The record-union., 1897-05-20
STIRRING DEBATE
TN THE SENATE.
Continued from First Page.)


war, and relieve Spain of liability for
damages for the destruction to Amer
lean property.
OF the latter result he said: II would
not regard ii as a serious loss. ] have
found in the State Department claims
piled up there amounting to many mill
ions for destruction of American prop
ty in this rebellion, and IN each and
every instance the presentation 20 the
Spanish Government of such claim
has been followed by long diplomatic
correspondence, winding up in every
case, without single exception, with
a fiat, direct refusal to recognize such
a claim. And it is g notorious fact
that il Spain did recognize them she
would be unable to pay them. In all
seriousness, | had rather hold the opli-
cations of the insurgents than of
SPAIN
1t was time, Mr.. Foraker said, in
conclusion, that the United States
stopped policing her shores in the in
terest of Spain. 1t was time to end
this co-partnership in a brutal hellish
war, and, for his part, no vote or act
would continue this unholy alliance.
ton in the galleries as Mr.. Foraker
closed, but these were quickly checked
by the presiding officer.
Hoar replied to Foraker. contending
that the Senate should have authorita-
tive facts set forth like judicial find
ing of court in an official report. He
complained that Foraker wanted the
Senate to act on information which he
was not at liberty to disclose. The
practical thing was to propose media
ton, and if that was rejected, to have
the facts presented to the Senate, and
take the action the facts warranted.
What Spain had declined was what
any Self-reSpecting nation would de-
cline, that while she retained Cuba she
should make laws for that part of her
kingdom, without the dictation of the
United States. That was not a de-
clnation of mediation. Twenty years
ago Spain had said there might be cir
cumstances under which she would ac-
cept mediation And if the facts
claimed by the Senator from Ohio We're
true, it must seem to him that the gold
en- hour had arrived.
Hoar called attention to statement
in Secretary Olney's letter which For
aker had not read, that the war was
conducted by the insurgents not by
pitched battles, but by applying the
torch to plantations, and striving to
starve out the Spanish soldiers by de-
stroying the plantations result. If it
was true that insurgents were thus de-
stroying the property of American cit
liens, was it a violation of the rules of
war that they were banished or pun
ished by death? Il would like a re-
port from the Committee on Foreign
Relations on that point
He did not know whether if a Cuban
or an American citizen were caught
red-handed in such business he should
not be put to death. Federal soldiers
had been executed in the American re-
bellion after trial by a drumhead court
martial for burning military bridge.
Even though Spain refused to repay
American claims, Hoar argued, that it
did not follow that she would not be
compelled to pay them. England had
once refused point blank to pay the
Alabama claims, and the same power
which had forced England to pay those
claims would force Spain to pay
Thurston of Nebraska took the floor
intending to address the Senate when
the Cuban debate is resumed.
During the morning session the Sem
ate passed bills as follows: Author.
izing payment by the United States of
State and county taxes on land held
in severalty by Indians; granting med
ais to the survivors and heirs of vol
unteers of the Port Hudson Forlorn
Hope storming party; regulating the
pay of non commissioned officers of the
army after July l, 1898, as follows:
Sergeant-Major Quartermaster-S Ser
geant and First Sergeant $50 each per
month, Sergeant S23, Corporal S17: ap-
propriating $4,000 for Mammoth Hot
Springs, Yellowstone Park; S100, 000 for
a public building at Evanston, Wy;
$500, 900 for Oakland, Cal; authorizing
two bridges across the Mississippi Riv-
er at or near ST. Paul, Mimi: making
Great Falls, Mont, q port of entry.
AT 6 o'clock the Senate adjourned.