Dakota farmers' leader. (Canton, S.D.) 1890-19??, 1910-09-23

justify Americas attitude in the Cuban mlx,up.
"eyler was the best hated man in Cuba when
u' government of his nation finally recalled him.
lAls BOOK Will cause him to be cursed the length
and breadth Of the peninsula.
l wrote It, he says, TO give all the facts
ABOUT my conduct as general IN chief, a conduct
admired not only by army officers, high and
lo"' VINO wrote me innumerable letters, but
ny pr1Vates, who, on their return to the PENN
sula, spoke of me with an enthusiastic fer
vor for which I can never thank them enough.
Various reasons prevented me from doing years
ago (when l could not have freed my mind
from a certain bias) a work which I can now
do III perfect peace of mind, thanks to the
time that has passed, and which has soothed
the irritation due to the injustice l suffered at
the hands of some men.
Furthermore l did not wish to sadden Senior
Sagasta by retelling the story of our colonial
disasters; neither did l feel any pleasure in cen
surfing the illustrious Gen. Martinez Campos, my
predecessor in Cuba. however uncharitably he
acted toward me after his return to the capital"
A perusal of the book fails to prove that Wey-
Ter kept his promise to treat the subject with
perfect moderation; the generals blood Is still
boiling, and with some justification. for atrocious
as his conduct was in many instances, it could
not very we'll be criticized in Spain by the Span
1sh government.
Had Weyler been endowed with the literary
genius of a Marriott or a Las Cafes. he could have
made a much stronger case against Spain and
presented his own actions in a much more favor
able light. Unfortunately his knowledge OF the
writer's craft is as deficient as his fund of infer
nation touching political economy, general his
sory. national anad international politics Is
neager.
Weyler is not a diplomat; the slippery land
of nuances and innuendos is to him terra lncog-
1ita: q primitive brute, with rudimentary ethics,
though unfinchingly frank and straightforward,
he never ventures an assertion which cannot be
supported by Documents; he never pays any at
tention to hearsay but quotes peoples letters IN
%extenso.
A fascinating type, after all, for the observer
blessed with the sense of history; just imagine
what a Wevler would have developed into II he
had not been born some 500 years too late; ciad
in steel. he had been riding a caparisoned mount,
or. if he had been allowed to range over europe
during the Thirty Years war:
General Weyler's style is very trying; even
his nroclanations vainly modelled after Napoleon
is oratorical gems, rarely sound the note 'naI
makes q people or an army V1brate. his rela-
+ions Of the Cuban campaign with all the 1acts'
figures. names recorded IN haphazaro 9h4o
day by day, is we'll nigh unreadable.
Rut the documents he publishes in support Oh
his thesis (some Of them of a continental char-
acter and which must have been secured throush
"diplomatic means") make 1t well worm "hhe
wading through an otherwise dull pe ""u
indieestible piece or WrltlhS'
First of all we are made to reaIlze no" nope
loss the plight of the Spanish commanders mad
become in the island when Wcy'er TOOK the sltu,
o+ion in hand: the many generals who preceded
rim had been losing ground from day 10 day;
+hair cables to the Spanish government gave
Information of a pessimistic character OF when
tho nublic and the press were seldom apprlsed;
their confidential correspondence pe'raSeu neait :
-a.l;n, facts. more than once poor Gen. Martl-
.a- Counos had humbly confessed himself beat
:, while the cabinet led the Spanish naIloh W
sa,,avs that the war was practically over,
Wevler himself, when placed IN command Vi
c.ho, ~, was not ever given what he was
o,+i+,ad TO an honest account OF the Sllnatoh.
when I landed in Cuba he writes, alu
,. or., srsnect the terrible conditions that pre-
vailed in the island. did not kho" YIN