The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1898-04-12
immediate vicinity, deprived Of tho means OF
Support. left without shelter and left the

immediate vicinity, deprived Of tho means OF
support, left without shelter and left to the
most unsanitary conditions. As .he scarcity of
food increased with the devastation Of the de-
populated areas Of production, the situation
became miserable. Month by month the death
rate increased in an alarming ratio: by March
1897, according to conservative estimates from
Official Spanish sources the mortality among
the reconcentrados from starvation and the
diseases thereto incidental exceeded fifty per
centum Of their total number No practical
relief was accorded to the destitute. The over
burdened towns, already suffering from the
general dearth. could give no aid.
So-called zones Of cultivation, established
Within the Immediate area Of effective MILL
tary control about the cities and fortified
camps. proved illusory a remedy for the
suffefihg. The unfortunates being most part
women and children, with aged and helpless
men, enfeebled by disease and hunger. could
not have titled the soil without tools, seed
or shelter, for their own support or for the
Recommendation, adopted avowedly as war
measure in order to cut off the resources OF
the insurgents, worked its .predestined result:
AS said in my message Of last December, 1t
ton. The only peace 1t could beget was that
Of the wilderness and the grave.
Havoc at Havana.
Meanwhile. the military situation in the
island had undergone a noticeable change.
The extraordinary activity that characterized
the second year Of the war, when the insur-
fields Of Pinar del Rio and carried havoc and
destitution up to the walls OF the city Of
Ha sana itself, had relapsed into dogged
struggle IN the central and eastern provinces.
The Spanish arms regained a measure Of con-
troll in Pinar del Rio, and parts Of Havana,
but under the existing conditions of the rural
country, without immediate improvement Of
their productive situation. Even thus par
TALLY restricted, the revolutionists held their
own and their submission put forward by
Spain as the essential and sole basis of peace,
seemed as far distant at the outset.
In this state of affairs, my administration
found itself confronted with the grave problem
of its duty. My message of last December
reviewed the situation and detailed the steps
taken with view OF relieving its acuteness
and opening the way to some form of hon.
urable settlement. The assassination of the
prime minister, Canovas, led to a change of
government in Spain. The former admins
tration, pledged to subjection without conces-
sion, gave place to that Of more liberal
party, committed long in advance to policy
Of reform involving the wider principle of
hCme rule for Cuba and Puerto Rico.
The overtures of this government. made
ing to an immediate and effective ameliora-
ton Of the condition of the island, although
not accepted to the extent of admitted media
tiOn in any shape, were met by assurances
that home rule, in an advanced phase, would
be forthwith offered to Cuba, without waiting
for the war to end, and that more humane
methods should thenceforth prevail in the
conduct of hostilities. incidentally with these