Connecticut western news., 1898-04-14
M'KINLEY'S MESSAGE.
PRESIDENTS VIEWS ON CUBA SUB
 MlTTED TO CONGRESS.

He Makes No Specific Recommendations
 Opposes Recognizing Cuban Independ
 ence at This Time, but Declares the War Must Cease-Favors Intervention. Washington, April 13.-The presi. dents message on the Cuban question
 was presented to congress Monday It strongly opposes a recognition ol belligerency as inexpedient; oppose: the recognition of the independenc, of Cuba at this time and favors tht granting of authority for use of thu
 armed forces of the United States
 to secure a stable government in Cuba
 used for the relief of such of the people
 as are still in need. In the introduction the president says:
 The present revolution is but the sue cessor of other similar instructions which have occurred in Cuba against the admin.
 lstration of Spain, extending over period ot nearly half century. each of which duilnG It's progress, has put the United States to great effort and expense in en- forcing It's neutrality laws, caused enor- nous losses to American trade and com. morce, caused irritation, annoyance and
 disturbance among our citizens and py civilized practices of warfare shocked tho sensibilities and offended the humane sym
 
 Since the present revolution began in February, 1895, this country has seen the fertile domain at our threshold ravaged by fire and sword in the course of a struggle uEequaled in the history of the island and rarely paralleled, as to the number or ths combatants and the bitterness of the con- test. by any revolution of modern times where dependent people, striving to pe free. have been overcome by the power or Our people beheld a once prosperous community reduced to comparative want Its lucrative commerce virtually paraiyze9' its exceptional productiveness diminished its fields laid waste, its mills In ruins ana its people perishing by tens of thousands from hunger and destitution- weyIer's Concentration Plan. Referring to General weyler's plan of concentration, he says:
 The policy of devastation and concentra-
 ton inaugurated 6y yos the captain yin geneea[ os Pinar del Rio, was thence extended to em- brace all of the island to which the power of the Spanish arms was able to reach by occupation or by military operations. The peasantry, including all dwelling in the open agricultural interior, were driven into the garrison towns or isolated places held by the troops.
 The raising and movement of provisions
 of all kinds were interdicted. The heids fired, mills destroyed, and in short every thing that could desolate the land and ren- der it unfit for human habitation or sup port was commanded by one or the other of the contesting parties and executed by all the powers at their disposal By the time the present administration took office year ago reconcentrauon--so called-had been made effective over the
 better part of the four central and western provinces, Santa Clara, Matanzas, Havana and Pinar del Rio. The agricultural popu- lation to the estimated number of 300,000 or more was herded within the towns and their immediate vicinage, deprived of the means of support, rendered destitute or
 shelter, left poorly clad and exposed to the As the scarcity of food increased with the devastation of the depopulated areas of production destitution and want became
 misery and starvation. Month by month
 the death rate increased in an alarming
 ratio.
 By March, 1897, according to conserva-
 tive estimates from official Spanish sources the mortality among the reconcentrados,
 incident exceeded % 50 per a cent of their to tai number No practical relief was &C., corded to the destitute.
 We Feed People Starved by Spain.
 The president then refers at length t1
 the efforts of the people of the United
 States to relieve the suffering on tn,
 island and says:
 The increasing destitution of the unfor-
 tunate reconcentrdos and the alarming
 mortality among them claimed earnest at
 tention. The success which had attended
 the limited measure of relief extended to
 the suffering American citizens among
 
 the consular agencies of the money appro-
 priated expressly for their succor by the
 prompted the humane extension of sim
 liar scheme of aid to the great body of
 sufferers.
 Speaking of the continuance of ths
 war, the president says:
 The war in Cuba is of such nature that
 final military victory for either side seems
 impracticable. The alternative lies in the
 physical exhaustion of the one or the other
 which in effect ended the ten years war
 by the truce of Zanjon. The prospect of such protraction and conclusion of the present strife Is a contingency hardly to Da contemplated with equanimity by the civ
 ilized world and least of all by the United States, affected and injured as we are
 deeply and intimately, by its very exist ence.
 Opposes Recognition. Regarding the recognition of the Gu ban republic he says:
 Nor from the standpoint of expedience do I think 1t would be wise or prudent for this government to recognize at the pres ent time the independence of the so called Cuban republic.
 Such recognition is not necessary in or der to enable the United States to inter- vene and pacify the island. To commit this country now to the recognition of any particular government in Cuba might sub ject us to embarrassing conditions of in- ternational obligation toward the organ
 
 In case of intervention our conduct would be subject to the approval or disapprovaI to submit to its direction and to assume to it the mere relation of a friendly ally When 1t shall appear hereafter that there is within the island a government capa blr of performing the duties and dischargine the functions of separate nation, and
 having as matter of fact the proper government can be promptly and readily recognized and the relations and interests
 of the United States with such nation ad-
 There remain the alternative forms of intervention to end the war, either as an impartial neutral by imposing a rational compromise between the contestants or as the active ally of the one party or the As to the first, it is not to be foreottep | that during the last few months the rela- ton of the United States has virtually been one of friendly intervention in many ways each not of itself conclusive, but all tend. ing to the exertion of a potential influence toward an ultimate pacific result just ami | honorable to all interests concerned. The | spirit of all our acts hitherto has been m | arrest, unselish desire for peace and pros perity in Cuba, untarnished by differences | between us and Spain and unstained by | the blood of American citizens. Favors Intervention. The forcible intervention of the IJnite5
 States as a n neutral 5nI to stop the war, ac. | and following many historical precedents where neighboring states have interfered
 
 internecine conflicts beyond their borders Is iustifiable on rational grounds It in, wolves, however, hostile constraint upon both the parties to the contest as well to enforce truce as to guide the eventual settlement.
 The grounds for such intervention may | be briefly summarized as follows: l First.-In the cause of humanity and to | put an end to the barbarities bioodshed starvation and horrible mseries now exist | ing there. and which the parties to the conflict are either unable or unwilling to stop mitigate. It is ansver to say this Is all in another country belonging to another nation, and is therefore none of our business. It is specially our duty, for | 1t is right at our door.
 | Second.-We owe it to our citizens in | Cuba to afford them that protection and l indemnity for life and property which m. | government there can or will afford and to that end to terminate the conditions that | deprive them of l. gal protection. | Third.-The right to intervene may bs | justified by the very serious injury to ths | commerce. trade and business of our peo- | he mt ion destruction