. Mr.. Halstead thinks the insur-
gents cannot stand in battle array be-
fore the massed columns of Spain, and
the military genius of Gomez is shown
in his consummate campaigns OF eva
sion. He Is in his seventy-third year,
and IL he comes out of this war, as he
has conducted II against extraordinary
odds or Is killed to-day. his march of
600 miles through the length of Cuba,
beset by vastly superior forces. and
his successful evasion Of them and the
accomplishment of his purpose as a de-
stroyer. will be famous for all time
merely as a military operation; but he
cannot hold any important place in the
mountains or by the sea permanently,
or drive the Spaniards from the soil on
which they may have spread their en-
campments. though he can use the rest
of the domain for war purposes.
"As the war goes on" Mr.. Halstead
declares, the business depression will
eliminate in a comprehensive crash"
Doubtless Spain could. as Spaniards
say, endure the decline of revenue
from sugar and tobacco. and 1t is true.
as the Spanish minister says. that OF
the s2s,OOO,O0O annual revenue from
Cuba $4,000 600 is from customs, "but
the loss OF the nearly 500 900. 900 a year.
market value. of sugar and tobacco
crops is not merely "a vacuum in the
public treasury Of the amount of the
taxes. IL is the obliteration of the cap
ital active in the industries of the
island and the abolition of business it.
self and that is the point 10 which all
material tendencies in Cuba drift IRE
coverably."
In conclusion Mr.. Halstead ventures
the opinion that when the "compre-
hensive crash" does come. the Cuban
volunteers, of whom there are about
$4,000 and who are now for policy's
sake siding in with the Spanish
though in a half-hearted way-wiIl
hold the balance of power and will take
such action as may seem to them TO be
most consistent with their instincts OF
self-preservation. and this must be in
the direction of the autonomy of Cuba
"and the only refuge" 1t seems to Mr..
Halstead. lis ultimately la the United
states. the only possible condition be-
ing that Of disagreement as one Of
our states-and / believe the Cubans
competent TO do their duty as American
citizens"