Evening star., 1939-07-25
Spanish-American
War Chapters Traced
In Archives Display
Documents Arranged
ChronoIoeieoIIy on
U. S. Action
BY FRED H. MORHART.

The old days Wnen wars were de-
clared officially are recalled in the
National Archives, where documents
showing the steps in making war
and peace are in exhibition.
In the shrine room, designed to
house the Constitution and the
Declaration of Independence, are %
cases of historic documents show
ing the development of the war
with Spain and its conclusion with
the signing of the treaty of peace
James D. Preston, assistant to the
secretary of the archives, after sew
eral weeks of examining the rec
ords from the State Department
files housed in the stacks, selected
those papers and documents which
give a brief but complete story of
the events leading to the war and
to its ending.
ChronolOgically Arranged.
The exhibit, which opened today,
is set up on chronological fashion.
Mr.. Preston eliminated events prior
to the official congressional action
of April 20, 1898, when through
joint resolution Congress recognized
the independence of Cuba.
Whereas in the case of Italian
invasion of Ethiopia and japanese
fighting in China no formal declara-
tions were made, the United States
took many steps through proper
recognized procedure to tell Spain
her intentions.
The first paragraph of the con-
gressional joint resolution outlined
the United States policy "for the
recognition of the independence of
the people of Cuba, demanding that
the government of Spain relinquish
its authority aand government in
the island of Cuba, and to with
draw its land and naval forces from
Cuba and Cuban waters, and di-
recting the President of the United
States to use the land and naval
forces of the United States to carry
these resolutions into effect" 1t
also mentioned "abhorrent condi-
tions" and the disgrace to Chris
tian civilization"
EA"UoSSduol
AS there was no secret about
American intentions, the same day
the Spanish Ambassador, Louis Polo
De Bernabe, wrote John Sherman,
Secretary of State, that the resolu-
tion made it impossible for him to
remain in Washington, and would
the Secretary get him safely out of
the country.
Most of the documents are in
good condition, but several are
damaged. One state paper signed
by President Mckinley is badly
faded from exposure to sunlight,
and the velvet jacket on the peace
treaty is badly worn. Many of the
important papers are bound in huge
volumes, with the result many of
the edges are torn and frayed.
An interesting feature pointed out
by Mr.. Preston is that no skippets
are used on any of the sealed docu-
ments. Skippets, boxes to cover
and protect the seals, at that time
had generally fallen into disuse. AS
q result most of the seals are Clipped,
1A OnSAA VA SOiilP lPlSpS4J lll1oSlIlS. oCf-
eral of the seals are paper.
One set of records is in a book
which was printed by a special
typewriter no longer manufactured,
it was said. The machine would
type directly into the bound volume,
thus doing away with loose papers
which later would have to be filed
and bound.
L. S. EscutcheOn Removed.
Stewart l.. Woodford, Minister to
Spain. on being notified of state
of war turned the legation over to
the British and left for France.
Perhaps to keep American honor
undefled, he informed the State
Department that one of his last
official acts was to remove "the
United States escutcheon from the
front of the legation Offices"
Other documents in the compre-
hensive exhibit include notes from
the French Ambassador, Jules Cam
bon, saying he and the Minister
of Austria Hungary had been
charged with the Spanish interests
In the absence of their representa-
tives.
Two vital documents are missing
from the collection, President Nc
Kinley's message to Congress ask
ing declaration of war and the
Presidents message transmitting
the peace treaty to the Senate.
These are believed to be in the files
of the Senate Foreign Relations
Committee stored in the Capitol.
The series of eventful documents
concludes with a note from the
Duke of Aroos, Envoy Extraordinary
and Minister Plenipotentiary of
Spain, announcing his arrival in
Washington and requesting an
alldipnca with the Procidntat