The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1898-02-19

must come under circumstances WHICH
make US respect ourselves
LODGE SUPPORTS WOLCOTT
Mr. Wolcett was followed Immediately
by Mr.. Lodge Mass. who also had be-
come very FESTIVE under Mr.. Mason's re-
Elections upon the navy department. He
also spoke with intense earnestness, say
ing:
"Mr. President. I have no desire and
no intention Of saying one word in regard
to the war that is raging in Cuba No one
can detest the horrors enacted in that ISL
and more than I. No one desires more
than 1 to see the Spanish power swept
from that island, as ii has been form all
the states of South America, but, Mr..
President, that question is not here. we
aer face to face at this moment with
great national calamity. The Americans
have received the awful news OF the sink
ing Of the warship Maine with splendid
silence and self-restraint, both in congress
and throughout the country. They are
waiting sternIy, quietly to know the
truth, and the truth they will have. This
is not a question which involves Cubans
or Spaniards. This is a question which
involves brave American seamen, gone 10
their death in a foreign port. In the pres
ence of that awful calamity what we want
is the truth. How are we to get II? BY
the investigation of a committee OF con-
gress which knows nothing, which has no
witnesses to summon, which has no ex-
pert knowledge which is miles from the
place where the disaster occurred.
WOULD THESE MEN LIE?
There is ony one way to get at the
truth of this matter, and that is through
the naval officers who have been selected
already to perform that duty. Can any
one suppose that the naval officers of the
United States, men upon whose career
in the past and whose conduct in the
present there is not and has never been
blemish, would seek to conceal the facts
in such a case as this? 1 would rather
trust this investigation to the officers or
the American navy than to any other men
in the country. Does any one suppose that
thee aptain of that ship, who. wounded,
stunned by the explosion, remained I'M
til the last upon thes linking vessel, and
who in the midst of that awful terror
and excitement, with every duty nobly
done, sent a dispatch to this country
showing GOODNESS and nerve which are
an honor to the American name-does any
one suppose that Captain Sigsbee, capable
of such splendid conduct, is going to lie
about his sip? The secretary of the navy
is a man of distinguished ability, honor
and patriotism. If any one imagines that
Secretary Long will not tell the truth,
and insist upon the whole of it. he little
knows the character of the man woh has
the honor to fill that greaat post at the
head of the navy, and / for one trust
that congress will await the action of the
proper department charged with this in
curry, and will not attempt to do anything
which could in the last degree derogate
from the attitude which the American
people and congress should hold in the
presence of a calamity so dire and so
tragic as that which befell the battleship
Maine.
ACCIDENT, OR TREACHERY?.
"I think those who know the Hon. Theo-
dore Roosevelt. woh is Mr.. Longs right
hand man, wouldIbe slow to believe that
he owuld seek to conceal the truth in re-
gard to this disaster. Mr.. President, I
am sorry that any debate has arisen on
this question. 1t seems to me that the
attitude of the congress ever since that
awful news arrived has been in the high
est degree dignifed and worthy-worthy
of itself and worthy of the American peo-
pie We have not shrieked or talked. We
have waited in a silence of much deeper
meaning than any words. We want to
which destropey the Maine, then let us
provide so far az human foresight can
against a recurrence. If it was treaChery.
then the righteous wrath of the American
people will tage a signal vengeance upon
the treachery that sent the ship to the
bottom, and let ne one think to stay it,"
Mr.. MASON UNDAUNTED.
Mr.. Mason replied:
"Misquotation and general spasm will
not drive me from the decision Of this
question in the senate"
He shared. he said, in the general ad-
miration of the various departments of
the executive branh of the government,
and Mr.. Wolcott would not excel him in
that respect.
Il am sorry" he said. chat while the
Colorado senator is giving us such a lee
ture about the navy department he does
not Stop over and give the treasury de-
partment some of his praise"
He (Mason) fully endorsed all that Mr..
Lodge had said about the head of the
navy, with whom he had served in the
house. and whom he know to be a man OF
ability. of great head and warm heart.
4
to an investigation, and it was no part OF
friendship ii try and shield him from
such an inquiry as was proposed. II he
himself were managing the department
he would, unde rthe circumstances. want
the investigation. He denied that his re-
marks contained any reflection upon Mr..
Longs integrity or honor. or the integrity
or honor o the officers o the navy. But
while this was true, he also had regard
for the honor and the lives Of the com
mon seamen. He also resented the init
nation that he had gone into the slums
70 find words with which TO characterize
the navy department. and repeated his
! loyalty TO the nav yand other depart
ments
| Il have an unmitigated dread Of war. -
| said Mr.. Hawley Conn with great feel
/ ing. and 7 deprecate all war talk. Dc
/ the gentlemen who talk so loudl yof war
/ think We are ready for that2 They can
! not know certainly what it means 80
/ ALLEN SUPPORTS MASON.
/ Mr.. Allen CSeh.) said he desired 70 Sc
/ cure a vote upon the resolution. but he
/ desired 10 reiteraJe the suspicious expires.
/ ID hr NJ Nasnr that ne f-,t-es+i. "a u ~