The record-union., 1898-03-30

THE night came on-a dark, gloomy
night-a natural and proper time for
/ Spanish bravery. Our men We're asleep
1 in a friendly harbor; they We're never
! challenged to display their courage.
They were not whipped in honorable
battle, but choked, burned, strangled
and drowned, without chance to die
/ fighting for life, without moment to
say a prayer. In the twinkling of an eye
they stood in the presence OF their Ma
ker. Suppose ninety of them had been
United States Senators. Suppose the
+ balance had been members of Congress
or made up of Judges and leading pro-
fessional and business men, would forty
days have elapsed before war began
Or suppose each Senator had son or a
father there Do we tell our children
the truth when we say that the life OF
every American citizen is of equal value
before the law? They were not Sena-
tors-they were sailors. Their widows
and orphans cry aloud to US. The silent
appeal of 26S seamen comes to us again
and again. saying: We are flesh OF
your flesh, bone of your bone, and blood
of your blood; we lived and died for the
flag that shields you What is to be
our answer; shall We answer with
money?
IS FOR WAR.
"Mr. President, speak only for my
self. and I am for war. (Applause in
the galleries.) But, gentlemen, you may
say, Don't say you are for war; say
that YOU are for armed intervention,
which means war I believe in calling
things by their right name. If we be-
ho+ sinking
our ships and lowering our flag is not
cause for war. say SO, and refer it, as
they did in the Virginius affair, and al
low our brothers to be sold, like stock,
fer gold. If it is a cause for war, let us
assume the responsibility put on us by
the Constitution, and say so, not only to
Spain. but to the whole world. Let us
not say one thing and mean another.
For Gods sake. let US not Spanlshfze
our diplomacies, but rather speak the
truth, and prove ourselves true disciples
of James G.. Blaine.
1--WE can hide no longer under the
Executive wing. He can neither de-
clare war nor refuse it. Congress alone
can declare war I for one am ready
to vote now. You may continue to
cry peace, peace, but there can be no
peace while Europeans butcher their
slaves on the same continent where our
flag floats But there are those who
say that the court does not fix the
responsibility. 1t was not necessary.
The peace at any price men cannot
escape so. The law fixes responsibility.
1--WE were in Spanish waters, and
over Spanish soil. The harbor is
owned and controlled by Spain. The
Explosives in that harbOr were owned
and controlled by Spain. If it was a
torpedo, it was a Spanish torpedo; If it
was mine, it was a Spanish mine; no
explosives have been on sale in Havana
for over year to private citizens; II
it was gun cotton, it was Spanish gun
cotton, and if it was dynamite, it was
Spanish dynamite. The power to eX-
plode it was controlled by Spain. A
Government acts only through its
agents and officers, as much as they
controlled the discharge of their cam
non. 1t was owned, located and eX-
ploded by Spain, and Spain must an
sWer. EEt
CUBA MUST BE FREE.
'I shall oppose any plan to assist
Spain to place any kind of autonomy on
Cuba. Spain cannot be trusted to keep
her promise and we cannot undertake
to compel her to- Aside from that,
poor Cuba has paid a larger price for
liberty than we did, and she must be
free. I shall oppose any plan that
looks to forcing Cuba in the future to
pay Spain in cash for her liberty. Her
| land is full of graves, and her future
generations must not be mortgaged.
'It is claimed by some that Cuba
ought to be willing to pay Spain's Gu
ban war debt Cuba to pay for the
lpowder and lead that killed her people?
To pay for the torches that burned her
homes? To pay the back wages OF
Spanish soldiers who ravished their
wives and daughters? Never, by any
vote of mine
Some tell us we must wait for
Spanish elections. If her elections are
as rotten as her diplomacy, we cannot
wait. 1t is claimed that if we will
wait until the Spanish elections, SSa-
gasta will give all concessions. Are
we to be fooled twice with the same
trick? Is De Lone so soon forgotten?
Some tell us we are not prepared.
| When shall we be better prepared?
Will it be when the Spanish torpedo
Iflotilla has crossed the water and rests
lcomplacently on her base of supplies
within five or six hours distance Of
our fleet? We know now officially what
we have believed for forty days. Shall
we wait until she can destroy more of
our ships and men? God forbid that
such a crime be charged to US. Let
us awaken, shake off the Chinese mar
cotics that lock us in drowsy indo-
llence murmuring, Peace at any price
Awake as our forefathers did at Con-
cord and Bunker Hill; awake to the
| glorious war against nation that
burns homes and murders women and
children; awake to glorious war that
seeks no gain for US in treasury or
territory, but a war to drive the OPP
pressor from the continent, to set the
! Cuban flag in the sky forever, and a
war that will help us for generations
to come. but giving notice that the
honor of our flag and the lives of our
citizens must be respected among the
nations of the world" (Applause in
the galleries)
ROUTINE BUSINESS.
At the conclusion of Mason's speech
a bill providing for a national expo
sition of American products and manu-
factures in Philadelphia for encourage
ment of the export trade, and appro-
priating $4,000 therefor. was passed.
Morgan of Alabama presented and
secured the passage of resolution
calling upon the President for infor
nation as to the disposition made of
Congressional appropriation of $4,000
| for the relief of American citizens in
Cuba, and as to the number of Ameri-
can citizens relieved from the fund.
/ L. the Of h11c