The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1898-04-12

not begin with the actual submission
OF the insurgents to the mother coun-
try and then only on such terms as
Spain herself might see fit to grant.
The war continued unabated. The re-
sistance of the insurgents was in no
-sn1Ds -diminishsd., - -si----s--a--
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 the new and inhuman
phase, happily unprecedented in the
modern history of civilized. Christian
people in the policy of devastation and
concentration, inaugurated by the cap
tain generals bando of Oct. u, 1896, in
the province of Pinar del Rio, and
which was thence extended to embrace
all of the island which the power of the
Spanish arms was able to reach by oc-
cupation or by military operations.
The peasantry, including all dwelling
in the open agricultural interior, were
driven into the garrison towns or iso-
lated places held by the troops The
raising of provisions of all kinds was
interdicted. Fields were laid waste
dwellings unroofed and fired, mills de.
stroyed and. i'm short, everything that
could desoiate the land and render IL
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 administra-
tion took office year ago. reconcentra-
ton, so-called, had been made effective
over the better part of the four central
and western provinces-Santa Clara.
Matanzas. Havana and Pinar del Rio
The agricultural population, to the
estimated number of 100000 or more
was herded within the towns and their
immediate vicinity, deprived of the
means of support, rendered destitute of
shelter. left poorly clad and exposed to
the most unsatisfactory conditions. As
the scarcity of food increased with the
devastation of the depopulated areas of
production, destitution and want be-
came misery and starvation. and month
by month the death rate increased in
an alarming ratio. BY March. 1897. ac-
cording to conservative estimates from
official sources, the mortality among
the reconcentrados from starvation and
the disease, thereto incident, exceeded
80 per centum OF the total number. No
practical relief was accorded to the
destitute. The overburdened towns,
already suffering from the general
dearth, could give no aid. So-called
zones Of cultivation established within
the immediate area of effective military
control, about the cities and fortified
camps, proved ilhsory as a remedy for
the suffering. The unfortunates. being
for the most part women and children.
with aged and helpless men. enfeebled
by disease and hunger. could not have
titled the soil without tools, seeds or
shelter. for their own support or for
the supply Of the cities. Reconcentra-
tion. adopted avowedly as a war meas
ure in order to cut OF the resources OF
the insurgents. worked its predestined
result. AS I said in my message of last
December II was not civilized warfare;
IL was determination. The only peace
1t could beget was that of the wilder
ness and the grave.
A Noticeable Change.
Meanwhile the military situation in
the island had undergone a noticeable
change. The extraordinary activity
that characterized the second year of
the war. when the insurgents invaded
even the hitherto unharmed fields of
Pinar del Rio and carried havoc and
destruction up to the walls of the city
of Havana itself. had relapsed into a
dogged struggle in the center and east
ern provinces. The Spanish army re-
gained a measure Of control in Pinar del
Rio and parts of Havana. but under the
existing conditions OF the rural coun-
try there was no immediate improve
ment of their productive situation.
Even thus partially restricted. the rev.
olutionists held 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 admins
tration found itself confronted with the
grave problem OF it's duty. My mes
sage of last December reviewed the sit
uafion and detailed the steps taken
with view Of relieving the acuteness