River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1898-04-14
M'KINLEY'S MESSAGE
The President Places the Cuban
Matter Before Congress.
WANTS TO STOP THE WAR IN CUBA.
But Advises Against Recognizing In
surgent GOvernment-Rcfe to
Maine Explosion as Sign OF
Spanish Weakness.

But Advises Against Recognizing In
surgent GOvernment-Rcfers to
Maine Explosion as Sign OF
Spanish Weakness.
Monday sent the following message to
the congress OF the United States:
Obedent TO that precept of the constitu-
ton which commands the president to give
from time 10 time 10 congress Information
OF the state or the union and to recon-
mend to theiT consideration such measures
as he shall judge necessary and expedient.
IL becomes my duty now to address your
body with regard to the grave crisis that
has arisen in the relations Of the United
States to Spain by reason of the warfare
that for more than three years has
ragged in the neighboring island of Cuba.
! do so because of the intimate connection
Of the Cuban question with the state or our
own union and the grave relation the
course which it is now incumbent upon
the nation TO adopt must needs bear to
the traditional policy OF our governm leI NJ
down by the founders OF the republic and
religiously observed by succeeding admin
Z istTatiOnS to the present day.
UncIvIIized Wnrfare.
The present revolution IS but the sue
cessor of other similar instructions which
have occurred in Cuba against the do
minion of Spain, extending over a period
Of nearly half century, each of which
during its progress has subjected the Unit
enforcing its neutrality laws, caused enor-
nous losses to the American trade and
commerce, caused irritation, annoyance
and disturbance among our citizens, and
by the exercise OF cruel, barbarous and
uncivilized practices of warfare shocked
the sensibilities and offended the humane
sympathies of our people.
Ravaged by Fire and sword.
Since the present revolution began in
February. 1895, this country has seen the
fertile domain at our threshold ravaged
struggle unequaled in the history of the
Islands, and rarely paralieled as to the
number of the combatants and the bitterness
of the contest by any revolution or mod
ern times, where dependent people, striV-
ing TO be free, have been opposed by the
power of the sovereign state. Our peo-
pie have beheld a once prosperous commu-
nifty reduced TO comparative want, its com
merce virtually paralyzed. its eXceptlonal
productiveness diminished, its fields laid
waste, its mills In RUNS. and its people
perishing by tens of thousands from 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 waters and watch our
own seaports in prevention of any unla awful
act in aid of the Cubans. Our trade has
suffered; the capital invested by our cit
izens in Cuba has been largely lost, and
the temper ana forbearance of our peo-
pie has been so soreiy tried as to beget a
perilous. unrest among our own citizens
which has inevitably found its express
sion from time to time in the national
legislature, so that issues wholly external
70 our own body polite engross attention
and stand in the way of that close deVo-
ton to domestic advancement that be-
comes a Self-Contented commonwealth
whose primal maxim has been the avoid
ahce OF all foreign entanglements. All this
must needs awaken, and has indeed aroused
the utmost concern on the part of this gov
eminent well during my predecessor's
administration as my own.
Efforts for Peace.
In April. 1886, the evils from which our
country suffered through the Cuban war
became so onerous that my predecessor
made an effort to bring about neaca
through the mediation of this government
in any way that might tend TO an honor
able adjustment of the contest between
Spain and her revolted colony on the
basis Of Some effective scheme of self-gov-
sovereignty of Spain. 1t failed through
the refusal Of the Spanish government then
in power to consider any form OF mediation
or indeed any plan of settlement which did
not begin with the actual submission Of
the insurgents to the mother country, and
then only on such terms as Spain herself
might see fit to grant. The war continued
undated. The resistance of the Insurgents
was In no wise diminished.
New Horrors Added.
The efforts of Spain were Increased, both
by the dispatch of fresh leVies TO Cuba and
by the addition TO the horrors of the strife
of new and inhuman phase happily un-
PTecsdented IN the modern history of civ
iized Christian peoples. The policy of
devastation and concentration, inaugu-
rated by the captain generals bandO of Oc-
tober Il, 1896, in the province of Pinar del
Rio, was thence extended to embrace ali of
the island TO which the power of the Spa n
fish arms was able TO reach by occuDat ton or
by military operations The peasantry in
Guiding all dwellings, in the open agricul-
tural interior. were driven into the garrison
towns or isolated places held by the troops
The raising and movement of provisions of
all kinds were intcrdicted The fields were
laid waste dwellings unroofed and fired
mills destroyed and, in short. everything
that could desolate the land and render ii
unfit for human habitation or support was
commanded by one or the other of the con-
powers at their disposal
Conditions n Year Ago
BY the time the present administration
took office a year ago, Observation-Disclosures
better part of the four central and west
ern provinces. Santa Clara, Matanzas. Ha-
Vana and Pinar del Rio. The agricultural
population, to the estimated number of
100000 or more, was herded within the
towns and their immediate vicinage, de-
priVed of the means of support. rendered
destitute of shelter, left poorly clad and
exposed to the most unsanitary conditions
AS the scarcity of food increased with
the devastation OF the depopulated areas
of production, restitution and want he
came misery and starvation. Month bv
month the death rate increased in ar
alarming ratio BY March, 1897. according
to conservative estimates from official
Spanish sources, the mortality among the
recOncentrados from starvation and the
diseases thereto incident, exceeded so per
centum of their total number. No prac-
teal relief was accorded to the destitute
The overburdened towns, already suffering
from the general dearth. could give no aid
So-called zones of cultivation established
within the Immediate area OF effective mill
= ary control about the cities and fortified
camps proved ilusory as remedy for the
suffering. The unfoTtunates. being for tho
most part women and children with aged
and helpless men, enfeebled by disease and
hunger, could not have titled the soil. with
out tools. seed or shelter. for their own
support or for the supply of the cities
Recommendation, adopted avOwedly as a
war measure in order to cut off the re-
predestined result As | said in my mes
sage of last December, it was not civilized
warfare; il was determination. The only
peace it could beget was that of the wilder
ness and the grave.
A Noticeable Change.
Meanwhile the military situation in the
The extraordinary activity that character
lied the second year of the war, when
unframed fields of Pinar del Rio and car
red havoc and restitution up to the walls
of the city of Havana itself. had relapsed
into a logged struggle in the central and
eastern provinces The Spanish arms re-
gained a measure of control in Pinar del
Rio and parts of Havana, but under the
without immediate improvement OF their
productive situation Even thus par.
tally restricted the .revolutionists held
their own, and their submission, put
forward by Spain as the essential and sole
basis OF peace seemed far distant as
at the outset.
steps Taken for Relief.
In this state of affairs my administration
found itself confronted with the grave
problem OF its duty. NV message of last
December reviewed the situation and de-
tailed the steps taken with view of re-
licving its 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 subiuEation without concession gave
place to that OF more liberal party. conn
mttted long In advance to "A policy of re-
form. involving the wider principle of
home rule for Cuba and Puerto Rico The
OvcrtuTeS Of this government. made
through its new envoy, Cen Woodford.
and looking to an immediate and effective
amelioratiOn of the condition of the is
land. although not accepted to the extent
OF admitted mediation i'm any shape. were
met by assurances that home rule. in an
advanced phase. would be forthwith Of
feTcd to Cuba. without waiting for the
war to end and that more humane meth
DDS should thenCeforth prevail in the con-
duct of hostilities. Incidentally with these
declarations the new government of Spain
continued and completed the policy already
begun by its predecessor of teStifying
friendly regard for this nation by releasing
American citizens held under one charge
or another connected with the Instruction.
so that by the end Of November not a
single pCrSOp entitled in any Way o our