The Forrest City times. [volume] (Forrest City, Ark.) 1871-1919, 1898-04-15
ISSUE IS WITH congress.
President Mckinley Sends His
Promised Cuban Message
Into Congress.
ASKS FOR POWER TO END HOSTlLITIes.

SIN the Name of Humanity, In the Name
of Civilization, In Behalf of EndaD
Cered American Interests Which Give
Us the Right and the Duty to Speak
and to Act, the War in Cuba Must
Stop"
WASHINGTON, April 1.-THE presi-
dent sent the following message to the
congress of the United States.
The Message.
Obedient to that precept of the constitution.
which commands the president to give from
time to time the congress information of the
state of the Union and to recommend to their
consideration such measures as he shall Judge
necessary and expedient, it becomes my duty
now to address your body with regard to the
grave crisis that has arisen in the relations of
sos soH Of 1 the warfare that ph for Dy meae aeas
than three years has ragged in the neighboring
island of Cuba do so because of the inti-
mate connection OF the Cuban question with the
state ofour.own Union, and the grave relations.
the course which is now incumbent upon the
nation TO adopt must needs bear to the tradi-
tional policy of our government, IL it is to ac-
cord with the precepts laid down by the found
ers Of the republic and religiously observed by
succeeding administrations to the present day
But the Successor of similar Revolutions.
The present revolution is but the successor
OF other similar Instructions which have oc-
CURED in Cuba against the dominion of Spain,
extending over period OF nearly half a CEN
tury, each OF which, during its progress, has
subjected the United States to great effort and
expense in enforcing its neutrality laws caused
enormous losses to American trade and COM
merce caused irritation. annoyance and dis
turbance among our citizens and by the exer-
else OF cruel, barbarous and uncivilized prac-
tices OF warfare, shocked the sensibilities and
offended the humane sympathies of our people
Fertile Domain Ravaged.
Since the present revolution began in Feb
ruary. 1898, this country has seen the fertile
domain at our threshold ravaged by fire and
sword In the course OF a struggle unequaled in
the history Of the island, and rarely paralleled
as TO the number of the .combatants and the
bitterness OF the contest by any revolution of
modern times where a dependent people, striy-
ing to ee free have been opposed by the power
OF the sovereign state Our people have beheld
aonce prosperous community reduced TO COM
lyzed, Its exceptional productiveness dImin-
ished. Its fields laid waste, its mills in ruins
and ITS people perishlng by tens OF thousands
from hunger and deStitution.
Onerous Duties EntaiIed by Neutrality.
We have found ourselves constrained in the
observance OF that strict neutrality which our
laws enloin and which the law OF nations
commands, TO police our own waters and watch
cur own seaports in prevention OF any unlawful
ACT IN aid OF the Cubans. Our trade has suffered:
the capital invested by our citizens in Cuba
has been largely lost, and the temper and
ioroearance OF our people have been so
sorely tried as to beget a perilous unrest
among our own citizens which has in
eVltably found its expression from time 10
time IN the national legislature that issues
wholly external to our own body polite engross
attention and stand in the way OF that close de-
Votlon TO domestic advancement that becomes
aseH-eohtented commonwealth whose primal
maxim has been the avoidance of all foreign
ehtangiements. All this must needs awaken
anu mas indeed aroused the utmost concern on
the part OF this government as wei. during my
predecessors as my own administration
Efforts of the Previous Administration.
IN April, 1896, the evils from which our coun-
uy suHere through the Cuban war became so
oherous that my predecessor made an effort to
osihg ABOUT u peace through the Intervention
VI tnis government in any way that might tend
W dh honorable adjustment OF the contest be-
t' t"esh spain ana her revolted colony on the
oass OF some effective scheme Of self-gov-
sannne eminent lor Cuoa under the flag and
sspserelgnty OF Spain. IL failed, through
the refusal Of the Spanish governny,nt then In
power TO consider any form of mediation or
ahueed, any plan of settlement which did not be-
sin Win the actual submission of the insur-
s snss 70 the Hotner country, and than only on
sucn terms as Spain herself might see mt to
grant Ihe war continued .nabated. The re-
lShed ~
spains Futile and Inhnman forts.
~ Inc Efforts OF Spain were increaseS both by
sne uispatch OF fresh levleS TO Cuba asld by the
anu sne'ton iI 10 the horrors OF the strife of
,ha o ahnlIilan phase. happily unpreced ented in
sle hyuela history of civilized Christian peo-
PIES The pollcy OF devastation ana concentra-
,nha. uSn naugurated by Capt. Gen. Bando on Oc-
s oer 1896, IN the province OF PInar del Rio.
,sa,s as snehce extended to embrace all of the
ishtane TO which the power of Span
ocenraai arms was able to reach by
n,eeupatloh or by military operations. The
apoasahtry, lncluu1ng all dwelling in the open
seilculuril interior. were driven into the gar
trool trsOn towns or isolated places held by the
oops' Inc raising and movement of provl-
sv ons oi an Kinds were interdlcted. The fields
MI MI lalu waste, dwellings unroofed and fired
coiS destroyed and in short, everything that
lam and apRa nit for
hhunan habltatlon or support was commanded
sd ~ Vhe or the other of the contending parties,
p0SaL f " ~ No
The so-Called Recommendation.
of1Ha ~ nc time the present administration took
49, year ago, reconcentration-so-cal
tbs f peeh made effective over the better part OF
He lour central and western provinces Santa
M" MatanzaS, Havana and Pinar del Rio.
mn, ssrleullural population, to the estimated
the ,ol ol SV9, w or more, was herded within
privs1 ~ ana their immediate vicinage de-
desti'n.oi du oi the means OF support. rendered
tSt.ute ~ OF shelter, left poorly cad and exposed
most unsanltary conditions.
destruction, Misery and Starvation.
Vas,ta me scarcity OF food increased with the de-
,;ssation OF the depopulated areas of produce
stslr sr, uesututlon ana want became misery and
erea.aJ 'aSoh. Month by month the death rate in
,ar15u IN alarming ratio. BY March, 1897,
Sululhg TO conservative estimates from officiaI
eannn rsh sources, the mortality among the re-
tberein' es iauoes IRON starvation and the diseases
Al SASccutu ou per lntiI
eosaa, sal number No practical relief was ac-
town 20 the destitute. The overburdened
dearth already suffering from the general
enI,iHl could give no aid. So-called zones of
araa va S.9n non established within the immediate
ies se u effective military control about the cit
remaSl anu fortified camps proved illusionary as
benz lot the suffering. 1he unfortunates,
with .s Ios the most part women and children,
ease sss seu ana helpless men, enfeebled by dis
withensu munger, could not have titled the soil.
snn- Tools. seed or shelter, for their own
iet D. OF Tor the supply OF the cit
NJ Sooheentratlon. adopted avowedly as
reSo' measure. in order to cut on the
ineS Sq,ves rye, oi the insurgents, worked its predes
Deferaeesult- As said in my message of last
Wa eoer, IL was not "a civilized warfare; IL
begs,e termination The only peace it could
was that of the wilderness and the grave.
N. A Dogged struggle.
ksnS thlie the military situation in the
extrsa,sa et-1 naa undergone noticeable change. The
secnn, ,'ulnafy activity that characterized the
yaded Year OF the war, when the insurgents IN
Pima sven the hitherto unharmed nelds OF
tion aei hlo, and carried havoc and destitu-
Havs,uup . the walls Of the city of
togged itself, had reiapsed into
..etNN Struggle in he central and