The San Francisco call., 1898-02-26


 expressing any opinion officially. They all continue to urge patience on the part of the public until all pos sible evidence be obtained and sooer- ly considered.
 The only result Of the Cabinet meeting may be said to be this: No efforts are to be spared to ascertain the cause of the disaster in Havana ! harbor and in the meantime the United States is to be prepared for any eventuality. Proceeding on the assumption that the report of the Court of Inquiry will show that the Maine was blown up by some ex- the possibility of getting further evil dence to determine the exact charac- ter of that agency. There is no doubt, as previously stated in the Herald, that if the report of the Court of In- quiry shows an outside explosion, Spain will be held responsible wheth- CT the exact character of the explo- sion is fully determined or not. Much will depend, however, upon whether the disaster occurred through the medium of a torpedo, a mine, or some other implement of war under the control of the Spanish Govern ment, in fixing the degree of respon- sibility.
 It is for this reason that every possible effort will be made to ascer- tain the real cause, although the diff ficulty of getting exact evidence as to the character of the explosion is fully appreciated. The authorities have been discussing the possibility of getting at the exact conditions by building a rotterdam around the for ward part of the ship.
 MT. Cramp, the well-known ship builder, has expressed the opinion that this will be necessary in order to raise the wreck and the question is being discussed whether, if this were done, any signs of mine could be discovered. All of this, of course, would take time, but if it gave any P1 OlA4oC Ol re- suit the President, in his desire to judicially examine and carefully weigh every scrap of evidence that can be obtained, would be willing to forego his final conclusion until it could be done.
 Once he is thoroughly convinced that an implement of war under con- trol of the Spanish Government caused the disaster it can be definite ly stated that the President will make demand upon Spain which will satisfy the American people, and without positive evidence as to the exact character of the outside explo- sion it is fully the purpose of the ad- ministration to hold Spain respon- sible
 The nature of the demand to be made upon Spain was one of the aues- tions discussed at to-day's cabinet meeting, but of course the discussion was on more or less hypothetical grounds. There was no disposition. however, on the part of the admin istration to consider the destruction of the Maine a hostile act unless Spain chose to make it so by her fu- ture course.
 Grave as the question is, the Pres ident did not consider it beyond set clement through the medium of an indemnity if Spain could be made to see our demands in the proper light. Accepting the extreme theory, that the vessel was blown up by a mine under the control of the Spanish Gov ernment, the conclusion has been reached that the most vigorous de- mand for complete reparation in the form of indemnity, apology and the execution of the guilty persons if they can be found will be made. The demanded will be large. Administration officials yesterday spoke of ten millions of dollars as the least amount that could be con- sidered. Discussion at the Cabinet meeting to-day, however, developed the fact that the demand would be much larger than this. The price of the vessel will be considered 6 com