The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1898-12-11
TREATY SIGNED
A Happy Ending of the Epilogue
of War.
A O O DAY FOR SPAIN
A Scramble for tho Pens Used in Sign
ing the Document Which Ends the
Wal the United
States and Spain.

Paris, Dec. 10.-The joint peace com
mission met at $50 y. m. and at 1850
p. m. took a recess until I p. m. The
treaty was signed at s:i5 p. m. ais
evening.
There has been a great contest among
the families and friends of the Amer
lean commissioner = for possession or
the pens with which the signatures TO
the treaty were written. Some OF the
Americans were provided with hand
some pens. purchased for the purpose.
The Spaniards appeared to be unaffec;-
ed by the souvenir craze. and contented
themselves with the ordinary GUN
pens strewn on the table. Arthur Fer
guson. the interpreter Of the American
commissioners, requested senior Mon
tero Rios to give him his pen, saying:
Have you any desire to preserve the
pen with which you will sign?
Not In the slightest said the SPAN
lard. with a courtly bow.
The treaty as signed consists OF II
articles, IL having been found advls-
able to sub-divide two or three of the
articles In the draft agreed upon at the
last meeting. The commissioners or
the two nations wrote their signatures
ON two copies of the treaty, one copy
being for the archives.
The document was prepared by Sec
rotary Moore in behalf of the United
States commission and by Senior VII
laurUtia for Spain, on account OF the
continued Illness of Secretary O1eoe
of the Spanish commission. Each copy
contains the English n Spanish texts
Of the treaty I'm parallel columns. The
wording had been approved previously
by the commissions without a joint
meeting so there was no controversy
OF this subject.
The signing of the treaty tonight
would afford a subject for a great his
torical painting. The group. gathered
about the table in the stately chamber
of the foreign office. was impressive in
itself. while the fact that the sense OF
the momentousness Of the issues which
the act decided was deeply felt by all
the participants gave an Impressive ana
solemn ton to the scene.
Aroung the great mahogany table sat
the 10 arbiters Of the destiny OF an old
and a young nation. Ranged about
and behind were numerous attaches
of the American commission. The Jets
from the crystal chandeliers above n
head of those present magnifed the
brilliant green and scarlet of the APP
holsteTing in their gaudiness.
There was "a contrast between the
| black-clothed arbiters and the scenery.
To the Americans it was a happy ending
Of the e~pilogue of war; for the Spaniards
Il was plainly n bitter tragedy, none the
less painful because long foreseen. They
sat silently, as II Almost crushed, and
none could withhold sympathy for Senior
Montero Rios. the president of the Span
ish commission. who, coming from his
bed. was bundled I'm n great overcoat.
though logs were burning I'm the fire.
place near by.
The spirits of the two bodies were sym
bolized by the clothes worn by the men,
bers of the commissions. for the Ameri-
cans were attired in evening dress for the
dinner given them Immediately after the
meeting by the Due de Loubat. and the
Spaniards wore black frock coats.
Although the commissioners met at 3:3C
o'clock. expecting to finish their work In
half an hour, the engrossing on parch-
ment was found to be so troublesome that
IL delayed the signing Of the document
until $50 O'Clock. Clerk Martin of the
American commission worked all day
without even stopping TO eat. When he
came into the chamber at 1880 O'Clock
with the document he found the commis-
sioners waiting. The Spanish copy had ar
rived half an hour earlier. Arthur FerGu'
son then proceeded to read. first Tho
English. and after that the Spanish YER
sion. OF the treaty. This finished, two cop
les were passed around the table, the com