The daily morning journal and courier., 1898-04-20
TWENTY-FOUR HOURS TIME
STAIN LIKELY TO BE ALLOWEL
 THIS PERIOD TO ANSWER.

STAIN LIKELY TO BE ALLOWED
 THIS PERIOD TO ANSWER. Two Cabinet Meetings Yesterday and at the First Mckinley Favored Giving the Dons Two or Three Days, but at the Second He Materially Changed His views-The Ultimatum, It is Said, Win be Short-The Withdrawal of Ministers and the Commencement of Hostil ties. Washington, April 19.-Spain will not receive official notification of the de- mands of the United States before to- morrow. She will then be informed that the Cuban resolution passed by congress is now part of the laws of the United States, and an ultimatunn will be sent demanding compliance with this law and an answer within short time, probably twentyfour hours. Compliance is not expected and a forward movement on Cuba will commence the latter part of this week, according to the plans of the adminis- tration. The congressional Cuban res olution will not be signed until to-mor- row morning. The ultimatum to Spain will be signed at the same time. The president early decided to make the two practically one by the simultane- ous signature of each,
 s Two Cabinet Meetings. sss.. M
 
 Two cabinet meetings were held dur ing the day, the first beginning at Ii o'clock and lasting nearly two hours, and the second lasting from until 5:30 o'clock. At their close announcement that executive action was delayed un- til tomorrow was made. Both cabinet sessions were devoted principally to discussion of the ultimatum to be sent to Madrid.
 Twenty-four Hours.
 At the morning session the president rather favored allowing the Madrid government two or even three days in which to reply to our demands, but since that time he has changed his views somewhat and it is now believed to be his purpose to require an answer within very short time, probably JWGHly-IOuE LOulS LlC lCoooh lol limiting the time to one day or even less is said to be entirely strategic, oth- erwise two or even three days would have been allowed.
 The Ultimatum.
 The ultimatum itself, it is believed, will be short and to the point It will recite the main features of the resolu- tion and demand a compliance there with So far as could be learned there will not be a meeting of the cabinet this evening or tomorrow morning be- fore the president signs the two docu ments, which, 1t is believed, unques- tionably will precipitate war. It is likely that the president and Assistant Secretary Day will this evening again go over the message which is to be sent to Madrid and make any changes which may be thought desirable, leav- ing the final act of signing the con- gressional resolution and the ultima tum until tomorrow morning.
 Publication of U Uittmatuln.
 The ultimatum probably will not be made public here until notice is receiv- ed that it is in the hands of the Span ish government, diplomatic etiquette requiring this. The fact that the res- olution was not immediately signed gave rise to few disuuieting reports but it soon apepared from statements of cabinet officers that the president had not the slightest intention of withhold ing his signature and that the delay in attaching it was accounted for solely by his desire to have a full and com- plete plan of operation for the gov ernment of the executive in the imme- diate future before taking the final and important step of turning the joint resolution into a statute.
 The President's Plan.
 Just what this plan shall be was the occasion for the two cabinet meetings to-day. The first session, in anticipa- ton of the reception of the resolutions, was devoted largely to questions of finance and military policy as well as to the framing of the ultimatum itself. So far as can be gathered the import ant point at issue in regard to the ulti- matum was the question of time to be allowed for a response on the part of Spain. The steady progress of mili- tary and naval preparations indicated the conviction on the part of the ad- ministration that a peaceful solution of existing difficulties is not probable.
 Withdrawal of Ministers.
 AS to the course of events in the im- mediate future, the only prediction that can be made is one based on prece- dents. According to these Minister Woodford will notify the Spanish gov ernment of the action of the govern ment of the United States and should the Spanish answer be unsatisfactory,