The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1899-02-02
.CUBAAs SHOULD Be PAID.
Great Misery and Want Exist in
the Country.
THE CLAIM A JUST ONE
The Natives Are Already Beginning to
Chate Under a Military Govern
ment-Foliy Of Party Differ.
ences in Foreign Affairs

| Mobile. Ala, Feb. 1.-Hannis Taylor,
-minister.to Spain, who returned yes
terday from two weeks visit to Cuba,
has given the associated press the fol-.
lowing interview on the Cuban situa-'
| ton:
| While in Cuba on purely private
business l came in contact with the
leaders of every faction into which the
population is now divided. The ex-
tremes of opinion are represented on
one hand by Cuban military chiefs de-
manding immediate and absolute indie
pendence, on the other by purely Span
ish elements seeking protection under
our flag. Between the two extremes is
ranged the main body of the people,
standing in an expectant attitude
ready to give their approval Of any,
plan that will re-establish law, order
and material prosperity upon a.
permanent basis. Upon one point all
agree, American officers as we'll as, Gu
bans; and that is that outside of the
| cities the country is in a condition of
misery and want that can hardly be
| exaggerated. AS an aggravation of
that condition stands the Cuban army,
composed of at least 10000 men waiting
with arms in their hands for such a
SClllClHSul VI lHG1I uuGS as VIII GUaUlGa
them to return to resume life. When Il
| asked those who had a right to speak
| for the army what sum would suffice
for satisfactory settlement, they said
$10,000,000 or $11 100000 at least sum
that would give about $500 to each man.
| With that, they said, the small farmers
could proceed and continue to live I'M
| til they could make a crop. The Gu
| bans neither ask nor desire for us to
contribute penny for the maintenance
| of their army. All that they ask is
that loan should be made for the pur-
pose and charged upon their custom
house, now yielding from $12,O0O,0 900 to
$l5,O00,OO0 year; the proceeds of the
loan to be paid to their soldiers through
our military authorities. Il
Every class in Cuba is now demand
| ing that a settlement be made at once
so that a menacing and consuming
body of idle men may be converted into
peaceful producers. In that way the
| industrial energies of the country could
| be revived and force dissolved which,
like the army of Cromwell, Is not only
| a military body but the dominant po-
litical power in the island.
| Il cannot doubt that If the just
claims of the Cuban army are treated
with injustice and contempt and the
present military regime continued in
definitely, in a short time we will be
hated by the Cubans just as the Span
brought about that will force us either
to Withdraw from ihe island or to, gov
ern there just as Russia does In Poland
| Wise and humane as our military gov
ernors are, the fact remains that they
| govern by the sword, in defiance of the
| civil power and the result is that inn
patience and discomfort are already
clearly manifested on every hand. 81
THE urgent needs in Cuba now are
prompt and satisfactory settlement
with the army of the revolution and
| the establishment as soon as possible
of provisional civil regime in which
| Cubans themselves can have a voice.
The president should labor INCREASINGLY
| to attain both ends, and in the efforts
to do SO he should have the cordial CO.
operation and support of all patriotic
and liberty-loving men, regardless of
party. We should learn from the Eng
| lish how suicidal it is to carry our
party difficulties into our foreign af-
fairs. The patriotic instinct of Mr..
| Bryan hit the mark when he urged the
| immediate ratification of the pending
| treaty and the settlement of all diff
| culties afterward. The senate should
end at once the present situation so
detrimental to all our foreign interests,
while congress, as a whole, should give
| to the president every facility neces-
sary to enable him to settle every for
eign question now demanding an imme-
diate solution.