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

'were laid waste. dwellings, unroofed
and fired, mills DESTROYED and in short.
everything that could desolate the land
and render it unfit for human habita-
ton or support was commended by
one or the other of the contending par
ties and executed by all the powers at
their disposal. By the time the pres
ent administration took office a year
ago, recommendation, so-called, had
been made effective over the better
part Of the four central and western
provinces. Santa Clara. Matanzas,
Havana and Pinar del Rio. The agri-
cultural population, to the estimated
number of 100000 or more, was herded
within the towns and their immediate
vicinity deprived of their means of
support, rendered destitute of shelter.
left poorly clad and exposed to the
most unsanitary conditions. As the
scarcity of food increased with the
devastation of the depopulated areas
of production, restitution and want
became misery and starvation. Month
by month the death rate increased in
an alarming ratio, by March, 1897. &C
cording to conservative estimates from
official Spanish sources, the mortality
among the reconcentrados from star
walton and the diseases thereto incl
total number. AS I said in my mes
sage last December, it was not civil
lied warfare; it was determination.
The only peace it could beget was that
of the wilderness and the grave.
Meanwhile the military situation
in the island had undergone a notice
able change. The extraordinary ac-
tiyity that characterized the second
| year of the war, when the insurgents
! invaded even the hitherto unframed
| fields of Pinar del Rio and carried
havoc and restitution up to the walls
Of the city of Havana itself had re-
! lapsed into a logged struggle in the
central and eastern provinces. The
| Spanish arms regained a measure of
control in Pinar del Rio and parts Of
Havana, but, under the existing con-
IttlOns of the rural country, without i'm
DEOuuc-
! tive situation. Even thus partially
restricted the revolutionists had their
! own way and their submission, put
forward by Spain as the essential and
| sole basis of peace, seemed as far dis
| tant as at the outset. In this state of
affairs, my administration found itself
| confronted with the grave problem Of
! it's duty. My message of last Deem
| Der reviewed the situation and de-
tailed the steps taken with view of
relieving it's acuteness and opening
the way to some form of honorable
I settlement. The assassination of the
prime minister, Canovas, led to a
change of government in Spain The
/ former administration, pledged to sub
! jugation without concession, gave
! place to that of a more liberal party,
| committed long III advance to a policy
| of reform involving the wider principle
! of home rule for Cuba and Puerto Rico.
/ The overtures of this government,
made through it's new envoy, Gen.
| Woodford, and looking to an immedi-
| ate and effective ame1ioration of the
! condition Of the island, although not
accepted to the extent of admitted me-
diation in any shape, were met by as
! surances that home rule in an adj
| Vanced 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.
while these negotiations were in
progress, the increasing restitution of
the unfortunate reconcentrados and
the alarming mortality among them
/ claimed attention. The success which
! had attended the limited measure of
| relief extended to the suffering Ameri-
can citizens among them by the judi
! cious expenditure through the consular
! agencies of the money appropriated
| expressly for their succor by the joint
! resolution approved May "a, 1897,
prompted the humane extension of
! similar scheme to the great body of
| sufferers. The propositions submitted
| by Gen. Woodford and the reply of the
| Spanish government were both in tho
! form of brief memoranda, the texts of
! which are before me, and are substan-
TALLY in the language given. The
function of the Cuban parliament in
/ in the matter of preparing peace and
the manner of it's doing so are not ex-
pressed in the Spanish memorandum;
but from Gen. Woodford's explanatory
reports of preliminary discussions pre-
ceding the final conference it is under
stood that the Spanish government
stands ready to give the insular con-
gress full powers to settle the terms of
peace with the insurgents, whether to
this end was acquiesced in by the
Spanish authorities.
The war in Cuba is of such a nature
that short of subjugation or EXTERN
ination a final military victory fol-
either side seems impracticable The
alternative lies in the physical ex-
! haustlOn of the one or the other party,
or perhaps of both, condition which
in effect ended the ten years war by
the truce of zanjon. The prospect of
such a protraction and conclusion of
the present strife is contingency
hardly to be contemplated with equani-
nifty by the civilized world and least
OF all by the United States, affected
and injured as we are, deeply and init
mately by it's very existence Realiz-
ing this, it appeared to be my duty, in
spirit of true friendliness, no less to
Spain than to the Cubans who have so