The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-03-24

VI lhelr ngntlng In hotels and cafes, the
actual lighting being done by those of in
Ierlor grade. On the contrary the insur-
gents are comfortably clad and under strict
solsclphne. They occupy large part of the
ment, take Havana or Matanzas whenever
IL might suit their purpose, although these
c sues could not be held, for lack Of a navy.
continuing, he said: The scenes in the
streets OF Havana are narrowing beyond de-
sCrlptlon, People in want and suffering are
everywhere seen, and walking skeletons
meet one on every hand. Naked children.
emaclated and ragged women, and diseased
ana starving men throng the streets. the
noIel ioobles and every place of public re-
sort. 1t is terrible sight-one that sckens
the heart and quckens every impulse of
human sympathy and love.
Under the very shadow Of cathedrals and
cnurenes, where Spain'S authority is abso-
lutely unquestioned, the most horrible con-
dltions, are conceded to exist. Many have
refused to believe that a great government
was waging war of determination instead
OF war of honor, yet such is an absolute
Iact. A visit was paid to the orphanage,
which is now under the care of Miss Clara
Barton. 1t contains now about fifty chill
dren, almost every one of whom is a victim
or starvation. DR.. Lesser, one of Miss Bar
TON assistants, has had experience in the
Armenian and India famine but he declares
that the famine in Cuba is worse than that
IN ta,1 Armenia, and pictures he drew of the
and more than confirm all that has been
written on the subject.
A detailed story of visit to Los Focas,
assemble to get food, was also given A
few weeks ago, when Miss Barton discov-
cred the place. there were 645 people lying
on the floors, many of them entirely nude
and all suffering the pangs of starvation.
Much has been done by the Red Cross So
ciety to alleviate the condition of those who
sun remain, but scores of men, women and
children are yet there, gaunt and bony
almost as skeletons, many of them covered
WIN sores directly traceabe to insufficient
tood. what chapter of horrors and death
is that. And still the tragedy goes on. How
much longer it shall continue largely de-
ponds upon the forbearance of a great pee
pie"
OVER 100000 HAVE DIED.
The governor OF Matanzas informed Mr.
Gallinger that the first day he occupied the
palace fifteen persons had died in the court
yard He said, further, that in the city
twelve hundred had died in November.
twelve hundred in December, seven hundred
in January and five hundred in February
The death rate was decreasing simply be-
cause the reconcentrados by death were be-
coming fewer THE number of people who
have starved in Cuba will never be definite
ly known, continued the speaker cit is
estimated that 100000 were driven from their
homes into the cities and towns | had IT
from Spanish authority that, according TO
tnelr ngureS, 225, 600 already have persned
but 1T is said that the Red Cross Society is
in possession of figures showing that 425 0O0
Cubans have died as the result of Spanish
more must inevitably die.
Il have been asked many times, what of
the Maine? / do not know This, however
l do know: A government that will DELHI
erately StarVe four hundred thousand of it's
own people will DO pretty much ANYTHING
IL the ship was blown up from the outside,
what should our government do? Perhaps
L should forbear to discuss that question
now, but this l will venture to say: Human
life purposely taken cannot be paid for in
gold or silver Mark my words, 'purposely
taken, and If 1t shall appear that such was
the fate of 250 brave American sailors then
heaven pity the guilty parties. 1t will not
be a question for arbitration, but question
great Republic
loyalty TO Spain in Cuba, as would be
demonstrated when the hour of trial should
come come; He did not believe that Spain could
been oppressed so long that they preferred
death to continued Spanish rule.
Discussing the. question of Spanish rule
Mr.. Gall1nger referred to the matter of tax
alton. In addition to all direct and indirect
taxes on real estate, there is a tax on every
door, every window and every chimney in
every house, on every letter in every BUSH
ness sign, and on every name on every ho-
tel register. Licenses are required to build
houses and to paint houses There is a tax
on food animals as a whole, and special
taxes on the horns, the hoofS and the hide
In addition to all this, the interest on the
debt is tremendous burden; the salaries
of the Spanish officials are beyond all rea-
son, and the amount of money wrung from
the Cubans to keep the Madrid government
from complete insolvency is simply enor-
nous. mo people on the face of the earth
have been so oppressed, the treasury of
Spain being literally supplied from the rev.
enues extorted from Cuba and the Philip
pine islands, he continued.
THE UNHOLY WAR MUST CEASE
Our forefathers went to war because the
mother country put tax on tea. Cuba has
ten thousand more reasons than we had for
rebellion, and she deserves the sympathy
and help of every true American. Fortunate
ly, the people of this great Republic are
thoroughly aroused to the situation, and the
great heart of the American populace is in
full sympathy with Cuba Religion and hui
mainly alike demand that this unholy war
shall cease. and cease it should, even
though the glitter and glamour of military
rule shall end and a decaying and dissolute
tnrCne snail pass away never to return
As to what should be DONE Mr.. Gallinger
1elt that sooner or later this government
would, of necessity, absorb Cuba; but If an
neXatlon cannot now be accomplished, let
independence speedily come. American in
terests in Cuba" said he in conclusion,
nave already suffered enough. We have
patroled our coast in the interest of Spain
as long as we should and we have spent
quite too much money in protecting our
people from epidemic diseases coming to
our shores because of the unsanitary condi-
ton of the harbor and city of Havana.
Spain has failed to meet the requirements
OIL an advanced CIVILIZATION. Let the United
states or Cuba take up the problem and
solve it, who through suffering and sorrow
achieved their own independence and whose
sympathieS have always gone out to the OPP
pressed of all nations of the world
A vivid picture was then drawn by Mr..
Gallinger of trip to the city of Matanzas.
All along the route were Wretched people in
rags, but not until the city was reached
was the full extent of the suffering realized.
He said: 1T occurred to me, as looked
upon the scenes of suffering and horrors,
that the Cuban reconcentradO3 might we'll
have adopted the words of Dante Who
enters here leaves hope behind when they
were driven from the fields and herded like
cattle in the cities and towns of this fertile
land. The truth is that Weyler devised a
scheme of human suffering and sorrow that
puts Dantes Inferno to the shade and
converted a contented, prosperous people
into a herd of suffering, starving unfortu-
mates.
'Matanzas is literally d place of beggary
and death. Never before did my eyes behold
such suffering and never again do expect
to see such havoc wrought through cruel
and innuman decree. A visit to the Matan-
ZaS hospitals revealed an even more shock
ing condition than the streets. Members of
the Red Cross Society, who had visited
one OF the hospitals two weeks before, were
almost overcome upon discovering that
nearly every one of the inmates at that
time had since died. There poverty, sorrow
and suffering were depicted in their worst
forms; children, gaunt in face, but with alb
domen and limbs terribly swollen, women
in the last stage of emaciation and men
there were. rapidly drifting to death. If
there was food in these hospitals said Mr.
Gallinger. Il did not discover it; neither
were there signs of medicine or of proper
nursing and care.
Several times Mr.. Gallinger was interrupt
ed by hearty applause from the galleries
Mr.. Gallinger was thirty-eight minutes in
delivering his speech, and as he commended
the poor, suffering Cuba to the great heart