Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-12-13
MAKING STRONG FIGHT
Americans Opp s, Cuba in
Isle Of Pines.
APPEAL TO CONGRESS
PRESENTATION OF CLAIM OF THE
AMERICAN TITLE.
Response to Letter Of Secretary Root
Response to Letter Of Secretary Root
Indignities Said to Have Been
Perpetrated.


making strong fight to prevent the island
from passing under the rule of Cuba. One
of the next moves they will make Is the
introduction of resolution in Congress
protesting against the proposed treaty. The
following Is the text of the resolution:
BE 1t resolved by the Senate of the
United States and Congress assembled, that
In view of the fact that more than 1900
bona fide citizens of the United States own
and control a large area of the land in
the Isle of Pines that it is considered in
expedient for the United States to cede
the Isle of Pines to the republic of Cuba.
This expresses the sentiment of the
American residents, is already known
in the United States, through their forma-
ton of territorial organization and their
proposal to send a delegate to Congress
The details of their side OF the 'contro-
versy, however, have been set forth in
letter from Mr.. Charles Raynard, the presi-
dent of the American Club, to Secretary
Root. The communication was in reply to
the Secretarys letter of November q, and
declares that the United States repeatedly
before the evacuation of Cuba took the po-
sition that the Isle of Pines was American
territory, and ii was with this view, SO Mr.
Raynard says. which induced 2,o00 Ameri-
cans to buy farms on the island He quotes
a number of official communica lions in sup
of the indignites that Americans have suf-
fered at the hands of local Cuban officials
since tie American evacuation of Cuba and
while the sovereignty of the Island has been
In dispute.
Extract From the Letter.
The letter is long, but some of tie salient
points are given. 1t says in part:
More than. 1000 bona fide citizens have
purchased homes here and over 7C0 have al
ready come with their families and COM
menced the cultivation of their little farms,
ranging from five to ten, twenty or one
hundred acres. They did this believing the
island Internationally to be United States
territory and relying securely on the terms
of the treaty of Paris, on Assistant Secre-
tary Pershing'S letter and on various other
assurances given from time to time both
privately and in official documents
quite contrary to general belief the Isle
or Pines Is wonderfully rich in natural re-
sources. Ninety per cent of its land surface
Will produce all the most valua BILE varieties
OF tropical fruits, tobacco and vegetables.
Its mines contain an ineXhaustible supply
of the finest kinds of statuary and orna-
mental marble, and the submarine wealth
or the adjacent waters cannot be estimat ted
They yield between half a million and a
million dollars worth of supplies annually
The Isle of Pines is owned today almost
wholly by Americans, bona fide purchasers
who have paid hundreds of thousands of
dollars for their homesteads. These homes
they are clearing and making ready for
planting or have already planted. Many
of them were induced to invest after re-
ceiving what they believed was indfsputabla
proof that the Isle of Pines was genuine
American territory
Blames Gen. Wood.
The writer Of the letter places the blame
OF the whole question as to the sovereign
ty of the island on Gen Leonard Wood.
who Is accused of dsregardinR orders from
his superiors and plunging the island into
an international controversy for which
there was no necessity
Mr. Raynard then details a conversation
winch he and some other members of a
committee had with General Wood April
II, 19o2. He says that he and the rest of
the committee, all of whom had invested
heaV1ly In land on the Isle of Pines and
had induced others to invest also eailed
on General Wood, who was then then mill
tary governor Of Cuba, to make sure of the
status OF the island before proceeding any
further with their work of development
He quotes General Wood as SAYING:
Gentlemen. have no fear regarding the
future OF the Isle of Pines. Go ahead and
continue as you have been doing. Your
interests will be conserved"
Mr.. Raynards letter continues: "The
treaty of Paris, carefully drawn and fol-
lowing Spanish official usage, discrim-
mated between the Island of Cuba Porto
Rico and other islands in the West Indies
Over the Island of Cuba Spain by treaty
relinquished all claims of sovereignty and
title. Porto Rico and other islands in the
West Indies, Of which the Isle of Pines
was one, were coded to the United States
THE Isle of Pines was for several CEN
turtles part of Spain and governed from
Cuban province. So also was the Island
of Porto Rico, But that fact does not
make either Of them part Of the Island
of Cuba, over which Spain specifically re-
linQuished sovereignty.
Approved by President Mckinley.