The pioneer press. (Miller, Hand County, S.D.) 1893-190?, 1898-08-04

hours earnest discussion by the pres
ldent and his constitutional advisers
CT the nature of the response TO be
made by the government TO the Span
lsh overtures for peace brought no
conclusion and the subject necessarily
was postponed for further considera-
ton at another meeting Of the cabinet
TO be held al 1890 to-day. Such was
the formal statement OF the situation
at the conclusion of the days work by
each member of the cabinet who was
questioned upon the subject. A final
conclusion. however. is much nearer
than this statement would seem 10 in
dictate, and. indeed there is little rea-
son 10 doubt that an agreement has
been reached upon all the substantial
points AZ issue and that what remains
to be done is rather 10 smooth away
inequalities and 10 adjust some minor
points of difference before making the
answer expected 10y NJ. CambOn. The
point under discussion during the
greater part Of the morning was what
disposition should be made Of the
Philippines. On the other issues
Unnnimity Developed.
There was to he independence demand
cd for Cuba; Puerto Rico was 10 he
coded TO the United States, coaling
stations were TO be acquired AT Guam,
in the Ladrone islands. and one in the
Caroline islands. These propositions
were disposed of quickly. but when il
came 10 the Philippines some diversity
of opinion was revealed. AS near as
can he gathered this did not relate
mainly 10 the retention of the islands:
on that proposition majority of the
cabinet was speedily recorded in the
negative. but accepting the broad prop
osition that Spain was to be allowed
TO keep these possessions. other cues
tions naturally developed. and il was
felt these must bc adjusted before the
subject was definitely disposed of.
There was no question as to the pro-
priety Of demanding a coaling station
in the Philippines. The question was
as 10 what form of government should
be established in the Philippines and
what should be the nature of the guar
antee required Of Spain that the new
government should be liberal and au-
tonomous in character. These two
questions hinged on the primary Ques-
ton TO interfere at all in proposing a
change in the Philippines.
No Reference to Concert.
A point which was quickly estab-
lished was that there should he no
reference of any phase of the question
of the disposition Of the islands to any
concert or individual member of the
powers. One point that was settled.
although there was no formal action
on it. was that no protest against the
continuance Of military or naval Ope-
ratiOns pending the peace negotiations
would avail. in the slightest: there
would he no suspension of operations
nor modification whatever in the pres
ent plans until the Spanish govern
ment had agreed upon the plans pro-
posed. A result of the cessiOn of
Puerto Rico and the recognition of
Cuban independence by Spain was the
decision that every vestige Of Spanish
government and authority in the Ca
ribbean and West Indian waters must
be removed on formal acquisition Of
islands over which the Span
ish flag flies. Furthermore, sweeping
change of authority from Spain TO the
United States in our nearby waters is
to be effective also as a quit claim Of
all Indebtedness assumed by the
Spanish government and charged by
her 10 those islands, so far as the
United States is concerned, and all
commercial treaties now existing be-
tween the Spanish government and her
possessions and other powers are ex-
Some discussion was had
as 10 the probability OF Spanish ac-
ceptance Of our terms. The views diff Z
fered, though II can be stated that sew
eral Of the more influential members
Of the cabinet believed that the terms
agreed on would not be
accepted by Spain at once.