Democratic Sentinel, Volume 22, Number 11, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 19 March 1898 — “CUBA TO BE FREE.” [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

“CUBA TO BE FREE.”

This Is Asserted by Prominent Men in Washington. PLAN IS NOT DISCLOSED. McKinley Said to Favor a Peace Policy If That Be Possible. NATION ON A WAR FOOTING Condition of Defenses on Land and Sea All in Ship Shape. Uncle Sam Makes a Record in Putting On Hie FightingClotlics Many Ships in Commission—Big Orders Given for Ammunition Fortifications Equipped and Manned-Military Posts Established and Regular Troops Moved Eastward—Sj>anish Sovereignty in Cuba Seems Doomed. Washington correspondence: Cuba is to be free. President McKinley desires that its freedom be gained without war, if that is possible, but Cuba is to be free. This declaration is made by men so close to the administration that there is no doubt of its authoritativeness. Special recognition of Cuban independence is simpler and more direct, and means more

than cither recognition of belligerency or intervention. It would not be regarded as a declaration of war by other nations, and there Is no cause for Spain to so regard it. If she did insist upon regarding it as a hostile act, upon Spain would be the responsibility for beginning war. The United States will demand ample reparation for the wrong inflicted upon us by the destruction of the Maine. It will later on demand a satisfactory solution of the Cuban problem. With the Maine disaster cleared up, it is said in administration circles that the President prefers independence to any other form of settlement of the Cuban question. One member of the cabinet is convinced that this is the best form of recognition. Senator Proctor favors it, and so do several other close advisers of the President. It is positively stated that this Government is determined to press on toward the salvation of Cuba, and that we are building for peace when we prepare for war, for there is only one way in which the Spanish can be driven, and that is by showing them you have the power to master them. Though the United States has purchased two Brazilian cruisers, and though large contracts let for projectiles and shells for both the army and the navy would appear to indicate the imminence of war, as a matter of fact the war cloud is thought not as black or threatening as it was a week or two ago. There seems a most hopeful feeling among those officials who are nearest to the center of inside news. It would not be correct to say that danger of war has passed, but the chances of a peaceful settlement of our troubles with Spain is considered possible. Preparations for War. Active and aggressive preparations for war make for peace. This is the anomalous situation which a look underneath the surface discloses. The history of the week forms a splendid record of what can be accomplished by the nation in a short space of time under the spur of necessity to provide for the national defense. Beginning with the appropriation of $50,000,000 to be expended by the President without limitation, there followed rapidly the placing of orders for enormous quantities of wnr supplies,, the institution of negotia-

tions for and the actual purchase of ships abroad, the enlistment of men for the navy, the creation of two additional regiments of artillery, the commissioning of monitors, cruisers and rams, the manning of new posts along the seacoasts an?, finally the rearrangement of the great military departments to meet modern conditions in military practice. The sending of the Oregon away from San Francisco is an exhibition of farsightedness with which the Secretary of the Navy is observing the situation. The vessel’s orders are to cruise down the Pacific coast, touching in from time to time at various ports where cable connections exist, to receive any orders that the depart-

ment may have to give. In this way it is expected that she will work ns far south as Valparaiso, Chili, where she will await orders. Valparaiso is very much nearer Cuba and to Admiral Sicnrd’s fleet than Mare Island, while if it should be desired to send the ship to the Asiatic station, this enn be done almost as conveniently from Valparaiso as from San Francisco. At Valparaiso therefore the Oregon will be, where she can be most usefully manipulated in case of an emergency. The Board of Naval Bureau Chiefs find it impossible to pass judgment in Washington upon the fitness for naval service of vessels that may be offered for the auxiliary branch of the navy at the various seaports, so they have been aided in their work by the creation of a special board which will undertake to visit each of the ports where ships may be offered and make a careful personal inspection of the various crafts. 1 he Wnr Department on Monday opened bids for one of the largest orders of shot and shell for heavy caliber guns ever given, including armor-piercing projectiles and deck-piercing and torpedo shells. The number and character of these are as follows: Niue hundred and thirty-five twelve-inch deck-piercing shells weighing 1,000 pounds each; 1,241 twelve-inch deckpiercing shells weighing 800 pounds each; 481 ten-inch armor-piercing shells; 482 ten-inch armor-piercing shot capped; 149 eight-inch armor-piercing shell; 150 eight-inch armor-piercing ihot capped. These projectiles are for the heavy fortification guns now mounted along the seacoast. The purchase is not to be made under the fifty million defense appropriation bill, but is in anticipation of the fortification bill, which grants $940,000 for a reserve supply of projectiles and powder. As the making of the heavy projectiles will take considerable time the contract will be let ahead of the passage of the bill, assurances having been given from mtn in. Congress that no question would be raised as to the regularity of this proceeding. The entire amount is designed to give all the heavy guns now installed and those to be put in place during the coming year, a full quota of projectiles and powder. The 12-inch shot are among the largest made. The cost of a single round of this class of projectiles is ssll. Aside from the large order placed Monday the emergency bill permits additional orders to meet the requirements

of such fortification guns as may be mounted for emergency. The present order is for the actual needs of the guns now mounted, without reference to any existing emergency, although it has been made all the more imperative by the Spanish crisis. Regular Army Moved East. The whole regular army, infantry, artillery and horse, comprising upwards of 20,000 men, is being moved east to the for-

tified cities and ports. At Chicago Quartermaster General Lee of the department of the lakes, is making arrangements to transport batteries of artillery now at forts in the West to the Atlantic seaboard and Gulf of Mexico. The Western railroads having headquarters in Chicago and St. Louis and other Western cities were invited to telegraph proposals fortransporting a battery of artillery from Fort Riley, Kan., to Fort Monroe, Va.; another from Fort Riley, Kan., to New Orleans, and a third from Fort Riley to Savannah, Ga. The war talk has had the usual result of bringing before the War and Navy Departments a perfect flood of suggestions

and inventions. Many of these are most remarkable balloons, flying machines, kites and the like, centipede-like steamers with manifold propellers and torpedos of fearful and wonderful destruction. All of them are given attention and referred to the proper authorities for investigation, but not much is expected from them. Thus while those in authority talk peace, active preparations for war go steadily and determinedly on.

POLO Y. BERNABE. Now Spanish Minister to the United States.

U. S. AGENTS DISTRIBUTE FOOD TO STARVING RECONCENTRADOS.