The Ocala evening star. [volume] (Ocala, Fla.) 1895-1943, 1898-03-26
Cuba's Struggle for Liberty

For something above three
years the people of Cuba have
maintained their struggle for the
right of self-government, which,
to say the least of it, has been
graced by a desperation and de-
termination which leaves no doubt
as to their good conscience. No
people could 50 long maintain so
fierce q contest except they be
supported by the approval of
their own minds. But more than
this can be said of them and their
cause. Of them, let it be suffi-
cient that they have borne a
heavy part ia the bloody drama
of nations, and they have borne
it like men. OF their cause there
is more to say than Of them, and
of its relation to and effect upon
the American Republic there is
more still.
Those people, and those only,
deserve the blessings Of free gov
eminent who will seize upon it
bravelv, and wrest it from the
grasp of oppression with the
strong hands Of war. Let who
will decry the instrumentality of
the sword in the worlds affairs,
it has for the most part borne an
honora BILE burden in the progress
of nations. 1t is the last grim
arbiter of mankind 5 huge issues.
Used for purposes of oppression,
the engine of battle is horrible to
human thought, but piled in the
pursuit Of patriotism, even the
blood that drips from it's steely
edge is as gracious as the dew of
freedoms morning, and hallowed
as the benedlction of the brave.
It is the cause, and not the instru-
ment of it's execution, which in
vites blame or inspires praise.
With which, then, of these two,
will self-respecting Americans re-
gard the Cuban struggle: Let us
look at the causes which underlie
the whole bloody drama, and we
shall find the answer. For many
years, indeed, ever since the ten
years war in Cuba, that island
has paid more than half of all the
Spanish royal revenues. and its
tax-burdened people have received
in return for their annual $780,
100000 tax money, a government
expenditure Of less than IS per
cent. Of what they alone paid into
the general fund. These figures
refer to the civil Spanish govern
ment of Cuba, and are taken
from presumably reliable sources.
This 10 per cent, say Sl3,O0O,00O
in round figures, has been annu-
ally consumed in giving to the
island a government of aliens-of
office holders who had no interest
in the advancement of the people
whom they governed, and who,
dependent rather upon the favor
of trans-oceanic masters than the
approval of local constituency
hindered rather than helped the
cause of Cuban ghtenment.
No ignorant people can long be
free, and no enlightened people
can ever be enslaved,
Passing over the general prop.
osition, which is as true as gospel
and as irrevocable as the past
perfect tense, that there is nc
such thing as good government
of an oversee people by an Eu.
ropean monarchy, study of Gu.
ban conditions must invoke the
sympathies of the American pub.
lie. They are lighting substan.
TALLY the same battle our fathers
fought more than a century ago
and they are fighting it for as
grave a cause. Taxation without
representation, a government Of
plumber rather than protection
and hopeless and helpless ex
posture to the constituencies GU
pidity of foreign royalty-thest
things form the nucleus Of an ole