Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1897-05-17
PLEAS FOR CUBA
made q Q Meeting Held at the
, National Capital.
PRol1HRIT MEN on THE STAND.

ing the Most Radical Action By the
United staaes-He Woald Have Armed
InAsrvention-Allen and Butler Assert
That Uncle Sam Has Only to speak and
Spain WIN ~Climb Down" Quickly.
Washington, May 17.-An enthusiastic
audience of men and women, many of
them well-known in Washington, packed
day afternoon at a mass-meeting held
in behalf Of the cause Of the Cuban in
surgents. Seated on the platform and
participating in the exercises were Sen
atcrs Gallinger and Allen; ex-senator
Butler. Of South Carolina; Rev. Hugh
johnson. pastor of the Metropolitan
Methodist church; Rev. Howard Wilbur
with the interests Of theinsurgents. Gen.
eral William Henry Browne, president
Of the Cuban League, called the meeting
to order and introduced Gallinger as the
presiding officer. The latter made q
brief address and read a number Of let
tiers and kilograms of regret, among
them being the following from Senator
Chandler:
Chandler Is for Radical Measures.
"As I wish to see the United States
declare and maintain the independence
of the island as France did that Of the
American colonies and made the United
States a nation, Of course I shall as a
practical friend vote for every minor
method tending to the same beneficent
end. 1 hope and believe that congress
and the president will soon formally rec
ongize a state Of war and Cuban bellig-
erency. This step. followed as it will be
by all the other independent nations of
the western hemisphere, cannot fail to
ensure the Cuban independence which is
sought for. Moreover, without delay we
ought to send fleet to enter the har-
Dor. and an army to land upon the soil
Of Cuba, first to protect the lives and
property Of American citizens, and Sec
ondly to stop the atroc;ous and uncivil-
lied methods of warfare adopted by the
Spanish generals.
The Senator Draws . Parallel.
In advocating all these measures I
am conscious CT no passionate hostility
to Spain. In 1861 she recognized the
southern Confederacy within less than
three months after its military struggle
began; and surely il she cannot hold
Cuba without making it one vast desert
and graveyard by driving the inhabi-
tants into the cities to starve, and by
hanging, Shooting or garroting Cuban
officers and soldiers for rebellion and
incendiarism. she ought to lose the ISL
and. If between 1861 and 1865 one Con-
federate general had thus been put to
death all the powers of Europe, with one
accord. would have sent their fleets and
armies 5000 miles across the ocean 30
end such barbarous warfare and to es-
tablish and maintain the Southern Con-
federacy. Yet Geenral Robert F. Lee
and all his generals were as truly guilty
of rebellion and incendiarism as was
Theodore Menendez Gonzales, who was
shot for that offense at Cabanas fortress
in Havana on Monday last.
Only Our Traditional Policy.
TN helping to make Cuba Independent
we are observing q traditional and uni
versal American policy-the duty topro-
mote at the first good opportunity the
severance of Cuba from Spain. In 1896,
also. the Democrats pledged themselves
to do this by their declaration of SYM
pathy for the people Of Cuba in their
heroic struggle for libery and independ-
ence:' and the Republicans by their
promise that the United States should
endeavor to restore peace and give in
dependence to the island" The senator
closes with the assurance that President
Mckinley will soon act in accordance
with the above stated views.