The united opinion. [volume] (Bradford, Vt.) 1881-1970, 1898-03-18
From Our Correspondent

part! UNDOUBTEDLY IL SllC uOSo' 'AANA
war. We have a right to recognize Cuba,
and Spain has right to resent it. In
other words, if Spain refuses indemnity
and apology for the Maine, then we shall
war. If we recognize Cuba, Spain will
war. How is war going to be averted?
If modern craftsmanship can do it,
diplomacy deserves a crown of laurel
which will last until time shall be no
more.
If the Hawaiian islands are annexed
to the United States, the act will doubt
less be performed by the passage of a
bill to that end rather than by the rati-
fication of the treaty now pending in the
senate which requires two-thirds vote.
The friends of the treaty seem to have
been losing ground of late, and Chair
man Davis of the committee on foreign
relations has about concluded that the
prospects for the treaty are very poor.
The administration itself was doing
yeoman work in behalf of the treaty,
interviewing senators in it's interest, but
the Maine disaster has absorbed all the
time of the president and his advisers
recently, and practically nothing has
been done to help the treaty, particularly
as it is understood that word has been
passed down the line that the treaty will
be abandoned and a bill resorted to, the
latter not requiring a two-thirds vote as
a treaty does. A bare majority can pass
a bill through both branches, but in the
case of treaty, two-thirds of the mem
bers of the senate must vote in its favor
It is hard to do this because of the null
titudinous interests which are always
involved in matters of this kind.
In the senate a bill providing for an
nexation could easily pass, but in the
house, with Speaker Reed and other
leaders openly opposed to the idea, its
fate might be different, although in a
question in which the administration is
so deeply interested and to which it is
pledged, perhaps the leaders would not
openly oppose annexation. 1t is thought
that the prevailing sentiment in the
house favors annexation, although the
Democrats are almost unanimously
against it, as we'll as a small coterie of
Republicans, including Johnson of Indi-
ana. The fact, however, that Senator
Davis has not pushed the treaty in the
senate is evidence that it cannot COM
mand a two-thirds vote and that a bill
will have to be brought in to accomplish
the desired result. The committee will
meet on Saturday to finally determine
upon this point, but l am told by an in
fluential member of it that senators have
concluded that the islands cannot be an
nexed by this congress by treaty, if
at all, in view of the fact that Speaker
Reed is opposed to the scheme, and who
can, if so disposed, side-track the pro-
posed bill when it reaches the house.
Perhaps the mere appointment of a
Cuban consul is rather a tri1ing matter
in the premises compared to the recent
disaster to the Maine and the state of
mind into which it has thrown the coun-
try, but the circumstances that led to
the appointment at this time are sig
nificant, especially in view of the fact
that Judge Day month ago announced
that during the present condition of af-
fairs in Cuba not a single change would
be made in the personnel of this govern
ment's representation on the island,
saying that General Lee, the consul
general at Havana, and all his subordi-
mates scattered over Cuba would be kept
in office until the present cloud passes
away. On Friday last w. T. Fee of Ohio
was nominated as consul at Cienfuegoes,
Cuba, vice Owen McGarr, resigned"
That word resigned looks innocent in
this connection, but it so happens that
this resignation was not rendered until
Mr.. McGarr was politely informed that
II would be agreeable to Judge Day.
This is how it all came about: Last
month a well known Washington news
paper man visited Cuba and went all
over the island. He visited all the
American consulates and became fully
conversant with the situation. He found
out to what extent the war had ravaged
the fair land and what awful suffering
was rampant in the way of starvation
and restitution. During his journey he
visited the consulate in which Brother
MeGarr was installed at a salary of
$4,000 per annum. Brother McGarr in
sisted that the war now on is trivial
affair. claimed that there is no starva-
ton on the island and made light of the
whole affair in a spirit of bravado. This
rolicy was so strictly at variance with
the actual condition of affairs, and as ii
had been reflected in McGarrs report to
the consul general, that the newspaper
correspondent made up his mind that II
was at least a mistake to have such a
man as an American consul in Cuba dur
| ing these times. He made a menta!
memorandum to that effect When he