Milford chronicle., 1906-10-05
WASHINGTON LETTER.

RiiNt'tNl % Fl1 Al'Nf4Al iN4 H'iANA Ai-N
State Department late this week as
to the outlook for intervention Ma
turally officials Of the Warand Navy
/ Departments were mora or less
pleased with the prospect, a> itWould
give them a chau. J ty some OF
their big TOYS I'm tine way of baitle-
ships and long distance service rifles.
Washington has more or less side
tracked during the Cuban uagotIa-
tous by the tactthat oyster Bay ha,
been Geographically linked up with
Havana, and President Roosevelt
remained in constant and close touch
with Secretaries Taft and Bacon.
Ali OF their communications to the
Pr dent were made dir ct. and it
was only incidentally tbat news oil
the negotiations leaked into the
State. War aud Navy Building.
This news indicates, however that
the American officials are not very
much pleased with the situa ion. 1T
appears that the Palma government
has absolutely declined to back
down to the extent OF having new
e cctions held. The insurgents. ON
the other hand. declare that nothing
less than this will satisfy them.
Tine strength oi the msurgeat army
in the outlyingproyinee- is variously
estimated. but as i'm case Of the rev
olutiou against Spain, the probabil-
titles are lhat IFS largely overe-ti-
mated . creuF Taft has b.cu
confronted with fue3~ and personal
bitterness between the leaders of ,ae
opposing factions. dating back to
the days of the Spanish occupation.
He has advised them both to abstain
from active hosGIilie- iu the liager-
ing hope that some way out of the
difficulty may be found without the'
United State, being forced ,oac,ua.ly
gud troops
The chances are that some such
middle way may be found but both
parties have kept ap very bold .
front all during the past week, and .
ii may come 90 the point .Hat both .
sides viii eventually agree to ~tJad .
back and allow the United States .
for a time 10 administer the affairs
of the island with out resort to the
final arbitumcnt OF fighting
This country is in position now
to do pretty much as it plcases in
tie way o.. armed force, although
this is tile last thing that would be
resored to- The battleshipe Virginia .
LouiIf5na. Cleveland and Denver
ar/ all I'M Cuhu waters, if not .
Nually iu Havana harbor, and
the-e with the variou- gunFoats at
the disposa' Of the UuiGd States,
and the ba,tir-hips and cruisers now
euroutc. would be able to throw
into Havana force Of 5000 men .
of marines and blue lacI-
els without calling ON the land forces
of the United States at all.
The greatest fear expressed by
officials is that ii the United States
once took the step OF landing an
armed force, it would result in our
having to take possession Of the
island and might cause the leaders |
of the instruction to take 10 the |
brush and leave us with the same /
sort of situation ON our hands /
that we had for over three years in /
the Philippines. One thing in favor /
of the United States, should such a /
contingency arise, would be that !
Cuba is a good deal smaller than
the Philippine Archipelago and |
could be patrolled coast-wise by the |
ravv to such an extent that the in
surrection would be confined entirely
to the interior, and in all probability
could soon be stamped ont. More
over Cuba is chandler" to us Il a
the Philippines.
Such situation, however, would .
entail great hardship ON the inhabi- .
tants and would check the indus F.
trial advance which Cuba has so
narvellously made in the past few
years. 1t was even suggested at +
the War Department that in case of /
real armed Intervention on the part
of this country it would be necessary |
to establish RECOMMENDATION camps, .
which were the very thing that
brought such a storm of reprobation
upon the Weyler regime. OF fcourse |
such camps, if established, would
not be the horrible slaughter pens
that sensational senators and news
papers represented them to be dur
ing the Spanish occupation, and
the people immured in such camps
would be well treated and fed and
everything except the liberty OF ac-
ton; but the necessities of Guerilla
warfare would in all probability
make This stem necessary.