The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1899-09-28
Verifying the Truth Of History.


miral Cervera, over his own signature,
puts forth his plea for. his defeat at
Santiago, which is not only an extenua-
ton, but which, we believe, will be
generally regarded as complete JUS
LITIGATION. 1t certainly shows him to be
entirely worthy of all the courtesy he
received in this country. According to
the admiraPs statement, in January.
1898, some months before the storm
broke, he was not sparing in the coun-
sells he sent to high functionaries of
state in Spain or in his plainly worded
statements as to the relative strength
Of the Spanish and American havies.
He wrote at that time:
"From a military point of view our
situation vis-a-vis the United States
has become worse and worse because
we are without money and at the end
Of our resources, while they are rich.
We have only augmented our naval
forces by the Cristobal Colon and the
destroyers, while they have added nu-
merous ships"
Again, just before sailing from the
Cape Verde islands, the admiral called
council Of war and on April % sent
the following extraordinary telegram
to Madrid:
ut is impossible to give yon any idea
of the surprise and stupefa, u Of ev-
erybody on receipt Of your orders to
sail. OF truth this surprise is we'll
justified, for from this expedition moth
ing can be expected but the destruc-
ton of the fleet or it's return in q de-
molished condition, while if brought
back to Spain it might safeguard the
country. I 60 to the sacrifice with my
| conscience at rest, but cannot under
stand the decision taken by the gen
eral officers of the navy in spite of my
opinion
The record shows that Admiral Ger
vera and Rear Admiral Vallamil, his
second in command, who persisted in
the battle of Santiago, knew full we'll
that in sailing from Cadiz they were
going to their doom. They advised
against the needless sacrifice, but, re-
ceiving posi- 'crs, obeyed them
like brave ardless of conse-
| quences. Thel> las certainly nothing
of cowardice or ineficiency on the part
Of Admiral Cervera or his officers, and
| the responsibility for the destruction of
his fleet must rest with the Spanish
administration and not with the heroic
admiral, who implicitly obeyed orders.
The New York Produce Exchanges
expert computes the wheat crop of
1899, on the basis Of the department of
agriculture's figures of the condition,
to be about SIG, 100000 bushels. This
is a somewhat smaller yield than was
looked for month ago. but it was new
er exceeded in this country in any
years except 1897 100000, 900 bushels
and 1893 (G75,O0O,OOO bushels). The
same authority, on the same basis, fig
ures that the corn crop this year will
be about 2,1OO,OOO,OO0 bushels This
has been exceeded only three times
1t must be borne in mind, however,
that the estimates of the department
of agriculture made during the crop
year have usually proved to be below
the actual yield. There is a chance
that this may be the case now. Trust
worthy authorities on the outside have
been figuring that the corn crop of 1899
will reach 2,400, 100000 or $500, 100000
bushels. At all events, the wheat and
corn yield will be far above the aver
age. The tillers of the soil have no
reason to complain that they have not
had an abundant return for their labor.
This country uses annually more
than $10O,00O,00 worth of paper, or
all aggregate of 4,000,O00,OO0 pounds
of all kinds. A little less than third
of this enormous production is used by
the newspapers of the country. The
wrapping paper of all kinds amounts
to about two-thirds as much as the
news paper, and almost half as much
is used to manufacture books as to
print newspapers. The production Of
the various kinds of paper board
amounts to over 100000 tons annually,
or more than half the production Of
news paper. Builders use 10000 tons
of paper, not including $4,000 tons of
wall paper that are produced annual
ly.
Various industries are suffering from
the scarcity of steel, the mills being I'M
able to keep upWith the demands. Some
railways find their work very much de-
layed, and several construction con-
tracts will fail of completion at con-
tract dates. In the meantime steel
mills are being worked to their full ca
pacity, and the capacity of plants is
being very materially increased. There
promises to be delay also in fulfilling