The silver messenger. (Challis, Idaho) 1890-1912, 1898-04-05
Thoughts Hpout Cuba.
TBY "NEMo."l

L
able that in history past or to
come no parallel TO its conditions
will be found. The rulers of the
island, unable to defeat the in
surgents are themselves unde-
feated; and the insurgents, elu-
sive and triumphant and endur-
ing beyond usual measure in
guerilla warefare are no nearer
the actual accomplishment of
their purpose than they were at
the outbreak of hostilities. Ma
ture and her CHASTITY hand maid
en-, Pestilence, have fought for
the insurgents; but Natures bat
things have been balanced by new
arrivals of Spanish soldiers
men, some of them; boys, many
of them-forced almost at bay
onet point to take the places of
the diseased and the dead.
Against the doggedness of the
insurgent the pride of the ruler
has been matched. The insur-
gent can hold out indefinitely;
the Spaniard will.
&#
While the stubborn warfare of
these unyielding forces has pro-
ceeded with huctuating results
that in the long run have prac-
tically balanced each other, q
third army of human beings has
been slowly ground to destruc-
ton. Of their woes we must
think and, having thought, we
must act. Though the Spaniards
have been chiefly confined within
the limits set up by themselves;
prisoners, in fact, within their
own Notifications, yet they have
retained earcompelling power
over the feeble minds of the
children and timorous natives of
both sexes who were afraid to
fight and did not dare to fee.
These pacifcos quietly obeyed
the government when orders
went forth through the country
regions to gather within town
limits and stay there. The ex-
pected freedom to live in peace
under the surveillance of the
Spanish army, changed at once
into death dealing bondage. I'm
able to cultivate land to any
great extent, herded together
in huts unfit for swine, suffering
from lack of food, and by lack of
food rendered more helpless and
weak-spirited than before, they
have died like flies in autumn;
and in dying have suffered woes
that are unequalled even by the
bloody sufferings of the Armen-
ians or the plague-ridden starva-
ton of the Hindoos. The Ian
guage of moderate woman like
Clara Barton, the famous Red
Cross heroine; and the stories
pictured by the truthful camera,
more than justify these compari-
sons. In one hospital alone-a
place where care and tender
oversight are expected-four
hundred of the pacificos have
died of starvation. The burdens
OF the insurgents, who, in rebel
ling did so in full expectation of
the fortunes and misfortunes of
war, have been as naught beside
the woes of these unhappy non
combatants. Where Spain has
slain its hundreds by fire and by
sword, it has slain its hundreds
of thousands by hunger and by
neglect. This has taken place
and is still doing so within nine
ty miles of the land that declares
in favor of life, liberty and the
pursuit of happiness"
This war measure of Spain
against harmless ones will ever
stand out prominently in the an
nails of the brutalities of which
our race is capable. This is not
war with its glamour of excite
ment and of chance. but relent.
less murder without the shedding
of blood.
When a man sees a weak one
prosecuted and refuses to side
with the weak he is no man. The
rule of a man is the rule of ma
ton. Murder of women and
children, helpless and enfeebled
and starving, is at our door, at
last we begin to appreciate it.
Their broken lives, their untime-
ly deaths, their rights to hap
pier condition are making them
selves slowly understood among
our people. Every stratum of
society is permeated. The great
underlying love of fair play is
stirring this nation North and
South, And its girding itself to
punish and not to wage war.