The copper country evening news. [volume] (Calumet, Mich.) 18??-1907, 1898-03-02
CONDITIONS IN HAVANA
rh. Turbulent Weylerites May
Precipitate Hostilities.
TEE WARNS THE PRESIDENT.

Who VIII Commsno the Nsvys-AHscSs
:, the Maine Disaster.
WASHINGTON March 1.-[Special. ]--From
.ntbority that stands high In administra-
.,on circles learn that the anxiety Of the
-.,asnt and his advisers as to immediate
i.onble with Spain grows out Of their
knowledge of the general situation In Ha-
am and not the complications due to the
s'.oster to the Maine. The Maine calamity
80, indeed be due to the conditions pre-
'.o,i,nu In Havana which now give the
president worriment, and these conditions
are the presence OF conspiracy on the
mart of the Weylerites or irreconcilables TO
p.ive General Blanco out of the island and
70 kill the autonomy scheme which he was
.On, ont 10 put in force. Autonomy APP
,onr 70 be dead enough of it's own weight,
int there are reliable reports here to the
EJECT that many leading Spaniards would
,rofor annexation to the United States to
ayen farcical home rule In other words,
.hov hate the Cubans worse than they hate
the Yankees.
10 NV knowledge Consul General Lee
hos sent reports TO the state department
wb;ch indicate danger of anti-American
r,ots Gagged on by the Weylerites. This is
NOT So much because the conspirators wish
horr Tn Americans as because they wish
,o disgrace Blanco as a ruler and make 1t
necessary for the government to recall him.
These people will never be content till
thav have Weyler back with them. The
army officers are said to be still devoted to
their absent chief, probably because Of the
rich pickings which he divided with them
II the irreconcilables start an anti-Amer-
lean riot In Havana, that will be the end
Of things so far as SPANS rule in Cuba is
concerned / heard a prominent naval Of
1cer say today:
"At the first sign of trouble In Havana
the government will SEQ to It that we
have not only one but half dozen war
ships in Havana harbor. They will have
10 90 there to protect our citizens. Once
there it will be easy for the Weylerites to
bring on situation In which the COM
mander of one of these vessels may find it
necessary to fire on the mob or to land
marines who will use their carbines right
and left Mind what l say, 1t will not
take very serious provocation to elicit a
shot from an American ship or raid from
American marines In Havana. The navy
will never forgive Spain and the Spaniards
for the loss of the Maine, and the naval
officer who brings on war by firing shot
will not be- disgraced among his country
men,"
No Commanding Admiral.
am asked who will be the command
ing admiral of the navy in case OF war
with Spain. There will be no command
ing admiral In our naval organization
we have no admiral at this time. There
are six rear admirals, of equal rank, but
A. vaI wit ha 10 t h
of Admiral Porter. In the Organization
Of the army there is a general, but the
navy has no commander of such exalted
rank. The feet operating against Spain
in the event of war will be commanded by
the rear admiral selected for that post by
the president.
The question has been asked here what
will happen if the Spanish government
makes an investigation of the Maine dis
aster and reaches conclusion exactly the
opposite of that reported by our court of
inquiry. Such condition of affairs Is
likely to arise. The general opinion in
official circles here is that the court of in
quiry will bring in verdict that the
Maine met her fate from q cause original
ing outside the ship. But the proof of this
conclusion may not be SO absolute and
overwhelming as TO leave no room for
doubt. The Spaniards are naturally en-
titled to make an investigation on their
own account, and no one would be sur
prised II their finding was that the catas-
trophe was an accident. They may even
try to place the responsibility upon the
officers of the Maine, charging them with
careessness, at least by implication II not
In so many words.
In such case there will be nothing fol
the United States government to do but tC
stand by its own verdict Every move
made by the president will be based upon
the verdict OF our naval court of inquiry
We have nothing to do with the finding
reached by the Spaniards II their govern
ment wishes to defend the accident theory
and to base their official action upon It
that Is SPANS right. But If they refuse to
make the reparation demanded by thu
United States there is no doubt as to what
the result would be. 1t would be bad fol
Spain.
Defense of the Battleship.
In naval circles there is disposition t.
defend the battleship as rational nava
engine, but in congressional circles th'
trend of opinion is quite the other way. i
Is explained to me that our naval con
structors, being only human, love to VII
planning of magnificent ships of grea
size and cost. 1t is only in the huge bat
tleship, costing 50, 900, 900 when ready TO
sea, that the naval designer and construct
or lind that range for their talents which
nils them with complete happiness. Nava
officers, too, are all ambitious to sery
upon big ships, for there they find NOR
comfort and of course more honor and dig
nifty.
But among the men who appropriate
,hepeople's money for ships I find stronl
Deiief that before we put many more mil
hons into battleships we must have a flee
Oh torpedo boats. was much impresse
with the statement made in my hearinI
the other day by noted shipbuilder an
expert.
Il will stake my reputation, he said
upon the correctness of my assumption
That with $4,000, 900 worth Of torped
boats stationed off Cape Hatteras we could
IN the event of war with Spain, destro,
you 100000 worth of her battleships AM
cruisers"