The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1898-10-20
sPlII REQUESTS DELAY
Meetings Of Peace Comm ission
En- Deferred Till Friday.
MORE THAN SIGNIFICANT
Oponieh Diplomats Find Themselves
Against Q wsll-want Time to o
suit the Madrid Government.
The Situation

Paris. Oct. 1s.-At the request OF the
Spanish commissioners the joint meet
ing of the peace commission. fixed for
to-day. has been deferred to Friday.
While the deferring of any n con-
ference for two days IL In itself not
important. the request for delay by the
Spanish at this juncture is something
more than significant. The game of d.
plomacy now progressing here has
reached the stage which makes It nee
essary tha the next move be made by
the Spanish commissioners. They are
confronted by the plain fact OF their
protocol agreement to relinauish and
evacuate Cuba without Ifs n
butts" II has become clear here that
the Spaniards cherished the hope that
follow the given path and ultimately
wander elsewhere n do less than
named in the protocol
The American commissioners. how
ever. have firmly adhered to the boun-
dairy lines already mutually established
and within which they insist the Span
fards AZ well as themselves shall duly
proceed. II is not too much TO say that
Spain now has more light than ever be-
fore on the integrity and steadfastness,
in word and In purpose, OF the United
States. Nor II IL wide of the fact to
say the S%paniards are now initially APP
preciating that the United states did
not make war on Spain to acquire Cuba
asa conquest prize.
OF this the spaniards may not yet
be wholly convinced. but the firm re-
fusal of Judge Day m his colleagues
20 assume the Cuban debt, because the
United States will not take over the
sovereignty. has widened SPANS per-
ceptions and has unquestionably hast
ened their convictions. wherefore IL
may. In a sense. be r that. having
for the iret time a feeling that Amer
1can pledges and American perform
ance are co-equal terms. the Spaniards
are now practically on the threshold of
properly lighted negotiations.
When Spain approached the negotia-
lions she was confronted by a wall OF
fast agreement. which, however, she
regarded as possible of break or pune
ture at the point OF Castilian diplom-
acy. Thus h pointed and has
launched against the protocol struc-
ture OF seeming solidity the keen
lances OF her finesse. They have fallen
broken at her feet. The wall OF Amer
lean purpose and mutual compact has
proven not only apparent. but real. and
now SPANS commissioner give pause
20 their attack on the Cuban angle
and ask time to assure themselves OF
their previous misjudgment and also to
reform their lines or arrange new ones.
The assigned reason for to-day's re-
quest for delay is believed TO be TO al
low an interchange OF communications
with Madrid and to formulate n fnal
attitude on the Cuban matter. This
attitude Of the S~paniards to be devel-
oped on Friday will be watched with
no little interest. Their alternatives
are few. but pregnant. They aceede
to the American attitude. themselves
assume the Cuban debt and go onward
TO the next protocol point of Porto Rico
and the choice by the United States
Of an island In the Ladrone group: or
they may at this tuncture formally ask
for arbitration or, as an extremity,
which Is not likely. may retire from
further negotiations. h tone. during
the last -four days of the Spanish n
French press. is significant of widened
confidence by the spanish as to the at
titude they have assumed i'm the nego-
tiations here and the recurring assur-
ances Of SPANS desire for arbitration
may have had a meaning. The Span
iards may not have sought to promote
sympathy. but had they desired to lay
down a basis upon which to set up a
plea to Europe to prevent what II Is
sought to present as her r~avishment.
the surface indications could not be
more f%avorably disposed for that pur-
pose than they have been.
The American commissioners. after
dispatching the acquiescence i'm the de-
lay. had a brief meeting. principally TO
make a formal record of the deferring
OF the joint session fixed for to-day.
The Americans yesterday held a brief
session. having N reference to the ne
gotiations. and the brevity of these
meetings and other indications warrant