The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1897-11-17

his statements and impart decisive
weight to his conclusions. In the light |
of the facts presented in the extract
published, Mr.. Taylor deems it his duty |
to lay before his countrym men "his hum
BILE testimony upon the whole subject
matter, in the hope that the same may
aid them in taking wise and just action
in the premises"
Mr.. Taylor's statement of the politi-
cal and economic aspects of the Cuban
question is Illuminating. A real par
liamentary government, he says, does
not exist in Spain. Her So called sys-
tenn of representative government is
nothing but an Illusion; Spain has no
national assembly which can act as
free and real organ of the national
will. The national elections are always
controlled by the political party hold
ing the executive power, which so man
ipulates the electoral machinery as TO
predetermine the result. The people
look listlessly on while the government
officials employ the means to return as
many of the government nominees as
is necessary TO secure satisfactory
majority in the Cortes-the national
legislative body-and if any oflicous
person interferes he is sent to jail. So
the national assembly possesses no real
political authority, and the fact that
prime minister has an overwhe lining
majority in the Cortes is no reason why
he should continue in power if the OPP
posing powers, which may be a coterie
of military officers or combination of
newspapers, begin to be too trouble
some. The fact that in such cases the
prime minister is compelled to resign
and call upon the Queen Regent to say
whether or not he should continue to
carry on the government "reveals the
all important fact that the supreme
powers of the state to-day reside in the
crown and not in the legislature" SIN
the light of the incontestable facts'' {,
Mr.. Taylor finds it "easy to understand
that Spain cannot give to her colonies
what she does not herself enjoy-popu-
lar government, as that term is now
understood throughout the world"
SPANS paternal system of colonial
government, developed in the sixteenth
century and the same to-day, regarded
her colonies as 80 many oranges, to be
squeezed for the last drop of juice for
the pleasure and enrichment of the
metropolis, and for the benefit of the
Kingdoms commercial and industrial
interests. The colonies are prohib-
tied, under heavy penalties, from trad
ing except with the mother country,
and their government twas retained
by the crown at Madrid and admins
tered by an oligarchy of homebred
Spaniards sent out for that express pur-
pose" Much of the unrest of Spain
at the present time is due to the fact
that the insure ction in Cuba has killed
the trade with that colony. Factories
in Catalonia and other manufacturing
towns are closed and their employees
idle, ready to swell the tumult, partic-
ularly when the United States is the
cause of political excitement.
Mr.. Taylor finds the Cuban question,
in it's final analysis, more economic than
political. Four-ffths of the islands
exports is made up of the proceeds of
the sugar crop. Excepting the small
quantity sold in Spain, beet sugar has
driven the product of the cane from
Europe. Cuba is thus compelled to
sell her sugar in the United States,
but the crowns colonial policy forces
her to buy her supplies ia Spain 80 far
as the mother country produces or man.
ufactures those supplies. The gross
value of the sugar crop is thus reduced
by hostile tariffs, by freight and insur-
ance charges-which are large item
on the goods bought in Spain-and by
the exactions of Spanish tradesmen
and manufacturers who have Cuba at
their mercy. The net value of the
sugar crop is thus made 30 small that
the element of profit is practically elm
mated. Such was the condition un-
der the Republican tariff of 1890, with
its reciprocity provision. When the
Democrats, by enacting the Wilson
German tariff, repealed the reciprocity
provisions of the law of 1890 many
Cuban planters threw up their hands.
The men thus thrown out of employ
ment swelled the ranks of the insur-
gents. Hard economic conditions,
making the struggle for bread in one
of the most favored islands of the trop.
les difficult one, were supplemented
by the acts of despotic government.
Or these conditions, to large extent,
the revolution was born.
Mr.. Taylor discusses at length, with
great force and clearness, the political