The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1898-05-20

WASHINGTON, May 4. Especial ~
"Spain's policy since the elimination OF
the present crisis has been peculiar one,
said member of the diplomatic corps tC
me. at appears that the government al
Madrid has been talking valiantly and al
the same time proceeding in the most caufi
tious manner possible. We have during
the last ten days or two weeks heard OF
many speeches made by Sagasta and Other
Spanish leaders, all full of vigor and vim,
all breathing vengeance upon the Yam
KEGS, all telling what great things Spain.
Is going to do just as soon as she starts
out. At the same time we get through
Spanish avenues more or less information
as to the activity of the Spanish naval
preparations as to the assembling of ships.
as to the plans that are being laid for ag-
gressive action.
'But it has struck the most of US who
are mere lockers on in Vienna, SO to speak,
that SPAIN performances are, SO far, out of
proportion to her promises. She has done
nothing at all. Her fleets have not as yet
appeared on this side of the ocean, and there
is no telling when they will appear. The
United States has surrounded Cuba with
warships. Havana is suffering blockade.
Cuba is threatened with early conquest.
Still Spain does not move with the energy
and VigOr which the speeches of her lead
ing men would lead us to expect There
is no other nation in Europe, certainly no
first class power, that would have adopted
these tactics. If the government which
represent, for instance, were to be threat
ened as Spain has been threatened by your
people, and war had been declared upon
us, we should ere this have had all our
fleets in motion. Not a moments time
would have been lost. There would have
been no doubt as to our intention to fight,
and to fight desperately.
Playing a Deep Game.
"Spain's peculiar policy has led many Of
us to believe that at Madrid there are still
hopes of averting serious war;" conclud-
ed this diplomat. cit may be SPANS plan
to stand on the defensive for awhile, to see
whether or not the United States will de-
velop policy of vigorous action. Spain
may hope that if she moves slowly there
may be mediation of the powers which
will give her chance to drop out of Cuba
In dignity without being forced to engage
in ruinous war. This sort of talk is
heard great deal in diplomatic circles,
but we are only surmising. We have no
positive Information upon which to base
our impressions. Yet il is true that the
most of us believe Spain is playing some
deep game by which she hopes to avert Sc
we're punishment at the hands of the Unit
ed States. !"
Whether the war with Spain shall be q
short one or long one, it is not yet hurt
ing trade very much. At least this is the
opinion of prominent business men with
whom have talked. / met the other day
man from Chicago who is engaged in
commercial operations on a large scale.
remarked to him that had heard many
of the western wholesale merchants were
calling in their travelling statesmen and
keeping them at home for time.
SIS this ! cause they are afraid the war
Is going to bring on panic and thus de-
stroy the ability of country customers to
pay their bilIs?" I asked.
"Not at all" was the response. sit Is
true many wholesale houses are calling in
their statesmen, but the reason is a wholly
different one. They do not like to sell
goods at current prices. They anticipate
that there may be an advance in values in
most lines, and they do not want to put
their goods out at the lower level. There
Is not the slightest fear in business circles
of any panic or even of money strin-
gency as result of the war with Spain.
Business men are feeling very easy. OF
course there may be little check in some
lines. Certain enterprises will be held up,
and large building operations which were
in contemplation may halt till the sky
clears little, but even this slight effect is
expected to be merely temporary. The
war is not going to retard our prosperity
appreciably."
American News Gatherers.
In one line of trade prices are rising rap
idly. Havana cigars will soon be worth
almost their weight in gold. Imported
goods are becoming more and more scarce,
and even Key West cigars made of import
ed Cuban tobacco will soon be difficult to
obtain. was in club the other day, and
when the keeper of the cigar stand re-
mark ed that they were now selling the
last consignment of imported cigars they
expected to get a dozen men, hearing the
gossip, stepped up and bought all the way
from one to half dozen boxes each and
had them put away for their private use.
If the war over Cuba continues long,
thousands Of Americans who have been
smoking Havana cigars will find it neces-
sary to take to pipes or Mexican cigars,
the only satisfactory substitutes for genu-
inc Cuban grown smokers.
American newspapers are already CIV
ing the world an csject lesson in what
real news gathering enterprise is. Nothing
like the completeness and vividness of the
dispatches now appearing in our papers
from all the points of interest was ever
seen in the world before. At the time of
the civil war in this country the art of
news gathering had not been fairly de-
veloped. This is the first real test the
American press has ever had of it's capa-
CITY for handling war, and right royalty
is it acquitting itself. English papers are
famous for their war news when England
is engaged in hostilities, but the English
papers of the first rank have never even
approached what the average American
paper is doing today. If a London paper
sends three or four correspondents to the
front and gets from them an average of
two or three columns of cablegrams per
day, it thinks it is doing great piece of
work. Our big American papers send 80
or 40 men to the field, and the space they
fill with timely, well written matter is
measured by pages, not columns.
AS evidence of the enterprise and lavish
ness of certain great American papers I
may mention that not long ago one New
York journal had as MANY as 20 writer's