Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1897-11-10

meeting and discuss any question
they must get permission from the
government and a representative OF
the government must be present and
has authority to adjourn the meeting
whenever he wishes. There is no
habeas corpus and citizen is liable at
any time to be arrested and thrown
into prison and many have been re-
leased without ever knowing what
they were imprisoned for. Another
thing, the people have no share in the
the government. The people of the
island are governed, not by law, but
by royal decree of Spain granting to
absolute power and authority. 1t is
true that there are judges, juries and
lawyers, but they all obey the instruc-
TOMS of the Captain-General, whose
will, wish or within constitutes the only
law. Under this kind of rule, the peo-
pie are subjected to the greatest ty-
ranny and persecution, even during
time of peace. The court records
show that in four years nearly six
thousand persons were court martialed
and shot by the government because
they were suspected of disloyalty.
The lecturer stated that the .newspa
per stories about the persecution and
outrages which are continually taking
place in Cuba are not exaggerated. A
reason for dispensing with Spanish rule,
or, rather, misrule, given by the lectur-
er, was that the Spanish government
had shown its utter incapacity to pre-
serve law and order 1t is not safe for
persons to go abroad in the city or
country without guards, as murder, "a
pine and robbery were rife and the au-
thorities had shown that they were ut
terly incapable of quelling it. Planta-
ton owners were compelled to give
from $500 to $1,000 annually to ban
dts to prevent being molested
and it is claimed that the gov
eminent gathered a tax from the out
laws for the privilege of carrying on
this systematic method of robbery.
All the government wants is money.
The resources of Cuba are drained by
it's government, and the taxes are enor-
NOUS. Fifty per cent. of the income is
consumed by taxation, the public debt
amounts to more than hundred dollars
per capita, and Cuba yields annually
from twenty-siX to thirty-fve millions
dollars in taxes Everything is taxed,
the real and personal property, the in
comes, and anything for which the gov
eminent can devise a tax, is burdened
erals treasury. A lady who put in
glass window in her house had to pay
a tax of three dollars and half for per-
mission from the government. A party
who wanted to build an addition Of
couple of rooms to his house had to
pay forty dollars to the government
to get a permit, and church had to
give fifty dollars before they could get
the privilege of putting down a new
floor It is the Spanish theory that
Cuba is merely not province but
possession, and is to be used as a source
of revenue for the Golfers of Spain.
Miss Buckbee said that the Cuban
people had proved by the courage and
intelligence displayed in their struggle
for freedom that they were able to gov
ern themselves and that they should be
at least be given the opportunity to
make the trial, for they could not gov
ern themselves worse than Spain is do
ing. She said we should not forget that
in the dark days of our own revolution