The San Francisco call., 1898-03-24
Gallin8ep DenOunGeS the Brutality of Span
 iSh Rule.
Solemnly Declares the Time Has Come for America to Inter- fepe in the Cause of
 Humanity.

ton instead of war of honor, yet such is an absolute fact. A visit was paid to care of Miss Clara Barton. It contains about fifty children, almost every one of whom is a victim of starvation- Dr. Lesser, one of Miss Barton's assistants, has had experience in the Armenian and Indian famines, but he declares that the famine in Cuba is worse than that in terrible suffering and starvation in the island more than confirm all that has been written upon the subject.
 A detailed story of a visit to Los Aocas, the place where the reconcen- trados daily assemble to get food, was given. A few weeks ago, when Miss Barton discovered the place, there were 645 people lying on the floors, many of them entirely nude and all suffering the bangs of starvation. Much has been done by the Red Cross Society to alleviate the condition of those who still remain, but scores of men, women and children are yet there, gaunt and bony, almost skeletons, many of them covered with sores directly traceable to insufficient food.
 What a chapter of horrors and death is that" he exclaimed. And still the tragedy goes on. How much longer it shall continue depends largely upon the forbearance of a great people, who, through suffering and sorrow, achieved their own independence. and whose sympathies have always gone out to the oppressed of all nations of the World.'
 A vivid picture was then drawn by MT. Gallinger of a trip to the city of Matanzas. All along the route were wretched people in rags, but not until the city was reached was the full ex- tent of the suffering realized. Said he:
 It occurred to me as I looked upon the scenes of suffering and horrors that the Cuban reconcentrados might well have adopted the words of Dante, "Who enters here leaves hope behind,' when theYwere driven from the fields and herded like cattle in the cities and towns of this fer tile land. The truth is that Weyler de- vised a scheme of human suffering and sorrow that put Dante'S Inferno in the shade and converted a contented, pros porous people into a herd of suffering, starving unfortunates.
 Matanzas is literally a place of beggary and death. Never before did my eyes be- hold such suffering, and never again do l expect to see such havoc wrought through a cruel and inhuman decree. visit to the MatanZas hospitals revealed an even more shocking condition than that of the streets. Members of the Red Cross Society who had visited one of the hospitals two weeks before were almost overcome upon discovering that nearly every one of the inmates at that time had since died. There poverty, sorrow and suffering were depicted in their worst forms. Children, gaunt in face, but with abdomen and limbs terribly swollen; wo-
 
 men also there were, all rapidly drifting to death. If there was food in these hos pitals I did not discover it; neither were there signs of medicine or of proper nursing and care.
 The Governor of Matanzas informed MT. Gallinger that the first day he oc- cupied the place fifteen persons had died in the courtyard. He said, fur ther that in the city 1200 had died in December, TOO in January and 300 in '. ing simply because the reconcentrados. through the ravages of death, were be- coming fewer.
 The number of people who have starved in Cuba will never be definitely known. It is estimated that 80O,O0O were driven towns. I had it from Spanish authority that, according to their figures, 225, 900 al ready have perished, but 1t is said that the Red Cross Society is in possession of figures showing that 425, 900 Culans have died as the result of starvation and that 100000 more must inevitably die.
 I have been asked many times, What of the Maine? I do not know. This, how ever, I do know: A Government that will deliberately starve 900 of it's own peo- pie will do pretty much anything. If the Ship was blown up from the outside what should our Government do? Perhaps I should forbear to discuss the question man life purposely taken cannot be paid for in gold or silver. Mark my words ''purposely taken and if it shall ap- pear that such was the fate of 250 brave American sailors, then heaven pity the guilty parties. It will not be question for arbitration, but a question involving the dignity and honor of this great re- public.
 Discussing the question of Spanish rule, MT. Gallinger referred to the mat ter of taxation. In addition to direct and indirect taxes on real estate, there is a tax on every door, every window and every chimney in every house; on every letter in every business sign and on every name in every hotel register. Licenses are required to build houses and to paint houses. There is a tax on food animals as a whole, special taxes on the horns, the hoofs and the hide In addition to all this, the interest on the debt is a tremendous burden, the salaries of the Spanish officials are be- yond all reason, and the amount of money Wrung from the Cubans to keep the Madrid Government from complete insolvency is simply enormous.
 American interests in Cuba" said he, in conclusion, "have already suf- fered enough. We have patrolled our coast in the interest of Spain as long as we should, and we have spent quite too much money in protecting our peo- pie from epidemic diseases coming to our shores because of the unSanitary conditions of the harbor and city of Havana. Spain has failed to meet the requirements of an advanced civiliza- tion Let the United States or Cuba H.