The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 18??-1935, 1898-03-18
THOUGHTS ABOUT CUBA.
BY "NEMo."

NACbAN W uSAOdb tnC insult 6ubby dlC
themselves undefeated; and the insur-
gents, elusive and triumphant and en-
during beyond usual measure in guerilla |
warfare, are no nearer the actual ac-
complishment of their purpose than
they were at the outbreak of hostilities. !
Nature and her CHASTITY hand maiden,
Pestilence, have fought for the insur-
gents; but Natures battlings have been
balanced by new arrivals of Spanish
soldiers-men, some of them; boys,
many of them-forced almost at bayonet
point to take the places of the diseased
and the dead. Against the doggedness
of the insurgent the pride of the ruler
has been matched. The insurgent can
hold out indefinitely; the Spaniard ,oiU
*x*
While the stubborn warfare of these
unyielding forces has proceeded with
luctuating results that in the long run
have practically balanced each other, a
third army of human beings has been
slowly ground to destruction. OF their
woes we must think, and, having
thought, we must act. Though the
Spaniards have been chiefly confined
within the limits set up by themselves;
prisoners, in fact, within their own for
titications, yet they have retained
fear-compelling power over the feeble
minds of the children and the timorous
natives of both sexes who were afraid
to fight and did not dare to flee. These
pdctfcOS quietly obeyed the govern
ment when orders went forth through
the country regions to gather within
town limits and stay there. The ex-
pected freedom to live in peace under
the surveillance of the Spanish army,
changed at once into death-dealing
bondage. Unable to cultivate land to
any great extent, bearded together in
huts unfit for swine, suffering from
lack of food, and by lack of food rem
dered more helpless and weak-spirited
than before, they have died like flies in
autumn; and in dying have suffered
woes that are unequalled even by the
| pACONJ cummings VI VIC AIUlCuldllS VI
the plague-ridden starvation of the
Hindoos. The language of moderate
woman like Clara Barton, the famous
Red-Cross heroine; and the stories pic
tured by the truthful camera, more than
Justify these comparisons. In one hos
pital alone-a place where care and
tender oversight are expected-four
hundred Of the pacifcos have died of
starvation. The burdens of the insur-
gents, who in rebelling, did so in the
full expectation of the fortunes and
p misfortunes of war, have been as
naught beside the woes of these un-
happy non-combatants. Where Spain
has slain its hundreds by fire and by
j sword, it has slain its hundreds of
thousands by hunger and by neglect.
This has taken place and is still doing
so within ninety miles of the land that
declares in favor of "life, liberty and
the pursuit of happiness"
$50
This war-measure of Spain against
harmless ones will ever stand out
prominently in the annals of the bru.
talities of which our race is capable
This is not war with its glamor or ex.
element and of chance, but relentless
murder without the shedding of blood.
wv
When man sees a weak one perse-
cuted and refuses to side with the weak
he is no man. The rule for a man is
the rule for nation. Murder of wo.
men and children, helpless and enfee.
bled and starving, is at our door and AT
last we begin to appreciate it, Their
broken lives, their untimely deaths
their rights to happier condition arc
making themselves slowly understood
among our people. Every stratum OF
society is permeated. The great under
: lying love of fair-play is stirring this
nation North and South. And is grid
ing itself to punish and not to wage
war.
#**
Let us be careful that our motives are
pure and our minds unconfused The
wild talk of laundering official like
De Lone is nothing to our great con
sentative millions. War or even the
: thought of war over such a matter i.
unworthy of contemplation. 1t would
be an absolute reversion to the barbara
{ Feasibility of olden times. We have
+ grown away from such things.
The selfish motives of tobacco factors
and sugar gamblers in pointing out t.
a great, fair-minded country a chance
to fitch from Spain, because she is weak
that which is hers as truly as New Eng
land is ours, has moved us only to con.
denim and not to approve. We refuse
to add to our racial problems at the nod
/ of self-seeking men. The heart of the
, nation is unresponsive to such tempta
ton, and Furthermore even the terrible
J Maine disaster, with its sorrow and its
loss has grandly shown to the worlC
: that we are slow to anger and plenteous
is conservatism. Despite all guesses t
the contrary, our people have refused
to believe that the Spanish government
could be suicidal enough to have direc
connection with the disaster. We be
lieve that she would foresee more dam
age to herself than to us in this sudder
and hOrri HE event If this wera al