The evening times. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1895-1902, 1901-04-27
NEW LIGHT FOR THE CUBANS.
senior POrtuonsIo Gives His Views on
thc Pint Amendment

The Cuban Commissioners expect to
hold a meeting this afternoon al which
! they viii discuss the Plat amendment in
the light Of the information which they
have received since they have been in
Washington
The Commissioners expect to draw up 8.
document in which the amendment, as
they understand II to be construed by the
Administration. will be explained. This
( document viii be signed by all the mem
bers of the Commission. and VIII then he
presented to the Secretary of War for his
! criticism and approval
+ If the Secretary Of War agrees that the
| document expresses the views of the Ad-
miuistIaJiOn on the amendment. the Gu
! bans will then be possessed of written
| evidence which they can take 20 their
constituents in Cuba and the result of
the visit of the Commissioners here will
be a complete and fun expression by the
Government of what the CubaHS are to
expect if they agree to adopt the Plat
provisions
The document viii be. so to speak. a
cOdification OF all the information, prom
ises, and explanations which the Cuban
Commissioners have received since they
arrived here
Senior Portuondo is one of the most en-
thusiastic members Of the Commission re-
garding the good results which are ex-
pected to follow from this visit to The
Capital OF the United States
1T is as II you had gone fifty feet in
reaching an agreement with the Cubaus.-'
he said The Cubans can come the rest
of the hundred-aInOst There Is only q
little difference TO be settled now. If YOU
ask me whether the Plat amendment. as
VIC understand it now after having had It
explained by the Secretary of War and
the President, viii be accepted, I must de
cline TO answer. but great deal has been
done
The meeting this afternoon viii be to
make out a document which viii say what
we think the United States means by the
Plat amendment If the Secretary OF
War approves of our understanding then
We viii be able to go 10 the CUbans and
says: This IS what the United States
means We want To find out what viii
be agreed to by both Governments. and
il may be possible that We shall get a
similar document from the Cubans. show
ing what they think is meant by the Plat
amendment
The visit of the Commission VIII be Of
the greatest benefit both to the Ameri-
cans and the Cubans- There has been an
immense amount of misunderstanding
among the Cubaus OF what the United
States meant by the amendment ] can
not say if, as we understand It viii be
construed, IT viii satisfy the Cubaus. but
the explanation which we have had here
viii help much toward making it accepta-
bic
I fear that. exactly as it is drawn, and
exactly as the United States means to
. apply 1t. II VIII never be adopted. There
is still a great deaf Of opposition to the
interference clause and especially to the
( clause about the retention by the United
States of the Isle Of Pines-that seems TO
Us to be perfectly prepOSterous-
We have learned however, since We
have been here that the optimistic way Of
understanding the Plat amendment is the
right way. We used to pOoh-pooh the PEG
pie who advocated its adoption. when they
said that il would not be used 10 hurt US.
but now we see that Il never viii. We
Know now that the Americans viii see
only the right side. and we have aSSuT-
ances from ali the officials at the head of
the Administration that Cuba viii not sIIf-
fer an injustice al the hands Of the United
States"