Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1898-04-11

GUS cOlnCatS reported Wlcnln week, IN
each insurgents victorious"
Tie same day he sent to the State De-
partment a statement of the condition in
the towns in the neighborhood Of the city
of Havana, made by a person he had sent
to those places for the purpose Of inspect
ing the number and condition Of the starv-
ing. The statement covers four towns in
the neighborhood of Havana, and Is large
lily a repetition of the awful tale Of suffer.
ing ws!ca came fram tbs other portions Of
the island. At Melena. Del Sur. the state
ment says it is impossible for the mayor,
owing to the unhealthy conditions prevail
ing and the want of resources, to relieve
the miserable people. who die in great
numbers from starvation, fever and small
pox- There are other towns in the same
condition-for example. Guines. Catalina
and Nadruga-whose situation could be in
some degree relieved if the country people
were allowed to leave the town freely in
search of food. In some towns this is en-
tirely prohibited: in others they are obliged
to pay a tax. Not having anything to eat,
how can they pay tax? In every town
the first thing noticed is the unhealthy con-
dition of the men and their total lack of
physical strength At Catalina de Guines,
the statement reports, the condition Of the
reconcentrados is sad and desperate. There
are, 1t says, no zones of cultivation" and
the reconcentrados are not allowed to leave
the town in search of work or food even
with a military pass. Food is SO scarce
that one must walk four or five miles be-
fore finding a sweet potato. In these dis
tricts the relief given to the reconcentra-
dos by Gen. Blanco is farce" The land
near The town comprised In the zone for
cultivation, the statement says, has been
rented by four Spaniards, who have wealth
and influence, and they employ the few
reconcentradoS who are able to work at
30 or 40 cents per day, but nobody can
leave the town without a pass good for a
month, and which costs 20 cents. The
workmen have to leave at in the morn
Ing. and, not being able to take meals with
them, are obliged to work until q in the
evening without food. The women who
leave In search Of vegetables are some
times deprived of them on their way back
by guerrilas. In fifteen days 200 recon-
centrados have died in Guines from starva-
ton.
zone of the few protectors Of the recon-
centrados, in fact, i heroic one," says the
statement, is young man named Jose
Amohedo, whose father and mother died
attending the suffering poor, and who him
self has given up eight houses belonging to
him as dwelling places for the reconcen-
trados, all the contents of a grocery store
which ne possessed, and who is as desti-
tute as they are, but always attending to
those who suffer-
A Letter From Gen. Gomez.
On February Is Gen. Lee transmitted to
the department a letter, with its transla-
tiop, signed by the insurgent commander
in-chief, Gen. Gomez, addressed to Presi-
dent Mckinley. Gen. Lee says the letter
vas delivered by q messenger, who at once
departed before he saw or had any COM
municaticn with him. The letter is as fol-
lows:
Translation)
ITO William Mckinley, President of the
United States:
Sir: The heroic Cuban people possess as
a characteristic quality of its moral being
and development to a high degree one of
the most noble sentiments, namely, grati-
rude; whoever has done well for Cuba wins
for himself forever the lively recognition
OF the sons of Cuban soil. Your great .peo-
pie has given to the whole world an ex-
ample of lofty virtue, and to the shame
and stain of Spain not only has it shown
compassion before the great misfortunes
brought on Cuba by the ferccious Spanish
policy, but has extended a helping hand
to the unhappy victims of the warfare
carried on by the army of that nation.
1.-The gratitude Of this people must be on
par with that great and generous i'm
pulse, and II Cuba, by it's geographical sit
uation and the necessity of its commercial
existence, is called to maintain, once that
1t is free, and for the mutual benefit Of
both countries, closer relations with your
great republic, than with any other nation
whatever, from this day forward Cuba will
consider herself bound by closer tie in
the affection it bears for the noble Amer
lean magranimity.
However true and minute may be the
reports that you have heard, never will
you be able to form q just conception Of
all the bloodshed, the misery, the ruin and
the sorrow caused to the afflicted Cubans,
to obtain her independence, and how the
despotic spirit of Spain. irritated to the
last degree before the most just of all re-
bellion, has rcveled in the most implacable
destruction of everything, lives and prop
erty. The nation which at one time adopt
ed the inquisition and invented its tortures
las thy conceived the concentration scheme,
the most horrible Of all means, to martyr
iZe ana tnen 10 dTnlnllate an entlre people,
and If 1t has stopped in the path of de-
struction. 1t Is due in great measure to
the cry of indignation which the knowl-
edge of such horrors unanimously drew
from the states over which you govern.
1.-The people who are saved from extinc-
ton and whose evils your gifts assuage
are the people for whose liberty we daily
shed our blood on the fields of battle; the
country whose independence we now con-
quer at the point Of the sword for them
are also for US: blood Of our blood and flesh
of our flesh, We must rejoice with them in
their joys as We weep and sympathize with
them in their sorrows and griefs. Be not
surprised, then, that, as the general-in-
chief of this Cuban army, am so deeply
moved at the wave of compassion which
agitates your noble country, and that 1
concede to the request of the patriots l
command to appear before you the repre-
sentative of the great nation, as the expo
rent of our immense gratitude. l have,
therefore, sir, to fulfill conscientious duty
by setting forth fact which I beg you
will please transmit to the knowledge OF
the persons to whom is recommended the
philanthropic mission of succoring the un-