Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1898-04-14


ern times. Notwithstanding the tirons
in the galleries the great semi-circular
chamber was almost as silent as If 1t
were deserted. Conversation was con-
Quoted in low whispers, all seeming to
feel as if from the very air they
breathed that events historic and mo-
mentous were about to occur. A full
quarter of an hour before the senate
was to convene Davis. chairman of the
foreign relations committee, entered the
chamber and quietly went to his seat
in the center of the Republican side.
Hoar Sends the Business Over One Day.
He carefully placed on his desk
bulky package which all intuitively
knew to be the fateful resolution and
report from his committee upon which
peace or war might hinge. The chamber
filled rapidly and when the vice presi-
dents gavel fell nearly every senator
was at his desk. Scarcely five minutes
had elapsed after the session convened
before the vice president recognized
Davis. An instant hush fell over the
chamber. Davis presented to the senate
mittee and requested that they be read.
The report was a terrific arraignment
of Spain and her policies. Hoar insisted
that the resolutions and report go over
according to the rules, and the matter
had to wait day at least.
RESOLUTION OF THE MAJORITY.
Declares for Independence Enforced by the
Forces of the United States.
The resolution presented by the SEN
ate foreign affairs committee majority
was as follows:
Whereas, The abhorrent conditions
which have existed for more than
three years in the island of Cuba, so
near our own borders. have shocked
the moral sense of the people of the
United States, have been a disgrace to
Christian civilization, eliminating. as
they have, in the destruction of a Unit
ed States battleship, with 266 of its
officers and crew, while on a friendly
visit in the harbor of Havana, and can
not longer be endured, as has been
set forth by the president of the United
States in his message to congress of
April IL, 1898, upon which the action
of congress was invited; therefore be 1t
Resolved, First, That the people of
the island of Cuba are, and of right
ought to be, free and Independent.
Second. That it is the duty of the
United States to demand, and the gov
eminent of the United States does
hereby demand, that the government of
Spain at once reliquish its authority
and government in the island of Cuba
and withdraw its land and naval forces
from Cuba and Cuban waters.
Third, That the president Of the
United States be and he hereby is di-
rected and empowered to use the entire
land and naval forces of the United
States and to call into actual service of
the United States the militia of the sew
eral states to such an extent as may be
necessary to carry these resolutions into
effect"
The minority report was brief ane
reads: THE undersigned members of
/ the committee on foreign relations cor
! daily concur in the report made upon
| the Cuban resolutions, but We favor the
! immediate recognition of the republic
= of Cuba as organized in that island as
! a free, independent, and sovereign pow
! er among the nations of the world"
/ 1t was signed by Turpie, Mills, Daniel
| and Foraker.
In the report of the committee much
| space is given to the Maine tragedy and
| the conclusion says: The duplicity,
perfidy and cruelty of the Spanish
| character, as they always have been
! are demonstrated still to continue by
/, their manifestations during the present
f, war in Cuba. All these circumstances
considered cumulatively, warrant tbs
conclusion that the destruction of the
Maine was compassed either by the of.
fetal act of the Spanish authorities (and
the ascertainment of the particular per
son is rot materially, or was made pos
sible by a negligence on their part Sc
willing and so gross as to be equivalent
in culpability to positive criminal &C
ton
Following the presentation of th'
report came two of the most remarkabl,
speeches delivered on the Cuban ques
ton. Foraker and Lodge. both brillian
and imprisoned orators. presented diff
ferent phases of the Cuban situation
| Foraker advocated the direct recog
! uittop NJ the indep>udeuce NJ the Cunna,