Audubon Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Iowa) 1894-1925, 1898-04-21
30 Is Opposed to Recognition of
the Government Established
by the Insurgents.
Explosion of the Maine Cited as Evil
dence of SPANS Inability to Pro-
tect Vessels in Cuban Waters.
After an Exhaustive Review of Facts,
He Commits the Question of
Our Action to Congress


Monday sent the following message to
the congress of the United States:
Obedient TO that precept Of the constitu-
zion which commands the president to give
from time to time to congress Information
Of the state Of the union, and to recon-
mend to their consideration such measures
as he shall judge necessary and expedient
becomes my duty now to address your
body with regard to the grave crisis that
has arisen in the relations of the United
Etates to Spain by reason of the warfare
that for more than three years has
! do so because Of the Intimate connection
OF the Cuban question with the state of our
own uni9n and the o crave relation the
the nation to, adopt must needs bear to
the traditional policy of our government
down by the founders of the republic and
religiously observed by succeeding admin
UnciviIized warfare.
The present revolution is but the sue
cessor Of other similar instructions which
nop Of seap oVer th perod
Of nearly half a century, each of which
during its progress has subjected the Unit
ed States to great effort and expense in
enforcing it's neutrality laws, caused enor-
nous losses to the American trade and
commerce.. caused irritation. annoyance
uncivilized practices of warfare shocked
gympathies of our people.
Ravascd by Fire and Sword.
Since the present revolution began in
February. 1885, this country has seen the
fertile domain at our threshold ravaged
by fire and sword in the course of a
islands, and rarely paralleled as to the
number of the combatants and the bitterness
of the contest by any revolution of mod
ern times, where dependent people, striv-
Ing to be free, have been opposed by the
power Of the sovereign state Our peo-
hity reduced to comparative want, its com
meree virtually paralyzed, its exceptional
waste, its mills in ruins, ana it's peo 5pie
perishing, by tens of thousands from hun
ger and restitution. We have found our
that strict neutrality which our laws en-
Join, and which the law of nations COM
mands, to police our waters and watch our
act in aid Of the Cubans. our trade has
suffered; the capital invested by our Cit
the temper and forbearance Of our peo-
pie has been SO soreiy tried as to beget a
has nnrfSe fauna our own citizens
legisIature, 50 that issues Wholly external external
and stand in the way of that close devo-
zion to domestic advancement that be-
comes a self-contented commonwealth
whose primal maxim has been the avoid
ance or all forei gn entanglements. All this
must needs awaken, and has indeed aroused
the utmost concern on the part of this gov
ernment as well during my predecessors
administration as my own.
IHCrtS IOr Peace.
In April, 1885, the evils from which orr
country suffered through the Cuban war
became SO onerous that my predecessor
Through the mediation Of this government nt
sblee adjustment of the contest between toi
basis Of some effective scheme Of self-gove
sonmeht for Cq6a . under the flag and
the refusal of the Spanish government then
On power TO consider any form of mediation
DOT begin With the aetua TsGh did
the insurgents to the mother country and
snen only on such terms as Spain herself
tnabated. The resistance Of the insurgents
was in no wise diminished
New Horrors Added.
The efforts of Spain were Increased both
py the Dispatch Of fresh levies to Cuba and
by the addition to the horrors Of the Strife
Precedented in the modern history Of civ
tlized Christian peoples. The policy of
aexast tat on and concentration, inaugu-
tober 81, 1896. in the province of Pinar del
Rio. was thence extended to embrace ali of
tsh arms was able to reach by occupa ton or
~ military operations The peasantry, in
f flraing all dwellings in the open agrtcul
towns or Isolated places held by the troops
The raising and movement Of provisions Of
ell kinds were interdicted. The fields were
laid waste, dwellings unroofed and fired,
mills destroyed, and, in short, everything
unfit for human habitation or support was
comma by one or the other Of the con-
powers at their disposal lisp 1e'u'ea 0y all the
Conditions a Year AGO.
BY the time the present administration
called-had been made effective over fSe
better part of the four central and west
srn provinces, Santa Clara, Matanzas, Ha-
population, to the estimated number Of
cocoon or more was herded within the
prived OF the means of support, rendered
destitute Of shelter, left poorly clad ard
expose tSa 10 the most pnrsa3tary conditions
the devastation Of the depopulated areas
OF produeIIon, dsstitut!on and want be- be-
came misery and starvation. Month nv
month the death rate increased in an
alarming ratio. BY March, 1897, according
Spanish sources, the mortality among the
reeoncentrados from, starvation and the
teal relief Was accorded to the d Ee Rrae
The oxsrDurdened towns, already suffering
So-called zones Of cultivation, establisbed
within the immediate area OF effective min.
camps, proved illusory as a remedy for the
suffering. The unfortunates. being for the
and helpless men, enfeebled by disease and
hunger, could not have titled the soil, with
or Gf the ss spey f Of The their
keeoneentration. adopted avowediy 'i as a
war measure in order to cut off the re-
sources OF the insurgents, worked its
predestined result. AS / said In my mes
eage OF last December, II was not civilized
warfare: II was determination. The only
peace II could beget was that OF the wilder
hess and the grave.
a Noticeable Change.
Meanwhile the military situation n the
island had undergone z noticeable change
The extraordinary activity that character
ICED the second year OF the war, when
the Insurgents invaded even the hitherto
1nharmed fields OF Pinar del Rio and car
ried havoc and restitution up to the walls
or the city OF Havana itself. had relapsed
Into logged struggle In the central and
eastern provinces. The Spanish arms re-