The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1914-09-17
Weyler, 'Butcherg in FEa1s
 A Liberal fin P0lfnes

War ts hen. aA fts 6es6 asd elsa most humane general ia he vr5lr, y-,.-,--. war with the greatest vlgon 1zaaazfn- use of any means within H1lu rr---,7- to end the conflict and tr9ure rsaout |. speedy restoration of peacaH
 Such Is the boiIsd-dOgvn eu-u5srzlt,-, o1 opinion Of Cap+-Gen Vaiert,r,o Weyler y NtcoIau, Marquae of gs,1,-- lIes commonly known fin Ax1ewft.a |.
 Butcher WeyIer.@ because oF tfls campaign he Waged fn Crsba P1- J,s- vain endeGvor to suppress tho rs4,sslI~7 Tn anaf island. Gen Rey1ar Esa sl- ways insisted that his reputa1lonF .r- 1, lourcher was undeserved, and tlla4 7,e ing sent to Cuba. as a soldier 10 ,rrn- press 9 rebelhons he had nothGne 6o oo with political reform In his a-,- tobdographys the work of many v-es5-- General Wey1er set forth at erset length his military policy. aessafjT,- that 1t is the duty of a comrnsn,7ire. general to meet war with war. srd f1, aeaA severely with all the enemies or a governmeut.
 Strangely enough VV'eyFer- -lF,scsr,e r,s- / h1iated with the Liberal or T5roeressi7re party in Spain after his refz7rn fro7, Cuba He was minister of war f7l tte Sagasta Liberal government and d feW months ago he resigned the gov ernorship of the Province of CataIouia which he held before going to r41r5e On the ground that he was a liberal and disagreed with the reaotfonarv policies of he Conservative govern ment.
 Gen. WeyEer was 6orh seventy-si,r years ago today, Sept IT. ISBs- and be began his military cafeer in 1858. when he entered the infantry school He became a lieutenant in 1880. a col onei in 1868. a brigadier-gensrsI i'm 1872, and heutenant-geneEal IL 1s78.
 Those who abhor WeyIer Is che tyrant and sfbutcher respousibIe for the horrors and atrocities Of tlsa C,5Il5sr concentration camps probably have a mental picture of him as a fzDgcsl Spaniard, fond of the bloody ds5fFhts of the bull ring. and smokine osgar- cites and guzzlfng a8uaFdisnte Such a conception of WeyIer'B persoTleiftv is totally erroneola 1n appearahes and tastes Wey1er of Cuban fnfan1y had little in common with his eountry1nen. His family is or German extraction. and Irish and Spanish blood has been added. A teetotaIer, he was opposed to the use of all alcoholic bsVsrazes. A Christian, he was a man of unusuaz piety. Throughout his public career he opposed buH-dghtins, and he found his chief joys, not in the artiicfaI life of the cities, but in the quiet and peaceful atmosphere of rural conn munftfes. And he never smoked, and
 
 A lover of nature and the simple life he was dn war a tyrant to whom any means found Justification if designed to accomplish the end he had in view. During the Carlist r1sings in Spain. in the African war against the Boors, and in the 'tten-yearS war in Cuba. he earned by his military tactics the title of 'sthe Butcher As comnnander-ln- chief of the Canary Islands, BalearesB Burgos Navarra, VascongadoS, Cata- lusia and Madrid. in times bf peace, he earned the respect and admiration of the people as a just and wise ad- rniristrator. When he retired from the governorship of Catalonia last Novem- ber there was a popular demand that he retain the post, and people Of all classes Joined in asking him to recon sfder his resignation
 Yet it was this man who conceived and put into execution the horrors of tIne lreconcentratior1 scheme, whereby the .pacifcos'' of Cuba were subject ed to myriad horrors and brutad- ties that aroused such a revuIsion of feeling against him in Spain that the government was forced to recall him