The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1898-03-08
HERE IS A Breakdown
Relief Supplies Not to be Sent
on Warships.
SPAIN, ALSO, EATS CROW
On the Elimination" That Lee
Should be Recalled.

Washington, March 1.-The navy depart
rnent announced at o'clock this after
noon that the cruiser Montgomery would
relieve the dispatch boat Fern at Havana
and that the Fern would carry provisions
and relief supplies to Matanzas and Sa-
qua This is understood to be a saisfac-
tory arrangement to the Spanish govern
rnent and will relieve the incident of It's
Irritating feature.
The decision of the navy department con
corning the sending of ships to Cuba was
made known at o'clock this afternoon
when the following brief statement was
posted by the bureau of navigation;
MONTGOMERY will relieve the Fern at
Havana. Fern will carry provisions to
Matanzas and Sagua Ia Grande."
This conclusion was reached after con-
ferences between the officials OF the state
and navy departments, aud it is un--.
stood to be such an adJus~ --Ss~--- not
lead to further objection 10y the Spanish
government.
The Fern is a dispatch boat without
heavy armament or guns, although she
belongs to the navy and is technically
naval vessel AS she comes as near be
ing a transport as anything in our naval
service, her selection will accord with the
Spanish suggestion that transport or
merchant ship undertake this carriage Of
relief supplies.
The sending Of the Montgomery 70 Ha-
vana is primarily intended TO replace the
Fern, which is now a. Havana. The
Montgomery is an unarmored cruiser of
2,0S9 tons, with an armament Of ten guns.
The plans of the navy department are
TO have the Montgomery start for Havana
at once, in order that the Fern may re-
turn to Key West in time to take on the
relief supplies reaching there next We'd
nesday. It VIII be the second visit of the
Montgomery TO Cuba, as she has only re-
Gently returned from a trip 10 Santiago
de Cuba and Matanzas.
Captain CroHninshield, chief of the bu-
reau of navigation. says that no time has
been fixed for the stay of the Montgomery
at Havana, as the only decision thus far
reached is that she will replace the Fern
there for the present
The Montgomery will be the first Unit
ed States warship at Havana since the
Maine disaster
Washington, March THE sending of
relief supplies to Cuba by naval vessels
underwent no change as the result of
Mr.. Du Bosses call at the state depart
ment today. On this matter he was fully
Informed, as it was through him that the
request had been made that the supplies
be sent on merchant vessels instead of
warships. Since making the request the
Spanish government had added nothing
further TO define it's attitude Mr. Du
Bose had felt from the first that it
would be far more desirable in the pres
ent condition of affairs to have the sup
plies go by transport or merchant YES
sci, and ne thought that this view of the
matter would be shared by the officials
here. He still felt that satisfactory un-
derstanding on the subject would be
reached. He dismissed the idea, in
speaking of the matter today, that in any
event there was serious significance in a
request of this kind. He viewed it as a
suggestion which any government might
make concerning its own ports, which, by
universal custom, are regulated as TO en-
trance and clearance of vessels by the
rules of the home government. If a trans
port or merchant vessel was finally Sc
ASClSu LOT inc Trip the incident would be
entirely relieved of significance, and if
the dispatch boat Fern were selected,
that, it was stated, would largely do
away with the objection which the Span
ish government raised as to the sending
of armed cruisers and gunboats for strict
ly relief work. Until the navy depart
ment definitely announced what vessels
would take the supplies il could not be
stated that the incident was closed, al
though neither at the navy department
Hor the Spanish legation was there any
serious tension over the negotiations.
The Fern is unquestionably a naval ship
but scarcely a warship in the proper
sense of the term, her principal use being
in dispatch carrying and in the trans
portation Of freight from one navy yard
10 another. Because of her ability to
handle freight in this way she is undoubt-
edly better adapted than either the cruis-