The Monmouth inquirer., 1898-03-24
PROCTOR ON CUBA.
Tells of Frightful Condition of Noncom-
batants on the Island.

batants on the Island.
Washington, March Ex-senator Proc
tors speech giving the result of his OBJ
servations in Cuba is construed by most
of the senators and representatives who
listened to it as foreshadowing the rec
ognition of the independence of Cuba by
the administration.
While Senator Proctor distinctly dis
claimed in any way representing the
president, and declared that no one but
himself was responsible for anything
in his speech, the senator has had two
long talks with Mr. Mckinley about
Cuban matters since his return from
the island. The last of these confer
ences was Wednesday, after he had pre-
pared his speech, and it is assumed by
senators, knowing the close relations of
the Vermont senator with the admins
tration, that he would not say anything
in his speech that did not meet the full
approval of the president.
The speech was plain, straightfor-
ward statement of what the senator
had seen and heard in Cuba. Not for
an instant did the interest of the sena-
tors on the floor or the occupants of the
gallery lag. He said in part:
Havana, the great city and capital Of the
island, is in the eyes of the Spanfards and
many Cubans, all Cuba. as much as Paris
is France. But having visited it in more
peaceful times and seen its sights, the
tomb of Columbus the forts Cabana and
Morro castle, etc, | did not care to repeat
this, preferring trips in the country. Ev
erything seems to go on much as usual in
Havana. Quiet prevails, and except for
the frequent squads of soldiers marching
to guard and police duty and their abound
ing presence in all public places one secs
little signs of war.
oil fu o1,a ic
not peace, nor is it war. 1t is desolation
and Distress misery and starvation. Ev-
cry town and village is surrounded by
trocha or trench, sort OF rifle pit but
constructed on plan new to me, the dirt
being thrown up on the inside and barb
ed wire fence on the outer side of the
trench. These trochas have at every cor
ner and at frequent intervals along the
sides what are called forts, but which are
really small blockhouses many of them
more like a large sentry box, loopholed for
nlusketry and with a guard of from two
to ten soldiers in each. The purpose OF
these trochas is to keep the reconcentra-
out. From all the surrounding country the
people have been driven into these forti-
fed towns and held there to subsist as
they can. They are virtually prison yards
and not unlike one in general appearance,
except the walls are not so nigh and
strong but they suffice where every point
is in range of a soldiers rifle, to keep in
the poor reconcentrado women and chill
dren. Every railroad station is within one
OF these trOenaS ana mas an armed Budfu.
Every train has an armored freight car,
loopholed for musketry and tllled with
soldiers and with, as l observed usually
and was informed is always the case,
pilot engine a mile or so in advance. There
are frequent blockhouses inclosed by tro-
cha and with a guard along the railroad
track. With this exception there is no hui
man life or habitation between these tortf-
fled towns and villages, and throughout the
whole of the four western provinces, ex-
cept to very limited extent among the
hills where the Spaniards have not been
able to go and drive the people to the towns
and burn their dwellings, ! saw no house
or hut in the 400 miles of railroad rides
from Pinar del Rio province in the west,
across the full width of Havana and Ma
tanzas provinces and to Sagua la Grande
on the north shore and to Cienfuegos on
the south shore of Santa Clara, except
within the Spanish trochas. There are no
domestic animals or crops on the rich
fields and pastures except such as are un-
der guard in the immediate vicinity Of the
towns In other words, the Spaniards
hold in these four western provinces just
what their army sits en. Every man.
woman and child and every domestic ami
nal wherever their columns have reach
ed is under guard and within their 50 call
ed fortifications. TO describe one place is
to describe all. To repeat. it is neither
peace nor war. II is concentration and
/ 1esolation. This is the 'paciied' condition
Of the four western provinces.
( Senator Proctor then reviews at
4 length the relief work instituted by the
[ people Of the United States and has
warmest praise for Miss Clara Barton
and her assistants of the Red Cross So
ciety. Consul General Lee and the other
I United States consuls are also highly
complimented upon the work they are
doing for the relief of the suffering re-
concentrates.
TOO Late For Autonomy.
Referring to the plan Of autonomy,
f Senator Proctor said:
The dividing lines between parties are
( the most straight and clear cut that have
ever come to my knowledge The division
\ in our war was by no means so clearly
defined. 1t is Cuban against Spaniard. lit
I Is practically the entire Cuban population
on one side and the Spanish army and the
4 Spanish citizens on the other I do not
count the Auton0nists in this division, as
j they are so far tco neonsiderable in num-
/ bers to be worth counting. General Blanco
4 filed the civil Offices with men who had
! been Autonomists and were still classed as
SUCH But the march of events has conYinc-
/ ed most Of them that the chance for auton-
/ omy came too late. 1t falls as talk of
K tcompromise would have fallen the last
year or two Of our war. 1T it succeeds, ii
! can only be by armed force, by the tri-
umph OF the Spanish army and the sue