The record-union., 1898-03-30

| homes and forced them within the
armed camps, where it has permitted
hundreds of thousands of men, wom-
len and children to die of starvation;
and as q result of this system of inhu-
man warfare. tens of thousands of
| helpless people are now dying for want
of food; and
| Whereas, The war has paralyzed and
almost destroyed the large commercial
relations which have heretofore exist
/ ed between the United States and
| Cuba, and has rendered useless and
brought to ruin the many millions of
dollars of property of American citi-
zens invested in the island; and
| Whereas The existence and pro-
longed attention of the hostilities have
/ imposed heavy financial expenditures
and burdensome official labors upon the
! Government of the United States in the
enforcement of it's neutrality laws; and
! Whereas, The Consuls of the United
States and other impartial and compe
tent observers have reported that the
! Spanish Government has lost control
of much of the greater portion of the
island; that it is powerless to restore
/ it's authority and bring about peace,
and that a continuance of the contest
| will have no other effect than to in
crease the horrors, misery and starva-
tion which now exists, to utterly eX-
tinguish the commerce with and de-
stroy the property of American citi-
zens and add to the expense and bur
! dens of the Government of the United
States; therefore
Resolved. By the Senate and the
House of Representatives of the United
States of America, in Congress assem-
bled that the President of the United
/ States be and hereby is directed and
empowered to take such effective steps
as, in his discretion, may be necessary
i to secure a speedy termination of the
hostilities between the Government Of
Spain and the people of Cuba, the
withdrawal of the military and naval
forces of Spain from said island and
to complete the independence Of said
people.
The resolutions We're all, except AL
lens, referred to the Committee on For
! eign Relations.
MASON SPEAKS ON CUBAN CUES
TION.
At the conclusion of the presentation
of resolutions, Mason of Illinois was
idents message of yesterday.
Mason said he believed it was due to
the country now to know the general
expression and intention of the mem
bers of the Senate While he would
not apologize for discussing the Cuban
question at his time, he did not intend
by SO doing, any disrespect either to
the Administration or to the Commit
! ton al ha Il
that he was tired of the dilatory tao
ties that had been employed for three
years to prevent assistance from the
United States to the Cubans. He con-
tinued:
More than two years ago the plan
of the Spanish Government to starve
the women and children and non-com-
batants was begun. Every intelligent
man, woman and child was informed
of it through the ordinary channels of
| information, the newspapers, and by
the statements Of disinterested wit
nesses, day after day, week after week.
month after month, and years after
year, and it had received practically no
attention from this Government, until
some of the members of this body Wis
! tied the scenes of death and distress
/
their words of honor that no picture
had been drawn by the press that fully
stated the horrors of the situation.
Then the gentlemen and newspa-
pers, who had pretended, at least, to
| discredit those statements in this
| body, began to talk about it as though
| it was a new discovery, when within
ninety miles of our shores for two
! l,aI
women and children When nearly a
year ago I called attention to the sit
uation, as given at that time and
since corroborated by four of our col
leagues upon this floor, from personal
observation, the statement was received
with sneers by many of my colleagues,
and l had the pleasure of being insult
ed over the wire by stockholders and
scalpers in the markets.
For two years the process of i'm
prisonment Of the reconcentrados and
their starvation has proceeded, yet any
who dared to call attention to the fact
had to withstand the assaults of those
controlling the press, who denied in
their editorial columns the news they
printed in their news columns.
Thousands have been starved. mill
| IOllS OIL uOlIdIS VI our IeSlIlIndCe COM
merce has been swept from the high
seas, and the man who worships the
eagle on the dollar and does not see
the one on his flag, says: BE silent.
think of the horrors of war and the
dangers to business
when the order of concentration
came they cooped at least 800 Ameri-
can citizens with the reconcentrados,
and refused to let them go out and
earn a legitimate and honest living. It
amounted to imprisonment; we claimed
SO at the time, though many professed
not TO believe it until the honorable
! Senator from Vermont described the
deadline and the gun of the Spanish
! soldier that kept the concentrates to-
gether. Any other self-respecting ma
ton in the world would have ordered
| their release and better treatment, or
they would have opened the gates of
hell on Moro Castle. This Govern
ment, however, upon the suggestion Of
the President, took $50,00O,O00 of the
peoples money out of the treasury Of
the United States, and begged permis-
sino of Spain the privilege of feeding
our citizens American bred on Spanish
soil.
Il am not complaining; I am not
criticising. There is no other such rec
ord in all the history of the world
only repeat this humiliating statement
to call attention to the fact that every
effort that has been made by the Pres
! ident has been construed by Spain to
| be an act of cowardice, and absolute
/ 1-ix