The daily morning journal and courier., 1898-12-06
PRES. M'KINLEY'S MESSAGE
DISCUSSES MANY QUESTIONS BUT
 SAYS NOTHING DEFINITE.

War and the Various Causes Leading
 to the Breaking Out of HostiIitieS-
 Policy of the Government in the
 Philippines Not Defned-Foreign Re-
 Iations-The Nicaraguan CanaI-The Chinese Question: Hawaii Currency. Washington, Dec. 5.-The presidents message was read to congress to-day. Following is an abstract containing all it's important features:
 Notwithstanding the added burdens | rendered necessary by the war. our | people rejoice in very satisfactory and steadily increasing degree of pros- perity evidenced by the largest volume
 Of business ever recorded.
 Manufacture has been productive. asrlcultural pursuits have yielded apundant returns, labor in all fields of
 industry IS better rewarded revenue
 legislation passed by the present con-
 gress has increased the treasury's re- | celpts to the amount estimated bv its 1 authors; the finances of the govern
 Ment have been successfully adminis- | tered and it's credit advanced to inc
 first rank; While it's currency has been
 maintained at the worlds highest
 standard. Military service under 2.
 common flag and for a righteous cause has strengthened the national spirit
 ana served to cement more closely than Il ever the fcaternal bonds between every
 section of the country
 l review of the relation of IA ohlted states to other powers always
 appropriate. is this year of primary importance in view of the nnomentous ,l questions which have arisen, demand. , ing in one instance the ultimate deter , imitation by arms and involving tar reaching consequences which will re- | qlllre the earnest attention of the con- gress.
 The Cuban Situation.
 : h ny last annual message very full, consideration was given to the oues-s
 ton of the duty of the government if
 the United States towards Spain nnd
 the Cuban insurgents as being by far
 the most important problem with which we have been called upon to
 SsSeeA' 1G CONGREGATIONS then a0-s : vanced. and the exposition of the views l therein expressed, disclosed my sense , of the extreme gravity of the situation.
 setting aside, as logically unfounded or practically inadmissible, the recog- milton of the independence of Cuba. I neutral intervention to end the war by r imposing rational compromise Be- ef tween the contestants, intervention in t favor of one or the other party, and 0 forcible annexation of the island [ s concluded it was honestly due to our r friendly relations with Spain that she Il should be given reasonable chance to r realize her expectations of reform to D which she had become irrevocably d committed. Within a few weeks pre- : viously she had announced comprehen- 0 sive plans which it was confidently as- < serted would be efficacious to remedy |, the evils so deeply affecting our own E country, so injurious to the true inter-
 ests of the mother country as well as
 to those of Cuba, and so repugnant to
 the universal sentiment of humanity. .el The ensuing month brought little
 sign of real progress toward the paci- ,e fication of Cuba. The autonomous
 administra tions set up in the capital T. and some of the principal cities ap- -e peared not to gain the favor of the in- I. habitants, not to be able to extend their influence to the large extent of
 territory held by the inhabitants; while :. the military arm, obviously unable to U cope with the still active rebellion, con- IS tinued many of the most objectionable 'e and offensive policies of the govern II r1ent that had preceded it. No tan- > gible relief was afforded the vast num- bers of unhappy reconcentradoes, de- 'p spite the reiterated protestations made a- in that regard and the amount appro- io priated by Spain to that end The " preferred expedient of zones of culti- at vation proved illusory; indeed no less practical, nor less practical, nor more
 delusive promises of succor could vel
 have been rendered to the exhausted
 and destitute people, stripped of all tha n. made life and home dear, and herdei
 in strange region among unsympa, ,+ thetic strangers hardly less necessi.
 tous than themselves.
 he Fly the end of December the mortal 't. ity among them had frightfully in ed creased. Conservative estimates iron Spanish sources placed the death +o among these distressed people at ove nd forty per cent from the time Genera to Weyler's decree of recommendation Wa n- enforced With the acquiescence Q bo the Spanish authorities a scheme wa mt adopted for relief by charitable contri ,rs buttons raised in this country and dis
 tributed, under the directions of tn
 consul general and the several consuls
 by noble and earnest individual effor
 throughout the organized agencies 0 ed the American Red Cross. Thousand
 of lives were saved, but many thous a., ands more were inaccessible to sue Int forms of aid
 ,o, The war continued on the old foot
 ing without comprehensive plan, de I'll veloping only the same spasmodic en ad counters, barren of strategic result ur that had marked the course of tn pm earlier ten years rebellion, as well a ne the present insurrection from it's star ol- No alternative save physical exhaus IT. tion of either combatant-and there lo withal the practical ruin of the islant
 lay in sight, but how far distant n
 one could venture to conjecture.