Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1899-11-11
| AN APPEAL FOR CUBA
Senior Quesada Asks Fair Treatment Under
Our Tariff.
He Reviews the Conditions on the
Island and Praises What
America Has Done.

| Senior Gonzale Quesada delivered an ad-
! dress at the banquet of the Cincinnati
Commercial Club Thursday night After
reviewing the struggle of the insurgent
army in Cuba and the subsequent struggle
between the United States and Spain Senior
Quesada took up the present status OF
Cuba. He said:
"A year has not yet elapsed since the
American occupation of the is and, an oc-
cuPaticn having for It's object the guidance
of the Cubans to a stable seif-sovernment.
In these months the Cubans have shown
CCmmendable examples of good Judgment.
tenacity and self-cOntrol. Many We're the
prophesies of those who had no faith in the
Cuban character. or who Judged 1t by
superficial appearances, that the island
would become d hOt-bed of disturbances;
that the patriots who had fought for four
years would not give-up their rowing life
to go back to the farms but would con-
stitute themselves into maruding bands,
mePacng and destroying life and property.
and keep the island in a state of unrest
| and insecurity.
All these predictions have turned out
false. The army of suffering veterans
starved rather than take by force the food
necessary to mitigate their hunger. Not
an act of disorder or vengeance was COM
mitted by them; they protected friends and
enemies ike in the towns until the
American troops and the American author
tiles relieved them of their responsibilities.
These Cuban soldiers, ragged emaciated,
urrewarded, neither mutinied nor protested,
but with unparalleled patriotism deposited
their weapons-sacred mementoeS of their
war of independence-and returned to their
homes, to their deserted lands. with what
was left of their families, to rebuild what
they had destroyed. a work as ennobling and
worthy of applause as the triumphs of
war,to raise crops with no other imple-
ments but those improvised by necessity
with no steel. no iron, no meta, no wooden
plowS-with their bare and honest hands
The Cubans knew that there never
to be again in the island, except in
the case of foreign invasion; that the
American flag came not to conquer or en-
slave, but to aid and direct them. stead
lily, generously and conscientiousiy towards
the goal which the American people de-
sired them to attain. The Cuban army dis
banded because they had faith in the
United States; they are willing to contide
the fate of their country to the honor and
the justice of the American people, to the
government which at Paris had refused to
accept the sovereignty of the island. and
had lifted from a gallant people forever
by its solemn declaration the burden of a
rulnouS debt. They knew that they needed
arms with which to oppose the Ameri-
can soldiers who went there, for they had
not come as oppreSsOrS. but as brothers to
he p them. They knew that the best arm
that they could WELD If ambition Grim
inal aggression should attempt to prevent
the carrying out of the will of the Amer
lean people would be the opinion of the
American people itself
The generous help of the United States
in the form of rations was accepted by the
Cubans as a means to the work of recon-
structlon, but our men, women and chill
dren prefer oxen and agricultural imple-
ments to attain self-support. Our poor
want TO be laborers and farmers and work
ing men, not beggars. They desire to e,e-
vate themselves. not to become paupers
And whether in the rural districts or In
the towns the Cubans have zealously
helped the rehabilitation of their unfor-
tunate country, cooperating with the
American authorities In their successful eff
forts
They have done their best to demon
strate that they are worthy of being given
fair chance to show their ability and ca
p&city for Self-government."
After reviewing some of the benefits
which the new order of things had con-
ferred on the people of the island in the
way of improved sanitary conditions pos
tai service. police systems, etc. Senior Que
SADIE closed with an appeal for fair treat
ment for Cuban products coming into the
states. He said he thought Cubanpro-
ducts were entitled to al the benefits Of
the most friendly reciprocity provisions
under our tariff laws.