The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1900-01-26

our Wedltn is not III lHe HuHlpSl
| or amount of the checks we can draw,
but in the thoughts, habits and doings
| of our citizens. With all its richness,
such that you can scratch the earth and
| nature will smile, Cuba is Sc poor in that
on which all material wealth rests that
we are confronted with a. serious prob
| lem.
"It is now a year since the United
| States took possession of Cuba. From
that day until now the military power OF
| the United States has been an absolute
despot there. In no country on earth
has the military party been so supreme as
| in the Island Of Cuba. According to the
report of General Brook, the island has
been much improved, idleness has been
| abolished, pestilence wiped out and labor
encouraged, yet everything that has been
! done has been imposed by the military
| power of the United States and not by
| the people of Cuba
.sWhen I went to Cuba I examined the
prisons l found that those prisons had
been taken in charge by the United states
on January a year ago. All the officers
had been removed and replaced by the
best of natives that could be obtained. l
found those prisons in a deplorable con-
dition. Thousands of prisoners were con-
| fined like pigs in pen and there was
no distinction between those convicted OF
crime and those held on petty charges or
as witnesses. Old malefactors were herded
| with young men supposed to be innocent
! looked at the records and found that
most of these prisoners were there on
suspicion l found twenty-five Americans
who said they were unable to find out why
they were there. They had written to the
| Governor and had received promises that
their cases would be investigated, but
nothing was DONE Out of 157 such prison
! ers no inquiry was made in the cases
of 153 Such thing might exist in
Persia or Barbary, but it should not in
Cuba one year after the United States
had taken possession of the island.
81 demanded of the Governor that
something be done in the matter and was
| told that the abuses existed as had stat
ed, but that everything to alleviate them
must be done according to the forms Of
law in accordance with the promises made
| to the Cubans by Congress. found it inn
possible to get relief and SO sent report
! to the War Department. Word for an iI-
vestigation Immediately came from Wash
/
sioners found that $50 were unlawfully i'm
prisoned and released. General Wood,
the new Governor, has taken hold of this
evil with his characteristic energy. He
| found men who had been in confinement
eleven years awaiting a hearing. He also
| found $50 who had been erroneously I'M
prisoned by General Bates.
"Al this shows that the Cubans, SO
long ground down by Spanish misrule,.
still have no capacity for social action.
They have not the ideas, habits or thrift
which make the wealth of nations and
are not capable of elf-government. They
| do not know what political parties mean
and are no more fit to conduct gov
ernment than is an infant class. The idea
| of making Cuba an Independent nation is
inconceivable We cannot withdraw from
| the Island. IF we do massacre and
universal chaos will come within week.
| The United States must redeem Cuba and
make it what nature intended it should
be: one of the gems of the universe"
| Mr.. Lewis remarks aroused much en-
| thusiasm and when the cheering had sub
| sided Mr.. Drake introduced Oscar F. Will
1iams, exIConsul to Manila, who respond
ed Ito the toast, ssThe philippines and
American Industry In opening MIR. Will
liams said he was glad to meet such an
enthusiastic American audience even on
the foreign shore of New Jersey. He
then gave some idea of the area and
population of the Philippines by COM
pairing them with other countries and
States of the Union. The islands, he said,
were greater in area than New England,
with New York, New Jersey and Della
ware added He dwelt upon the com
rhercial possibilities of the Philippines and
the markets which they opened up to this
country Wherever the American flag
| floats, he said, there is power, Justice and
equality
Let Europe develop Asia and Africa, ;"
he continued, "and let Americans de-
velop America 2 He advocated a policy
which would enable goods to be sent from
here to the Philippines and from the
Philippines here, as easy as they are sent
between Jersey City and New York.
"Mr. Bryan" Mr.. Williams continued
| "a man for whom I have much respect,
says give the Filipinos a Self government
but protect them by the American army.
If he knew as much about the Filipinos
as do he would know that it would take
an army of 100000 to protect them. Eacn
island would have its own government.
and you would have to protect twenty
governments. All nations are now on their
knees begging peace with the United
| States. We need no alliance with any
one. I am a Quaker on the war question
and as much as I regret war when the
! war came, there was nothing to say to
! the world except that the dignity of the
| United States must be maintained. The
Filipinos have been so long ground down
| by Spain that they think a white man is
synonymous with oppression Step by
step we must show them that we favor a
government of the people by the people
| and for the people.
The Hon. Timothy L. Woodruff Leuten-
ant Governor of New York, was the next
speaker He objected to the list of
toasts because his middle initial was left
out. and said he didn't see why he mad to
come to Jersey City to have all the IL :
he had in him knocked out. When the
laugh this raised had quieted down, he
| went on:-
II do not feel the least bit as though
/ I were in a foreign land tonight. On
the contrary, the State Of New Jersey