The Montgomery advertiser., 1906-09-15
APPEAL FOR PEACE
ROOSEVELT WRITES LETTER TO
 CUBAN MINISTER.
President Says America Will Not In- tervene Until It Is shown That Island Cannot Care For
 Itself.

HTGklQeHl dressed an important communication to Cuba and arranged to send Secretaries Taft and Bacon to that Island on Sum day to make thorough investigation of conditions there and lend their in- fiuence to restore peace.
 The communication is addressed to the Cuban Minister to the united States, Senor Quesatia- It Is an irn- passioned plea to Cuba to realize her responsibility as self-governing re-
 public and to restore peace in the is- land. His attention is called in no un- certain language to the responsibility
 which the United States bears to the Island and the certainty that such re- responsibility will necessarily be exer- cised should peace not be preserved.
 The President says he has certain
 information that the peace of the island Ia now menaced and that American property has been destroyed.
 Secretaries Taft and Bacon will leave for Cuba Sunday They will go by rail to Key West Fla. and from there to Havana on a naval vessel, probably the cruiser Des Moines.
 The conference which resulted in the Cuban situation, began at Sagamore Hill shortly after 8 o'clock this after noon and continued until 10 D. m. At | its conclurion Secretaries Taft, Bona parte and Bacon left for New York and Wlli KO to WdSnlHk LOA tOIhOhAoW. Secretary Taft said as he left Oyster Bay that he had no Idea as to the
 length of his visit to Cuba. He indi- cated that there would be no haste In the investigation which would be, made | there. Aside from this no information of the discussion will be divulged by
 those attending the conference. the statement being made that the letter from the President was intended to cover the whole Cuban situation so far as 1t was desirable to do so in the
 public print.
 Senator A. J. Beveridge of Indiana. a
 member of the Senate Committee on Cuban Relations, also participated in | the conference. | Oyster Bay, N. Y, Sept. 14 My dear Senor Quesada:--In this cri- | sis in the affairs of the Republic of Cuba, I write you not merely because you are the Minister of Cuba accredited
 to this government. but because you and | were intimately drawn together at 1 the time when the United States inter vened in the affairs of Cuba with the
 result of making her an independent | nation.
 You know how sincere my affection and admiration and regard for Cuba are. You know that I never have done, and
 never shall do. anything in reference | to Cuba save with such sincere regard I pride felt because 1t came to me as | President to withdraw the American 1 troops from the Island of Cuba, and to officially proclaim her independence and
 to wish her God speed in her career as l a free republic.
 I desire now, through you, to say a word of solemn warning to your people,
 whose earnest well wisher I am. | For several years Cuba has been in a | condition of profound peace and of | steadily growing prosperity. For four years this peace and prosperity have obtained under her own independent | government. Her peace, prosperity and | Independence are now menaced. for of
 all possible evils that can befall Cuba, | the worst is the evil of anarchy into l which civil war and revolutionary dis turbances will assuredly throw her.
 Whoever is responsible for armed rev
 olution and outrage, whoever is respon-
 sible in any way for the condition that now obtains is an enemy of Cuba and doubly heavy is the responsibility ot the man, who, affecting to be the es- pecIal champion of Cuban independence takes any step which will JeopardIzt
 that independence.
 For there is just one way in which Cuban independence can be secured, and that is for the Cuban people to show their ability to continue in their path ol peaceful and orderly progress Thil nation asks nothing of Cuba save that 1t shall continue to develop as 1t hLl developed during the past seven years | fhat if shall know and practice the or l aerly liberty which will assuredly bring an ever increasing measure of peace and prosperity to the beautiful Queen of the Antilles.
 l Our intervention in Cuban affairs
 will only come if Cuba herself shows that she has fallen into the insurrec- | aA l restraint necessary to peaceful self | government and that her contendins factions have plunged the country into | anarchy. solemnly adjure all Cuban patriots | to band together. to sink all differences 1 and personal ambitions and to remem- | her that the only way that they can
 preserve the independence of the re-
 public is to prevent the necessity of | outside interference by rescuing rom | the anarchy of civil war
 Il earnestly hope that this word of | admiration of mine. given in the name | of the American people, the staunch- est friends and well wishers of Cuba, i that there are in all the world Will
 be taken as it Is meant; will be seri- | ously considered and will be acted up- | m and if so acted upon Cubas per- | manent independence. her permanent | success as a republic arc assured.
 Under the treaty with your Govern | ment, I, as President of the United States. have a duty In this matter | which I. cannot shirk. The third ar-
 ticle in that treaty implicitly confers | upon the Uritsd States the right to | intervene for the maintenance in Cuba | of a government adequate for the pro-
 tection of life. property and individual | liberty.
 | The treaty conferring this right is | the supreme law of the land and fur ! nishes me with the right and the means l of fulfilling the obligation that I am
 under to protect American interests | The information in hand shows that
 social bonds throughout the island have
 been so relaxed that life, property
 and individual liberty are no longer | safe.
 I have received authentic informa-
 tion of injury to, of destruction of
 American property 1t Is in my Judg-
 ment imperative for the sake of Cuba | that there shall be an immediate ces-
 sation of hostilities and some arrange
 ment which will secure the permanent l pacif1cation of the island.
 am sending to Havana the Secre- | tary of War, MT. Taft. and the Assist | ant Secretary of State. Mir. Bacon. as | the special representatives of this Gov
 ernment, who will render such aid as
 is possible toward these ends I had | hoped that MT. Root, the Secretary of | State, could have stopped In Havana l on his return from South America, but | the seeming imminence of the crisis
 forbids further delay.
 Through you desire in this way to