Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1897-06-19
The Case of the United States Re.
garding Cuba Not Yet Made Up.
NO INSTRUCTIONS TO VOOOFORD
Will Confer With Special Commis-
sioner Calhoun.
TO REM AIN HERE SOME TIME

1t can be stated on the best authority
that all publications purporting to outline
| the Cuban policy of President Mckinley
that have been made up to the present time
have been in disregard of the fact that up
to this moment the case of the United
States government has not yet been made
up and that even in the discussions of the
subject of our relations to Cuba that have
taken place in the cabinet circle the point
has not yet been reached where it could be
said that the executive had finally deter
mined upon any certain plan of action.
At the State Department an authorita-
tive denial is given of the statement cabled
to London, to the effect that General Wood
ford, the newly appointed United States
minister to Spain. has been instructed to
intimate to the Spanish authorities that II
Spain refuses to grant freedom to Cuba
she must be prepared to yield to force
In fact. the case of the United States has
not Yet been made up, as already stated
Mr.. Calhoun, who was the Presidents spe-
| cial commissioner to visit Cuba and learn
the plain truth as to the situation there
is still here in daily conference with Assist
ant Secretary Day upon the subject of our
general relations to the Cuban question, as
well as upon the Ruiz ease in particular
and it is desired that General woodford
also be given an opportunity to confer with
Mr.. Calhoun.
Therefore, in the course cf the next three
DAYS the minister will come again to Wash
ington from New York and begin a serious
study of the history cf the present in
s2rrection from It's very beginning. OF
this Gen. " oodforl at present knows lit
tie more than the average close reader of
the newspapers, and it is. Of course, highly
important that he should have in his pos
sesGicn all OF the Information that is in
the State Department, besides that which
Mr.. Calhoun mag he able to add verbally,
hefores he gees to Spain. Ii is the irten-
tion of our government that the new min
lister shall carry with him when he goes
the complete case Of the United States.
This will necessarily consume some time.
ard it can be stated positively that there
is no expectation that General Woodford
will start for Madrid until the expiration
of the thirty-day period allowed by the
State Department to all United States min
listers upon their appointment in which to
study their instructions before going to
their posts. General Woodford's instruc-
tions will. of course, from the peculiar rites
of the situation, be much more complex
than are usually given to an American
minister.
Not only will he be charged with all OF
the details of the Ruiz case, which presents
|. most formidable legal problems, but he will
also take with him all the evidence neces-
Sary to present the losses suffered by
United States citizens in Cuba from the
continuance of the war with much other
data in support of the suggestion of our
government that it can scarcely continue
to countenance a prolongation of present
conditions.
Upon the answer returned by the Spanish
government to these representations by Mr..
Woodford will depend the course to be fol-
lowed by the United States.
While perfectly willing to gather all in
formation pertinent to this issue and listen
to all proper representations, the admins
tration is firmly determined not to be
duly hurried in its treatment of the case,
realizing that if it should permit itself to
be carried away by temporary excitement,
mistakes of the gravest character might re-
suit, that would in the end weaken our po-
sition.