Omaha daily bee., 1896-04-08
CLEVELAND GETS THE COPY
Cuban Resolutions Placed in the Hands
Of the Chief Executive.
HELD A LONG CONFERENCE WITH olNtY
believed in Some Quarters that the
President IL Preparing n Special
Message to Congress ON
the Entire Subject.

WASHINGTON, April THE senate con-
current resolutions on the Cuban question
we're delivered to Private Secretary Thurber
this morning by Mr.. Plat, one of the ex-
ecutive clerks of the senate. Later in the
day they will be sent to the State depart
ment, as the law requires that such resolu-
lions shall be printed in the book of laws
annually published by the department.
Secretary Olney called early at the white
house, and remained in close consultation
with the president, undeterred by the notice
that had been sent to the other members to
the effect that there would be no cabinet
meeting today. There is reason to believe
that the meeting would have been postponed
regardless of the appearance of the measles
among the children at the white house, in
order to afford the president an opportunity
for private elaboration with the chief mem
Der of his cabinet, for there was a story cur
rent, and 1t is believed we'll founded, to the
effect that the two were engaged in the
preparation of a special message to congress.
OF courue, this was Immediately assumed
to relate to the Cuban situation, and to be
an exposition by the president Of the actual
state OF affairs on the island as revealed in
the reports of the United States consular
officers and other trusted sources of infor-
nation. There Is a resolution before the
president, passed at the instance of Senator
Hoar of Massachusetts,, calling for this in
formation.
1t is reasoned that the president in trans
hitting the information asked may feel it
his duty, in view of the overwhelming ma
jority by which the Cuban concurrent res
%olutions passed both branches of congress,
to come out with a plain statement of the
reasons that influence him in preserving
unmoved the position he has assumed toward
the insurrection in Cuba, showing from the
best obtainable information that has reached
him that regardless of the sympathy he may
feel personally for the insurgents, he is alb
solutely bound by the facts as he sees them,
by precedent and the dictates of international
law, to persist in his attitude. -
This view of the matter, of course, applies
only so long as the president is left free
to decide upon the course to be followed
by the government, since 1t may be that he
would take an entirely different view of the
matter if congress should send to him a joint
resolution embodying the features Of these
concurrent resolutions and assumed by so
doing the legislative branch had taken the
direction of the matter out of his hands.
While it Is thought likely the president
may outline his views to congress in trans
hitting the Cuban information requested,
it is not certain that this message will be
more than a formal letter of t%ransmittal.
There are good reasons why the consulate
reports should be handled very guardedly,
since our consuls have to continue resident
in Cuba and the work on which the presi-
dent is believed to be engaged may be in
the nature of a statement of facts or sum-
mary of the main features of the confidential
consular reports.
Representative McCreary of Kentucky,
who was chairman of the foreign affairs COM
mittee of the house in the Fifty-second and
Fifty-third congresses, speaking today to an
Associated press representative as to the
probable action of the president on the Cuban
resolutions, said: "Mr. Cleveland through
out his public career has shown a DISPOSE
ton to investigate for himself all important
public questions. While l have no doubt he
will show great respect for the expression
of the house and the senate in favor of the
Cuban insurgents as belligerents-after all
that was simply an eXpression-it is true, by
an overwhelming majority of the represent
atives of the people, but the action and re-
spons,bilty are for him. / have no doubt
that he has put himself in a position to se-
cure accurate formati as to the true
condition of affairs. He has ample means at
his disposal for such an investigation. and
that such an investigation will be made or
is now in progress, l entertain no sort Of
doubt. Upon its result, taken in connection
with the expressed opinion of congress, he
will act"
Asked as to whether he believed that Mr..
Cleveland had sent an agent to Cuba, MIR.
McCrcary declined to commit himself. When
shown a report to this effect he said: THAT
may be simply a guess; no authority is given,
and such a mission would of course be Sc
pretn