Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1898-04-21


gered American interests Which Give
Us the Right and the Duty to Speak
and to Act, the War In Cuba Must
Stop"
WASHINGTON, April 1.-THE presi-
dent sent the following message to the
congress of the United States.
The Message.
Obedient to that precept of the constitution,
which commands the president to give from
time to time the congress information OF the
state OF the Union ana 10 recommend 10 Ihelr
consideration such measures as he shall Judge
necessary and expedient, it becomes my duty
now to address your body. with regard to the
grave crisis that has arisen In the relations of
the United States to Spain by rea-
son of the warfare that for more
than three years has ragged in the neighboring
island of Cuba l do so because OF the intl-
mate connection of :he Cuban question with the
state of-ourown Union, and the grave relations,
the course which Is now incumbent upon the
nation to adopt must needs bear to the tradi-
tional policy of our government, if it is to &C
cord with the preceptS laid down by the found
ers OF the republic and religiOuSly observed by
succeeding administrations to the present day.
But the Successor of Similar Revolutions.
The present revolution is but the successor
of other similar instructions which have oc-
CURED in Cuba against the dominion of Spain,
extending over a period of nearly half a CEN
subjected the United States to great effort and
expense in enforcing its neutrality laws caused
enormous losses TO American trade and COM
merce; caused irritation, annoyance and dis
turbance among our citizens, and by the exer-
else OF cruel, barbarouS and unciyiliZed prac-
tees OF warfare, shocked the SenStbllitieS and
offended the humane sympathieS of our people.
A Fertile Domain Ravaged.
Since the present revolution began, in Feb
ruary. 1879. this country has seen the fertile
domain at Our threshold ravaged by fire and
sword in the course of q struggle uneoualed in
the history of the island, and rarely paralleled
as to the number of the combatantS and the
bitterness of the contest by any revolution OF
modern times where dependent people, Striv-
ing TO be free, have been opposed by the power
of the SOVEREIGN state Our people have beheld
once prosperous community reduced to COM
parative want, its commerce virtually para
ished. its fields laid waste, it's mills in ruins
and its people perishing by tens Of thousands
from hunger and restitution
Onerous Duties Entailed by Neutrality.
We have found ourselves constrained in the
observance OF that strict neutrality which our
laws enjoin and which the law of nations
our own seaports in prevention Of any unlawful
act in aid of the CubanS. Our trade has suffered;
the capital invested by our citizens in Cuba
mas DSen largely lost, and the temper and
forbearance of our people have been so
sOrely tried to beget a perilous unrest
among our own citizens, which has in
evitably found its expression from time to
time in the national legislature that issues
wholly external to our own body polite engross
attention and stand in the way of that close de-
Yotlon to domestic advancement that becomes
seif-cOntented commonwealth whose primal
entanglementS. All this lust needs awaken
and has indeed aroused the utmost concern on
the part OF this government as well during my
predecessors as my own administration
Efforts of the Previous Administration.
In April 1896 the evils from which our coun-
try SuHered through the Cuban war became so
bring about q peace through the intervention
OF this government in any way that might tend
to an honorable adjustment OF the contest be-
tween Spain and her reVOlted colony on the
basis of some effective scheme of Self-gov-
eminent for Cuba under the flag and
the refusal OF the Spanish government then in
power to consider any form OF mediation or,
indeed any plan of settlement which did not be-
gin with the actual submission of the inSur-
gents to the motner country. and then only on
such terms IS Spain herself might see lit to
sistance OF the insurgents in nowiSe dimin-
ished-
Spain's Futile and Inhuman Efforts.
The efforts OF Spain were increased, both by
addition TO the horrors of the strife of a new
and Inhuman phase. happily unprecedented in
pies The policy of devastation and concentra-
tion inaugurated by Capt.-Gen. Bando on Oc-
tober q, 1885, in the province of Pinar del Rio.
was thence extended to embrace all of the
island to which the power of Span
ish arms was able to reach by
occupation or by military operations The
peasantry. including all dwelling in the open
agricultural interior, were driven into the gar
rison towns or isolated places held by the
troops. The raising and movement of provi-
SionS Of all kinds were interutcted. The fields
were laid waste, dwellings unrOofed and fired.
could deSolate the land and render it unit for
human habitation or support was commanded
W ohe OF tne oIheT VI the concerning partieS,
and executed by all the powers at their dis
poSaL
The So-CaIIed Recommendation.
BY the time the present administration took
had been made effective over the better part of
the four central and western provinces, Santa
Clara, Matanzas, Havana and Pinar del Rio.
The agricultural population, to the estimated
number of 10000 or more, was herded within
the towns and their immediate vicinage, de-
prlved of the means of support, rendered
destitute of shelter, left poorly clad and exposed
to the most unSanitary conditions
Destruction, Misery and Starvation.
AS the scarcity of food increased with the de-
VISITATION OF the depOpulaJed areas of produc-
ton, restitution and want became misery and
starvation Month by month the death rate in
creased in alarming ratio BY March, 1891 ac-
cording to conservative estimates, from ofncial
Spanish sources, the mortality among the re-
cOncentradOeS from starvation and the diseases
thereto incident, exceeded 30 per centum OF their
total number. No practical relief was ac-
corded to the destitute. The overburdened
towns, already suffering from the general
dearth, could give no aid. SO-called zones of
cultivation established within the immediate
area of effective military control about the Cit
les and fortified camps proved missionary as
remedy for the suffering The unfortunateS,
being for the most part women and children,
with aged and helpless men, enfeebled by dis
ease AMI hunger, could not have titled the soil.
without tools, seed or shelter, for their own
support or for the supply of the cit
les Recommendation. aIopted avowedIy as
a war measure, IN order to cut OF the
resources OF the insurgents, worked its predes-
December. it was not u civilized warfare; it
was determination The only peace it could
beget was that of the wilderness and the grave
A DOgged Struggle.
Meanwhile the military situation in the
island had undergone noticeable change. The
extraordinary activity that characterized the
second year of the war, when the insurgents IN
Pinar del Rio, and carried havoc and deStltu-
ton up to the walls Of the city of
Havana itself, had relapsed into
eastern provinces The Spanish arms re-
gained a measure OF control in Pinar del Rio
conditions of the rural country, without i'm
mediate improvement of their productive Sltua-
ton Even thus partially restricted, the revo-
sion. put forward by Spain as the essential ana
sole basis of peace, seemed as FAR distant as at
the outset.
Confronted with Grave Problem.
In this state OF affairs, my administration
found itself confronted with the grave problem
of its duty. My message of last December re-
viewed the situation and detailed the steps
taken, with view of relieving its acuteneSS
aud opening the way to some form or honora-
ble settlement. The assassination of the prime
minister, CHnOvas, led TO q change of govern
ment in Spain The former administration.
pledged 10 Subjugatlon without concession.
party, committed long in advance to o policy
of r. form, involving the principle of home
rule for Cuba and Puerto Rico. The Overtures
OF this government made through its new
voy, Gen Woodford. and looking to an imme-
diate and effective amelioration OF the condi-
tion OF the island, although not accepted to the
extent OF admitted mediation in any shape,
were met by assurances that home rule in an
advanced phase, would be forthwith offered to
Cuba, without waiting for the war to end and
that more humane methods should thenceforth
prevail in the conduct of hoStilities.