The Press. (Stafford Springs, Conn.) 1883-1935, 1898-08-11
washington Letter.
washington, August

Is regarded in Washington as over.
True, the Spanish government Is still
dilly-dallying about forwarding its official
of our terms of peace, but 1t |
has caused President Mckinley to be in
formed that it Is acting for self-preserva-
ton, and not from any desire to delay in
the matter; that it must secure popular
support at home in order to avoid civil
war. That the administration has ac
cepted this information in good faith may
ports which carried the army of General
Miles to Poto Rico, and which were to
have carried reinforcements to Miles,
have been ordered to Santiago to assist
in bringing the men of Skaters army
home Gen. Miles Is still daily occupying
new territory in Porto Rico, but he is do
ing no fighting and it is not expected that
he will do any, unless the dilly-dallying
of Spain shall be prolonged to such an
extent as to provoke the president into
withdrawing the terms Of peace that have
been offered. There Is also reason for
stating that Gen. Merritt and Admiral
Dewey have orders not to do any fighting
at Manila, unless 1t Is forced upon them.
Although President Mckinley Is natural
ly anxious that Spain should accept the
terms of peace at once, he would be per-
fectly willing to stretch the immediate"
evacuation of Cuba, provided for in the
terms, considerably, as he would prefer
not having to send an army of occu-
patton to Cuba until well into September,
after the sickly season Is over.
To the strictly military mind, the pro-
test signed by all of the generals of Gen.
Skaters army, against keeping our men
at Santiago, to die or reach a state Of
debilitated he'll plessness from fever, which
the latter forwarded to Washington, pre-
sented a case of INSTRUMENTATION that In
any well-regulated European army would
have resulted in the court-martial Of
every signer of the 'tround robin" But
to the relatives and friends of the men
who were dying by inches from the effects
of the climatic conditions around Santi-
ago, whose removal was unquestiOnably
hurried by the publication charged to
Col. Theodore Roosevelt the round
robin" although war depaI tment officials
persist in denying it, the protest was
good thing. The people OF this country
care more for the welfare of the men who
compose It's army than they do for strict
military rule. War department officials
know this; that is why they started to
bring Skaters men home so quickly. 1t
is, perhaps, fortunate for the men whose
names were attached to the Santiago
''Iound robin" that the war is about over.
The public reprimand given to Col.
Roosevelt, by Secretary Alger, for senti-
ments expressed in private letter, is an
indication of what they may expect while
they remain in the service.
The president of the Cuban provisional
government has written President Nc
Kinley long letter, expressing thanks
to and confidence in the U. S., but the
most important paragraph in the letter is
|
insurgents. 1t says: "Our first step,
with the approval of the U. s. govern.
ment, will be to call new assembly
which will represent as far as possible
every section of territory and condition
of people. This assembly will elect 6
new provisional government that will
possess more powers than the present
one, which is, of necessity, a government
of the revolution. But the result of the
new assembly will be to form govern
ment which will still be limited In power
and whose important work will be the es
lishment of permanent and complete
, of the U. S., and one which, we hope
and have every reason to believe, will b.
satisfactory, both to the U. s. and t.
Cuba" The prevailing impression il
, Washington is that Cuba will remain I'm
der U. S. military government for SOM
time before the Cubans are allowed t.
make any experiment in the governing
line.
That there are good things in a paterna
system of government must be admitte'
by every man who will take the troubl
to investigate The U. S. consul a
Chemitz, Germany, closes a report to tn
department of state on the value of tn
German workingmen's insurance system
: which provides not only for the paymen
of death indemnity, but for the care Q
the sick and their families for accidents
old age and incapacity to work from an
cause, by saying: whether a system
which makes so much for paternalism
one to commend, cannot say. Its ei
fects here have been anything but bad
Poverty, in spite of poor wages, is prac
8 ticaIly unknown" The fund from whic
this insurance is paid comes from bot
employers and employees, the former pay
ing one-third and the latter two-thirds
, The insurance is compulsory.