Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1898-04-11
ARMED INTERVENTION
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fCOEtfnued from First Page)
Of devastation and concentration. inaugu-
rated By the Captain Generals hando Of
October q, 1896, in the province of Pinar
del Rio was thence extended to embrace
all of the island to which the power CT
the Spanish arms was able to reach by &C.
cupatioa or by military operations. The
peasantry including all dwelling in the
open scr cultural interior were driven into
the garrison towns or Isolated places held
by the troops.
The raisirg and movement of provisions
OF all kinds were interdicted. The fields
were laid waste, dwellings unroofed and
fired. mills destroyed and. in short, every
thing that could desolate the land and rem
der IL unfit for human habitation or sup
port was commanded by one of the other
of the contending parties and executed by
all the powers at their disposal
By the time the present administration
took Office year ago. reconcentration-so
called-had been made effective over thu
ern provinces, Santa Clara. Matanzas, Ha-
vana ani Pinar del Rio.
The agricultural population, to the esd-
mated number of 100000 or more, was
herded within the towns and their immedi-
ate vicinage. deprived of the means of sup
port, rendered destitute of shelter, left
poorly clad, and exposed to the most I'M
sanitary conditions. AS the scarcity Of food
increased with the devastation of the de-
populated areas of production, restitution
and want became misery and starvation.
Month by month the death rate increased
in an alarming ratio. By March, 1897, ac-
cordirg to conservative estimates from Off
cial Spanish sources, the mortality among
the reconcentrados, from starvation and
the diseases thereto incident, exceeded 80
per centum of their total number.
No Practical Relief Accorded.
No practical relief was accorded to the
destitute. The oyerburdehed towns, al
ready suffering from the general dear:h,
could give no aid. So-called zones of cul-
tivation established within the immediate
area CT effective military control about the
cities and fortified camps proved illusory
as remedy for tie suffering. The unfor-
tunates, being for the most part women
and children, with aged and helpless men.
enfeebled by disease and hunger, could not
have TILED the soil, without tools, seed or
shelter, for their own support or for the
supply of the cities RECOMMENDATION,
adopted avcwsdly as war measure in
order to cut of the resources Of the insur-
gents. worked its predestined result. As
I said in my message of last December. it
vas not civilized warfare: it was extermi-
nation The only peace it could beget was
that of the wilderness and the grave.
Meanwhile. the military situation in the
Island had undergone noticeable change.
The extraordinary activity that character
lied the second year of the war, when the
insurgents invaded even the hitherto I'M
harmed fields OF Pinar del Rio and carried
havoc and destruction up to the walls Of
the city of Havana itself, had relapsed
into a dogged struggle in the central and
eastern provinces. The Spanish arms re-
gained a measure Of control in Pinar del
Rio and parts Of Havana, but, under the
existing conditions Of the rural country,
without Immediate Improvement Of their
productive situation. Even thus partially
restricted the revolutionists held their own
and their conquest and submission, put
forward by Spain as the essential And sole
basis of peace. seemed as far distant as at
the outset.
A Grave Problem OF Duty.
In this state of affairs. my administra-
ton found itself confronted with the grave
Problem of its duty. My message Of last
December reviewed the situation, and mar
rated the steps taken with a view to re-
hevng its acuteness and opening the way
J to some form OF honorable settlement. The
assassination of the prime minister CaIio-
vas. led to change Of government in
Spain The former administrator, pledged
to subjugation without concession, gave
place to that Of more liberal party, COM
united long in advance to a policy Of re-
fern involving the wider principle Of home
rule for Cuba and Puerto Rico.
The overtures OF this government, made
through its new envoy, General Woodford,
and looking to an immediate and effective
aneiioration Of the condition Of the island,
although not accepted to the extent OF adj
mitted mediation in any shape. were met
by assurances that home rule, In an ad-
ranced phase, would be forthwith offered
70 Cuba. without waiting for the war to
end, and that more humane methods should
thenceforth prevail in the conduct Of hos
Utilities. Coincidentally with these declara-
lions, the new government of Spain con-
til Ted and completed the policy already
begun by its predecessor, Of testifying
friendly regard for this nation by releasing
American citizens held under one charge
or another connected with the instruction.
30 that, by the end of November not a Gin
gle person entitled in any way to our ma
ucnal protection, remained in a Spanish
prison.
While these negotiations vera in progress,
The Increasing restitution Of the unfortu-
hate reconcentrados and the alarming NOR
ta,ity among them claimed earnest atten-
don- The success which had attended the
limited measure of relief extended to the
suffering American citizens among them by
the judicious expenditure through the con-
so,ar agencies OF the money appropriated
expressly for their succor by the joint reso-
hutton approved May "a, 1891. prompted the
humane extension of a similar scheme of
aid to the great body Of sunererA A sug-
ges;ton to this end was acquiesosd in by
the Spanish authorities. On the 9th Of De-
cember last caused to be Issued an ap-
peal to the American people, inviting con-
trtbutions in money or in kind for the sue
cor Of the starving sufferers in Cuba, fol-
lowing this on the Sth OF January BY q
similar public announcement Of the fornna-
ton Of a central Cuban relief committee
with headquarters In New York city, COM
posed OF three members repressntiag the
American National Red Cross and the re.
liS1ous and business elements Of the COM
u.unity.