The Cuban trouble is, therefore, not a new trouble, even in an acute form. It had been moving forward toward a crisis for a long time. Still, while our government suffered these diplomatic vexations, and our citizens these losses, and our merchants these annoyances, the mass of the American people gave little serious thought to it. The newspapers kept us reminded of an opera bouffe war that was going on, and now and then there came information of delicate and troublesome diplomatic duties for our Minister to Spain. If Cuba were within a hundred miles of the coast of one of our populous States, and near one of our great ports, periods of acute interest in its condition would doubtless have come earlier and oftener, and we should long ago have had to deal with a crisis by warlike measures. Or if the insurgents had commanded respect instead of mere pity, we should have paid heed to their struggle sooner; for it is almost an American maxim that a people cannot govern itself till it can win its own independence.
When it began to be known that Weyler's method of extermination was producing want in the island, and when appeals were made to American charity, we became more interested. President Cleveland found increasing difficulty with the problem. Our Department of State was again obliged to give it increasingly serious attention, and a resolute determination was reached by the administration that this scandal to civilization should cease—we yet supposed peacefully—and Spain was informed of our resolution. When Mr. McKinley came to the Presidency, the people, conscious of a Cuban problem, were yet not greatly aroused about it. Indeed, a prediction of war made at the time of the inauguration would have seemed wild and foolish. Most persons still gave little thought to Cuba, and there seemed a likelihood that they would go on indefinitely without giving serious thought to it; for neither the insurgents, nor the Cuban junta, nor the Cuban party in the United States, if there was such a party, commanded respect.
PRESIDENT McKINLEY'S MESSAGE.
President McKinley sent a message to Congress a few weeks after his inauguration, in which he recommended the appropriation of $50,000 for the relief of American citizens in Cuba. It read as follows:
"Official information from our Consuls in Cuba establishes the fact that a large number of American citizens in the island are in a state of destitution, suffering for want of food and medicines. This applies particularly to the rural districts of the central and eastern parts. The agricultural classes have been forced from their farms into the nearest towns where they are without work or money. The local authorities of the several towns, however kindly disposed, are unable to relieve the needs of their own people, and are altogether powerless to help our citizens. The latest report of Consul-General Lee estimates that 600 to 800 are without means of support. I have assured him that provision would be made at once to relieve them. To that end I recommend that Congress make an appropriation of not less than $50,000, to be immediately available for use under the direction of the Secretary of State.
"It is desirable that a part of the sum which may be appropriated by Congress should, in the discretion of the Secretary of State, also be used for the transportation of American citizens who, desiring to return to the United States, are without means to do so."
The joint resolution offered by Senator Gallinger, which embodied the recommendations of President McKinley, passed both Houses without a dissenting vote.
An influential journal printed the following editorial concerning this measure:
"It is an essentially new departure in international affairs, and it is in order for the sticklers for precedent to enter fussy protestation, as they did in connection with the Venezuelan question, against the Monroe doctrine, declaring it was not to be found in the code of international law. It is certainly very unusual, if not unprecedented, for the government to make a relief appropriation for its own people in some foreign land. The truth is, this Cuban situation is wholly exceptional. Here is a little island in a state of civil war. It is largely a sectional war, one part of the island being in possession of one of the belligerents, and the other section in possession of the other belligerent.
"Several hundreds of our American citizens are in that section of the island occupied by Spanish armies, and are suffering, in common with the Cubans themselves, from a deliberate policy of starvation. Weyler is trying to conquer by famine. That is his fixed purpose, and, from the nature of the case, no discrimination is made between Spanish subjects in rebellion and American citizens sojourning in the island. If the policy of starvation cannot be maintained without this indiscrimination then so much the worse for Weyler and his policy. Congress has only to make the appropriation asked for, and the relief will go forward, without regard to any collateral consequences."