Delaware gazette and state journal. (Wilmington, Del.) 1883-1902, 1898-04-14

The war continued unahated. The re
s'stance of the insurgents was in nc
wise diminished.
THE POLICY OF DEVASTATION.
| The efforts of Spain were increaset
by the dispatch of fresh levies to Cubs
and by the addition to the horrors o
the strife Of a new and inhuman phase,
happily unprecedented in the muderr
history of civilized Christian peoples.
The policy OF devastation and concen
tration, inaugurated by the Captain.
General Banco. Of October 1896, in the
Province Of Pinar del Rim, was thence
extended to embrace all Of the island
to which the power OF the Spanish arms
was able to reach by occupation or by
military operations Tho peasantry in.
cluding al dwelling in the open agri
cultural Interior, were driven into the
| garrison towns or inaolatsd places held
by the troops. The;raising and moving
OF provisions Of all kinds we're intsr-
dicted. The ielis were LAID waste,
dwellings unruofed and fired. mills de-
stroyed and, in short, everything that
could desolate the land and render il
untit for human habitation or support
was commanded by one or the other of
the contenning parties and executed by
all the powers at their dispoia.
MISERY ASD sTAEvATIcN.
by the time the present administra-
tion took office. year ago, rsconcentra-
tiOn prevailed called because il had
been made effective over the better mart
OF the fur central and western prov.
inces, Santa Clara, Matanzas, Havana
and Pinar del Rio. Tho agricultural
population, to the estimated number of
200, 600 or more, was herded within the
towns and their immediate viGinage,
deprived OF the meana OF support, rem
dered destitute OF shelter, left poorly
clad and exposed to the most uusani-
tary conditions. As tho scarcity Of
food increased with the devastation of
the deponulated areas of production,
destitution and want became misery
and starvation. Month by month the
death rate increased in an alarming
ratio. By March, 1897, according to
conservative estimates from official
Spanish sources, the mortality among
tho reconcentrados, from starvation
aud the disease thereto incident, ex
ceeded 90 per centum of their total
numher. No practical rslot was nc.
corded to thu destitute. The nyer.
hurdened towns, already suffering from
the general dearth, could give no aid.
The 80 called 'zones of cultivation"
established within the immediate area
OF effective military control about the
cities and fortified cannH proved
lllusory as a remedy for the suffering
The unfortunates, being for the most
rart women and children, with
aged and helpless men enfeebIed
10 HiEauoa -
titled the soil, without tools, seed or
shelter, for their avn support or for
the supply of the cities. Recnnpentra-
tion. adopted avowedly as a war meas
ure in order to cut off the resources of
the insurgents, worked its nredestined
result. As said in my message of last
December, it was not civilized warfare;
it was determination. The only peace
it could heget was that of the wilder
ness and ths grave.
Meanwhile, the military situation in
the island had undergons noticeable
change. The extraordinary activity that
characterized the second year Of the
war, when the insurgents invaded even
the hitherto unhHrmed fields of Pinar
del Rio and carried havoc and destruc-
tion up to the walls OF the city of
Havana itself, bad relapsed into a
dogeed struggle in the central and
eastern provinces. The Spanish arms
regained measure OF control in pinar
del Rio and parts of Havana, but, under
the existing conditions of the rural
country, without immediate improve.
ment OF their productive Hituation.
Even thus partially restricted, the revo-
lutionists held their own and their CON
quest and submission, put forward by
Spain as tho essential and sole basis Of
peace, seemed as far distant as at the
outset.
CoSf RoNTED BY a GRAVE DUTY.
In this state of affairs, my admins.
tration found itself confronted with the
grave problem of its duty. My message
OF last Decemher reviewed the situation
and narratad the steps takon with
view TO relieving its srutenees and
opening the way to sums form Of hon.