The Beaver herald. [volume] (Beaver, O.T. [Okla.]) 1895-1923, 1898-04-21
iHf WAR MUST CEASE.
President McKinley's Message to
Congress Reviews the Intoler-
able Conditions in Cuba.
IN FAVOR OF ARMED INTERVENTION.
Asks the Use OF Army and Navy to Pacify
the isiand-Opposes Present Recogui-
tion of Cuban Independence-Tbe Maine
Catastrophe Made q Part OF the IndIct-
meut Against Spain.

meut Against Spain.
WASHINGTON. April l2.-The presi-
dent yesterday sent the following mes
sage 10 the congress of the United
States:
Obedient 10 that precept of the constitution
which commands the president to give from
time to time the congress information OF the
state Of the union and TO recommend TO their
consideration such measures as he shall Judge
necessary and expedient It becomes my duty
now to address your body with regard to the
grave crisis that has arisen in the relations OF
the United States to Spain by reason of the
warfare that for more than three years has
ragged In the neighboring island of Cuba [ do
so because OF the intimate connection OF the
Cuban question with the state OF our own union
and the grave relation the course which is now
incumbent upon the nation to adopt must needs
bear to the traditional policy of our govern
mentn II is to accord with the precepts laid down
10y the founders Of the republic and relipiously
observed by succeeding administrations TO the
present day. The present revolution is
but the successor OF other similar
fnsurrections which have occurred in Cuba
against the dominion of Spain extending over
period of nearly half q century. each Of which
during Its progress has subjected the United
States TO great effort and expense in enforcing
its neutrality laws. caused enormous losses to
the American trade and commerce caused irri-
tation, annoyance and disturbance among our
citizens, and by the exercise OF cruel barbar-
Gus and uncivilized practices OF warfare
shocked the sensibilities and offended the hu-
name sympathies OF our people. Since the
present revolution began in February 1885
this country has seen the fertile domain at our
Threshold ravaged by fire and sword IN the
course of struggle unequaled in the history of
the island and rarely paralleled as TO the num-
ber OF the combatants and the bitterness of
w M luti nft Nj 81
where dependent people, striving to be free
have been opposed by the power of the sovereign
state. Our people have beheld once prosperous
community reduced to comparative want, its
commerce virtually paralyzed, its exceptional
productiveness diminished its fields laid waste,
its mills in ruins and its people perishing by
tens OF thousands from hunger and destitution.
We have found ourselves constrained, in the
observance of that strict neutrality which our
laws enjon and which the law OF nations COM
inands to police our own waters and watch our
own seaports in prevention of any unlawful act
in aid of the Cubans Our trade has suffered
the capital invested by our citizens in Cuba has
been largely lost, and the temper and forbear-
snce OF our people have been sorey tried as
TO beget IA perilous unrest among our own citi-
zens, which has inevitably found its expression
from time to time in the national legislature
so that issues wholly external to our own body
polite engross attention and stand In the way
of that close devotion TO domestic advancement
that becomes self-contented commonwealth
whose primal maxim has been the avoidance OF
all foreign entanglements All this must
needs sawaken and has indeed aroused the ut
most concern on the part of this government as
well during my predecessors as my own.
Efforts to Bring About Peace.
In April. 1896, the evils from which our coun-
try suffered through the Cuban war became so
onerous that my predecessor made an effort to
bring about peace through the mediation OF
this government in any way that might tend to
an honorable adjustment OF the contest be-
tween Spain and her revOlted colony, on the
basis Of some effective scheme of self-govern-
ment for Cuba under the flag and sovereignty
of Spain. IT failed, through the refusal of the
Spanish government then in power, to consid-
er any form OF mediation or indeed any plan OF
settlement which did not begin with actual
submission of the insurgents 10 the mother
country, and then only on such terms Spain
herself might see fit to grant The war con-
tinued unabated. The resistance of the in
surgents was in no wise diminished
Policy Of Devastation.
The efforts of Spain were increased both by
the dispatch of fresh levies to Cuba and by the
addition to the horrors of the strife OF new
and inhuman phase happily unprecedented in
the modern history of civilized Christian peo-
pies. The policy Of devastation and corcentra-
tion, inaugurated by the captain-general'
bando of october 81, 1896 In the province OF
Pinar del Rio was then extended TO embrace all
Of the island to which the power OF the Spanish
arms able to reach by occupation or mill
tary operations. The peasantry, including all
dwelling in the open agricultural interior, were
driven into the garrison towns isolated
places held by the troops. The raising and
movement of provisions OF all kinds were in
terdicted. The fields were laid waste, dwell
ings unroofed and fired. mills destroyed and. in
short. everything that could desolate the land
and render 1t unfit for human habitation or
support was commanded by one or the other Of
the contending parties, and executed by all the
powers at their disposal
BY the time the present administration took
ONCE year ago. RECOMMENDATION, so called,
had been made effective over the better part
of the four central and western provinces
Santa Clara. MatanZas, Havana and Pnar del
Rio. The agricultural population, to the es-
timated number OF 5000 or more, was de-
prived OF the means OF support, rendered desti-
tute Of shelter, left poorly clad and exposed to
the most unsanitary conditions. As the scar
city of food increased with the devastation of
the depopulated areas OF production, destitu-
tio' Id want became misery and starvation
Meth by month the death rate increased in
an alarming ratio by March. 1897, according
90 conservative estimates from Official Span
ish sources, the mortality among the reconcen-
trados from starvation and the diseases there
TO incident exceeded so per cent OF their total
number No practical relief was accorded To
the destitute The overburdened towns, al
ready suffering from the general dearth. could
give no aid So-called zones OF cultivation.
established within the immediate area of et-
fective military control about the cities |
and fortified camps proved illusory as a rem |
edy for the suffering The unfortu- |
mates, being for the most part women and chill |
dren with aged and helpless men, enfeebled by |
disease and hunger, could not have titled the |
soil without tools. seed or shelter, for their |
own support or for the supply OF the cities.
Recommendation adopted avowedly as war |
measure in order to cut on the resources OF the |
insurgents. worked its predestined results As |
said in my message OF last December 1t was |
not civilized warfare; it was determination. |
The only peace it could beget was that OF the
wilderness and the grave.
Relapsed into Dogged Struggle.
Meanwhile the military situation in the Is |
land had undergone noticeable change. The |
extraordinary activity that characterized the |
second year OF the war. when the Insurgents in
vaded even the hitherto unharmed fields OF
Pima del Rio and carried havoc and destitution !
up to the walls Of the city OF Havana itself, |
had relapsed into q dogged struggle In the CEN
tral and eastern provinces The Spanish arms /
regained 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 pro-
ductiye situation Even thus partially redis-
tricted the reyolutionists had their own and /
their submission. put forward by Spain as the
essential and sole basis OF peace. seemed as far
distant as at the outset In this state OF affairs
my administration found itself confronted
with the grave problem OF its day.
Overtures Made Last December.
MY msssass Ss .=s. December reviewed the
situation and detailed the steps taken with
a taaaa a