Daily inter mountain. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1881-1901, 1901-02-05
Of
UNJUST DEBTS
CUBA WILL BE CRUSHED BY A
WAR TAX.
NEARLY A BILLION DOLLARS
OUR DUTY TO HELP THEM AVOID
OLD SPANISH DEBT-PAY TO
sUBJUGATE THEMSELVES.

New York, Feb. 5.-Senator Frye oof
Maine, president PRO tenn of the senate,
ranking member of the committee on for
eign re, ,ations. and a member of the
American Peace Commission which ne
gotlated the Paris treaty, is quoted in a
Washington special to the Tribune as
saying of the more weighty issues in
| volved in the Cuban situation:
First and foremost l place that stu
pendous bonded debt which Spain fast =
ened upon the revenues of Cubt just be-
lore spanish sovereignty was destroyed
IN the island by this cOuntrys armed in
terVenion. That debt. as l recollect it,
was between 600,G0O,CO0 and 500, 600, co.
and not $oOO,O00,COO as generally stated
by the newspapers. I recall distinctly
the efforts that were made while we were
negotiating the peace treaty at Paris to
have us make provisions for the payment
of that debt. This we had neither the
desire nor the rover to do. do not hesi-
tate to say that we now owe it to Cuba
to get into the constitution by some
means, a clause, plainly, positively and
unequivo ca!ly repudiating that debt If
this is not done Cuba never can pay the
against her revenues. though / feel GER
tain that Spain and France. whose citi-
zens own nearly all the bonds which they
purchased for the most part at very low
figures, will demand full payment just as
soon as Cuba is declared an Independent
sovereignty. BY what method we can
get an outright reputation of this enor-
NOUS debt in the Cuban constitution
a - tn Thot win
have to be decided by future events
am certain that congress canot approve
reject or in any way amend or modify the
Cuban constitution. The Teller resou-
ton in letter and spirit prevents that, but
I see nothing in the way of cong1 ess lis
crssing the Cuban constitution 1t the
oper time. and advising the CuDans
what to do with that instrument for
their own good"
Senator Galinger of New Hampshire
is quo ed after some comment by him on
the Tellt" re olution. as follows:
1--WE freed Cuba and therefore ere rc-
sponsible for her welfare. But the Gu
bans have not had the graciousness or
gratitude to put into their constitution
single word indicating that they owe
anything to this country. At the same
t!IIe. IL uDd SIloulu Dt dttdCNcu lIS
CubanS would lCok to us to save them
and who doubts that would do this
with our money and blood if necessary.
Suppose that France Or Spain, enc or
both. whose citizens own that enormous
bonded debt put upon Cuba. shodli send
warships into the harbor of Hanava, the
tanita' of free. independent ana soNcr-
eign Cuba. to enforce the payment of
those bonds? Would not cuba send up TO
US a pitiful wall for hep. and would we
not have to go to her rescue with our
warships and our armies? This is in no
sense an impossib'ity. as long as there
is nothing in the constitution, the orgar:c
law of Cuba. recognizing the right of the
United States to exercise general super
vision over Cuban affairs and destiny.
"But this is a big question to be dis
cussed offhand. 1t involves some very
serious and extremely delicate matters,
and calls for caution, calm Judgment ana
far sghtedness. l do not know what the
outcome Will be- but l do know that this
government should not be hurried into a
firal determination of the status Of
Cuha."