St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1898-04-13
MESSAGEBTO CONGRESS.
President Mckinley Discusses Span
ish Complications.


stitution which commands the presi-
dent TO give from time to time the con-
gress information of the state OF the
union, and to recommend to their con-
sideration such measures as he snail
fudge necessary and eXpedient, 1t be-
comes my duty now to address your body
with regard to the grave crisis that has
arisen in the relations of the United
States to Spain by reason of the war
fare that for more than three years has
ragged in the nelghboring island of Cuba.
l do so because of the intimate connec-
ton Of the Cuban question with the
state of our union and the grave rela-
ton the course which it Is now incum-
bent upon the nation to adopt must
needs bear to the traditional policy of
our government If it is to be in accord
with the precepts laid down by the
founders of the republic and relgiously
observed by succeeding administrations
to the present day.
The present revolution Is but the sue
cessor Of other similar instructions
which have occurred in Cuba against
the dominion of Spain, extending over
which, during it's progress has subject
ed the United States to great effort and
expense in enforcing its neutrality laws,
caused enormous losses to American
trade and commerce, caused irritation,
annoyance and disturbance among our
citizens, and by the exercise of cruel,
barbarous and uncivilized practices of
warfare, shocked the sensibillties and
offended the humane sympathes Of our
people.
Since the present revolution began in
February 1895, this country has seen
the fertile domain at our threshold raw
aged by fire and sword in the course of a
struggle unequalled in the history Of
the island and rarely paralleled as ~ the
humber of the combatants and the Bit
terness of the contest by any revolution
OF modern times, where dependent peo-
pie, striving to be free, have been OPP
posed by the power of the sovereign
state. Our people have beheld once
prosperous community reduced to COM
parative want. its lucrative commerce
virtually paralyzed, its exceptional pro-
ductiveness diminished, its fields laid
waste, its mills in ruins and its people
pershing by tens of thousands from
hunger and restitution. We have
found ourselves constrained in the OBJ
servance Of that strict neutrality which
our laws enjoin and which the law of ma
lions commands, to police our own wa
tiers and watch our own seaports in pre-
vention 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
30 severely tried as to beget perilous
unrest among our own citizens, which
has inevitably found expression from
time to time in the national legislature.
80 that issues wholly external to our
own body polite engross attention and
stand In the way of that close devotion
TO domestic advancement that becomes
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 we'll as during my
predecessors term as my own.
In April, 1896. the evils from which our
country suffered through the Cuban
war became so onerous that my prede-
cessor made an effort to bring about a
peace through the mediation of this gov
eminent In any way that might tend to
an honorable adjustment of the contest
between Spain and her revolving colony.
on the basis of some effective scheme of
self government for Cuba under the flag
and sovereignty Of Spain. 1t failed
through the refusal of the Spanish gov
eminent then in power to consider any
form Of mediation or indeed, any plan
OF settlement which did not begin with
the actual submission of the insurgents
TO the mother country, and then only on
such terms as Spain herself might see fit
to grant. The war continued undated
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 inhuman
phase happily unprecedented in the
modern history of civilized Christian
peoples. The policy of devastation and
concentration, inaugurated by the cap
tain general, Bando, of Oct. 81, 1896, in
the province of Plnar del Rio, was thence
extended to embrace all of the island ia
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 OF iso.
lated places held by the troops. The
raising and movement of provisions Of
all kinds were interdicted. The field!
were laid waste, dwellings unroofed ant
fired mills destroyed. and, in short, ev
erything that could desolate the land ant
render 1t unfit for human habitation o.
support was commanded by one or tn
other Of the contestng parties and exc
cuted by all the powers at their dis
posal.
BY the time the present administration
took office, q year ago reconcentration-
so called-had been made effective owe
the better part Of the four central an
western provinces, Santa Clara, Ma
tanzas, Havana and Pinar del Rio. TIL
agricultural population on the esti
mated number of 100000 or more, wa
herded within the towns and their i'm
mediate vicinage, deprived Of the mean
support, rendered destitute of shelter
leI poorly clad and exposed to the mos
untanitary conditions. AS the scare
ity Of food increased with the dc
Eastation of the depopulated area
Of production. restitution and wal
became misery and starvation. Mont
by month the death rate increase
In an alarming ratio. BY Marc
1897. according to conservative est