Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-01-08
APPEAL FOR SUPPORT
STATEMENT OF AMERICANS IN
THE ISLE OF PINES.
Oppose Treaty Ceding the Island to
Cuba-Action Of Recent Mass
Meeting.

lho FAIAisI!CdH pupuldtlOu VI Tie lSfc VI
Pines does not propose to relinquish its
citizenship without determined fight, and
in pursuance of the campaign It has opened
to prevent the acquisition OF the island by
Cuba tt has addressed a set OF resolutions
to the American people, recting the events
leading UP to the present situation, and ap-
pealing to them to prevent the ratification
OF the treaty that would hand over the
Isle of Pines to Cuba. The American poQu-
lation OF the island amounts to about $500
persons. and there are some thousand of
small farms owned by Americans, little
holdings for the most part OF from five to
100 acres each A mass meeting was held
at Nueva Corona on December 80. when the
planning their opposition to the treaty oed-
ing the island to Cuba, and appealing to
the American people for support Atten-
ton was directed to the following state
ments:
cession to This Country.
II. The Isle of Pines was by the treaty
of Paris coded by Spain to the United
States, such cession was accepted by the
United States, and the island thereby be-
came territory of the United States.
1.-THE late President William Mckinley
officially declared that the Isle Of Pines be-
longed to the United States, ordered the
map Of the island to be included in the Of
Interior, which shows all the territory be-
longing to the United States, and caused
an official statement to be made by the
War Department that the island was Amer
fcan territory and that the public lands
therein were subject to the disposal Of Con-
gress.
I'm this manner the political status of
the Isle Of Pines an American posses
sion was finally determined by the Presi-
dent of the United States In the lawful ex-
ercise of his constitutional powers, and pub
ry}x- tn oil ha n S1rnt
determination.
III. BY the act of Congress of March
2, 1901 commonly known as the Plat
amendment the Isle of Pines was expressly
excluded from the territory of the republic
OF Cuba, which was soon to be organ
ized by the consent and permission Of Con-
gress. And by the express provisions of the
constitution of Cuba, framed in accordance
with the directions Of Congress. the island
Is excluded from the constitutional boun-
daries of that republic. Thus, by law of
and by the Cuban constitution, as 1t now
stands, all Cuban authority over the Isle
Of Pines Is prohibited.
Usurpation Alleged.
I'll In violation Of both the law of the
United States and the constitution of Cuba.
and by the neglect and disobedience Of an
officer Of the United States, the republic
of Cuba has been permitted to usurp
authority and control over the Isle Of Pines.
and continues to exercise the same unjustly
and without warrant of law, right or rea-
son to this day.
"IV. The present Secretary of State of
the United States has caused to be negoti-
ated a treaty between the United States
and Cuba, by the terms of which the
former yields and abandons to the latter
~the territory of the Isle of Pines receiving
nothing in return, and we believe the sole
motive for such treaty Is the desire to
condone and cover up from the eyes of the
American people the violation of law and
the disobed!ence of orders on the part of
the American officer referred to. This
treaty has never been confirmed by the
United States Senate, and should never be
confirmed.
Opposition to the Treaty.
w. We, American citizens, relying in.
good faith on the repeated assurances, Of
cial and personal. of our own government
and its high officers, that the Isle of Pines
was, and would remain, American terri
tory. have acquired lands In the island, and
have come here to make our homes with
the full belief that we could here live our
lives and rear our families under the pro-
lection of our flag and our own laws as
American citizens on American soil, In the
full enjoyment of our birthright as Ameri-
can citizens. We now find ourselves
threatened with the loss of all that is most
GEAR TO US, IN danger or losing our nation
ality and our citizenship by an expatria-
ton which we have not sought and which
it Is attempted to thrust upon US against
our will, and of being betrayed by a single
department of our own government, to an
allen government, so lawless and corrunt
In Its methods and so firmly rooted in
medieval tyranny as to be unworthy of
the respect of any free born man or
woman.
we denounce the treaty by which this
great wrong Is intended to be done to us
as an iniquity, involving humiliation and
loss TO our common country in the sur
render to a foreign state for the first time
IN the history Of our nation of what is
unquestionably national territory and the
dellvery OF a large number of your fellow
citizens to the merciless control of a gov
eminent whose laws were never designed
for the rule of a free people. and which are
not respected or enforced in the interests
OF justice by the government itself, but are
employed only as the instrument of fraud
and oppression