Iron County register., 1899-06-01
D1sarming the Cubans.

1t is very good of General Brooke tt
say that he has no present intention o
making a house-to-house search in or
| der 10 seize the arms of Cubans wht
decline to sell out for $75. Admins
tration organs pretty generally insis
that the Cubans should be made II
give up their arms by force, if neet
be, by the United States, and the sur
render of the Spanish arms at Santiago
is cited to show that the '.rules of wal
always demand the surrender of the
| enemy's arms" When did the Cubans
| become enemies of the United States:
When was the United States in armed
conflict with Cubans? The Spaniards
surrendered their arms at Santiago in
recognition of their defeat in battle.
| If the Cubans are made to surrender
their arms it would be in recognition
of their inability to prevent the United
States from taxing their country. The
agreement between President McKin-
ley's personal representative. Robert
P. Porter, and General Gomez stated
clearly that the Cuban army was to
deposit its arms with the municipal
authorities.
Alger's visit to Cuba seems to have
been made, among other things, for
the purpose of persuading Brooke to
ignore the Porter-Gomez agreement
and force the Cubans to turn their
arms over to officers of the American
army. and it appears that Brooke
agreed to do it, but when the scheme
reached the ears of the Cubans one in
terview with Gomez was quite enough
to convince Brooke that the Cubans
would submit to nothing of the kind,
nor would they accept nickel of the
$3,000,000. Then Brooke announced
that the Porter-Gomez agreement
should be carried out to the letter.
This so angered the Alger crowd that
they Immediately raised the cry of
'.Brooke's blunder" and appealed to
the president to call him down, but
however anxious the president was, or
still is, to get hold of the Cuban's
arms, he has not as yet ordered Brooke
directly to disarm them, by force if
need be, but it is we'll known that he
would like to see the arms of the Gu
bans put beyond their reach. Why
Brooke should say he has no present
intention of making a house-to- house
search IN order to seize the arms is not
quite clear, unless he believed it would
scare the Cubans and cause them to
come a-rushing to stack their guns,
but they do not seem to scare good.
Back of this desire to put the Cubans'
guns where they can not put their
hands on them is most dastardly pur-
pose. Ever since the surrender of
Santiago American syndicate vultures
have been lowering over Cuba ready
to pounce down upon everything hav-
ing value. But when Alger reached
Cuba and personally inspected the
he found that plundering the
island by the synnicates would be a
undertaking if the Cubans
had access to arms and he. was more
determined than ever to have things
his way. 1t is pretty evident now that
the president is sustaining Brooke. for
the payment of the Cuban soldiers is
under way; but it seems that some of
the Cubans are suspicious that by hook
or crook their arms will find their way
sooner or later to United States gari-
sons if they should surrender them,
and they prefer to hold on to- them
rather than part with them for $75, or
any other sum. What percentage of
the Cuban army will conform to the
Porter-Gomez agreement no one seems
to know, but the fact that Gomez has
declined to participate in the distribu-
ton of the $3,0OO.0OO gives the stu
alton disturbed look, the more so
because the Washington government
has never explained why it is SO anx-
ious to have the Cuban army disband
and surrender its guns if it means to
let the Cubaus establish a governme Mt
of their own.-K. G.. Times.