The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1899-10-31

| PRESIDENT Cleveland had also said
something about possible Intervention
in the future. If recognition had come
/ in 1897 most of the 100000 concentrates
! would have been saved from the most
| horrible of all the forms of death
slow starvation.
Thoughtless people often ask, was
! this nation under any greater obliga-
tions to rescue the concentrates than
were the nations of Europe?"
Most certainly it was. First, by the
well known natural law of proximity;
| second, and especially, by the accept
ance of the Monroe doctrine by the
nations of Europe and their interpreta-
! tion of it at that time; that while it
| was certain that Cuba must pass flom
| Spain, yet, under it, the United States
would not permit any European power
| to acquire Cuba by purchase or con-
quest-no, not even to ocupy it tempo
rarily to restore order. Our doctrine
said to all Europe, Hands off"
We were in the position of the dog
| in the manger, we did nothing our
| selves, and would not permit others to
do anything. The short-sighted ask,
| Well, then, couldn't they feed them?
| The feeding of one people by another
can never be more than a very tempo
| rary arrangement. The only
way was to help them to help them
selves. Would recognizing their bellig-
erancy have helped them? Yes.
| Notwithstanding all the denials, Sem
ator Sherman, chairman of the COM
mittee having charge of such matters,
that on foreign relations, told the
truth when in a speech that reveals a
head clearer and a heart warmer than
| Of nj ef,I
man, he said in the Senate, February
2S, 1896, that the State Department had
the evidence that the Cuban insurgents
had civil government performing the
functions of a civil government.
| Senator Foraker, a member of the
same committee, told the truth when in
April, '9S, he said the same thing. Mr..
| Mckinley knew these facts about Cuba
and our grand old man when he selec-
ted him to be the head of the cabinet.
Yes, the Cuban insurgents had civil
government. True, 1t was still young
and weak, but it was Republican, mod
eled after ours. and all it needed to
make it grow until it was strong
enough to cover the whole island, was
our recognition; the recognition that it
had right to expect and ought to have
received from the nearest neighbor, the
great republic which for more than a
hundred years had been holding high
the torch of Liberty enlightening the
world; the hope and inspiration of the
oppressed everywhere, but especially
on the western continent, over which,
by the great Monroe doctrine, declared
in the interest of the universal right Of
self-government, we had assumed and
maintained general protectorate.
The question was not then, and as
Senator Burrows proved Saturday at
the tabernacle, the real question is not
Shall we haul down the fiag?" but
Shall we haul down that torch?"
OF the Cuban Republics bonds al
ready mentioned, four hundred million
, dollars worth, face value, had been
printed by the n. Y. Bond and Bank
Note Printing Company, the entire
: amount sold was only $105, 900, face
value, at an average of about 35c on the
dollar.
: With recognition, a vastly larger
amount could have been sold and. at a
much higher rate. With the proceeds,
an abundance of arms and ammuni-
tion could have been secured, and that
not necessarily in the United States.
Insurgents already in the field would
have been better armed and thousands
Of pacificOs would have been added to
. the patriot army, especially If the rec
OgnitiOn had come under President
Cleveland's administration, when an
overwhelming majority of Republicans
u clamored for recognition. Don't you
5 remember how suddenly most of them
i Topped after Mr.. McKinley's Inaugural
ton? So sudden was the flop that the
: dizziness it caused made many of them
v forget where they had stood.
Not being an athlete, I didn't flop
D Then those who had Topped so sudden
Il ly as to forget all about it, called me a
lingo" although the policy they them
> selves had advocated before the floI
5 would probably have made war unnec-
> essary on our part Besides, it would
have probably saved most Of the poor
d concentrates.
l. AS we have seen the first report OF
= this starving came in May, '97, and thai
; the concentration was not complete un.
{ til about eight months after Mr.. Nc.
o Kinley's Inauguration. So that if rec.
y Ognition had come early in the new ad.
= ministration, as Republicans expected
it would have saved hundreds or
v sands of lives. Pacificos would have
become insurgent soldiers; the army
II thus increased would have captured
l. one of the weaker garrisoned towns, re.
{ leased and armed the concentrates
c held therein, then, :! $ still further
strengthened, attacked and taken the
> next and so on, ending with Santiago
and Havana.
a A few months ago administration pa
a pers published with evident glee a dis
patch to the effect that the Spaniard:
=, in Cuba. "to a man." would vote fol
annexation. 1t is not surprising tha
Z Spaniards feel very kindly toward oul
: government, but the feelings of the ma
y tive Cubans must be somewhat mixed
In the early part of 1898, a correspon,
dent of the Repository, whose letters
are always meaty and whose acquaint,
> ance with the administration was ex,
: ceptional, mentioned, as a fact bearine
on the non-recognition of the Cuban re-
Il public, that capitalists had not Joined
u the Insurgents who yUara mostly am.