Fifth Illustration: “Freeing Cuba”—“Remembering the Maine.”
So you were—or wished to be—in the Spanish-American War?
Well, I wish to explain why the capitalists excited some young men—carefully excited them—and then sent them to Cuba in 1898.
There were very strong reasons for their doing so.
(1) American capitalists already had investments in Cuban industries, and they knew that if the United States took charge of Cuba, their investments would be more secure, would thus increase in value—and thus yield more profits.
(2) American capitalists wanted Spanish capitalists crowded out in order to give still more opportunity to American capitalists to extend their American capitalism in Cuba—and thus make more profits.
(3) Some American capitalists and craftily noble statesmen also secured some Cuban Revolutionary bonds at extremely low prices or as gifts, and they hoped and struggled to have the interest and principal guaranteed by the United States Government, and thus have these bonds rise in price at least to par—which would mean enormous profits.
(4) There was also at least some possibility (seriously discussed by prominent statesmen in Washington) that Spanish-Cuban bonds, said by some to aggregate hundreds of millions, already issued by the Spanish Government against the revenues of the Island of Cuba,—a possibility that these bonds also would be guaranteed by the United States Government.[[162]] In case of war these bonds would become doubtful, would fall very low in price, and then they could, of course, be bought up for almost nothing. Then, if guaranteed by our Government, they would rise high in price and become a “good thing” for those who bought them at a sacrifice price and then made all haste to have them thus guaranteed.
Here again the goal was profits.
(5) American capitalists well knew that intervention in Cuba would involve a costly war—so expensive as to make “necessary” the issuing of interest-bearing United States bonds, purchasing which, the buyers could milk the nation in interest for a generation or more. House Bill No. 10,100[[163]] actually proposed that our Government should issue, “for Cuban War expenses,” $500,000,000 in 3 per cent. untaxable bonds, which, if purchased at par, would annually yield the purchasers the snug little sum of $15,000,000, in profits, besides other immense pecuniary advantages.
“And under the authority to borrow conferred by the Act of June 13, 1898, $200,000,000 of 3 per cent. bonds were actually sold.... The total subscriptions [offers for the bonds] amounted to $1,400,000,000.... Within a few months the original holdings passed into the possession of a comparatively few persons and corporations.”[[164]]
That is, the bond-buying patriots who were not at the front eating canned beef were willing to buy seven times as many bonds as were offered and thus in tender “love of country,” fasten themselves, like leeches, to the social body—profitably.
(6) It was absolutely certain that such a war would vigorously stimulate business—and thus increase profits.
(7) A war in Cuba was also certain to make “necessary” a larger standing army. And an army is very useful to the capitalist class in holding down the working class—in the game of profits.
Thus there were seven, or more, patriotic (and profitable) reasons for having Cuba “freed.”
They fooled us—didn’t they? They shouted: “Remember the Maine!” That made our blood hot—stampeded us—didn’t it? But we are cooler now—aren’t we? Let us see: Suppose a great ship should sink in a shallow harbor, as the Maine did, and suppose it had on board three dozen young men from the homes of the leading capitalists of America—millionaires’ sons. What think you—would the vessel be raised or not?
Did you ever think of this? If the Spaniards blew up the Maine with a sunken mine, how can you explain the fact that the Maine’s armor-plate was bent outward and not inward at the points of fracture? Why does not the United States Government push the investigation to the very limit? Why stop the investigation very suddenly just as things get extremely interesting?—just as it seems likely that information is about to come out which would astonish the whole world?
Ever think of it? Would it not have been profitable for some American capitalists to have bribed some scoundrel to blow up the Maine from the inside? It was profitable for capitalists in the American Civil War to furnish Union soldiers with rifles so defective that thousands of them exploded in the hands of the soldier boys. Thousands of the guns when sold to the Government and handed on to the soldiers bore the mark “Condemned.” Look this matter up in Gustavus Myers’ History of Great American Fortunes, Vol. II., pp. 127–38. Then when you hear some “Remember the Maine” music you will not become so violently excited and eager to enlist.
Of course you were told that the purpose of American interference in Cuba was to free the poor, suffering, abused Cubans:—the usual dose of philanthropy, flattery and bombast. Some eloquent speeches were made by Senators and Congressmen, speeches of unusual power and rare beauty. But the beauty and the power and the eloquence did not induce any of the eloquent statesmen to go to the war. Hardly.
If the United States Government had promptly recognized the revolutionary Cubans’ right to become a sovereign nation possessing international rights and privileges, the Cubans could have freed themselves. France thus recognized the puny, rebellious American Revolutionary government in 1778; and that recognition helped us along wonderfully.
American capitalists in 1897–98 were simply searching the world for an opportunity to line their pockets. Excitable young men and boys came in handy as armed hired hands, hired fists; though, of course, these same hired men were left in the lurch, got disease, broken health—and contemptuous laughter.
Brothers, you veterans of the Cuban War, crafty men excited you, amused you, confused you, then used you and despised you so thoroughly that they gave some of you horse meat while in camp within five miles of Washington on your way to the war—so some of your number have said—and gave you on the battlefield embalmed meat canned years before, meat that even fizzed with a vile odor when the point of a knife-blade was thrust into the can, meat unfit for a mangy cur or a buzzard.
Excited you?
Yes, that is exactly what happened to you.
A man is pretty thoroughly excited and confused—isn’t he?—when he is singing “My Country! ’tis of Thee!” at the very time that country is feeding him meat unfit for a dog. Mr. Roosevelt confesses that a special effort was made to excite you, and he also tells us some other things:[[165]]
“And from the moment when the regiment began to gather, the higher officers kept instilling into those under them the spirit of eagerness for action, of stern determination to grasp at death rather than forfeit honor ... fever sickened and weakened them so that many of them died from it during the few months following their return.... We found all our dead and all the badly wounded.... One of our own dead and most of the Spanish dead had been found by the vultures before we got to them; and their bodies were mangled, their eyes and wounds being torn.... A very touching incident happened in the improvised open-air hospital after the fight, where the wounded were lying.... One of them suddenly began to hum, ‘My Country, ’Tis of Thee,’ and one by one the others joined in the chorus, which swelled out through the tropic, where the victors lay in camp beside their dead.”
How lovely—so perfectly sweet of them. So extremely touching—“grasping at death.”
The buzzards tore out the eyes of some of the brave young fellows and feasted on them; the grave-worms got some of them; vile diseases sickened many thousands of them; and many of them came home to “their dear country”—so poor in purse that they had to beg on the streets of Philadelphia, New York and elsewhere.
Their dear country.
They had been “grasping at death” for their dear country.
Remember: The buzzards and the battlefield grave-worms did not get the “prominent people” who actually own this dear country. “Higher officers” can not instill or fill a banker or a manufacturer so full of the “spirit of eagerness” that he becomes eager to “grasp at death” and have his eyeballs ripped out and his shattered body eaten by vultures.
These men were not excited—not in the least.
These men were thinking.
These were not “grasping at death”; they were grasping for Cuba.
Cuba looked good and you looked easy.
These men needed you in their business. And they got you, you Cuban War veterans.
Some items of interest concerning this matter leaked out and got into the papers—into obscure columns of a few of the papers. It improves one’s enthusiasm for “patriotism” to read a few of these “leaks.” Following are a few of the items, from the New York Tribune:[[166]]
“According to the statement given out by the Cuban Junta yesterday, the Republic of Cuba issued $2,000,000 of bonds, payable in gold, at 6 per cent. interest, ten years after the war with Spain had ended. Of this lot $500,000 were sold at an average of 50 per cent.... Among the purchasers of these bonds were many prominent financiers of this city; and now the bonds which were originally sold at 50 per cent. of their face value have increased to 60 per cent....
“The disposition of the bonds of the Cuban Republic has been a question discussed in certain quarters during the last few days ... and the graver charge has been made that the bonds have been given away indiscriminately in the United States to the people of influence who would therefore become interested in seeing the Republic of Cuba on such terms with the United States as would make the bonds valuable pieces of property. Men of business, newspaper and even public officials have been mentioned as having received these bonds as a gift....
“Some interesting facts were developed before the Foreign Affairs Committee of the House today. B. F. Guerra, Deputy-Treasurer of the Cuban Republic, appeared with his books, and they were inspected by the Committee. He explained that of the $10,000,000 in bonds authorized ... the lowest price at which any were sold was 25 cents on the dollar.... One million of the bonds were locked up in the safe of Belmont and Company, of New York, to be sold when the price fixed, 45 cents on the dollar, had been obtained.
“... Mr. Guerra was asked about the Spanish-Cuban bonds issued against the revenues of the island. He replied that he did not know their amount, which report placed at $400,000,000.... Deputy-Treasurer Guerra was also before the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations today. He said the Cuban bonds which had been sold had been disposed of for an average of about 40 cents on the dollar....
“Some of the Republicans in Congress ... are investigating the question as to whether the United States under international law, if it intervened in Cuba and cut off the revenues, could be held responsible for the Spanish bonds, said to aggregate $400,000,000, which have been issued against the revenues of the island. Mr. Bromwell says he is looking into the question, and finds some warrant in law for such responsibility....
“Congressman ‘Blank’[[167]] in the House on Monday, said he had $10,000 worth of Cuban bonds in his pocket ... while H. H. Kohlsaat, in an editorial in one of the Chicago papers, charges the Junta with offering a bribe of $2,000,000 of Cuban bonds to a Chicago man [to one man!] to use his influence with the administration for the recognition of the provisional government....
“Mr. Guerra made the somewhat startling statement that a man representing certain individuals at Washington has sought to coerce the Junta into selling $10,000,000 worth of bonds at 20 cents on the dollar. ‘This man practically threatened us that unless we let him have the bonds at the price he quoted, Cuba would never receive recognition. He said he was prepared to pay on the spot $2,000,000 in American money, for $10,000,000 of Cuban bonds, but his offer was refused.’”
As the possibility of “good things” increased, the statesmen’s tender hearts were deeply stirred, naturally, and they set up a melodiously patriotic howl for intervention. Many powerful newspapers were turned upon the public to “work” the working class, and soon tens of thousands of humble fellows of the working class were wild with eagerness to rush to the front and “help the poor Cubans.”
But a very high authority, Professor McMaster (University of Pennsylvania), assures us[[168]] that the outrages committed against the Cubans by the Spanish Government had been common for more than fifty years. “The Cubans had rebelled six times in these fifty years.” But not until American capitalistic interests were well developed did it seem “noble” and “grand” and “the will of God” to intervene. But by the year 1895 “upwards of $50,000,000 of American money were invested in mines, railroads and plantations there. Our yearly trade with the Cubans was valued at $96,000,000.”
It was time to weep—profitably.
Hence the tearful orations and powerful editorials for intervention. How the orators and business men far from the firing line loved “the men behind the guns.” Here is some more evidence:[[169]]
“The canned roast meat ... a great majority of the men found it uneatable. It was coarse, stringy and tasteless and very disagreeable in appearance, and so unpalatable that the effort [!] to eat it made some of the men sick. Most of them preferred to be hungry rather than eat it.... As nine-tenths of the men were more or less sick, the unattractiveness of the travel-rations was doubly unfortunate.... In some respects the Spanish rations were preferable to ours.... We had nothing whatever in the way of proper nourishing food for our sick and wounded men during most of the time.... On the day of the big fight, July 1, as far as we could find out there were but two ambulances with the army in condition to work—neither of which did we see.... On several occasions I visited the big hospitals in the rear. Their condition was frightful beyond description from lack of supplies, lack of medicine, lack of doctors, nurses, and attendants.... The wounded and the sick who were sent back [to the hospitals] suffered so much that, whenever possible, they returned to the front.... The fever began to make heavy ravages among our men ... not more than half our men could carry their rolls.... But instead of this the soldiers were issued horrible stuff called ‘canned fresh beef.’... At best it was stringy and tasteless, at the worst it was nauseating. Not one-fourth of it was ever eaten at all even when the men became very hungry.... The canned beef proved to be practically uneatable.... When we were mustered out, many of the men had lost their jobs, and were too weak to go to work at once. Of course there were a few weaklings among them; and there were others, entirely brave and self-sufficient, who from wounds or fevers were so reduced that they had to apply for aid....”
While our government was feeding its soldiers on meat unfit for a dog, our export trade included millions of pounds of the best meat on earth—sent to Europe to be eaten by the aristocratic snobs of the “better class.”
Shakespeare has asked the thoughtful man’s question:
“What would you have me do? Go to the wars, would you? Where a man may serve seven years for the loss of a leg, and have not money in the end to buy a wooden one.”
“Freeing Cuba” was—was what? A change of masters for the Cuban working class, and a “fool’s errand” for the American working class soldiers, as many of them have confessed—confessed with curses for the crafty prominent people who seduced them to the battlefields.