Vernon County censor. [volume] (Viroqua, Wis.) 1865-1955, 1898-04-20

President Mckinley on Monday sent his
Cuban message to Congress. He favors
intervention to terminate hostilities in the
island and asks discretionary authority,
but opposes recognition of present Cuban
government. The full text of the mes
sage follows:
Obedient to that preccpt of the constitu-
ton which commands the III esident to
give from time to time the Congress in
formation of the state of the Union and
to recommend to their consideration such
measures as lie shall judge necessary and
eXpedient, it becomes my duty now TO adj
dress your body with regard to the grave
crisis that has 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. / 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 it is now incum-
bent upon the nation to adopt must needs
bear to the traditional policy of our Gov
eminent if it is to accord with the pre-
ttp(S uON ny tue lOuuuSiS VI lhe
republic and religiousiy observed by sue
ceeding administra tons to the present
day.
The present revolution is but the sue
cessor of other similar instructions which
have occurred in Cuba against the domn-
ion of Spain, extending over Il period of
nearly half century, each of which. dur
ing its progress, has subjected the United
States to great effort and expense in en-
forcing its neutrality laws. caused enor-
nous losses to American trade ana
commerce. caused irritation, annoyance
and disturbance LmonS our citizens and
by the exercise of cruel, barbarous and
uncivilized practices of warfare, shocked
the sensibilties and offended the humane
sympathies of our people.
Ravaged by Fire and Sword.
Since the present revolution began in
February, 1895, this country has seen the
fertile domain at our threshold ravaged by
hre and sword in the course of Il struggle
unequaled i'll the history of the island and
rarely paralleled as to the number of the
combatants and the bitterness of the con-
test by any revolution Of modern times
where a dependent people, striving to be
free, have been opposed by the power of
the sovereign state. Our people have be-
held once prosperous community reduc-
ed to comparative want, its commerce vir-
tualy paralyzed, its exceptional produc-
tiyeness diminished, its fields laid waste,
its mills in ruins and its people perishing
by tens of thousands from hunger and
restitution. We have found ourselves
constrained, in the observance of that
st.ict neutrality which our laws enjoin
and which th law of nations commands,
to police our own waters and watch our
own s"aports in prevention Of any unlaw-
full 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 fOrbearaucc of our peo-
PIE have been so sorely tried as to beget
perilous unrest among our own citi-
zens, which has inevitably found its ex-
preston from time to time in the national
legislature, so that issues whoiiy external
to our own body polite cngross attention
| and stand in the way of that close devo-
ton to domestic advancement that be-
comes u self-contentcd commonwealth
whose primal maxim has been the avoid
ance of all foreign entanglements. All
| this must needs awaken, and has, indeed.
| aroused the utmost concern Oh the part of
| this Government as well during my prede-
| ceSSorS term as my own,