The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1897-11-30
The President and Congress and the
Cuban Question.

The revelations made by Gen. BLANoo Of
the terrible losses of the Spanish Army in
Cuba by reason Of battle and disease, prin-
cipally by disease, and the authentic reports
of the awful destruction of life among the
peaceful inhabitants of the island because of
the starvation which has succeeded its
savage devastation, have produced an i'm
preston on American public opinion which
II likely to compel Congress to decisive &C
tion as to that horrible war before the
forthcoming session is closed.
Undoubtedly, the tone Of the message of
the President in regard to the subject will
be cautious and its recommendations made
In terms carefully chosen with q Wow to
avoiding offence to the supersensitiveness
Of Spain. Nor will such reserve be rep
rehensible as dilatory and timorous. 1t
will express a conservatism reasonably
anxious to refrain from seeming to offer
provocation to Spain, with which nominally
u relations are friendly n satisfactory.
The question might be so handled by Pres
ident MCKINLEY as to excite alarm in this
country disastrous In It's temporary conse-
quences to business interests without serv-
ing the real interests of tho Cubans, or
without fastening in any way the matur-
ing of plans for the relief of the oppressed
and struggling island.
1t 10 obvious, however, that this country
annot permit the destructive war to go on
much longer. Our commercial interests, to
say nothing Of mere humanity, forbid our
looking on indifferently while the devasta-
ton and substantial d~epopulation Of the
richest island In the world, lying close to
our shores, are proceeding with a horri-
BILE method. Gen. BLANoo may seek to
carry out a policy less atrocious than
that Of Gen. WEYLER, but the abso-
Lutte refusal of the Cuban revolutionists
to listen to the proposed terms Of paciica.
tion through the so-called autonomy may
provoke Spain to return to its most cruel
measures Of the past 80 far as 1t has the
ability to enforce them. In other words, it
seems to lave been demonstrated that the
Cubans can only be ~subjugated by extermi.
nation, and that such was the policy to
which WEYLER resorted Is made manifest
by the reports which have come from our
Consuls in the island.
The stories Of massacres by the Turks in
Armenia aroused the horror and indigna-
tion Of the Christian world, but as COM
pared with the Spanish atrocities In Cuba
they were mild measures of repression, and
the country which suffered from them was
not laid waste as have been large parts of
Cuba. Meantime, the army of Spain in
Cuba, containing SO much of the youth
needed at home for the Industries of that
overburdened country, has lost more than
one-half Of Its great numerical strength by
disease and death, and Spain has been ex-
hausted financially, while industry in Cuba
has been brought to ruin.
1t is not improbable, therefore, that in
face Of these facts, proved ~indisputably,
even the most conservative sentiment
Of this country will be forced to de-
mand in sheer humanity that our Govern
ment take vigorous measures to stop the
awful determination. AS we have said,
that feeling is now extending even among
people hitherto least disposed to give Gre
dence to such reports and most timorous
about offending the susceptibilities of
Spain, and before the coming session of
Congress is over it may become unanimous
and imperative in its expression.
Nor can the opinion of the civilized world
refuse to Justify our interference as a die
tate of humanity.