The Worthington advance. [volume] (Worthington, Minn.) 1874-1908, 1898-04-14
He Asks for Authority to Put a
Stop II the War in i:
the Island.
But Advises Against Recognizing
the Insurgent Government
at the Present Time.
Cites Many Illustrious Precedents for
This Recommendations "The
War Must Stop"
Refers to the Battleship Maine Ex-
DlOsiOn az a Sign of Spanish
Weakness.

Washington, April 1.-THE president
Monday sent the following message to
the congress Of the United States:
Obedient to that precept Of the constitu-
from time to time to congress tnforma tiOn
of the state of the union, and to recon-
mend to their consideration such measures
us he shall judge necessary and eXpedient,
1t becomes my duty now to address your
body with regard to the grave crisis that
has arisen in the relations of the United
States to Spain by reason of the warfare
that for more than three years has
ragged in the neighboring island of Cuba.
DO SO because OF the intimate connection
of the Cuban question with the state Of our
own union and the grave relation the
course which it is now incumbent upon
the nation to adopt must needs bear to
II 1t Is to accord with the precepts laid
down by. the founders Of the republic and
religiously observed by succeeding admin.
1strations to the present day.
Uncivilized Warfare.
The present revolution is but the sue
cessor Of other similar insurrections which
have occurred in Cuba against the 90;
nf or ea eyer a.
during it's progress has subjected the Unit
ed States to great effort and expense in
NOUS losses to the American trade and
commerce, caused Irritation, annoyance
and disturbance among our citizens, and
by the exercise of cruel barbarlds and
uncivilized practices Of warfare Shocked
the sensibilities and offended the humane
Sympathies of our people.
RavaEed by Fire and Sword.
Since the present revolution began in
February, 1895, this country has seen the
by fire and sword in the course Of a
struggle unequaled in the history of the
islands, and rarely paralleled as to the
of the contest by any revolution of mod
ern times, where dependent people, striv-
ing to be free, have been opposed by the
pie have beheld once prosperous commu.
nifty reduced to compa rative want, it's COM
its
waste, its mills in ruins and its people
perishng by tens of thousands from hum
ger and restitution. We have found our
f6at IN the of
1oin' and which the law Of nations COM
mands' to police our waters and watch OUT
act in aid Of the Cubans. Our trade has
suffered; the capital invested by our cit
izens in Cuba has been largely lost, and
the temper and forbea of our peo-
per1lous unrest among our own citizens,
which has inevitably found its expires.
legislature, so that issues wholly external
to our own body polite engross attention
ana ana stang in the way of that close devo-
comes self-contented commonwealth
whose primal maxim has been the avoid
ance OF all foreign entanglements. All this
me utmost concern on the part of this gov
ermment as we'll during my predecessors
administration as my own.
Efforts for Peace.
In April, 1885, the evils from which our
country suffered through the Cuban war
made an effort to bring about a peace
through the mediation of this government
IN any way that might tend to an honor
Spain and her reXolted e colony. p on tSe
basis of some effective scheme Of self-gov-
ernment for Cuba under the flag and
the refusal Of the Spanish government then
in power. to consider any form Of mediation
or indeed any plan of settlement which did
the insurgents to the mother country and
then only on such terms as Spain herself
might see fit to grant. The war continued
unapated. Inc resistance of the insurgents
was in no wise diminished.
New Horrors Added.
The efforts of Spain were increased, both
by the dispatch of fresh levies to Cuba and
of a new and inhuman- phase happily un-
ilized Christian peoples. The policy of
devasta ton and concentration, inaugu-
rated by the ecaptain-generaPs banGo of Oc-
Rio, was thence extended to embrace all of
the island to which the power Of the Spa
ish arms was able to each by occupa ton or
Guiding all dwellings in the open agricul-
tural interior, were driven into the garrison
towns or isolated places held by the troops.
The raising and movement of provisions Of
all kinds were interdicted. The fields were
laid waste, dwellings unroofed and fired,
mills o destroyed and In SHORT everything
unfit for human habitation or support was
commanded by one or the other Of the con-
tending parties, and executed by all the
powers at their disposal
Conditions n Year Ago.
BY the time the present administration
called-had been made effective oyer the
better part of the four central and west
ern proy5ness santa Glara MaanzaS Hai
population, to the estimated number of
100000 or more, was herded within the
towns and their immediate vicinage, de,
prived Of the means Of support, rendered
destitute of shelter, left poorly clad and
exposed to the most unsanitary conditions.
the OF OF The
OF production. restitution and want be-
came, misery, and starvation. Month by
month the death rate increased in an
to conservative estimates from official
Spanish sources, the mortality among the
Teconc aa si.es from starvation and the
centum of their total number. No prac-
tical relief was accorded to the destitute.
The overwhelmed towns, already suffering
from the general dearth, could give no aid.
So-called zones Of cultivation, established
within the hmm eddate area of effective mill
tary control about the cities and fortified
camps, proved illusory as a remedy for the
suffering. The unfortunates, being for the
most part women and children with aged
and helpless men, enfeebled by disease and
hunger, could not have titled the soil, with
out tools, seed or shelter, for their own
support or for the supply of the cities.
war measure in order to cut OF the re-
predestined result. As said in my mes
sage OF last December, 1t was not civilized
warfare; 1t was determination. The only
peace it could beget was that Of the wilder
ness and the grave. sl..-r s5..'
A Noticeable Change. ~
Meanwhile the military situation in the
The extraordinary activity that character
lied the second year of the war, when
the insurgents invaded even the hitherto
unharmed fields of Pinar del Rio and car
ried havoc and restitution up to the walls
of the city of Havana itself, had relapsed
into q logged struggle In the central and
eastern provinces The Spanish arms re-
Rio and parts OF Havana, but, under the
existing conditions Of the rural country.
without immediate Improvement Of their
productive. situation. Even thus par
TALLY restricted the revOlutionistS held
their own, and their submission, put
forward by Spain as the essential and, sole
basis Of peace. seemed as far distant as
at the outset. d Il u 4 9ss s39 & 3sis