Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1898-02-19


~ hostility to the policy OF autonomy
They made the captain generals reception
the occasion OF showing their distrust of
the government which proposed autonomy
Perhaps should not call them Spanish low
| alists- They are now thinking of some
thing else than the crown of young King
Alfonso or the crumbling monarchy of
spain They want to save their property
Ihese intransigentes in this section are lit
orally the property owners They are the
| merchants OF the town. They hold the
mortgages on the sugar plantations and the
.ooacco farms. The feeling OF violent and
ahreasonlng resentment toward the United
states which dominated them in the DAVIS
OF Weylerism has changed into one OF
cringing cordially They will not talk
among themselves, but they will talk 10
Americans They want the protection OF
the United States. With them IL is bust
ness, not sentiment. These Inconsistencies
nave no claim on the stars and stripes.
Gomez has promised them protection for
their property. They should be left 10
| make terms with the insurgents
The Final Outcome.
These general aspects of the situation
may help to give an idea OF the final out
come. Come phases are of more pressing
| Interest and of more immediate concern to
the American people. They cannot be es-
| ceped. The evening of my arrival in Sa-
| qua 1 thought for a while It might be pos
| sible to forget them. The quiet streets OF
the city invited to a restful stroll The two
plazas, or parks. had only the tall palms
t tSf company, That was much better than
the troops of skeleton beggars 10 which L
nave become accustomed. few ragged
women and gaunt children did gather ar
the doors and windows OF the coffee
net SEES out when one has grown rsed to IN
In the mass starvation beggary in isolated
ard individual Instances may be endured
without having the sensibiiities harr,weJ
Z PASSED pleasant evening thinking that
III
deserted by plague and hunger
The next day the delusion was cured
nave seen II elsewhere and might have
Known that this pleasing spot could not ha
an exception. The stage has been reached
"here the Remnant Of the reccncentrados
are too weak to leave their quarters 70
seek for food. When rations are issued
a member OF the family may always he
rcCnd to go for the food but that is the
greatest exertion of which they are cana
Die. That morning Mr.. Machado the au-
.ehomlst alcalde or mayor came to the
consulate to see il Consul Walter b. Barker
could not let them have some of the much
advertised American relief Consul Barker
could not, because no relief had been re-
ceived.
The AlcaIde's Story.
1 asked Alcalde Machado what the trou-
lie was. He replied:
We have TO money with which TO buy
food, and the grocers will not trus. Us for
/
called a meeting of cur local relief COM
mittee, but they can do nothing If We do
not raise money by room today there will
be no rations to distribute"
How much do you owe the grocers?"
Three hundred dollars"
And they will not give you further
credit?"
| They will not"
why don't the government at Havana
| help your
We have telegrs phed. but if we get any
| money from them IL will not be for ten
| days. We must have money right away
| How many people are you fecding?'
we have been issCtEg between I 500 AMI
1900 rations daily, but that does not repre-
sent the number who need food. We nave
1000 starving people our hands. j do
| not know what is to become Of them. i am
afraid most of them will end UP in the
/ cemetery, as so many have already Gone.
Are they not able to earn anything by
working?''
why, you see, there is no work for
them, but If there was these people could
| not work. 1t is the sick people we are try
ing to relieve, and they nearly all wo-
men and children
| Where are the menu
| "A few are working on the plantations.
and some insurgents in the field.
but you understand there are not many
| men in these families"
Were they killed."
| They are dead"
| why were not these people placed back
| in their homes in the country"
The alcalde shrugged his shoulders. He
| is not the military commander of the dis
| trict Receiving no answer. ] asked sec
| ond question.
Gould they not be placed back In the
| &C untry now?'
| There is nothing for them to eat ex-
| cept grass. They would need to be fed for
| two months before they could raise food
| to feed themselves"
This running dialogue was not necessary
| to give me information. / had been over
| the country and knew the surviving recon-
| centrados had not been put back in their
| homes. mass of individual testimony
had been given me of the way the military
| authorities thwarted every effort to extend
| the zone of cultivation beyond Bancos
paper proclamations. But this autonomista
alcaldes frank statements presented the
situation vividly that L have given them
almost verbatim. Some of us ''chipped in
| and enough was raised to guarantee that
the rations would not be Withheld from.
these sick women and children for one
day more. After that 1 do not know
| whether the heavens will open and mamma
rain down to these raven mouths or wheth-
er the hard-hearted grocers of Sagua will
| be persuaded to let the municipality extend
| its credit beyond $500.
Consul Bankers Reports.
Consul Barker has been writing faithful
| reports of the conditions in his district for
two years past. He early foresaw the re-
| suits of the concentration policy. L asked
| him what aiG he had received in his official
| capacity. He replied:
"A little while ago 1 received SIS from
| employees of the Department of Justice, ir
| Washington, for the dispersario' an in
stitution which is caring for several nun
| bred orphaned reconoentrado children. To-
| day authority has reached me to draw on q
| Philadelphia gentleman for $50. OF that
amount $50 will go TO the dispensario and
| the remaining 500 will DE distributed by "a
| committee of ladies among families which
are starving, but which are not on the list
| of those who receive rations. i have also
| received some vaccine points and have dis
tributed them here and in other towns.
| The smallpox is again epidemic and they
| will be useful. L expect soon to receive a
| portion of the supplies which have been
| consigned to the consulate at Havana. /
shall endeavor to distribute those supplies
| as widely possible and to make them
| last long as possible. There are thirty
towns in my consular district, which in
cludes the larger part of Santa Clara prov
ince. From the statements of the alcaldes
of these towns L am satisfied that $1,000
people need relief
1 do not know that comment is necessary
\