Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1898-03-04
PROCTOR SAYSLITTLE
Vermont Senator Guards His I'm
pressions of Cuban Affairs.
DID NOT LIKE BULL FIGHT
He viii Garry His Investigations
Into the interior.
CRUISER oQUENDo EXPECTED
Copyright, 1895, by Chas. N. Pepper.)

| O4So 4OG4G wy " 49AN<>/ x1<A4 In - LII
Copyright, 1895, by Chas. NJ Pepper.)
| Special Catlegram From STAFF Correspondent.
HAVANA, March 2, via Port Tampa, Fla,
| March 3.-Impressions 8. Of Cuba have been re-
ceived by various people during the last
two years. 1 don't know that Senator Proc
tors Impressions will be different from
| those Of other people. He can learn moth
ing that Is not already known in Washing
ton. and apparently he does not expect in
two or three weeks to learn more than
the consuls have learned in two years.
1t was little embarrassing at first to be
advertised as the bearer Of important COM
munications from the President, and to be
recorded with the mission Of ending the
war. The senator after some good-natured
disclaimers ceased to worry over the prom
| inence given his visit. He went about his
inquiries in his usual quiet way. imagine
| the official representatives Of the United
States in Cuba feel more free to talk to
him in confidence than they would to
private individual. He will be able to con-
firm by observation conditions on which
their reports are based, and will learn
some things which are not contained in
the official report, or at least which for
diplomatic reasons will probable not ap
pear in the versions Of them made public.
If the whole thing is not over by the time
he returns to Washington, Senator Proc
tor may be able to give President McKin-
| ley the benefit of his seasoned Judgment on
how to bring about the issue which must
be met.
Crisis Lies in Spain.
TI1n- 1o6 -fr,,r
| hours in Havana until he learned that the
solution Of the crisis lies in Spain rather
| than in Cuba. He learned that the insur-
gents are willing and ready to accept the
| mediation Of the United States, on the
single condition that it is based on the rec
ognition Of independence. If he goes into
Santa Clara province the Senator finds
there is a railroad station which is distant
| ley Of his seasoned judgment on how to
General Gomez's headquarters.
But 1t is not necessary to bother with
the insurgent chiefs at present. Their po-
| sition is well understood. Senator Proctor
| also found that the government represen-
| tatives from Captain General Blanco down
| simply await orders from Spain. 1t is not
| for them to say whether mediation would
be acceptable. They carry out the policy
| for the Sagasta ministry. The intransi-
gente populace, the army officers and the
volunteers present a problem which a
stranger can hardly be expected to solve,
| because the Spaniards themselves do not un-
derstand how to solve it. They don't know
whether an uprising would follow American
| Intervention or not, though they say they be-
| lieve one would be Of little consequence un-
| less there should be revolution in the
peninsula. If every official of>the United
States would come to Cuba he could learn
| nothing more Of 1t than can be learned in
Proctor can gain valuable Information, and
| that is what he seems to be doing.
Bull Fight Not to His Liking.
Probably the bull fight was not to the
senator's liking, for, though the great
Mazzantini was the attraction, in company
| with other Americans he came away be-
| fore the sport was finished. Two of those
who were spectators gave their opinion
| that q people who were capable Of enjoying
the bull fight, were capable of blowing up
| the Maine. That was a prejudiced subject
| to which Senator Proctor probably would
not subscribe, Notwithstanding his impress
! sions OF the entertainment might have been
unfavorable.
| The senator arrived in good time for the
official confession that autonomy is a fall
ure A day or two after his coming
| appeared that interview with DIR. Dolz, a
| member of the autonomy cabinet, in which
| the insurgents were asked to be good
enough to quit and come back into the
| fold. In that interview they were called
not erring brethren, but brethren who
rightfully rebelled against the Spanish au-
thorities. They were in substance invited
L -
Cuba, provided they would let the flag of
Spain continue to fly over the island.
The aim of this interview was to pave the
| basis different from autonomy. That at
| tempt is now being made. little time
must elapse before the formal rejection of
the scheme by Gomez is made known. But
that the proposition should be put forth by
members Of the autononist cabinet is Sig
ni1cant enough to satisfy clear-headed
public man from the United States that the
obituary Of autonomy is already written.
Feeling About Maine Disaster.
Senator Proctor has had a chance to OBJ
serve something Of tho feeling In regard to
the Maine disaster. I don't know what his
| opinion is on that subject. He also had the
chance to see the rejoicing populace over
the arrival Of the warship vizcaya- OF the
country he has as yet seen little, though
| in the five miles between Havana and Ma
I tanzas, which he has covered, he would be
able to form a fair idea of the rest of the
country.
| Considerable sugar cane has been ground
In this neighborhood and the land is not 20
entirely desert waste as elsewhere. The
| senator IL discreet man and he can be
trusted. and presume he has had no trou-
BILE in gaining knowledge of the extent to
which the insurgents have collected their
tax from the sugar plantations that have
been permitted to grind. The planters con-
iide fully in those who can be trusted
It may be that while he was In Matanxas
Senator Proctor was able to find some rea-
son why up to this time none OF the relief
which the American people have contribute
ed to the starving people OF the island has
reached the town. It was probably the
worst concentration point.
The suffering there II harrfble asrnost be-
yond human belief. In several Visits hs,ye