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

Washington. April 1.-THE president
to-day sent the following message to
the congress of the United States:
Obedient to that precept Of the con-
stitution which commands the president
to give from time7to time the congress
information of the state Of the union
and to recommend to their considera-
tion such measures as he shall judge
necessary and expedient it becomes my
duty now to address your body with re-
gard to the grave condition that has
arisen in the relations of the United
States and Spain by reason of the war
fare that for more than three years has
ragged in the neighboring island of
Cuba. / do SO because of the intimate
connection of the Cuban question with
tie state of our own union and the
grave relation the course which is now
incumbent upon the nation to adopt
must needs bear to the traditional pol
icy of our government if II is to accord
with the precepts laid down by the
founders of the republic and religiously
observed by succeeding administrations
to the present day.
The present revolution Is but the sue
cessor of other similar instructions
which have occurred i'm Cuba against
the dominion of Spain, extending over a
period Of nearly half a century, each
of which, during its progress, has sub
jected the United States to great effort
and expense in enforcing its neutrality
laws, caused enormous loss to the
American trade and commerce and
irritation. annoyance and disturbance
among our citizens. and by the exercise
Of cruel. barbarous and uncivilized
practices of warfare, shocked the sensi-
bilities and offended the humane SYM
pathies of our people.
Since this revolution began in Febru-
ary, 1895. this country has seen the fer
tile domain at our threshold ravaged by
fire and sword in the course of a strug-
gle unequaled in the history of the ISL
and and rarely paralleled as to the
number of the combatants and the bit
terness of the contest by any revolution
of modern times where a dependent
people. striving to be free. have been
opposed by the power of the sovereign
state. Our people have beheld a once
prosperous community reduced to COM
parative want, its commerce virtually
paralyzed, its exceptional productive
ness diminished. its fields laid waste its
mills in ruins and it's people perishing
by tens of thousands from hunger and
destitution. We have found ourselves
constrained in the observance OF that
strict neutrality which our laws enjoin,
and which the law of nations COM
mands. to police our own waters and
watch our own seaports in prevention
of any unlawful act in aid of the Gu
bans. Our trade has suffered, the capi-
tai invested by our citizens in Cuba has
been largely lost. and the temper and
forbearance of our people have been so
sorely tried as to beget perilous unrest
among our own citizens which has in
evitably found it's expression from time
TO time i'm the national legislature so
that issues wholly external to our own
body polite engross attention and
stand in the way of that close devotion
TO domestic advancement that becomes
a self-contented commonwealth whose
primal maxim has been the avoidance
of all foreign entanglements. All this
must needs awaken and has aroused
the utmost concern on the part of this
government as well during my prede-
cessor's administration as my own
CieSeIapd's Efforts.
In April. 1896. the evils from which
our country suffered through the Cuban
war became so enormous that my pre-
decessor made an effort to bring about
a peace through the mediation of this
government in any way that might
tend to an honorable adjustment of the
contest between Spain and her revolt
ing colony on the basis of some effective
scheme Of self-government for Cuba.
under the flag and sovereignty OF Spain.
IL failed through the refusal of the
Spanish government. then in power, to
consider any form of mediation. or, in
deed, any plan of settlement which did