The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1898-04-07
The Story of Cuba.

Cuba was discovered by Chris tooher
! Columbus on October e. 1877. HAD il not
been for the episode of t'erdiland and
| Isabella in the life Of the great Italian
navigator the rule of Spain had not FER
! haps cursed the whole southern American
| continent Tor centuries ami Cuba had not
now been fighting for freedom. Colucanus
| believed that he had discovered the main
| land Of India, but was persuaded by the
/ aboriginals that ne WAS oa an i-iand.
/ When he returned 10 Cuba he again made
| up his mind that it was the oriental main
! land, and it is said he die1 in that be-
lief So firmly was he seated in this opir-
! ion that he committed il 10 writing in
order that posterity might know Of his
conviction. But In this detail the immor-
| tai discoverer was in error.
There is something noble. unyielding ard
stubborn about Cuba The Spaniaris have
never been able to conquer even she name.
Columbus called the island Juana for the
honor of the son and heir Of Ferdinand and
Isabella This name was afte~ward
changed, this time to Santiago. Some
pious Spaniard later altered 1t - Ave
Maria. It was known by other names. and
a learned essay on its proper nomencla-
ture might be written. But Cuba"
patriots will have at least that JUNCTION
when they are free. They can retain their
name unchanged in the comfortable
thought that there is not even a suggestion
Of Spanish about it. When Columbus
landed, as it is believed, near the river
Maxine, Cuba, SO called by its native
inhabitants, was peopled by a gentle, do
cile race Of American Indians. They We're
part Of the great tribe called "the good"
and they were good indeed. Children Of
the forest and the sun, they did not know
what savages they had welcomed when
they extended their hospitality to the gay
bedecked Spaniards.
The first Cuban war occurred nineteen
years after the discovery of the island by
Columbus. That human beast, Velasquez,
with an army of 300 men, started out in
1911 to ''pacify' the Ciboneyes, as the
Cuban Indians were called. VelasQuez,
by all accounts, belonged TO the genus
Weyler. The peaceful and kind Indians
were as sheep under the cutthroat hands
OF their conQuerorS. They did not seek
to reDel the invaders. But the motto of
Spain, suggested by its national colors, is
Through blood and death TO golden vic
tory Victory, unaccompanied by blood
and death, was not sweet to Velasquez
And when the chief of the CUbans was
caught Che was called Hatuey) VeIasquez
tied him to a stake, started a fire about
his body and burned the life out of the
poor creature, as a warning to his peo-
pie.
This noble conquest was fifty followed up
by Velasquez, who promptly undertook TO
civilize the island by dividing the Indians
among his friends. The original Cubans
were made slaves, and Cuba began to
blossom with plantations. Within forty
years the island was producing magnif-
cent crops, but these crops were fattened
by the lives of the slaves Before half a
century had passed the original Cubans
had been beaten and worked to extinction.
Negro slaves took the place of the native
slaves, and IN this fact lay the germ Of
liberty, for from that stock
sprang the glorious family of Maceo and
the liberty-loving, Spaniard- hating family
Of Masso. one of whose sons is now the
president of the infant republic
With the extinction of the Ciboneyes ag-
riculture declined and remained in desue-
tude for long time, or at least until the
negro slave trade became efficient. Vel
asqLez built cities, improved the harbors
ana laid the foundations of the govern
ment. In 1881 the king of Spain acquired
the right to appoint the governor, and the
first captain general by royal decree was
fernando de Soto Santiago had been the
capital, but in 1852 the seat of government
was removed to Havana The population |
and the island languished for |
more than century, owing to Spanish
avs torbidding anyone but Castilians to |
settle IN Cuba under pain of death.
There have been revolution and discon- /
ent and love of liberty in the very air and |
breath OF Cuba from the first. The final |
ty Of Spanish rule has never been accept !
I'd there except by the helpless Indians.
md they died. The first rvolution began |
n III, and that revolution kept Spain
busy for a century. 1t was not quelled dts
spirit was never crushed) until the be-
ginning of the present century. In 1928
mother revolution broke out within the
irst. In that revolt Guazo, the captain
hanged men and starved them
-nd garroted them and stabbed them in
he back, as Weyler has done in these
lays. This proves that Spain has not
-dvanced an inch in civilization for cen
uries. Give her untrammeled power and
he seems TO be as heartIess as cruel, as
lead TO sympathy as the Papuan.
Meanwhile negro slaves, the trade in /
whom was made free, were poured into the /
5land by the thousands. Early in the
asst century there were nearly 1901 900 negro
laVeS in Cuba, And for twenty-five years
he Importation continued with a steady
ow. Now, in Cuba there was miscegen-
ton. The kaffirs and the other negroes /
-ere improved by the mixture with Med
erranese blood When they became free
in narrow way-they Ionged for more {
berty. The anti-Spanish tradition began
, take substance and form. 1t waxed
nth the growth OF liberty all about il
trough the range OF North and South
merica- The Cuban half-breed sucked
he milk Of hatred and liberty from the :
reasts OF his dusky mother, and in MS
ltaer's fierce eye he saw liberty and re- !
enge in the future. The holy cause won.
very strength Of sympathy. REINFORCED /
y Spanish cruelty blood and life The Z
addition was relentless. Death or liberty {
as the cry nearly one hundred years ago. ]
In the year 1873 the United States Of c
merica turned her eyes toward Cuba i
he haIf-breed. the Spanish-Cuban and
lie natura!ized islander saw II that glance @
ae light OF an undying hope. From that :
0meat cuba ibre Was as certain as I
aath. 1t was only the other day that ;
4nor Cana1eyas said that so long as the
'bels saw n the United States the hope :
sympathy Spain would never be able
crush the Instruction. and that Span
rds might as well make up their minds