Arizona republican., 1898-03-25
THE WOES OF CUBA.
Speech of Senator Proctor of Vermont
 on His Return From the Island
CHAPTER IT.


 on His Return From the Island
 CHAPTER II.
 ''1n other words, the Spaniards hold in these four western provinces just what their army sits on. Every man, woman and child and every domestic animal, wherever their columns have reached, is under guard and within their so-called Notifications To de- scribe one place is to describe all. To repeat, it is neither peace nor war It is concentration and desolation This is the 'pacified' condition of the four western provinces.
 West of Havana is mainly the rich tobacco country; east, so far as I went, a sugar region. Nearly all the sugar mills are destroyed between Havana and Sagua. Two or three were stand ing in the vicinity of Sagua, and in part running, surrounded, as are the villages, by trochas and 'forts, or pal isades, of the royal palm and fully guarded. Toward and near Cienfuegos there were more mills running, but all with the same protection. It is said that the owners of these mills near Cienfuegos have been able to obtain special favors of the Spanish govern ment in the way of large force of soldiers, but that they also, as well as all the railroads, pay taxes to the Cubans for immunity. I had no means of verifying this. It is the com mon talk among those who have better means of knowledge.
 THE RECONCENTRADOS.
 "All the country people in the four western provinces, about four hundred | thousand fin number, remaining out | side the fortified towns when Weyler's order was made were driven into these towns, and these are the reconcent a. dos. They were the peasantry, many Of them farmers, some land owners others renting lands and owning more or less stock, others working on es- tates and cultivating small patches; and even a small patch in that fruit full cline will support family It is i but fair to say that the normal condi- l t1on of these people was very differ ent from that which prevails in this country. Their standard of comfort and prosperity was not high, measured by our own. But according to their standards and requirements their con- ditions of life were satisfactory
 WEYLER'S CONCENTRATION OR
 DER.
 ''They lived mostly in cabins made of palm or in wooden houses. Some of them had houses of stone, the black ened walls of which are all that re- main to show that the country was ever inhabited. The first clause of Weyler's order reads as follows: "I order and commando First, all the inhabitants of the country or out side of the line of fortification of the towns shall within the period of eight days concentrate themselves in the town so occupied by the troops. Any
 individual who after the expiration
 of this order is found in the uninhab-
 ited parts will be considered a rebel
 and tried as such'"
 "The other three sections forbid the
 transportation from one town to an other without permission of the mili-
 tary authority, direct the owners o1 cattle to bring them into the towns prescribe that the eight days shall be counted from the publication of the proclamation to the head town of the municipal districts, and state that ii ; news is furnished of the enemy whicf ! can be made use of it will serve as z recommendation
 TERRIBLE EFFECT OF THE DE !. CREE.
 l Many doubtless did not learn O f this order. Others failed to grasp it v terrible meaning. It's execution wa a left largely to the guerillas to driv e in all that had not obeyed. and wa t informed that in many cases a torcl t was applied to their homes with n f notice, and the inmates fled with sucI e clothing as they might have on thei tt stock and other belongings being an e propr1ated by the guerillas. When the o reached the town they were allowed t el pulld nuts Of palm leaves in the sub d urbs and vacant places within tn n trochas, and left to live if they coult a Their huts are about 1Ox15 feet i d size, and for want of space are usy Is ally crowded together very closet, le They have no floor but the erount le and no furniture, and after year C. wear but little clothing, except SIC
 stray substitutes as they can extempt
 rize. With large families or wit
 more than one in this little space tf commonest sanitary provisions are in It possible. Conditions are uDmentiol IL able in this respect. Torn from the y homes, with foul earth, foul air. fo le water and foul food or none. wh; le wonder that one-half have died al e- that one-quarter of the living are aa9 a diseased that they cannot be saved ..i form of dropsy is common diso-d u LII resulting from these conditions Ii 1 tie children are still walking abo ao with arms and chest terribly emaC ra ated. eyes swollen and abdomt ,,a b'oated to three times the natural sig ~ ne The physicians say these eases a 's- hopeless.
 ey
 ss. DYING IN THE STREETS to Deaths in the streets have not be ne uncommon. I was told by one of O