The evening times., 1898-10-25
Why Continue This Wrong.

1t will be five months from the sign
ing Of the protocol to the date set for
the Spanish evacuation of Cuba We
know now what the term immediate"
means in the lexicon of the diplomatist.
To the hustling American. who is used
to the quick mastery of transportation
problems, il must seem strange that
nearly Ealf a year should be necessary
for the removal of an army of some
one hundred and fifty thousand men,
especially when it is matter
questions of rations for a longer time
than is required for the crossing of the
sea. Because no disposition to favor
delay was shown by our Commissioners
to Porto Rico, the smaller Spanish army
in that island has been cleared out to
the last man, while not a single step
! has been made in the formulation of
| plan Of evacuation in Cuba. At first
our own Government assumed that
immediate evacuation" must be effect
ed by the fifteenth of the passing
month. The Spaniards simply refused
to consider the proposition. Then our
amiable Commissioners proposed the
/ first OF December. which was surely a
/ liberal time extension. To that, also,
General Blanco gave a positive mega
tive. SO the Commissioners, with the
/ approval of the President, will allow
! Though the word seems ironicaD Gen.
eral Blanco is continue to collect the
considerable customs duties at the port
/ of Havana until the first of next year
Since General Blanco refuses to agree
! TO an earlier day OF evacuation, it is
better TO submit to his stay than to at
/ tempt his forcible expulsion. He has
/ large army of well-fed soldiers who
have never had the least experience
with the brave American boys, and
whose Spanish pride, therefore, still
upholds the fallacy that they are equal
TO many times their own number of
Yankee pigs. II would cost a heap of
money To whip BIanco's army, and be-
sides the President has relapsed into
his former dislike of war But why
should the sovereignty of Spain con-
tinue? Why should Blanco be permit
! ted TO impose his stupendous charges
t-- SoDGS SFAlA ~ I'D aid american
manufacturers? Why should the emp
ty Spanish treasury be repleted with
funds collected from the Cubans and
from the Americans who won Cuba
from Spain for freedom? Surely the
situation, so humiliating as well as so
costly Ia the people of the victorious
nation is without a parallel in history
and a T1FpfaHanf that Ha l,.
every triumphant power of the future.
AS related in the news of this morn
ing, small bodies of American soldiers
are 10 be sent to Cuba from time to
time TO take the place Of the Spanish
troops withdrawn from the small
towns and collected at Havana. But
nothing is said of the immediate sur
render of the government at Havana
into American hands. Are the people
Of Cuba TO be robbed by heavy customs
charges for the benefit of Spain until
the new year? They may well assert,
as they do, that ii is am outrage 10 have
been forced to pay such enormous
| tribute TO their defeated oppressor dur
ing the past three months. They have
every warrant to protest against a con.
tinuation of this costly and degrading
policy for longer period. Better a re-
newal of hostilities than to infiict this
wrong on the people in whose behalf
the war was made, and on our own
people. After all, the fear that Blanco
would offer forcible resistance is
groundless; but even If ii were not. we
should not consent to a condition that
no other nation would ever tolerate.