The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1898-03-30
Spanish Ignorance Of This Country.

The ignorance of Spanish naval off,
GERS OF the geography and resources OF
this country Is astounding, and Il they
do not post themselves better they will
be placed at great disadvantage should
hostlities occur. 1t Is stated. and some
OF the published remarks of Spanish Off
GERS confirm the statement, that these
officers who are serving in Cuba believe
that the reconcertradoc they see there
are representative types OF the Ameri-
can peopl-that is. the people OF the
United States. Under this impression
they have actually figured 1t out that 1t
will be an easy matter for them to land
their troops in Florida and make a con-
quest OF the whole country. So possess
ed are they with the comparatively easy
task that they have. some OF them. act
ually figured out how a Spanish army OF
but 10000 men could be landed in Flori-
da, and marched TO Washington and
New York. capturing both cities.
It must not be supposed that the Span
fish government Is so ignorant as all this,
but the idea exists amongsomeof the ma
val and military oflcers,und is generally
held among the Spanish people. who are
kept IN a state of ignorance regarding
the real conditions by the government
press censors. There is a low rate Of In
telligence among them and they rely on
the doctored representations OF the
Spanish press for their Information re-
sardlng America and Americans. judy
ing from some comments In these jour
mails daily telegraphed to the Amedcss
!, press, we may easily judge OF the char
aeter OF the Intelligence tina is being i'm
parted TO the masses at home. They
favc no idea OF the distance OF Florida
from New York, for instance. and have
queer notions Of things In general. An
American citizen who recently returned
from Cuba. in telling OF his experiences
there, makes the following statement,
which. while :t.may seem exaggerated,
Is no; SO strange, after all. considering
some Of the Spanlsh newspaper publlca-
lions We read:
While eating at the Cafe Inglaterra, in
Iavana,1 heave heard the Spanish objects
discussing the taking OF New York. / have
heard a Spanish officer tell an American
that with 10000 men he could liant at some
point in Florida and march as far as
$. washington.
The reply to this was that he undoubt-
gedly would be able to do so II tho police
didn't stop him. This was lost on the off,
Ger, but was laughed az by the few Amcri-
cans and Englishmcn present.
With n map OF America, one night, n
group OF Spanish officers was discussing
The vulnerable points ut which to land
an army. A naval officer who had never
been In New York was telling how ne
would like to get n map OF tho city. An
american who had one In his room saw
that he got 1t.
Tho map was gon over and studied.
The officer wanted to know where tho
bank was. A Cuban said there were n
IS great many banks In New York and point
cd to Wall street rs the financial centre.
When VIC land there said the naval
4 officer Il viii say to my boys, To the
bank! To the bank!'l will take 200 OF them
tand you VIII sec us make the Yankees
4 paym
Some Spanish officers understand tho
y situation differently, but Il great majority
Mtbing, =t -
When tho vIzcaya reached Havana
from New York some OF her men had
Y brought down from tho city snap shots Of
ST~ompdnsvillc and St George. Fog pro-
vented anyisnnp shots OF the bay and Now
york. Several photographs OF skY.scrap.