The Newtown bee., 1896-11-13
WHAT CUBA COSTS SPAIN.

FROM THE NEW YORK TRIBUNE.
 The well-informed and accurate Ma drid correspondent of the London Stan,
 dard, to whom the world is much indebt- ].
 ed for news of Spanish governmental de- ings, gives a most interesting account Of !
 the strain to which the government is subjected on behalf of the Cuban cam
 paign. The war minister, Gen Azcarra-
 ga, has displayed great energy in provid l ing troops, but he has been forced to re- sort to some extraordinary measures. !
 At the outbreak of the war he called in some 15, ,000 men of the t.cIass reserve and men of the classes of 1894 and 1895, .
 and even some of the class of 1893, who,
 after few months of training, had been | dismissed to their homes in order to less
 en army expenses. Then he called for the 85, ,000 conscripts 0f1895 some months
 before the usual time. These were boys of less than 20 years of age, fine subjects for an arduOus foreign campaign in an l unsanitary country. No wonder many of those drafted were found to have fled
 from the country. No wonder, too, that !
 ed chose to pay the government forfeit
 of $500 each rather than to be sent to the Antillean sIaughter-pen. This latter
 fact was, of course, fine thing for the well-nigh bankrupt Spanish treasury. It
 meant Windfall to it of $5 ,430, ,O0O, or
 enough to pay the cost of the war for as
 much as two or three weeks. But it
 meant a military force of inferior quail l ty, the vacancles being filled with second i
 rate substitutes.
 This year there will probably be sim
 liar harvest of forfeit money. The min 1 ister has called for the 1896 cOnscripts several months in advance, and thou which means probable death. The mili- l.
 tary census shows this year 182, ,757 i | 'men''-an lads under 20 years of age l liable to be drafted into service. Of these, 20,777 are exempted for physical . disability, 2l34 are temporarily exempt ed, 6268 are missing, ,053 are held con. ditiOnally liable for service and 9O,525 .
 are actually summoned for active ser vice. The places of such of these latter | | as purchase mptiOn-$300 from home . service and $400 from colonial service- will be filled from the ranks of those con-
 ditionally drafted. No less than 10000
 of these unseasOned lads, after two or
 three months of drill, are to te sent to
 Cuba, the first of them arriving there be-
 fore Christmas. Such are the troops
 with. which Weyler hopes to crush the |
 veteran legiOns of Gomez and Maceo |
 By such measures Spain has swelled her | army to 100000 men and boys in two
 years. In 19 months she has sent l65. .55I II of them to Cuba. There were already | there some 12 900, and 5000 more vol
 anteers, making total of 192 ,551. This
 number has now been reduced to less than 150, 800, showing a fearful roll of deaths and disabilities on the field and in the hospital.
 Beside this appalling drain upon the young manhood of the nation, there is a corresponding drain upon the treasury. Nineteen months of war have cost fully $99, 100000 and the present rate of ex- pense is a11, ,00O, GOO month And still the end is not in sight. The insurgents are actually stronger than ever before, in spite of all the wealth and blood spent for their subjection. They have, says this correspondent, an unlimited recruit ing ground in the majority of the Creole whites and colored people alike, and an inexhaustible supply of arms, money and ammunition from their E friends and sympathizers in the United < States. That is quite true, and they will continue to enjoy these advan- s ages until the waning resources of Spain Ire completely exhausted.