Kansas City journal. [volume] (Kansas City, Mo.) 1897-1928, 1898-04-10
FEW IN WASHINGTON THINK FIGHT.
ING CAN BE LONG DELAYED.
PRESIDENT HAS A FAINT HOPE.
OUR AsIATIC FLEET WILL STRIKE
AT THE PHILIPPINES.
Hundreds of Doctors Want to be Navy
SurgeOns-PrOspect of War Has
Upset a Good Many Social
Plans-RoOsevelt
Routed.

Chicago, April 9.-william E. Curtis tele-
graphs from Washington TO the Record as
follows:
Almost everybody believes that the fight
ing will begin next week. The president.
Judge Day. Secretary Gage. Speaker Reed.
Senator Hanna and one or two other pa
cificos have a lingering hope. but it has
almost expired, and 1t is based upon the
slender chance that Spain may have
lucid interval and accept the inevitable
without entering into hopeless war.
The cruiser Baltimore is now on its way
from Honolulu to Hongkong to join the
Asiatic squadron under Commodore Dewey,
which intends to strike the Spanish colony
in the Philippine islands as soon as the
bugle sounds. That squadron is now COM
posed OF the battleShip Olympia and the
cruisers Boston, Concord, Raleigh and Pc
trel, and the Baltimore will be strong re-
enforcement, as it is one of the best ships
in our navy. There has been revolution in
the Philippines for several years and the
Spanish tactics there have been similar to
those practiced in Cuba. SO that the presi-
dent thinks We might as well make a job of
il while we are at 1t and cut all the colonial
ties of Spain. The Philippine islands are
more than 40 III number and have a popu-
lation of 10000. who are mostly of the
Malay race, but they have been governed
by the Spaniards for several centuries and
have paid rich tribute to the crown. The
foreign trade amounts to about $50,O0,eO
annually. The exports are hemp sugar. to-
bacco, copper and coffee. The imports are
rice. flour, coal. refined petroleum. hard
ware, wearing apparel, lumber and other
manufactured goods. 1t is only short
cruise from Hongkong across the China sea
to Manila, the capital of the Philippines,
and Commodore Dewey will make short
work Of them.
A strong revulsion Of feeling has been
caused by the threat of Horatio S. Rubens.
which is confirmed by the representatives
Of the junta here. that II we do not recog-
nize the provisional government in Cuba
and make its bonds good the insurgents
will fight the United States as they are now
fighting Spain. 1t has been predicted by
the business men in Havana for two years
that if the United States interviewed the re-
sponsibility of suppressing the insurrection
would be transferred from Spain to our
shoulders. The insurgent leaders are fight
ing for the control of the government. They
do not care for Cuban independence unless
the Spanish have done. Very few people in
congress will sustain the insurgent position.
The president will recognize 10 faction in
Cuba, but Will assist in forming a repre-
sentative government in which all of the in
telligent part of the population, including
the insurgent leaders. will be recognized.
He will treat them as well as he treats any
one else, but the intervention of the United
States is not for the purpose OF making
General 6. r Gomez dictator The better class
sending kilograms here to repudiate what
Rubens has said They declare that neither
he nor Palma nor Quesada is a Cuban; that
hay
never done anything for Cuba but talk and
spend the contributions that have been
been in Cuba He is native Of New York,
a graduate OF New York university and
Columbia law school. and is the paid attor-
ney OF the junta-
Over GOD doctors have applied for appoint
ment as temporary surgeons in the navy
service which are permanent and carry
with them a pension. The difficulty is in
passing the examination imposed by the
medical board. 1t is so severe that few
young men can pass it. although there
is always an abundance of candidates.
The model of the battIeship Maine which
has been on exhibition in. the corridors of
the navy department and has been sur
rounded by a crowd of tourists almost
continuously since the explosion at Ha-
vana. has been removed to the basement
to be packed for shipment to Omaha. where
exposition. One of the messengers esti-
mates that the model has been inspected
by an an. average of Loo persons day since
of visitors are perfectly satisfied If they
can see Captain Sigsbee, who has a desk
IN The ante-room of the office of the sec
up with his correspondence, but is not al
lowed to do much work during business
hours. Everybody who comes to the de-
partment asks for him, and he waits until a
crowd accumulates in the reception room,
when the messenger summons him and he
shakes hands all around. The new library
until the explosion: then the model of the
Maine, and now Captain Sgsbee. The cap
tain Is very good-natureH about it. al
though II is nuisance to shake hands
with 200 to l.500 strangers every day. The
people are very much gratified.
large bundles of letters which he has re-
ceiVed but has not had time to answer
since the disaster in Havana harbor. The
greater part Of them come from friends
and relatives of the man-of-war's men who
went down in the wreck. Many are very
touching; but they all breathe patriotic
spirit. Captain Sigsbee intends to answer
them all if the tourists will ever allow him
to do It: at the same time he is trying
to straishten up the accounts Of his men.
50 SO. 'has the balance Of pay due them and
be distributed to their families as rapidly
as possible. He is eager to go to sea
not have chance In the fighting that is
expected TO begin pretty soon. But he will
have to finish up the affairs Of his old ship
first. and will then be given the command
of the Kentucky or the Kearsarge, the
new battleships which are now approaching
completion at Newport News.
The war has upset a good many plans
and disturbed the serenity of good many
households. And. among other things two
Easter weddings have had to be anticipated
because the sroOms are naval officers and
have been ordered to sea. One of them
took place Thursday. Lieutenant Albert
l.. Key, son of Judge D. NJ. Key, of Chat
tanooga. who was postmaster general in
the Hayes cabinet. was married quietly to
Miss Grace Condit Smith at the home Of
her mother on Capitol hill. It was to have
been a gorgeous affair. at the Church of
the Epiphany, with six groomsmen and six
bridesmaids, a reception and all that sort
of thing. but Thursday Lieutenant Key,
who was on duty at Annapolis, called up
his bride-elect on the long distance tele-
phone and told her that he was ordered
to sea, and must leave within twenty-four
hours. so that the wedding. which was
fixed for April II. must be postponed or an
ticipated. The brave girl replied. as brides
always should do. that she could not think
of letting him 60 to sea until after they
were married. and suggested that the we'd
ding take place at her home that evening.
He jumped on the first train that left An