The daily morning journal and courier., 1898-04-21
THE OUTDOOR.

vigorously, ana IT war comes, the ln- teresting question arises, and is being
 much discussed, will it be a long or a
 short contest. As to this, opinions diff
 fer widely. The country is in vastly better shape for war now than if Pres
 ident Mckinley had allowed himself to be stampeded into call for war
 months ago. For that reason the pros-
 gle is much improved. There is a
 widespread opinion that a war with
 Spain would be short, or thirty days"
 affair. quickly over. Another view is
 that we may have to fight six months
 or a year, and the holders of this view recall the '61 cry Of "On to Richmond" and what happened at Bull Run and other places. In other words, it took four years and more to capture Rich
 mond. Those who hold that a war
 with Spain would be thirty days af- fair point to Spains weakness tinan-
 cially and assert that our navy would quickly vanouish Spain's ships, cap | ture Havana and drive out the Spanish | troops. Authorities differ as to the l strength of the Spanish forces in Gu ba. The lowest estimate is from 50,000
 to 6O,ooO The London Times corre- I spondent who has been ordered out of | Cuba, his pen pictures of Spanish
 cruelty and the dreadful scenes of
 starvation and devastation in that is-
 land having been very unpalatable to
 Spain, estimates the force at twice 60,- | 900. Our country has one great ad- vantage in being able to reach Cuba 1 in a few hours from Key West, but if I we should have to send an invading
 army into Spain, as ex-President Har
 rison says may be necessary, this
 would be more than counterbalanced. Then it is urged that the climate of l Cuba and the approaching unhealthy ' season would work havoc with our un-
 acclimated troops, despite our sanitary l precautions. Our government can sup
 ply vast army of men, 1t is true, but
 new troops must be obtained and they will not come into service as trained 1 veterans As to battles on the sea it l is believed that we now have distinct l ly the advantage, our navy being now on the whole, much superior to Spains 1 Again, Spain, with the wave of patri-
 otic fervor now sweeping over that I country, can, it is estimated, place in l the field. 50,0Oo more men than it has | at present under arms. As to their l fighting quality the opinion prevails l that the new 1evies would necessarily be largely composed of boys, Spain l having already drained the country of l it's fighting men in it's protracted strlfg-
 gle in Cuba. Our country is immeas-
 urably superior to Spain in population
 and wealth. It is only a question of
 time when Spain, unaided by other for
 eign powers, would have to succumb. l succor Spain on the part of the other l nations of Europe. England is dis l tinctly favorable to the United States, l and will give no countenance to l any European combination against us. l Spain, from all the indications, is not I to receive outside help.
 Then there is another element in the situation which greatly works against
 Spain's fighting chance in Cuba. This is the insurgents themselves This country can count on the insurgents as
 allies, but it must make the insurgents feel that the United States is working to free Cuba and not to acquire Cuba I for ourselves. Of this, the insurgents
 should be fully assured by our govern
 ment. Then their cooperation could l be safely counted upon, judging from General GomeZ's letter to President Mo- Kinley some time ago. This military cooperation is very essential to us, if it is true, as stated, that congress in-
 tends to limit our army of invasion to the regular army, as the additional supply of troops to be raised will
 not be really available for effective ser vice for some time to come. This coun- try should therefore see to it that arms and ammunition are furnished the Gu
 ban insurgents with all dispatch, if they are to be our allies. Despite the
 Spanish navy scores of ilibustering ex- petitions from this country have land-
 ed in Cuba and supplied munitions of
 war to the insurgents. The force of insurgents under arms in Cuba is
 small owing to the Cubans lack of
 arms and ammunition. With this de- ficiency remedied the insurgent army
 could be quadrupled in size in short
 time. Our coast patrol of Cuba will cease to intervene at once and fiji
 clustering expeditions will have no fur
 ther interference from us. Further, a vital problem for Spain, hard nut for