The enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 188?-1899, 1898-04-13
FAVORS INTERVENTION.
independence of Cuba is Not De-
sired by the Executive.
DISCRETIONARY POWERS.
The President Asks to be Allowed to Use
Them Extensively In Terminating Hos
tilities In Cuba Blowing Up OF the Maine
Referred tO-AI Left to Congress-,

Obedient to that precept of the constitution
which commands the president to give from
time to time to 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 have arisen in the relations of
the United States to Spain by reason OF the
warfare that for more than three years has
ragged in the neighboring island of Cuba. l do
so because OF the intimate connection OF the
Cuban question with the state OF our own
union and the grave relation the course which
1t is now incumbent upon the nation to adopt
must needs bear to the traditional policy OF
our government if it is to accord with the pre-
cepts laid down by the founders OF the repub.
lie and religiously observed by succeeding
administrations to the present day.
The present revolution is but the successor
OF other similar instructions which have oc-
CURED in Cuba against the dominion of Spain,
extending over a period OF nearly half cen
tury, which, during its progress has subject
ed the United States to great effort and ex.
pense 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 peo-
pie.
Since the present revolution began in Feb.
ruary, 1895, this country has seen the fertile
domain at our threshold ravagcd by fire and
sword in the course of a struggle uncqualled
in the history of the island and rarely paral
leled as to the number OF the combatants and
the bitterness Of the contest by any revolu
tion OF modern times where dependent peop:e
striving to be free have been opposed by the
power OF the sovereign state. Our people
nave beheld once prosperous community re-
duced to comparative want, its lucrative COM
merce virtually paralyzed, its exceptional pro-
ductiveness diminished, its fields laid waste
its mills in ruins and its people perishng by
tens of thousands from hunger and destitu
ton. We have found ourselves constrained
in the observance OF that strict neutrality
which our laws enjoin, and which the law OF
nations commands, to police Our own waters
and watch our 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 forbearance Of our people have
been SO sorely tried as to beget perilous un-
rest among our own citizens, which has inevi-
tably found its expression from time to time in
the national legislature, so that issues wholly
external to our own body polite engross at
tention and stand in the way Of that close
devotion to domestic advancement that be.
comes a self-contained commonwealth whose
primal maxim has been the avoidance OF all
foreign entanglements. All this must needs
awaken and has indeed aroused the utmost
concern on the part OF this government as
well during my predecessors term as in my
own.
In April, 1896 the evils from which our coun.
try suffered through the Cuban war became
SO onerous that my predecessor made an ef-
tort to bring about peace through the med
iation OF this government in any way that
haT4rokia al, Il L.
contest between Spain and her revolted colony,
on the basis Of some effective scheme of self.
government for Cuba under the flag and
sovereignty of Spain. 1t failed, through the
power to consider any form of mediation, or
indeed, any plan OF settlement which did not
begin with the actual submission of the in.
surgents to the mother country, and then only
on such terms as spain herself might see fit
to grant. The war continued unabated. The
resistance OF the insurgents was in no wise
diminished
The efforts of Spain were increased, both
by the dispatch Of fresh levies TO Cuba and by
the addition to the horrors of the strife OF a
new and nhuman phase happily unprecedented
in modern history Of civilized Christian peo.
pies. The policy of devastation and concen.
tratons, inaugurated by the captain generals
bando OF Oct. o. 1896 in the province OF
Pnar Del Rio, was thence extended to EN-.
brace all Of the island to which the power
of the Spanish arms was able to reach by oc.
cupation or by military operations. The peas
antry, including all dwelling in the open ag.
rcultural interior, were driven into the gar.
rison towns or isolated places held by the
troops. The raising and movement of provi.
sons of all kinds were nterdicted. The fields
were laid waste dwellings anroofed and iired,
mills destroyed and, in short, everything that
could desoate the land and render it unfit for
human habitation or support, was command
ed by one or the other OF the contending par.
ties and executed By all the powers at their
disposal.
BY the time the presert administration took
Office year ago, rcconcentrations-s called
had been made effective over the better part oi
the four central and western provinces, Santa
Clara, Matanzas, Havana and Pinar Del Rio
The agricultural population, to the estimated
number of 1000 or more, was herded within
the towns and their immediate vincinage, de-
prived OF the means OF support, rendered dest
tute of shelter, left poorly clad, and exposed
to the most unsantary conditions. AS the
scarcity of food increased with the devastation
OF the depopulated areas OF production, dest
tuition and want became misery and starvation
Month by month the death rate increased in an
alarming ratio BY March, 1897, according to
conservative estimates from official Spanish
sources, the mortality among the reconcen
trados, from starvation and the diseases thereto
incident, exceeded 80 per centum of their tota
number. No practical relief was accorded tc
the destitute. The overburdened towns, al
ready suffering from the general dearth, coulc
give no aid. So.called Zones OF cultivation
established within the immediate area Of ef
fective military control about the cities and
fortified camps proved illusory as remedy
for the suffering. The unfortunates, being fol
the most part women and children with aged
and helpless men, enfeebed by disease anc
hunger, could not have TILED the soil, with
out TOOLS seed or shelter for their own sup
port or food supplies OF the cities. The con
centration adopted avowedly as war measur,
in order to cut off the resources OF the insur
gents, worked its predestined result AS
said in my message OF last December it wa:
not civilized warfare; it was determination
The only peace it could beget was that OF til,
wilderness and the grave.
Meanwhile the military situation in the is
land has undergone noticeable change. TIL,
extraordinary activity that characterized tn,
second year OF the war, when the insurgents
invaded even the hitherto unharmed fields o
Pinar Del Rio and carried havoc and destruc
ton up to the walls OF the city of Havana it
self, had relapsed into dogged struggle in tn,
central and eastern provinces. The Spanish
arms reganed measure of control in Pima
Del Rio and parts of Havana, but, under tn,
existing conditions of the rural country, with
situation Even thus partially restricted thu
revolutionists held their own and their con
quest and submission, put forward by Spair
as the essential and sole basis Of peace, seemed
as far distant as at the outset.
In this state OF affairs my administration
found itself confronted with the grave problem
OF its duty. MY message OF last December re
viewed thefsituaton, and narrated the step
taken with view to relieving its acuteness ant
opening the way to some form OF honorable
settlement The assassination OF the prm
minister, Canovas, led to change OF govern
rfient in Spain. The administration, pledge,
to subjugation without concession, gave plac
TO that OF more liberal party, committed lonl
in advance Of a policy OF reform, involving til
w Ief principle Of home rule for Cuba ant