The Washburn leader. [volume] (Washburn, McLean County, N.D.) 1890-1986, 1898-04-23

Washington, April 1.-THE president to-day
sent the following message to the congress OF
the United States:
Otedient to the precept Of the constitution
which the president to give from
time to time to congress the information or
the state of the Union, and 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 has arisen in the re-
lation of the United States to Spain by rea-
son of the warfare that for more than three
years has ragged in the neighboring island OF
Cuba.
I 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 :iow cumbe upon the nation
to adopt must Deeds bear to the TRADITIONAL pol
the precepts laid down by the founders of the
republic and reEKiously observed by succeed
ing administrations to the present day.
The present revolution is but the successor
Of other similar Instructions, which have &C.
CURED in Cuba, against the dominion Of
Spain, extending over a peri,d Of nearly half
fas subjected the United States to great effort
and epense in enforcing its %neutralit ylaws.
caused enormous losses to the american trade
and commerce. caused irritation, annoyance
and disturbance among our citizens, and by
the exercise Of cruel, barberous and
Uncivilized Practices of Warfare
shocked the sensibilities and offended the hu-
name sympathies of our people. 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 unequalled in the
history of the island and rarely paralleled as
to the number of the combatants and the Bit
terness Of the contest, by any revolution Of
modern tires. where a dependent people, striv-
Ing to be free. have been opposed by the pow
er Of the sovereign state. Our people have
beheld a once prosperous community reduced
to comparative want; it's commerce virtually
paralyzed; its exceptional pr0ductiveneSs d.
minished; its fields laid waste, its mills in
ruins, and its people perishing by tens Of thou
sands from hunger and restitution. 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
base been largely lost and the temper of for
bearance of our people have been so sorely
tried as to been q perilous unrest among our
own citizens, which has inevitably found its
expression from time to time in the national
legislature, SO 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 a self
contented commonwealth whose primal maxim
has been the avoidance of all foreign entangle-
ments. All this must needs awaken and has
indeed aroused the utmost concern on the part
of this government, as well during my prede-
cessor's as my own.
In April, 1896, the evils from which our
country suffered through the Cuban war be-
came SO onerous that my predecessor made
an effort to bring about a peace through the
mediation of this government in any way that
might tend to an honorable adjustment of the
contest between Spain and her revolted colony.
on the basis of some effective scheme of self
eighty IF Spain. It failed through the refusal
of the Spanish government. then in power, to
consider any form of mediation or, indeed, a
plan of settlement which did not begin the
actual submission of the insurgents to the
mother country. and then only on such terms
as Spain herself might see At to grant. The
| ~-n- -~kS~,, aL1 W. ncfc n n . r.
insurgents is in nowise diminished. The eff
forts of Spain were increased. both by the
despatch of fresh levies to Cuba and by the
addition to tile horrors of the strife OF
A Cruel and Inhuman Phase,
highly unprecedented in the modern history Of
civilized christian peoples. The policy of de-
Capt. Gen. Pando, of Oct, 1896. in the prov
ince of Pinar Del Rio, then extended to en-
brace all of the island to which the power of
the Spanish arms was able to reach by &C.
cupation or by military operations. The peas
antry. including all dwelling in the open agri-
cultural interior, were driven into the garri-
troops. The raising and movement Of proyis-
ions of all kinds were interdicted. The fields
were laid waste, dwellings unroofed and fired.
mills destroyed, and, in short. everything that
could Gesolate the land and render it unfit for
human habitation or support was commanded
by one or the other Of the contending parties
and executed by all the powers at their dis
posal. BY the time the present administration
took office a year ago, concentration so.
called. had been made effective over the bet
ter part of the four central and western prov
inces Of Santa Clara, Matanzas, Havana and
Pinar Del Rio. The agricultural population to
the stimated number OF three hundred thou
sand or more, were herded within three towns
and the immediate vicinity. deprived OF the
means Of support. left without shelter, and
left to the most unsanitary conditions ea,d ION AS tne
ton of the depopulated areas OF production, the
situation became miserable. Month by month
the death rate increased in an alarming ratio.
DE-, NEoroh 1907 according To conservative eS-
Inmates from official Spanish sources, the NOR
tally among the reconcentrados
From Starvation
and the diseases thereto incidental exceeding
fifty percentum Of their total number. NO
practical relief was accorded to the destitute.
The overburdened towns already suffering from
the general dearth, could give no aid. So
called zones of cultivation, established within
the Immediate area Of effective military COLI
troll about the cities and fortified camps
proved illusory as a remedy for the suffering.
The unfortunates being for the most part
wcmen and children, with aged and helpless
men; enfe sh1ea BY by disease disc s,ts and f toa'st .ee e9u 10
shelter, for their W support. or for the sup.
Div Of the cities. Recommendation, adopted
ayoMedly as a war ns .h measure sunni IN ora Mrrl 10 c ,as
pedestined result. AS I said in my message OF
last December. It was not civilized warfare:
1t was extermination' me on,y peace u could
beget was that OF the wilderness ana tae
Meanwhile the military situation in the island
| had UNDERGONE q uOLlCedOlS CuduSe. EAtE0e
J! ordinary activity that characterized the second
year Of the var. when the Insurgents invaded
del Rio and carried havoc and destitutimn up
to the walls Of the city Of HaXana. ITSELF. had
relapsed into a dogged struggie IN the gcen-
trail and eastern provinces. The Spanish arm.
regained a measure Of control In Pinar del
Rio and parts of Havana, but. under the ex.
listing conditions Of the rural country. without
INN ediate Improvement Of their productive
situation. Even thus partially restricted, the
revolutionists held their own and their slb-
mission put forward by Spain Is the essential
and role basis Of peace. seemed q far distant
ss 1t the outset. In this state Of affairs. my
The Grave Problem OF Its Duty.
Ny message Of last December received the
situation and detailed the steps taken with {
view OF relieving its acuteneAs and opening
the way to some form Of honorable settlssnent;
The assassination Of the primo minister. Como
vas, led 20 Q change Of government in 0pAtn.
Ths fnrnsr ADMINISTRATION pledged the nj.