Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1899-04-29
OUR OTHER ISLAND DIFFICULTY.
Lively Controversy at Havana Over the
Position of Gen. Gomez.

Havana. April 29-The attitude OF
General Maxine Gomez toward the in
tervening power" as he calls the United
States. causes a lively controversy
among politicians here and even among
his friends. La Discucion and FL Re
concentrate treat him as an ally CT the
United States and refer to him as
traitor to the cause of Cuban indie
pendence." La Lucha and La Patria
view him as a consistent leader of the
Cuban people. From time to time copies
of his private correspondence embody-
ing illusions to public business are sup
piled to the press and afford material
for speculation and argument regard
ing his real position and purpose.
For instance, one of the papers yes
terday published extracts from a letter
Gomez recently wrote to Redolfo Men
endeZ, OF Merida, Nucatan, in the course
of which he said: My energy, my
strength and all my prestige / am Civ
ing here in my devotion TO the cause of
independence for this heroic country:
and 1 devote myself especially to the
labor in concert with the provisional
government which attends and serves
the country"
\ member OF his household has given
the following explanation of the posi-
tion of Gomez: "Of course, General
Gomez continues TO favor. as he always
has favored. ultimate independence; but
he considers a period OF American con-
trol as logical preparation for that
independence. Therefore. he wishes to
with the Americans without
reservation in disbanding the troops
and in quieting and reconstructing the
country. He cannot tell how long this
period should be. but he would probably
have issued a statement. declaring his
visional control. If the recent severe at
tacks upon his views had not been
made
General Gomez and the consulting
committee. or junta. of Cuban generals.
are pushing their inquiries in the work
Of verifying the Cuban army rolls. and
IL is now believed that the final list will
not include more than IS 0CO names. The
lists will probably be ready before the
arrival of Major Francis S Dodge, of
the pay department. who will distribute
the $4,000. 600. Lu Lucha publishes
telegram from SanCti Spiritus describ-
ing the conditions there as most de-
plorable. The correspondent says the
citizens can get neither food nor work,
ard that thousands are applying daily
for assistance to the municipal authOIi-
ties. La Lucha suggests cleaning and
paving the streets of Sancti Spiritus as
one way Of providing employment.
La LuCha publishes a dispatch from
Holguin. province of Santiago de Cuba.
reporting that bandits Thursday sacked
the villages of Saro.- Huti. Peregrina.
CaneIon and Sama. all in the northern
part Of the province. and that another
party of fifteen attacked San Andres.
about twenty miles northwest of Hol-
guin. The outlaws robbed the houses
a each place, securing principally gro
ceries and clothing. The dispatch says
the Cuban general. Salazar. with seven
men. pursued the bandits and overlook
them in the Vijulu mountains where
hot fight ensued. The robbers were
eventually driven from behind the rocks
and retreated. leaving one dead-a ne
gro-four horses and several bundles Of
pIunder. The dead man was identified
as Domingo Martinez. jamaican who
had long resided near Holguin.