Bismarck weekly tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1884-1943, 1898-03-25
OFFICIAL PAPER BuRlEIGn co,
SENATOR PROCTOR ON CUBA.

Carefully prepared reports on present
conditions in Cuba from men of expe
rience and cautious Judgment are much
to be priced at a time when Sc much
that is not dispassionate reaches the
public. The speech of Senator Proctor
is a written document, deliberately
weighed and revised, and will command
general attention. 1t is temperate in
tone and gives a broad view of the situa-
ton as we'll as details. Neither the
journey nor the report was inspired.
The Senator went to the island for his
own information and pursued his own
couree of inquiry throughout. He makes
it plain that the conflict in Cuba is be-
tween 200, 900 Spaniards on the island
and 100000 native Cubans, the former
accustomed to subject the majority to
taxes and monopolies, though education
is more general among the white Cubans
than among the Spaniarde. The few
%autonomists are really in favor of indie
p%endence. sit is the Cubans against
Spaniards," says the Senator. ut is
practically the entire Cuban population
on one side and the Spanish citizens on
the other"
Senator Proctor shows the rapid pro-
gress on the island of the policy of
determination. He was though the four
western provinces which were compelled
to conform to Weyler's order of concen-
t%ration, or, properly speaking, of exter-
mination. About 100000 of the rural
population we're forced into the camps
guarded by Spanish troops. In many
cases the farm houses we're burned.
The<evicted peasantry built rude huts
near the Earrisoned towns and the
trochas, supplying themselves with food
and other necessities as best they can.
OF course the sanitary condition of these
camps is simply awful. They have no
provision for support, and misery and
hopelessness brood over them. The
wretchedness exceeded all that. the
Senator expected and he had read har-
rowing accounts Of the scenes of starva-
tion and sickness. His estimate is that
within a few months 100000 of the non.
combatant prisoners have died.
In the four western provinces person
ally examined by the Senator at various
points, outside Of Havana, he. found
nothing except '%desolation, distress,
misery and starvation. It is not peace
nor is it war;" The only name for it is
the progressive slaughter of the natives
and not so much with arms as with
hunger and the lack of all home comforts
and decencies. Weyler's plan, now
clearly disclosed in it's results, was to
sweep off the whole native population
and thus end revolt by stamping out all
except the unquestioned Spanish ele-
ment. Blanco's modification of the
Weyler decree amounts to nothing.
Farmers must still agree to make the
land they till "a center of Defense"
But the important points of Senator
Proctor's speech are too numerous to be
summarized. He pronounces autonomy
a failure, says the Cubans deserve
freedom, and believes that they would
govern the republic of Cuba successfully.
The existing misgovernment he calls
the worst of which he ever had knowl-
edge. His estimate of the Spanish army
in Cuba is 10000 and of the insurgents
$4,000. The speech is a powerful piece
of reasoning, supported by facts, for the
speedy independence Of the island.