Little Falls herald. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1889-1950, 1898-08-05
!. CUBANS AS ALLIES.
Mr.. PEPPER GIVES HIS VIEWS AS 10
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Thinks They VIII Cause No Trouble-New
: Arrivals In Cuba Fomented the Dinacul-
ty Between shsfter and Garcia, He De-
olares-Enect Of Meddlers. .n T. .@
I Mr.. Charles M. Pepper, who was
With the American army until after the
capitalization of Santiago, returned to
Washington. As he has probably been
in closer contact with the Cuban insur-
gents than any other American and has
rs good knowledge of their struggles
and their general character, he was
asked to give his views as to the cam
paign made by General Shafter and
also as to the reported difficulty between
the American commander and General
Garcia, the Cuban leader. Mr.: Pepper
said:
"There seems a disposition now to
question the effectiveness of the Cubans
as allies and to predict that when the
Spanish forces have evacuated Santiago
the next business of the American army
of occupation will be to settle the in
surgents. It might he we'll to await the
full statement of the misunderstanding
between General Garcia and General
Shafter before drawing conclusions of a
permanent split. Twenty thousand
American soldiers were engaged in the
operations before Santiago. The Cubans
numbered 4, 600, yet it was assumed by
many that they would show up as con-
spic'"'. Fly as our own troops Garcia
was >4ned for letting General Pando
get into the city with 5000 Spanish re-
endorsements, but when it subsequently
appeared that neither Pando nor the re-
endorsements were there nothing was
said.
1.-THE Cubans offered as allies to the
American army the men who had for
three years been engaged in bush
whacking, guerrilla warfare. The mass
of them presented themselves at Baiquiri
and Siboney barefooted and in their
shirt tails, and most Of their shirts were
ribbons of rags. They were greedy for
the rations issued, and in two weeks
they did not succeed in satisfying a
three years. hunger. The American SOL
diers were also hungry during several
days, but they knew of the tomorrow
habit, and they never thought of put
ting off the fighting till their stomachs
were full The Cubans, under the in
structions that had been given, were not
placed in the vanguard in taking the
blockhouses and forts, and it is unques-
tionably true that they did not share to
an appreciable extent in those assaults.
1t was method of fighting of which
they had no conception, but this was
not surprising. The foreign military at
taches who watched the two days. bat
ties were frank in their own expressions
Of opinion whether trained European
soldiers could have been led or driven
against fortified positions when the artil-
lery had failed, as it did in those in
stances, and the American troops took
the intrenchments by common impulse
without being either led or driven. As
to whether the Cuban troops failed in
anything that was expected Of them or
in any duty assigned to them the Amer
lean commanders are competent judges.
II do not believe that the Cubans,
who for three years kept up the fight
against the Spanish troops in the bushes
and in the mountains at such tremen-
dous sacrifices, will ever be cause Of
trouble to the United States. It is be-
cause Of their endurance that the flag of
Spain is disappearing from the West In
dies. That the superior force of the
United States has been necessary to
cause it's disappearance does not change
the conditions. The present trouble is
not due to the Cubans who have been
fighting for three years. It seems to be
fermented by those who during that
time were in the United States. Some
of them went back under the wing of
the American army, and they were be-
coming pretty numerous. Most of them
are bad advisers and mischief makers.
It is unfortunate that some of them
seem to have ingratiated themselves into
General Garcia s confidence
I'm the conditions which obtained at
Santiago it was better that no Cuban
troops should enter the city until the
Spanish soldiers had been embarked.
This was a temporary condition, and,
though General Garcia s susceptibilities
might have been wounded by it, his
good sense would probably have pre-
vented complaint if he had been left to
himself. The presence with his COM
mand of some recent arrivals from New
York explains his grievance, though
it does not justify his course. General
Wood has been emptying the jails and
prisons of political prisoners who were
found there, imprisoned under Spanish
judicial processes without trial and
without recourse. The Cubans may be
pardoned if they failed to understand
even the temporary continuance of the
Spanish judicial officers who were re-
sponsible for their imprisonment. Their
cooperation with such officials could
hardly be hearty, and their acceptance
under implied penalty of future disbar.
ment in civil government if they re-
fused would not be valuable. There are
problems enough in the future control
Of Cuba. Their solution will not be
aided by dependence on a remnant of
Spanish oficialism which was part Of a
rotten system. The Cubans on their