The Monmouth inquirer., 1898-04-14
M'KINLEY'S MESSAGE.
PRESIDENTS VIEWS ON CUBA SUB
MITTEo TO CONGRESS.

he Makes No Specific Recommendation,
opposes Recognizing Cuban IndePend-
ence at This Time, but Declares the War
Must Cease-Favors Intervention.
washington. April 13.-The presi-
dents message on the Cuban question
was presented TO congress Monday.
1t strongly opposes recognition OF
belligerency as inexpedient; opposes
the recognition of the independence
of Cuba at this time and favors the
granting of authority for use Of the
armed forces of the United States
to secure a stable government in CUBA.
1t also asks for an appropriation to be
used for the relief of such of the people
as are still in need. In the introduction
the president says:
The present revolution Is but the sue
cessor Of other similar instructions which
have occurred in Cuba against the aonln,
istration of Spain, extending over psrigu
of nearly half a century. cacn OF gI,iss Mniui; !
during its progress, has put the Unlted
States to great effort and expense IN en-
forcing its neutrality laws caused enor-
NOUS losses to American trade ana COM
merce, caused irritation, annoyance and
disturbance among our citizens, ana oy
the exercise of cruel, barbarous ana un-
Cltla1xGd pfGcLlCeS Oh warfare cBOthca tic
sensibiiities and offended the humane sym
pathieS OF our people,
Since the present revolution began in
February, 1895. this country has seen the m.
fertile domain at our threshold ravaged py
fire and sword in the course OF strukste
unequaled in the history of the island ana
rarely paralieled, as 20 the numeeE OF TN, ons
combatants and the bitterness OF the con-
test- by any revolution of modern times
where dependent people. striving 70 pc
free. have been overcome by the power Oh
a
Our people beheld a once prosperous
community reduced to comparative want,
its lucrative commerce virtually pafaisstssdd' passtsd
its fields laid waste, its mills n ruins ano an,
it's people perishing by tens of thousands
from hunger and desutution.
weyler's Concentration Plan.
Referring to General Weyler's plan Of
concentration. he says:
The policy of devastation and concentra-
ton inaugurated by the captain general
bando Of Oct 81 1896, in the province OF
Pinar del Rio, was thence extended to en-
brace all of the island to which the power
Of the Spanish arms was able to reacn py
occupation or by military operations Inc
peasantry, including ali dwelling in the
open agricultural interior, were driven into
the garrison towns or Isolated places neld
by the troops
The raising and movement of provisions
of all kinds were interdicted. The fields
were laid waste. dwellings unroofed and
nTed, mills destroyed, ana IN snort every
thing that could desoiate the land and rem
der 1t unfit for human habitation or sup
port was commanded by one or the other
Of the contestng parties and executed py
all the powers at their disposal.
By the time the present administration
took office year ago reconcentratlon--so
caIled-had been made effective over the
better part of the four central and western
provinces Santa Clara MatanZaS, Havana
and Pinar del Rio. The agricultural popu-
lafion to the estimated number of 300, 900 or
har0p1 within the towns and
their immediate vicinage, deprived of the
means of support. rendered destitute OF
shelter. left poorly clad and exposed to the
most unsanitary conditions
AS the scarcity of food increased with
the devastation of the depopulated areas
of production destitution and want became
misery and starvation Month by month
the death rate increased in an alarming
ratio
tive estimates from official Spanish sources.
the mortality among the reconcentrados,
from starvation and the diseases thereto
incident, exceeded 50 per cent of their to-
tai number. No practical relief was ac-
corded to the destitute.
We Feed People Starved by spain.
The president then refers at length to
the efforts of the people of the United
States to relieve the suffering on the
island and says:
The increasing destitution of the unfor-
ttlnate reconcentrdos and the alarming
mortality among them claimed earnest at
tention. The success which had attended
the limited measure of relief extended to
the suffering American citizens among
them by the judicious expenditure through
the consular agencies of the money appro-
priated expressly for their succor by the
joint resolution approved May "a 1897
prompted the humane extension of sim
liar scheme of aid to the great body Of
sufferers.
Speaking of the continuance of tina
war. the president says:
The war IN Cuba is of such nature that
short of subjugation or determination n
final military victory for either side seems
umpracticable. The alternative lies in the
physical exhaustion of the one or the other
party or perhaps of both-a condition
which in effect ended the ten years war
by the truce of Zanjon. The prospect of
such a protraction and conclusion of the
present strife is a contingency hardly to oa
contemplated with equanimity by the civ
ilized world and least OF all by the United
States, affected and injured as we are
deeply and intimately. by its very exist
ence.
Opposes Recognition.
Regarding the recognition of the Gu
ban republic he says:
Nor from the standpoint of expedience
do | think it would be wise or prudent for
this government to recognize at the pres
ent time the Independence of the so called
Cuban republic.
Such recognition is not necessary in or
der to enable the United States to inter
vene and pacify the island. To commit
this country now to the recognition of anv
particular government in Cuba might sub
ject us to embarrassing conditions of in
ternational obligation toward the organ
izafion SO recognized.
In case of intervention our conduct would
be subject to the approval or disapproyal
of such government, We would be required
TO submit TO its direction and to assume 10
ii the mere relation of a friendly ally
When it shall appear hereafter that there
is within the island a government capahIs
of performing the duties and dischargine
the functions of a separate nation. AMI
having as a matter of fact the proner
forms and attributes of nationality siIch
government can be promptly and readiIv
recognized and the relations and Interest,"
of the United States with such nation adj
lusted.
There remain the alternative forms of
intervention to end the war either az an
Impartial neutral by imposing a rational
compromise between the contestants or n
the active ally of the one party or the
other.
AS to the first. it is not to be forsotten
that during the last few months the reIa
tion of the United States has virtuaIlv haen
one Of friendly intervention in many WAYS
each not OF itself conclusive but all tend
ing to the exertion of potential infItlencss
toward an ultimate pacific result lust and
honorable to all interests concerned Tn.
f..lf f.ttr a.fe n i.