New Iberia enterprise. (New Iberia, La.) 1885-1902, 1899-02-04
THE NEEDS or CUBA.

4 NIohllt. Nla., y en-. l.-llanlllS
. Taylor, cX-mlnlster to Spain who
+ returned yesterday from two
;, weeks visit to Cuba. has given the
Associated Press the following in
! tcrvicw upon the Cuban situation :
"While in Cuba upon purely per
soual business | came in contact
, with the leaders Of every faction
into which the population is now
divided The extremes of opinjou
are represented ON one hand by
, Cuban military chiefs demanding
immediate and absolute indepen-
, dence on the other by the purely
Spanish element, seeking protection
under our flag. Between the two
extremes are ranged the main body
of the people, standing in an ex-
pectant attitude. ready to give their
support to any plan which will re
establish law and order and pros
perlty upon a permanent basis.
Upon one point all agree. Ameri-
can officers as well as Cubans and
that is that outside of the cities fine
country is in condition of want
and misery that can hardly be en-
aggerated As an aggravation of
that condition stands the Cuban |
army, composed of at least 80. 900
idle men, waiting with arms in
their hands for such settlement
of their affairs rs will enable them
to resume civil life again.
"When | asked those who had Il
right to speak for the army what
sum would suffice for a satsfacto-
ry settlement, they said $40, ,OOO,-
600 or 81 100000 at the least, a
sum which would give about $500
to each man. With that. they said
the small farmers could procure
stock and live until they could
make crop The Cubans neither
ask nor desire to ask us to contri-
butte penny for the payment of
their arms. All they ask is that a
special loan should be made for the
purpose, to be charged upon their
custom houses, now yielding from
$12, 900, 600 to $l5 900, 900 u year,
the proceeds of the loan to be paid
to their soldiers, through our mill
tary authorities.
-l4 Every eleee in I~he is now dc
manding that a settlement be made
at once, so that a menacing and
consuming body of idle men may b
be converted into peaceful citi 4
zens. In that way the industrial j
energies of the country could be re-
vived, and force dissolved which, II
like the army of Cromwell, is not G
only military body but the domi p
nant political power of the island. t.
T cannot doubt that if the just o
claims of the Cuban army are trea t
ted with injustice, and the present b
regime continued indefni- &
tely, in a short time we will be ha S
ted by the Cubans just as the Span n
iards were, and condition of II
things brought about that will force o
us either to withdraw from the ISL a
and or to govern there just as e
Russia does in Poland. Wise and {
humane as our military governors t.
are, the fact remains that they gov f
ern by the sword, in defiance of {
the civil power, and the result is f
that impatience and discomfort are v
already clearly manifested on every i,
hand. The urgent needs in Cuba I
now are prompt and satisfactory II
settlement with the army of the re- v
and establishment as soon Il
rs possible of q provisional civil b
regime, in which Cubans themsel- 8
YES can have voice. The presi- \
dent should labor increasingly to
attain both ends, and in the effort {