The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1903-03-31
APPROVED
BY CUBAN SENATE
RatifiCations to be Exchanged
by Cable,


Havana, March 2S.-The treaty of re-
ciprocity between Cuba and the United
States, as amended by the Senate of the
United States. was approved at s o'clock
tonight in the Cuban Senate by a vote
of II to O. This approval is absolute
and is not hampered by any conditions,
the questionable time limit amendment
having been dispensed with through the
receipt OF the cable message from Sec
rotary Hay in which it was positively de-
clared that President Roosevelt would
call a special session of Congress prior
to December /. The purport of this as
surance was transmitted to the Senate by
President Palma and read at the begin
ming of the session, an understanding
having been reached previously with Sen
ators Bustamente, Capote and DOLE,
composing the majority of the Foreign
Relations Committee. This was done by
the offering of amendments by otner adj
ADMINISTRATION Senators substituting the I'M
conditional adoption of the amendments
to the treaty by the American Senate for
the qualified acceptance contained in the
original report.
Final action was delayed for a long
time by the discussion of an amend
ment offered by Senators Sanguilly, Tam
arayo and Recio, requiring the House to
pass upon the treaty. This was voted
down, 5 to 10.
An amendment to or substitute for
the committees report was then offered
Hria
court This approved and ratified all the
amendments OF the Senate at Washing
ton, and recommended that the Cuban
executive take action conducive to OBJ
tanning effective reciprocity as soon as
possible. To the substitute report was
added the following:
This recommendation must not be Ia
ken as an amendment or a modification
of the treaty.
Senators Bustamente, Capote and DOLE
announced their acceptance of the sub
stitute report while Senators Zayas AMI
another committeeman argued against it.
The chief contention of the last named
was the uncertainty as to the action of
the American Congress. Senior Sanguilly,
in a long and impassioned speech against
the ratification of the treaty, impressively
pictured the gradual absorption of Cuba
by the United States in which he said
the present action was one step. He
argued that it was disgraceful for Cuba
to be party to such a scheme. Sena-
tor Bustamente in brief and able final
speech, cited various incidents of history
to show that neither weak nor wicked ma
tions make commercial treaties, and pre-
dicted with certainty the results in this
case.
The vote was taken separately on each
section of the substitute report The
vote on the unconditional ratification of
the treaty was u to on the recommen-
dalton to the executive it was II to 9.
The present session Of the Senate then
adjourned.
The notifications will be exchanged by
cable
United States Minister squiers said
this evening to the representative of the
Associated Press
The ratification of the treaty with
out amending is due almost entirely to
the assurances given by President Roose
welt that he will call an extra session
of Congress before December /. This
action of the President will be appre
ciatcd and accepted by the Cuban gov
eminent and people as an additional evil
dence of great sincere friendship and in~,I
terest on the part of man in whom
they have ever had unbounded faith
and confidence"
Washington, March 28-Secretary Hay
when appraised of the action Of the Cuban
Senate in ratifying the reciprocity treaty
expressed his qualification During the
last three days Secretary Hay has been
in active cable communication with Min
!ster Squires But three days re-
main of the time limit within which
notifications can be exchanged. Secre-
tary Hay said, however, that as soon
as official notification is given by cable
of the mailing of the necessary docu-
ments tho Publications can be exchanged
at once without waiting for their re-
ceipt
Secretary Hay added that in his mes
sage to Minister Squiers he gave the
positive assurance that the President
would call an extra session of Con-
gress in the fall. The time was not
stated but the Secretary said that Con-
gress would be convened sufficiently in
advance of the regular session to as
sure its action on the treaty as re-
quired by the Senate amendment before
December /.