The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1898-03-19
Cause Enough.


necessary, and more. is to be found
in the statement which Senator Proctor
made in the senate On his return from
personal tour and inspection of that
unhappy island. We have had hitherto
the descriptions of the correspondents.
colored on one side or the other, to
some extent. by their personal feelings,
but giving us. Notwithstanding, on the
average, a fair idea of Cuban condi-
pare, in accurateness and circumstan-
TALLY and completeness of detail with
the recital of Senator Proctor. Even
when made in the plainest words and
in the most matter of fact manner, the
material of it is so striking and I'M
paralleled as to give it tremendous
dramatic effect.
American people know now exactly
what the state Of affairs in Cuba is
what the attempt of Spain to put down
the rehe llion means and what the flu
ture holds for those oppressed and
cruelty prosecuted people. OF the six
provinces of the island, two are en-
tirely in the hands of the insurgents
and the four others are nominally in
the hands of the Spaniards: although
as a matter of fact, no Spaniard is safe
from capture or execution more than a
few miles outside of the Notifications
of the towns. OF the 200, 600 Spanish
soldiers who have been sent there to
carry on the war, only about 00C
effectives remain. The balance have
fallen victims to the patriots or the
climate; are in their graves or in the
hospitals, or have returned to Spain
The revolutionary army, which is well
organized and supplied, is reported on
good authority to number 10000 men,
Such is the condition from a military
point of view, and it is obviously not
subject to serious change. Spain has
put forth her utmost strength, and the
two opposing forces might remain in
practically their present status for ten
years to come. 1t is pretty certain that
the revolutionists cannot eXpel the
Spanish power and even better demon
strated that Spain cannot crush the
revolution
1t is the social situation, the Condi-
tion Of the non-combatants and the
effect upon them of the frightful policy
to which Spain has resorted that APP
peal most strongly to the American
heart. The story of results is told IN
a word, when we say that. of the en-
tire population, one in every eight has
perished since the beginning of hostili-
ties. The number slain upon the field
of battle is trifiing. These POO 900 dead
in a population of 600,0 have fallen
by starvation and disease; not as an
incident of war, but as the direct re-
suit of SPANS diabolical cruelty.
Under the orders of Weyler the whole
people of Cuba, men, women and chill
dren. who had no part or lot in the
rebellion, but were tilling the fields and
living in humble peace. were driven
from their little holdings Their feds
were tiampled down, their houses burn-
ed, and they themselves were shut up
In fortified towns to starve to death
by degrees. They built themselves huts
of palm leaves and branches, places
without floor, ventilation or single
convenience of civilized life, and there
they have been and still are huddled
to await miserable DEATH Their
means of subsistence are limited to the
contributions of sympathetic friends in
the United States, and the answer to
an attempt to escape is a bullet from
a Spanish rifle
This, as Senator Proctor we'll saws
lis not war 1t is not peace" It is q
scene from the cruelties of that hell
which Spain has more than once in
stituted upon earth. To give over to
famine and pestilence the unoffending
and helpless has been the work of this
abominable nation at the end of the
nineteenth century. Even the deviltrv
of the Turk in Armenia scarcely reach
es the level Of this, because he has the
excuse Of religious fanaticism and
hatred. perhaps the fiercest passion In
the human breast. Spain has no quarrel
with the faith Of her Cuban subjects,
but is torturing men to death for the
aspiration of their brothers in arms for
Cuban independence. For these miser-
able people there Is no pity and no
hope. They will live as long as Amer
leans continue to feed them, and as
long as the Spanish authorities per-
NIT relief supplies to pass through
their lines. 1t is hardly open to doubt
that the same power which put into
effect this damnable policy will event.
ually insist upon carrying it to its Iogi-
cal end of determination Neither
charity nor humanity will be permitted
to interfere with the project of Spain,
that aims at the life and existence Of
all Cubans who are unwilling to be
slaves
Is it any wonder that those Cubans
who have escaped from this circle of
the inferno, who are informed of the
fortunes to which their fellows are sub
jected and who have tasted of the bit
terest drops of the cup of Spanish gov
eminent, have made Cuban independ-
ence their ultimatum? Life to them is
not worth living under the government
of power that has braved the verv
heavens in it's efforts to Cypress. Look
ed at from our standpoint, this story
of Senator Proctor furnishes all the
reasons that we need for Intervention
In Cuban affairs. 1t is not merely that
we sympathiZe with the desire for
freedom and that the Cubans are
struggling to be free; it is not that
these people live at our very doors and
have for years implored us for help; 1t
is not that a small and helpless re-
public has appealed to great and
powerful one for aid, that has justified
action on our part but it is the COM
mon tie of human brotherhood and the
call of man to man.
If the things that have been done In
Cuba can be done by anv nation RI