The Houston daily post. [volume] (Houston, Tex.) 1886-1903, 1897-12-29
CUBAN RELIEF MEASURES.
Minister De LONE Protests Against
Groundless Rumors.
INTERVENTION IS NOT THOUGHT OF.
Oppo.cd to Mixing Politics with
Chnrity--HHvnn Advtces say th"t
the Needy Are BEING Helped.

washington. December 2s.-Mr. Dupuy
De LONE, the Spanish minister, expresses
strong disapproval OF reports that the re-
lief measures adopted by the United states
and co-operated in by Spain are steps To-
ward intervention by this government In
the affairs of Cuba. The minister criticises
such reports as attempts to mix politics
with charity and as calculated TO excite
i'll feeling which will embarrass the chari-
table movement and impede its execution
In Havana and throughout the island. he
said.
This talk of intervention In certain
quarters has no other purpose than TO en-
bitter both countries and to divert the
original essential purpose Of s1ms giving
The extension of aid to the sufferers ID
Cuba is no more intervention than was Inc
action of all the nations OF the world. In
Guiding Spain, to send help to chicago AZ
ter the big fire, or that of the United
States in sending a shipload OF grain to
Russia and last year to Inua and to the
city of London III sending food and money
to Paris when the siege by the Germans
was on
Turning to a dispatch Just received IRON
DR.. Ccngosto. secretary general AZ Havana,
the minister proceeded, quoting in part
frCm the dispatch:
1T il not true that the Spanish author
itiss in Cuba are not equal TO the sltua-
Ion. Succor is being given abundanty
and relief committees are in regular ope-
ration. In two OF the provinces. Puerto
Principe and Santiago De Cuba. there has
been no concentration. Forty Plantations
are grinding sugar and there is ample wort
for those who want it. Many of the re-
concentrates who are reported to be suf-
ferirg are in such condition through an
unwillngness to work, The regulaAty
with which relief has been conducted in
Havana is shown by a glance at the Hav-
ana papers every day where there are long
descriptions Of charitable donations of corn
meal, condensed milk and like articles
specially serviceable for the relief of chill
dren. 1t should be borne in mind also that
Spain has remitted all duties on all relief
supplies sent to Cuba so that for every
dollar of supplies for Cuba, SPAN adds
considerable percentage, the rtmitted du-
ties running from 20 per cent down.
1T is perfectly well understood that the
American help will be received with the
spirit in which 1t is given. aud the Amer
lean government, as Secretary Sherman en-
pressed it in his recent letter. offers the
wei known generosity of American peo-
pie in the same spirit that they have ac-
cepted foreign help in eases of public ca
lanity. II seems that some persons who
make statements OF the conditions in Cuba
forget that the elements of war can not be
mltigatsd in a short time. They fail to
compare the actual condition of today with
that OF the past, and they totally disregard
the efforts made to improve the situation.
After all. 1t is probably unnecessary to
answer these who will 70 to such an ex-
treme as TO mix intervention and intrusion
with the acts Of mercy of nation well
Known for its generosity and charity