The San Francisco call., 1898-04-13
Call Office, Riggs House,

4 Call Office, Riggs House, Y < Washington, April 12, 4 General Grosvenor of Ohio, Y < now generally regarded as the Y 4 spokesman of the present ad- < ministration in the House, late ' 4 this afternoon, in reply to an at Y 4 tack upon the policy of the Pres 4 ident, interpreted the recommen- < dation in the message to mean < request for authority to use the < army and navy of the United < States to establish on the island 4 of Cuba a Government inde- ' 4 pendent of Spain. It was re- ' 4 garded as an exceedingly im- < < portant and significant an- 4 nouncement.
 Tn the brief debate to-day the open ing guns of the contest that begins to- morrow were fired. Broadsides were exchanged and then the House ad- journed.
 The House was in committee of the whole on the District of Columbia bill when, shortly before the adjournment, Lentz (D.) of Ohio made a vigorous as- sault on what he called the ''vacillat- ing policy" of the President, reading from NaTlOuS newspapers bC o4AOf' NAAeSN the President had repeatedly changed his mind. He commented especially unon the report of an alleged midnight conference between Senator Elklns and the Spanish Minister after the former had been at, the White House with John J. McCobk. He taunted the Re- publicans because the President had not declared for the independence Of Cuba, which the Republican platform had demanded.
 Tt remains to be seen" said he, whether the majority of the House can be lined up and whipped ln'
 Congress, he declared, should act, ana could act better than the executive, formulating his policy at midnight be- hind closed doors with the aid or plu- tocracy" He concluded:
 A stable government What do you pro pose now? Let this congress elTe be 'S says ,i and l will go over there ana toTce tne Cuban patriots, the Cuban heroes, to sup init to a stable government at the nanus of Spain because the Queen Regent has already advised the administrator that she has ordered a suspension of hosth. ties: she cannot order suspension or hostilities by the insurgents. She has not among all her bull fighters and bul- lies manhood enough to order suspen- sion of hOstilitieS on the insurgents; 1hlS administration, with all this Vacillaung policy. which was criticized by the Chi cago Tribune. an administration paper asks us to put the army and navy Tn It's hands to go over and punish the Su- bans after three years of the most he roic fighting for liberty that any people ever made on the face of the earth. l say it is an outrage, 1t is stench in the nostrils of every decent American. We shall see whether the majority side of this House can be whipped into such a policy as that.
 nP i1IYnrNad O his feet as MT. Lentz sat down, and exclaimed:
 MT Chairman, sometimes misstate- ment is so gross that it reaches the dig nity of falsehood, and falsehood so gross that 1t becomes mendacity, and mendac- ity so foul that it becomes scoundreliSm. l say that the President has never said that he desires the use of the army and navy at the hands of Congress in order to establish Spanish supremacy on the island of Cuba. (Applause).
 That is not true. There is no man who can with an honest heart and with an honest purpose read this message of the President and arrive at any conclusion of that character. The Presidents whole argument leads up to the proposition that the conduct of Spain in that island during fifty years of mIrrule, fifty years of out rage, fifty years of tyranny has brought about such a condition that it is now in- tolerable and inSupportable and must cease. That is the language of the Presi- dent of the United States. He asks the use of the army and navy to put a stop to that intolerable and insufferable con- dition. Applause on the Republican sidel That is the argument of the PCeSi- dent Every sentence in that message to this House teaches that this. is his purpose, and yet gentlemen say, in view of all the language he has used, in view of the argument he has made in reciting the infamous and despouc con duct that he has called to our attention, that it is the intention of the President to become the ally of the Spaniards. 1 say that there is no word in that whole message that justifies any honorable man in making a declaration of that kind upon this floor. We are going there to fight Spain. We are going there to estab- fish a stable anu permanent government, What does that mean?
 Here we have had fifty years of Span ish government, not stable, not perma- nent- except in the villainy of its out Tages. The character of outrage and vll- lainy.. which has become insufferable, should be suffered no longer, the Presi- dent says, creating such an emergency as compels us to violate the otherwise friendly relations that we ought to have and go to the extreme of war in bringing an end to these insufferable conditions produced through the acts of Spain. And yet the gentleman dares to stand here and say that that paper advocates the use of the army and navy, the placing of the whole military power of the country in the hands of the President in order that he may go there to perpetuate that which he reprobates and Co continue that Wnlcn ne says lS UOM uHGUQuTaple. lie wants a stable and permanent republican government. Does that mean Spanish rule? Has any man the right to make that argument?
 Mir. Lentz-Does he say republican gov ernment?
 MT. Hepburn-No, he does not say that. but he supposed that you knew some thing about the history of this country Applause on Republican side.)
 Mir. LentZ-I do.
 Mr. Maguire-And we know something about the history of this administration.
 MT. Hepburn-He supposed that you knew something about the aspirations of American statesmen; that you knew something about the declaration that over and over again had been reiterated by every branch of this Government with reference to the character of ,overnment that should be formed on the hemisphere. Applause on Republican side.) Grosvenor of Ohio took the floor and said:
 I am going to refer now to only one thing that the gentleman from Ohio (Mr Lentz) has said on this particular occa- sion, and I do not do it for the purpose of elaborating a speech upon this occa- sion. The time is coming when the gentleman will have a full opportunity y1,a of ( Tr;t. .