The Yale expositor. (Yale, St. Clair County, Mich.) 1894-current, 1898-04-15
THE PRESIDENTS MESSAGE.
His Communication to Congess on
the Cuban Question.
A POWERFUL PRESENTATION.
FaYOrs Eorcible Intervention to Termin-
nate Hostilities and Asks Discretion
airy Authority In the Matter-Re-
sponsibility Rests with Congress.

am 10 recommend TO their consideration
such measures as he shall judge neces-
sary a. pedlent, l. becomes my duty
now to address your body with regard 10
the grave crisis that has arisen in the
relation of he United States to Spain by
reason or the warfare that for more than
Three years has ragged In the neighbor.ng
island of Cuba. / do so because OF the
intimate connection of the Cuban ques-
ton with the state OF our own union ana
the grave relation the course which IL is
now incumbent upon the nation to adopt
must needs bear to the traditional policy
or our government IL II is to be in accord
with ne precep,s laid down by the
founders OF the republic and relgiously
observed by succeeding administrations
10 the pres INT day.
The present -evo.ution Is but the sue
cessor or other similar Instructions
wh On have DC urred In Cuba against the
dominion OF ) ain extending over a
period OF near.y half a century, each OF
which. during it's progress has subjected
the United y atcS 20 great effort ana eX-
penSe in enforcing It's neutrality laws
cersed enormous losses to American
trade ana commerce, caused irritation,
a noyarce, ana disturbance among our
citizens, and by the exercise OF cruel
b rbaroUs ard unc!vilized practice OF
warfare shocked the sensibiltles and
OF nded the human sympathies OF our
peope
Since the present revolution began In
February. 1875. this country has seen the
fertile domain at our threshold raVaged
by fire and sword in the course of a
islard and rarely paralleled as 10 the
number of the combatants and the hit
terness OF the contest by anv revolution
of modern times where a dependent peo-
pie, striving to be free, have been OPP
posed by the power Of the sovereign
state. Our people have beheld once
prosperous community reduced to com
parative want, its lucrative commerce
virtually paralvzed. It's exceptional pro-
ductveness diminished it's fields laid
waste. its mills In ruins and It's people
no iCb nQ hU ON NJ do hun
ger and restitution. We have found our
selves constrained, in the Observance Of
that strict neutrality which our laws en-
join and which the law of nations com
mands. TO police our own waters anf
watch our own seaports in prevention OF
any unlawful act I'm aid OF the Cubans.
Our trade has suffered, the capital in
vested by our citizens in Cuba has been
largely lost and the temper and forbear-
ance Of our people have been so sorely
tired as to beget a perilous unrest among
our own citizens. which has inevitably
found its expression from time 10 time
In the national legislature, so that issues
external To our own body polite engross
attention and stand In the way or that
close devotion to domestic advance mont
thnt becomes a scIf-conta.ped common
wealth whose primal maxim has been
the avoidance of all foreign entangle-
ments. All this must needs awaken and
has indeed aroused the utmost concern
on the part of this government. as well
during my predecessors term as In my
own.
In April, 1896, the evils from which our
country suffered through the Cuban war
became go onerous that my predecessor
made an effort TO bring about a peace
through the mediation of this government
in any way that might tend TO an hon
orabie adjustment of the contest between
Spain and her revolted colony, on the
basis of some effective scheme OF self
government for Cuba under the flag and
sovereignty of Spain. II failed. through
the refusal OF the Spanish government
N n I'm NJ
mediation. or indeed any plan of settle
ment which did not begin with the actual
submission of the insurgents to the moth
er country and then only on such term
as Spain herself might see 1T to grant
The war continued unabated. The resist
ance Of the insurgents was in no wise
diminished.
The efforts OF Spain were increased
both by the disnatch Of French lcvies to
Cuba. and by the addition to the horrors
OF the strife OF a new and inhuman
phase happily unprecedented in the mod
eIn history of civilized Christian peo-
pies.
The policy of devastation and con-en-
tratiJn, inaugurated by the Captain-Gon-
erale BandO OF October q, 1896. in the
province Of Pinar Del Rio was thence
extended to embrace all of the island TO
which the power of the Spanish army was
able 10 reach by occupation or by mill
tary operations. The pelsanrry, inc. I'D
ing al dwelling In the open AGRICULTURAL
interior, were driven into the garrison
tONHS OF laO4alcu plHCCS he q Dy the
troops. The raising and movement of
provisions Of AL kinds were interdicted
The fields were laid waste, dwellings un
rooted and fired. mills destroyed. and in
short everything that could desolate the
land and render IL unfi. for human habita-
ton or support was commanded by one
or the other of the contendlng parties
and executed by all powers AZ Their dis
pCsal.
BY the time the present administration
look once year ago, RECOMMENDATION SO
called-had been made effective over the
better OF the four ccntra! and western
provinces Santa Clara, Matanzas, Havana
and Pinar Del Rio. Tae agricultural pop
ulation, to tho estimated number of 300
OOO or more. was horded within the towns
and their immediate vlcinage. deprived of
the means OF sup port, rendered destitute
of shelter, left poorly clad and exposed TO
the most unsanitary conditions. As the
scarcity OF food increased with the deyas-
tation of the depopuiated areas OF Dro-
ductiOn, destruction ard want became
misery and starvation. Month by month
the death rate increased in an alarming
ratio. BY March, 1897, according to con-
sentative estimates from official Spanish
sources. the mortality among tho recon
centrados from starvation and the dis
eases thereto incident, exceeded so per cant
of their total number. No practical relief
was accorded to the destitute. The over
burdened towns, already suffering from
the general dearth. could give no aid.
So-calied zones of cultivation" estab-
lished within the immediate area OF eff
fective military control about the cities
and fortified camps proved illusory as a
remedy for the suffering. The unfortu-
mates, being for the most part women
and children with aged and helpless men
enfeebled by disease and hunger could
not have titled the soil without tools
seeds or shelter. for their own support
or for the supply of the cities. Recon-
centration, adopted avowedly as war
measure in order to cut off the resources
of the Insurgents, worked its predestined
result. AS / said in my message of last
December, IL was not civilized warfare;
II was determination. The only peace II
could beget was that of the wilderness
and the grave.
In this state OF affairs my administra-
ton found tse confronted W tn TIE grave
problem of its duty. My message of last
December reviewed the situation and mar
rated the steps taken with a view TO re-
Eeving it's acuteness and opening the way
to some form OF honorable settlement
The assassination of the prime minister
/ Canovas led to change of government
in Spain. The former administration
pledged TO subjugation without conces-
sion, gave place TO that OF more liberal
party, committed long In advance to a
policy of reform involving the wider prin-
ciple of home rule for Cuba and Puerto
Rico. The overtures OF this government
made through It's new envoy. Gen. Wood
ford, and looking to an immediate and eff
/