Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1898-04-14

| WASHINGTON, April 12--The presi-
! dents message, sent to congress yes
| terday, asks congress to authorize the
president to take measures to secure
| the termination of hostilities in Cuba
and to secure the establishment Of a
| stable government there, and to use
| the military and naval forces of the
| Unites States as may be necessary for
| those purposes. The president says
the only hope Of relief from condi-
| ton which can no longer be endured
| is the enforced pacifcation of the
| island The issue is now with con-
| gress and he awaits it's action, stand
| ing prepared to carry out every Obll-
! cation imposed on him by the consti-
tuition. SPANS decree for suspen
! sion of hostilities is submitted to con-
| gress for just and careful attention.
with the observation that if the meas
ure attains a successful result then our
| aspirations as a peace-lOying people
will be realized. If it fails it will be
only another justification for further
contemplated action. The Maine Incl
dent figures prominently in the mes
sage The president argues that the
| wreck of the Maine in Havana harbor
shows that Spain is not able to guar
antee security to foreign vessels.
Spain has disavowed any connection
with that disaster and has offered to
submit to arbitration all the differ
ences which may arise from that
affair.
In opening the president said that
the present revolution In Cuba is but
the successor Of other similar insur-
rections which have occurred in Cuba
against the dominion of Spain, extend
ing over period of nearly half a CEN
fury, each of which, during it's prog
gress, has subjected the United States
to great effort and expense in enforc-
ing it's neutrality laws, caused enorm-
Gus losses to the American trade and
commerce, caused irritation, annoy
ance and disturbance among our citi-
zens, and, by the exercise of cruel bar
barous and uncivilized practices of
warfare, shocked the sensibilities and
offended the humane sympathies of
our people. Since the present revolu-
ton began in February, 1895, this
country has seen the fertile domain at
our threshold ravaged by fire and
sword in the course of a struggle I'M
equaled i'll the history of the island
and rarely paralleled as to the number
of combatants and the bitterness Of
the contest by any revolution of mod
ern times where a dependent people,
striving to be free, have been opposed
by the power Of the sovereign state.
We have found ourselves constrained,
in the observance of that strict neu-
trality which our laws enjoin and
which the law of nations commands,
to police our own waters and watch
our own seapCrtS in prevention of any
unlawful act in aid of the Cubans
Our trade has suffered; the capital in
vested by our citizens in Cuba has been
largely lost, and the temper and for
bearance of our people have been so
sorely tried as to beget a perilous I'M
rest among our own citizens, which
has inevitably found it's expressions
from time to time in the national leg5
J islature, so that issues wholly exter2
attention and stand in the way of that
! close devotion to domestic advance-
ment that becomes a self-contnnted
commonwealth whose maxim has been
! the avoidance of all foreign ertangle2
ments. All this must needs awakeh
and has indeed aroused the utmost
! concern on the part of this govern
/ ment as well during my predecessors
administration as my own
In Apri, 4, 1896, the evils from
which our country suffered through
the Cuban war became so onerous,"
says the president, that my prede-
cessor made an effort to bring about
peace through the mediation of this
government. 1t failed through the
refusal Of the Spanish government
then in power to consider any form of
mediation or indeed any plan of set
tlement of the insurgents to the
mother country and then only on 'shch
terms as Spain herself might see fit to
grant The war continued undated.
The resistance of the insurgents was
in no wise diminished. The efforts of
Spain were increased, both by the dis
patch of fresh levies to Cuba eand by
the addition to the horrors of the
strife of new and inhuman phase
happily unprecedented in the modern
history of civilized Christiannpeoples.
The policy of devastation and eoncen-
tratlon, inaugurated by the seaptain-
generals bando of Oct. 21, 1866 in the
province of Pfnar del Rio, waswthence
extended to embrace all of theeisland
to which the power of the Spanish
arms was able to reach by OCCUPATION
or by military operations. The meas
antry, including all dwelling in the
open agricultural interior, were driven
into the garrison towns or isolated
places held by the troops. The raising
and movement of provisions of all