The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1896-12-08
OLNEY REVIEWS
CUBAN SITUATION
Insurgents Government Lacks Elemen'
tary Features Of Government.
TERRITORY CONTROLLED IS USELESS
While the Rebels Have Conquered a
Large Area of lnhOspitabie Noun.
tain shores, the Spanish Govern.
ment is in Possession Of the Cities
and SeapOrts ... Compliments the
Skill Of Cuban Leaders.

Washington, Dec. 1.-The report of
the secretary of state made public this
afternoon is covered In general way
in the message of the president sent to
congress today. Secretary Olney in his
references to the Cuban war says: mo
prominent seaport has been attacked
by the insurgents or even menaced be-
yOnd occasional raids upon the out
skirts. A large part Of the twenty-five
hundred miles of the irregular coast
lire of Cuba composing the compare
lively unsettled stretches of it's western
extremity and the inhospitable noun
tain shores of its eastern part, Is prac-
tically in the hands Of the revolution
lists. The character of these shores,
filled to the westward with shallow in
dentatiOns inaccessible to any but light
vessels of small tonnage. and to the
eastward with rocky hooks dangerous
TO approach by night and affording in
secure anchorage for larger craft, lends
itself peculiarly to the guerrilla war;
fare of the interior, so that the insur-
gents. being relieved of the need Of
maintaining and garrlsoning points up
on the coast, are effectively able to
utilize considerable part of 1t as Oc-
casion offers to communicate with the
outside world and to receive clandestine
SupplleS VI ileIl, uIIIlS anu
while thus in fact controlling the
greater part of the internal area of the
whole island of Cuba, from Cape San
Antonio to Cape Maisi and enjoying
practically unlimited use of an equally
large part of the coast the revolution
ary forces are scattered being nowhere
united for any length of time to form
an army capable of attack or siege and
fit to take the defensive in pitched
battle. Assembling suddenly at a given
point, often in a single night, they make
unexpected sallies or carry destruction
to the tobacco and cane fields of Cuba,
and at the first sign of pursuit or or
ganized assault they disperse only to
reassemblc in like manner at some 9TH
er SPOT
NO EFFECTIVE GOVERNMENT.
so far as our information shows,
there is not only no effective local gov
ernment by the insurgents In the ter
rtOries they Overrun, but there Is not
even a tangible pretence to established
administration anywhere. Their or
ganiZation, confined to the shifting ex-
igencies of the military operations of
the hour Is nomadic, without definite
centers and lacking the most elemen-
tary feature of municipal government.
In opposition to the nOmadic con-
troll of the interior and the undefend-
ed coast hy the insurgents the Span
ish authority continues in the capital
cities and the seaports. Its garrisons
are there established. from them its
naval operations are directed and exc
cuted. Most of it's functions proceed
as in time of peace, its customs and
municipal revenues are regularly col
lected, and with exception of the tenn
porary restraints alleged to be due to
the admitted existence of state of
hOstilities foreign commerce with the
island is kept up although largely di-
minished by the natural contraction
of the Cuban market of supply and de-
mand. AS to those parts of the island
with which this country and its citi-
zens maNtain legitimately normal in
tercourse the Spanish power is su-
preme. although often exercised in a
vexatious and arbitrary way, calling
for just remonstrance.
"A notable feature Of the actual situ
alton is the tactical skill displayed by
the insurgent leaders. When the dis
parity of numbers and the compare
lively indefensible character of the CEN
tral and western Vega country are con-
sidered the passage of considerable
force into Pinar Del Rio followed by
its successful maintenance there for
many months must be regarded as a
military success of pronounced char
acter.
so, too, the Spanish force, in the
field, in garrison on the island or on its
way thither from the mother country is
largely beyond any military display yet
called for by a Cuban rising thus af-
fording an independent measure of the
strength of the insurrection. Despite
the constant influx of fresh armies and
material of war from the metropolis,
the rebellion after nearly two years of
successful resistance appears today to
be in condition to indefinitely prolong
the contest on its present lines