Connecticut western news., 1897-05-20
CONGRESS AND CUBA.
SENATOR MASON MAKES AN EARNEST
 PLEA FOR THE PATRIOTS.

President Mckinley Sends a Special Mes
 sage Asking For Relief of American
 Citizens on the Island-senate Votes m
 Appropriation of s5O,ooo.
 Washington, May 19.-Senator Mason delivered a fiery address on Cuba when the Morgan belligerency resolution was called up.
 He had been previously advertised as heading a combination of senators pledged to prevent action or prolonged discussion until a vote can be reached on the resolutions.
 In anticipation of something sensa- tional the galleries were full, and near seat.
 Senator Mason made the point that the presidents relief message was a recognition by the highest authority in the United States that state of war existed in Cuba and that it was the duty of congress to still further em- phasize the presidential declaration.
 MT. Mason read President McKin- ley's message to prove that state or war exists in Cuba.
 
 there ought to be with us."
 He said the Americans in Cuba need ed to be defended with bayonets as well as with bread.
 He referred to Senator Wellington's reference to our indebtedness to Eng land and said that he, too, acknowl- edged the indebtedness
 Thank God" he exclaimed, i've set- tied small part of 1t at Bunker HILL Another I.irt of it we settled here in the senate two weeks ago."
 This latter remark was directed at the defeat of the arbitration treaty and was the first public reference to it in the senate.
 Senator Mason later on said "d-," thereby horrifying the dignified senate and shocking the proprieties.
 It was the cause of tilt between Senators Wellington and Mason. The Marylander disputed the statement by Mason that at the time Washington was at Valley Forge the Colonial gov ernment was not worth any more than Is that of Cuba today.
 Mason reiterated his statement and declared that on. the occasion referred to the Colonial government wasn't worth continental damn." This irreverence threw Wellington into a white heat. and he vigorously de- nounced the utterance as a falsification of history.
 The dialogue between the new sena- tors aroused eager interest. The sena- tor from Illinois gave all the entertain- ment expected of him, and the Yelling tonian interruptions only added zest to the performance.
 Then Mir. Mason read from reports sent to the senate by the committee on foreign relations In support of his state ment that a Cuban government exists. "Mr Wellington was elected on the platform of independence for Cuba" he said. "So was I. So was MT. McKin- ley. And I am here to stand by 1t SC long ss continue on the payroll" He said that during the last campaign i he had felt the pulse of thousands oi people and was satisfied there was 6 | deep general interest among the people | in the interest of Cuban freedom. He was for Cuba, not for commercial | reasons or for the acquisition of terri tory after the English fashion. but foi l better reasons.
 | MT. Mason predicted that this coun- | try would yet develop a Lafayette fol | Cuba.
 Speaking of the newspaper reports o
 the Cuban war, MT. Mason defended | them as in the main correct. He sait | that 50 per cent of the men who haC | gone to Cuba to write of the war hac | lost their lives.
 | He proposed to vote on the resolution | If 1t took all summer. Cuba was popu | lar at St. Louis when the party wanted votes, and he appealed to Republican senators to stand by the declaration. MT. Mason said he did not believe thu | adoption of the resolution meant war
 but. If an honest protest meant war, le | 1t come.
 He was followed by MT. Hoar of Mas
 sachusetts in opposition to the resolu
 ton. who counseled temperate action. MT. Hoar spoke in his usual calm anC | dignified style, and took occasion to de 1 ride buncomb appeals to constituent
 and braggadocio as to our nationa | strength. MT. Hoar's criticisms, al
 though impersonal, were clearly aimed | at MT. Mason. Senators Gallinger O I New Hampshire and Hawley of Con
 necticut also spoke. the former for tn | resolution and the latter urging that tn
 United States should not rush into wa
 while our coast defenses are manifestl. l inadequate. No final action on the res
 olution was taken.