Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1898-04-21


by negligence on their part SO willing and
gross as to be equivalent in cuIpabiIity to
positive criminal action."-Report of Sem
ate Committee on Foreign Relations.
WASHINGTON, April 14.-War be-
tween two powerful nations was the
sole topic of discussion in congress
yesterday.
Such excitement, suppressed though
1t was; such a feeling that the country
was on the verge of events that would
make history for all time to come; such
eloquent and impassioned oratory; and
such keen and brilliant repartee have
not been known in the senate since the
exciting days when the country was con-
vulsed by the greatest war OF modern
times
Notwithstanding the throng in the
galleries, the great semi-circuiar cham
Der was almost as silent as though it
We're deserted. Conversation was con-
Quoted In low whispers, all seeming to
feel as II from the very air they
breathed that events historic and mo-
mentous were about to occur.
Il full quarter OF an hour before the
senate was to convene Mr.. Davis
chairman of the foreign relations com
mittee, entered the chamber and qui-
city went to his seat in the center of
the republican side. He carefully
placed on his desk a 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 filed rapidly and when
the vice-president'S gavel fell nearly
every senator was at his desk. Scarcely
i've minutes had elapsed after the seS-
sion convened before the vice-presi-
dent recognized Mr.. Davis. An in
slant hush fell over the chamber. Mr.
Davis presented to the senate the reSo-
lutions and report from his committee
and requested that they be read. The
report was a terrific arraignment OF
Spain and her policies; yet SO eager
were all to hear every word that not
the slightest demonstration occurred
throughout the reading.
The following are the majority reso-
buttons reported by Senator Davis:
The Majority Resolutions.
WHEREAS, The abhorrent conditions which
nave existed for more than three years in the
island or Cuba 50 near our own borders, have
shocked the moral sense OF the people of the
tian civilization, eliminating, they have,
Inthe destruction OF u United States battleship
with 266 Officers and crew while on =
friendly visit to the harbor Of Havana, and can
not longer be endured, has been set forth By
the president OF the United States in his mes
sage to congress OF April II, 1895. upon which
the action OF congress was invited; therefore,
ReS0lred, First, That the people OF the island
are, and Of right ought to be, free and indie
pendent.
second That it is the duty OF the United
States TO demand, and the government Of the
United States does hereby demand, that the
government OF Spain at once relinquiSh its au-
thority and government in the island OF Cuba
and withdraw its land ami naval forces from
Cuba and Cuban waters
Third That the president of the United
States be, and he hereby is, directed and en-
powered to use the entire land and naval forces
OF the United States, ana to call into actual
service of the United States the militia OF sew
eral states, to such extent as may be nee
essarry to carry these resolutions into effect,
The report of the senate committee
on foreign relations on the Cuban stu
alton made by Senator Davis, chairman
of that committee, and accompanying
the resolutions, was a very thorough
review of the entire situation, and u
strong presentation of the facts which
had led the committee to its conclu-
sions- The report takes up the Maine
disaster as the leading topic for consid-
Grafton, and plunges into that question
in its first sentence, which is follows:
The destruction OF the United States battle
ahip Maine, of two Of her officers and of 264 OF
her crew in the haroor Of Havana, on the night
OF February I5 1895. excited to an unprecedent-
ed degree the compassion and resentment Of the
American people.
Continuing the report says:
Manifestations OF that resentment were sus-
pended. although the feeling was not allayed
by the self-restraint of our people, who deter
mined to hold their Judgment in suspense con-
6erning their ultimate action until an Official
Investigation should disclose the cause OF that
great disaster and enabled them By direct or
otrcumstantial testimony to impute the re-
apOnSibiLty therefor.
That investigation has been made It was
conducted with judicial thoroughneSS and de-
liberation. The dinicuIty OF demonstrating by
conclusive proof the efficient personal cause Of
that sinister event was the usual one OF expos
ing plotted and mysterious crimes No such
difficulty, however, obScureS its ofncial and re-
sponsible cause
The committee say that the explosion
itself of the Maine was linked with a
seriesOf precedent transactions, which
can not in reason be disconnected from
it."
With animus by Spain, so plainly apparent
that no one can even plauSibly deny its exist
ence, II Is merely one reason Tor the
conclusion to which the investigating
mind must come in concerning the entire
subject OF the relations of tue United States
with that government 1t is the opinion OF your
committee that the destruction of the Maine
was compaSSed either by the Official act of the
Spanish authorities was made possible by a
negligence on their part SO willing and gross as
TO be equivalent in culpability to positive crIm-
inal action
When property and life are destroyed by an
act which the exercise OF due diligence by the
person whose duty it is to use it could have
prevented, the happening Of such an event is
sufficient proof that diligence was not en-
plOyed
THE time of the explosions" says
the report, must have been calculated
for the moment when the Maine should
swing within the destructive radius of
the mine"
Concluding, this portion of its pres
entation, the committee says:
The duplicity. perfdy, and cruelty OF the
Spanish character they always have been
are demonstrated still to continue by their
manifestations during the present war in Cuba
AL these circumstances considered cumulative
~ warrant the 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 person is not
materially, or was made possible by o negligence
their part, so willing and gross as to be
equivalent in cuipability TO positive criminal
action
Minority Report.
Senator Turpie presented the report
Of the minority of the committee as