The daily morning journal and courier., 1898-04-19
SENATOR PLATES SPEECH
ARGUMENT AGAINST RECOGNIZING
 CUBAN INDEPENDENCE.

Such Action Would be False to the Princi- sistent with the Traditions of the Nation Would Put Country in a Bad Plight.
 One of the most forcible speeches in the United States senate last week up- on the Cuban question was delivered by Senator Platt of Connecticut. MT. nition of Cuban independence and de- tended his position with the following strong argument:
 Mr. President, what I have to say will be briefly said, The time for ora tory and impassioned utterance has passed. The time has never been for hot words, for epithets, for intemper- ate speech. Oratory will not bombard Morro Castle Singing words, ungraci- ous and unjust epithets may reach and wound the president of the United States, but they will not pierce the ar- nor of Spanish battle ships.
 I wish first to state my position and my conviction so clearly that I shall not be and cannot be misinterpreted or misunderstood I shall not pause to frame the indictment upon which we proceed to the arbitrament of war. The reasons why the present conditions in Cuba must cease are known to all man. kind, and they are set forth clearly forcibly, and periodically in the mes sage of the president of the United States. Those conditions have imper- fled our peace, inflicted unbearable in- juries upon us, are inconsistent with our commercial and national interests, outrage every sentiment of humanity, impede and make against civilization They must end. With this conviction and it is unalterable, have hoped and until recently believed that the end might be accomplished without war, without the burdens and losses of war.
 believe to-day that what in common with all American citizens thus desire might have been accomplished peace fully had 1t not been for the intemper- ate, inflammatory statements and mis- statements of those who from the first have planned and desired to plunge
 
 among those who desire war. I would, if possible, have averted it, never for moment losing sight of the purposes to be accomplished; and I pray the All wise and Almighty Disposer of events that there may be some way found to put an end to the conditions in Cuba without war. I have no apology to of fer for this. When the hot blood of the iy,or and minimizing sentiment for blood, shall have passed, the man who shall have sought peace with honor will find his indorsement in the hearts of the American people.
 have only unstinted praise to be- stow upon and the heartiest thanks to give to the president of the United States that in the discharge of his great responsibility he has desired the attainment of the end in view through peace rather than through war. MT. President, one who heard and regards what has been uttered in the senate of the United States within the past few days might think that the desire to in- dict and discredit the president of the United States was as strong as the purpose to maintain the honor of the government and to put an end to the conditions which exist in Cuba. re- gret it. From the position taken by the president of the United States upon the failure of diplomatic negotiations to se cure the emancipation of Cuba the United States can not recede and ought not to recede. In the language of the executive
 In the name of humanity, in the name of civilization, in behalf of en- dangered American interests which give us the right and the duty to speak and to act, the war in Cuba must stop
 And in the island there must be es- tablished-
 a stable government, capable of main- taining order and observing it's inter- national obligations, insuring peace and tranquility and the security of it's citi- zens as well as our own.
 The duty of putting an end to exist ing conditions is no more imperative and no higher than the duty of seeing that order shall be maintained there in the future and that a government shall be there established which shall give the United States and the world no more cause for complaint. If this our determined purpose, results in war, it must come We shall be false to our selves, to humanity, and the world, recreant to duty, and cowardly if we hesitate or falter now.
 But, MT. President, there is conflict in the inauguration of this war, l am sorry to say The president of the United States and the house of repre- sentatives have declared our purpose in making war, if war it is to be. They have put that purpose on high and im- pregnable grounds. They have put it upon grounds which challenge the con- sent and admiration of mankind They stand united as to the ground upon which this conflict shall commence Against them in the senate we are call- ed upon to adopt another reason for the war. We are called to put it upon lower ground, an infinitely lower ground, an untenable ground, upon a ground which the judgment of man. kind can not and will not approve That is the issue here. It is more than an issue of language, more than an is- sue of words, more than an issue of pride of opinion. It is an issue made in the senate of the United States H M M A