The record-union., 1898-04-12

: SpdHlSn authorities say, the war must
be continued"
DEATH RATE FIFTY PER CENT.
On December 18th General Lee sent
another communication saying that
the total number of reconcentrados in
Havana province will reach 1J0GJ9,
and that the death rate from starva
ton alone will be over 80 per cent. For
the relief of these people he says $12,-
.V3 in silver has been set aside, so
that if every dollar appropriated
REACHES them the distribution will
amount to about II cents to a person,
which, Of course. would be rapidly ex-
hausted, and as / can hear of no fur
ther succor being afforded it is easy
to perceive what little practical relief
has taken place in the condition of
these people"
NEW SCHEME OF AUTONOMY
December 2Sth General Lee makes
the first communication about the new
scheme Of autonomy. He says that
he has been informed that the author
tiles are engaged in forming an au-
tonomistic Cabinet, arranging for the
members to take the required oath on
January 1st. and ''also for an election
thirty days thereafter"
My present information is that most
of the Spaniards will refrain from
voting. and nearly all the Cubans.
The feeling in Havana. and /
hear, in other parts of the island, is
strong against it. the Cubans desiring
an independent Republic, and the Span
iards preferring annexation to the
United States rather than autonomy.
On the night of the 9th inst there
leo 70 h4,x- cd raIa n
over the island to testify the disap-
probation of the people to the proposed
autonomistic plan of the Spanish Gov
ernment''
He goes on to describe how it cul
minated about . o'clock on the morn
ing of the 25th, when a mob assem-
bled in the principal square with cries
of Death to autonomy" and Viva
Weyler!" He says the mob had stones
in their pockets. and some of them
were armed with weapons. They made
a demonstration also against the ''Di-
ariO de la Marina a paper favoring
autonomy but We're dispersed by the
military police.
The same day General Lee acknowl
edges the receipt of President McKin
ley's proclamation. calling upon the
people of the United States to make
charitable contributions for the relief
of the distress in Cuba.
Other kilograms followed during the
next few days as to the class of con-
tributions that would be most valu-
liable in relieving the suffering
EFFECTS OF WEYLER'S DECREE.
| January Sth General Lee makes the
following report:
'Sir: I have the honor to state as
matter of public interest, that the re-
concentrate order of General Weyler
former Captain-General of this island,
transformed about 400 900 self-support-
ing people, principally women and chill
dren, into a multitude to be sustained
by the contributions by others or die Of
starvation or of fever, resulting from a
low physical condition and being maSSed
in large bodies, without change of cloth
ing and without food their homes We're
burned, their fields and plantations de-
StrOyed and their livestock driven away
or killed l estimate that probably
100000 of the rural population in the
province of Pinar Del Rio, Havana, Ma
tanZaS and Santa Clara, have died of
starvation from resultant causes, and
the deaths of whole families almost sim
ultaneously, or within a few days of
each other, and of mothers praying for
their children to be relieved of their hor-
rible sufferings by death are not the
least of the many pitiable scenes which
We're ever present. In the provinces of
Puerto Principe and Santiago de Cuba,
where the reconcentrado order could not
be enforced, the great mass of the peo-
pie are self-sustaining. A daily
average of ten cents worth of food to
I20, 600 people would be an expenditure of
s., 600 per day, and of course the most
humane efforts upon the part of our cit
izens cannot hope to accomplish such
a gigantic relief and a great portion of
these people will have to be abandoned
to their fate / am etc.
"FITZHUGH LEE"
DEATHS IN SANTA CLARA.
General Lee 1nc1osed in this commun-
ication an editorial from the "Diario de
La Marina" which vigorously de-
nounced the "seditious tumult'' of the
day before as a victory for Gomez and
the enemies of Spain On the same day
he also sent to the department some
statistics about the mortality in Santa
Clara, showing that while there were
5,4S9 deaths in that town in seven years
previous to 1897, which included l 1,4S7
in one year from an epidemic of yellow
fever, there were in 1891 owing to the
concentration order, 6,910 deaths out of
a total population of 14,000. The death
rate increased monthly from IS in jan
uary, the month before the concentra-
ton order went into effect, until De-
cember, when there wre oil deaths.
RIOTS AT HAVANA.
|
General Lee sent brief cablegrams to
the department with regard to the riot
ing and the demonstrations against au
tonomy, and Blanco and the newspaper
offices. January 14th he said some of
the rioters threatened to go to the
United States Consulate.
Ships he said, tare not needed,
but may be later. If Americans are in
danger, ships should move promptly for
Havana. Uncertainty and excitement
widespread"
The rioting ceased the next day, and
General Lee reported all quiet
On the 18th General Lee sent a dis
patch marked confidential, regarding
the rioting. IT was:
Sir: The recent disorders in this
city are primarily attributed to a group
Of Spanish officers who We're incensed at
articles appearing in three of the news
ipapers of Havana. 'El Reconcentrado,"
La Discussion and lei Diario de La
/ Marina, the first was very pronounced
against General Weyler and his meth
DDS La Discussion" had been sup
| pressed by Weyler but its publication
was permitted to be resumed by Blanco,
and the last had been an anti-Spanish