The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, May 12, 1896, Page 1

» VOLUME LXXIX.—NO. 164. VIGOROUS ACTION 1 MAY BE REQUIRED | | Critical Condition of Uncle| Sam’s Relations With : Spain. CRISIS SOON EXPECTED | Congress May Force Cleveland to Move on the Cuban Reso- lutions. | MEETING OF THE NEW CORTES | In FPorson the Queen Regent Presents | | an Interesting Speech From the Throne. | 4 WASHINGTON, D. C., May 1L.—While the suspension of the sentence of death in the case of the convicted A mericans | who were captured aboard of the alleged filibuster Competitor has allayed for the time being public interest in the matter, it is believed by many conservative men in Congress that the situation is eritical. It is not so much the decision reached by the Spanish court as it is the methoas which were employed in doing so that is | provocative of ill feeling. A prominent member of the House Com- mittee on Foreign Affairs, when asked to- | day by a correspondent whether there was | any likelihood that Senator Morgan’s | joint resolution authorizing the President to take action looking to the recognition of the beilizerency of the Cuban insur- gents would pass at this session, replied: “It may be, but it is not improbable | that some action even more vigorous than that may be required of Congress.”” “Adjournment is not very far off,” 1t; was suggested, ‘and whatever action Con- ! | gress may take will have to be taken soon.” It was most plain that the announcement of reforms, applauded unanimously by the Lib- eral party, far from restraining the secession- ists, gave them impulse to resort to arms with the intention of preventing the application of the reforms. From the first moment that was understood by the illustrious general to whom the pacification of the territory was entrusted. The same declaration was mede to his Gov- ernment by the agent of the United States, who said that the revolutionists, seeing in the re- forms great advantage to their country, guick- encd the movement in order to prevent their | aspiration of creating an independent state becoming impaired. The rebel chiefs, principally the foreigners and the colored, did not wait long to say that they did not attach importance to politieal, economicel or administrative reforms, no mat- ter how liberal, even the most extended form of home rule, if they had to submit to the sovereignty of Spain, and the good and pros- perity of the Cubans was nothing to them. On the contrary that class of revolutionists showed themselves the encouragers of the groups of bandits that formed the nucleus of their forces, destroying private property, burn- ing towns without defense and making public that they will destroy the island if they are unable to conquer the public power, and that they will thereafter dispute with arms in hand eternally. What the consequence wonld be of the sub- stitution of sovereignty of Spain over races nearly balanced and with irreconcilable char- acter there is no statesman who wilil not fore- see. The final result would be that Cuba would meke a step backward in civilization. It would be an error to imagine that the interests of the country could in such conditions pros- per or continue in existence. The Spanish nation in the meantime isnot going to be indifferent to the future of those | of her sons misguided by improvident polit- ical ambitions, and she will not abandon the mission of civilization that she has taken upon herself snd that she has up to the moment accomplished and her history and honor impose upon her; much less will she deny the rights and advantages demanded with reason by those inhaoitants of the An- tilles who, forming the different political parties, have indignantly condemned the in- surrection from the first moment, being morally and materially by the side of the me- tropolis, and have shed their blood for her. There are aiso many who only by fear have joined the rebels, and who are beginning to profit by the facilities afforded them by the state of demoralization of the insur- Tection to come under the nation’s flag, and there will not be before long many who, convinced of the impotence of their efforts to suppress the sovereignty of Spain, but will return with a peaceful spirit to their homes to become good citizens. To them Spain will always extend her open arms, after her dignity and authority aresafe, for the maintenance ot which she has made and will repeat when necessary sacrifices which have not been equaled. In the meantime it is not just to suppose that the present Government has not enforced the reforms for a lack of love for them. He (the King) has had in their enactment as great a share as any other. In the first instance it is ‘‘Adjournment has not vet been decided | upon,” was the replv. ‘““We may adjourn before the 1st of June, and we may be | bhere all summer. I bave believed | that the President would take some decisive action in the Cuban matter | as soon as he could receive full and | accurate information upon the subject, and it would not surprise me if thataction | should be taken very soon. My opinion | is that the crisis will be reached in ashort time, perhaps in a few days. If Spain should decide tc permit the execution of | the sentence of death passed by General | Weyler's court-martial on the Competitor | prisoners who are American citizens a most serious situation will result.” While the opinion of the member re- | ferred to is not generally shared by a majority of the House members, it is thought that if the Competitor prisoners are shot, as Weyler insists they must be, | Congress will beyond doubt take some de- | cisive action. Mr. Cleveland will then be | forced to act. SR SR QUEEN REGENT'S SPEECH. Before the Cortes She Predicts the Failure | of the Rebellion. MADRID, Spary, May 1L—The new Cortes met to-day. Great iaterest was | manifested in the speech from the throne opening the session, which it was known | would deal at length with the situation in | Cuba. The speech was read in person by | the Queen Regent, representing the youth- ful King. Her Majesty said: Heavy preoccupa- tlons lay on my mind on addressing you on this day of the opening of the session of the cortes. Allof you share with me those pre- occupations, as I am sure they are shared by the nation. You cannot have forgotten those days, rich in hopes, of February and March of last year, when the legislative bodies spproved the laws to reconstruct the adminis- tration of Cuba and Porto Rico. To their enforcement the representatives of the loyal parties of Cuba and Porto Rico pledged themselyes and those who share the power in the peninsula, but those good inten- tions were counteracted on the 21st of Febru- ary, when the-discussion hed not yet begun, by the discovery of the Governor-General of Cuba of symptoms of rebellion, and three days later it was necessary to proclaim martial law. to be noted that it was not possible to do this without profound study and preparation, be- cause it completely changed all the laws in force. On the other hand, the rapid spread of the iusurrection, long in preparation, in spite of Spain, having restored and increased in a mar- velous way in Cuba, the production destroyed by the past war very soon broke the unanimity of sentiment th which the law of the 15th of March, 1895, hed been approved. That was first demanded by the more ad- vanced of the Cuban political parties, which had given its votes in the Cortes and which presented first to the Governor-General and afterward to the Madrid Governmenta plan of considerable modification to the reforms, as if their spirit of action was not more the same than before the war. The same thing was made public by & politi- cal group, which called itself Reformist, pre- senting to the Government in Medrid & project of Congress of great importance also, and the late chief of the said group declared that the application of the reforms voted was incom- patible with the state of rebellion. Finally, the worthy general that governs Cuba, disposed, as his predecessor always did, to obey all the orders of the Government, is | also convinced, as the Cuban conservatives are, that the indorsement of reform 1aws which have been promulgated, far from serving to bring peace, wil} make it more difficult. From all this it is deduced that those re- forms, not satisfying anybody, for the future their immediate application, even if it were possible to enforce them completely, will not | obtain & good result with & direct application of them. Even their enforced essay in Porto Rico, as they are all destined to a great modification in & short time, will not probably bring benefit because of the advantages that can be ex- pected from a new project. Not for that has the Government abandoned, nor will she abandon, the general study of future legislation for the Antilles, for the moment that after a new in- teryention by the Cortes and when the oppor- tunity will arrive they would have to be definitely established. Fortunately the insur- rection is decreasing, in the opinion of su- perior suthority of the island and of the per- sons who can in Cuba judge with greater cer- tainty. If 1t has not yet decreased completely it is due principally, as nobody can ignore, to the great and frequent helps received, false de- scriptions of the politic and administra- tive situation in Cuba, meking them also believe that the conduct of destroying what they are unable to conquer, 1s identical to those that with higher ends, with different 4. J. Waterhouse of Fresno, Poet, Patriot, Politician, People’s Party, [Sketched by a “Call” staff artist at Sacramento wmrday.;l TF tee Commy In Frontaxe (ounr v HIZPVGG’ b Jogy = s s DS DORE “*Fxsno rloRg Ay oF ‘ S’lg’" BarpAxq WHITE oF SAN PIeGo Some of the Prominent Delegates From Town and Country Attending the People’s Party Convention Now in S ession at Sacramento. [From characteristic sketches made by a “Call” staff artist at Sacramento yesterday.] means and with the reasonable probabilities of creating a new civilized nation,use methods which have been practiced at other times in America and in Europe. Even that help would not be sufficlent to prolong the contest if it had not been for the chimerical . hopes spread among the in- surgents that a great nation will take a hand in their filegitimate and powerless revolution, with manifest violation of the public rights. For that reason cvery dissppointment that the separatists receive regarding that will soon serve more efficiently than anything else to the re-establishment of peace. It is to be hoped that they will now suffer disappoint- ment because of the fact, better known every day, that makes it clear to all honest minds that Spain is far from desiring her Antillean subjects to live under an old and antiquated regime when she enjoys such liberal laws. Without the separatist comspiracy Spain would never have refused any legilimate lib- erty. A great assimilation to the legislation of the peninsula that many will find to be lacking in the Antilles never has found great difficulties in the Government, and to have re- corded it resulted greatly from the dislikes of many to the assimilation and their preference towards special laws. ‘When peace will be reached, to consolidate it it will be necessary to give to both islands, Cuba and Porto Rico, an economical and ad- ministrative personality, with a character ex- clusively local, but that will make possible the total intervention of the country in its pecu- liar affairs, while remaining untouched the right of sovereignty and untouchel the neces- sary conditions for its existence. To that end will the Government bind its steps, if that line of policy merits the ap- proval of the Cortes. Of the loyalty of such purposes, to-day exposed before the whole world, nobody is permitted to doubt, and it is not to be disputed, although a different thing is pretended with mean reflections that Spain has fulfilled with excess and in all really es- sentials, everything that was offered in the capitulation of Zanjon. On you, Senores Senadors and Diputados, de- volves now to encourage or restrain the policy signaled by my Government or to show him different ways. Undoubtedly the interests of the country imperatively demand that the Gov- ernment will be authorized to profit, as it will be convenient by the circumstances with the aim of putting an end in a short time to the present situation, and with that object pro- jects of law will be presented to you which you will accept, amend or reject sccording to the dictates of your consciences. I have the greatest satisfaction in informing you that we maintain excellent and cordial re- lations with all the powers. The correct and friendly conduct of the American republic in the Cuban matter is a good proof that every day the ties of interest are developed, end the friendship that unites them closer with Spain. In the United States, notwithstanding the great efforts that & part of the public opinion has suc- ceeded in making in & contrary sense, the President and his Government have not de- parted from the line of conduct that corre- sponds to the loyal friendship that has existed between the countries from the beginning of the existence of that republic. The Govern- ment will report to the Cortes the treaty of peace and friendship negotiated with the re. public of Honduras. X The remainder of the address is devoted to the reports of different departments. ey WEYLER HAS RESIGNED. But the Bpanish Govermment Orders Him to Kemain. HAVANA, Cusa, May 11.—The report that General Weyler has resigned because of the action of the home Government in the case of the Competitor filibusters is true, but it is not accepted with confidence by the public here. It is understood that the Government refused to accept the resignation and ordered General Weyler to remain at his post under the present circumstances. Colonel Sequira reports having had an engagement with a large rebel force near Cieneguitata, a short distance from Reme- dios, in which the insurgents lost eleven killed. . The rebels retreated and were followed by the troops. Ihe latter met another force.of 1600 insurgents under command of Carrillo. After two hours’ fighting the Continued on Third Page. - ALLISON WILL NOT W HORAW, TIowa’s Vote to Be Given The Senator From Start to Finish. DID NOT WISH TO ENTER But Now That He Is in the Race He Wants to Win the Presidency. IS A WELCOME CANDIDATE. Harlan Says McKinley’s Friends May Rediscover the 01d Cup-and. Lip Story. CLEVELAND, Osro, May 11.—*“Allison will not withdraw from the Presidential race.”’ said ex-Senator Harlan, who is a delegate from Iowa to the Methodist Gen- eral Conference, to-night. “The peovle out there know Allison and they like him and have, confidence in him. The vote from his State will be cast for him from start to finish. Allison had no particular desire to go into the fight in the first place, but now that he started he wants to win ifhe can. At the same time there is no hostility toward McKinley. He will be a welcome enongh candidate so far as the Republicans of Iowa are concerned. “McKinley’s friends think they have the fight won. Well, it looks that way to me, too. ‘There’s many a slip betwixt the cup and the lip,’ but in McKinley's case they are pretty close together now.’” it ot i ECKELS AS A PEACEMAKER. Sent to Illinois in the Interest of Sound- Money Men. CHICAGO, Iiv, May 1l.—James H. Eckels, Comptroller of the Currency, ar- rived in this city to-day from Washington as the personal representative of the Pres- ident on atour of information-seeking and as a peacemaker between the fighting fac- tions of Illinois and the Cook County De- mocracy in the interest of a gold standard. His arrival and the secret conferences he held during the day with the sound-money leaders formed the sole topic of conversa- tion in Democratic political circles at local and State neadquarters. The Comptroller is generally creditea with the mission of ascertaining the exact situation in certain Western States, with the special object of doing all he can to have anti-free silver delegation sent by the Iilinois convention to Chicago in July. As a result of the conference, which will be continued to-morrow, it is said the sound-money men of this city will cease attacking or even opposing Governor Alt- geld for renomination, and confine their campaign exclusively to prevent Illinois being put in the silver column at the Na- tional Convention. The danger of the party in this State be- ing permanently split on the money ques- tion, with two State conventions, a mnug and a possible bolt at the National Conven- tion, is also given a moving cause for an aggressive policy of the present adminis- tration people, including the Illinois office- holders. The visit of the Comptroller, it 1s re- ported, was hastened by telegrams sent to Washington after the sound-money lead- ers had conferred with Chairman Harrity of the National Committea last week on the completed party here. The Altgeld Democrats are arranging for a big demonstration Saturday, the Governor being the chief attraction. e POINTERS FOR THE PRESS. Applications for Space at the Chicago Con- vention Must Soon Be Made. LOSANSPORT, Ixp., May 11.—8. P. Sherin, secretary of the Democratic Na- tional Committee and chairman of the sub-committee on press and telegraphic accommodations and facilities for the Democratic Nalional Convention, to be held in Chicago July 7, requests the United Press to announce that it is desir- able that the applications for space for working reporters and correspondents in the convention hall be made with the least possible delay. No application for work- ing space filed later than June 15 will be considered. All applications for press and telegraphic accommodations should be ad- dressed to 8. P. Sherin, secretary Demo- cratic National Committee, Logansport, Ind. —— SUPREME COUNCIL, P. A There Will Be a Fight Over the Report on MoKinley. WASHINGTON, D. C., May 11. — The delegates to the meeting of the Supreme Council of the American Protective Asso- ciation are nearly all in the city. The meeting will be called to order behind closed doors at 10 o’clock to-morrow. The first day’s session will be devoted to or- ganization and routine work. The con- vention is expected to be in session five or six days, and ngarly the last work will be the election of ‘officers. There will be a stubborn fight over the report of the ad- visory council against McKinley. Two committees held meetings to-day. They were the judiciary and executive committees. The judiciary committee is composed of the lawyers, and Judge Ste- venson is chairman of it. John W. Echols of Georgia and H. W. Smith of California were appointed members of the committee by President Traynor. The executive committee meeting was for the purpose of looking into the repre- sentatives of the different offices. — 4. POLITICS IN COLORADO. One Convention Presided Over by a . Woman of Grit. DENVER, Coro., May 11.—The Repub- lican County Convention called to meet to-day to select delegates to the State and Congressional conventions, for the purpose of selecting delegates to the National Con- vention, failed to become even temporarily orgenized at a late hour to-nizht. This delay was due to a factional contest for control and the stanch determination of Mrs. W. H. Kisler, the county chairman, to stick to her rulings in spite of the howl- ing of ward heelers and the bulldozing tac- tics of some of the delegates to gain their points. It has been developed that Senator Teller will be sent to St. Louis at the head of a delegation composed of loyal follow- ers, and that Senator Wolcott will not be of that delegation. His friends now ask only that a vote of censure be not passed. This action is almost & unanimous de- mand of the members of the party and will be taken to prevent the defeat of local tickets, both county and State, next fall. The contest to-day is waged for local con- trol in both ‘county and State organiza- tions and is extremely bitter. The lady who is chairman ofithe County Committee has ruled against a party rule relating to the making up of a temporary roll of dele- as prepared by the County Central both in the meetings of ‘the committee aud in the opening of the County Convention, her position being that the rule is wrong anda unjust and should not stand, though a large majonty of the County Committee voted against her. The rolicall of uncontested delegates re- sulted in sustaining the appeal from the decision of Mrs. Kisler, chairman, and the delegates proceeded to effect the tem- porary organization by placing J. H. Shat- tuck in the chair without opposition. Committees were named and a recess taken until 10 o’clock to-night. The gang wins and Mayor McMurray's following, known as the anti-combine, is defoated. WASHINGTON, D. C., May 11.—Senator Teller of Colorado to-day sent the follow- ing letter to the chairman of the Colorado State Committee. It is seli-explanatory: Hon, Irving Hobart, Colorado Springs: I wish to say to the State Convention, through you, that I do not desire to go to the National Con- vention and I cannotgo unless the State Con- vention is inaccord with my ideas in declaring that in the coming campaign the silver ques- tion is the paramount issve. The State Con- vention should act with the full knowledge that I do not intend to support a candidate on a gold-standard platform or on & platform of doubtful construction. If this course puts me outof sympathy with the Republican senti- ment of the State, as a portior. of the Republi- can party alleges it will, I accept the result with all its logical consequernces in prefererce to an abandonment of principles and stulti- fication of my record made, as I conceive, un- der the instructions of every Republisan con- vention held in Colorado during the last twelve years. st oS e MONTANA REPUBLICANS. Bimetallisn, Protection and Keciprocily Their Cardinal Principles. BUTTE, Moxt., May 11.—The Republi- | can State Convention was held here to- REDY FOR WO, Leaders All in Line for the Battle at the Capital. FUSION NOT FAVORED. Delegates Who Would Rather Lose All Than Surrender Principle. CATOR FOR THE SENATORSHIP. Faithful Services to the Party Will Be Recognized by the Con- vention. SACRAMENTO, CaL., May 11.—Dele- gates to the Populist State Conve ntion come pouring into the State House by all the afternoon and evening trains, and at night the lobbies, parlors and office of the hotel presented much of the bustle ob- servable of the night before the conven- tion of one of the old parties, only that the push and the pull were absent, or if present, were of a different kind from the usual staple article. All parts of the State are well repre- sented; the man from the shadow of Shasta’s snowy peak is here, but T. W. H. Shanaban, Shasta’s tall sycamore, is miss- ing. His long shadow is not seen on the floor under the glare of the electric lamps, and a mighty voice, which once sounded stridently the blood-curdling war whoop of Tammany in the councils of the Democracy, will not be heard even for the first time in a Populist State Convention. Mr. Shanahan sent word that it woula be impossible for him to attend, owing to the pressure of important lJaw matters con- fided to his charge. But there are other men from Shasta and San Diego and the smiling valleys and green hills that lie between. There will be a lively fight for the chair- manship to-morrow, among the four or five contestants, Barlow of San Luis Obispo being in the lead. Notwithstanding the secret but desper- ate efforts of Democratic bosses in San Francisco, through friends and agents in this convention, to defeat T, V. Cator by omitting from the order of business the nofination ¢f a United States Senator, that gentleman will be nominated by ac- clamation, or, at least, by an overwhelms ing majority. His services to the party have been so valuable in the past, his devotion to the Omaha platform has been so intense in season and out of season that the conven- tion will be repaying in part the debt of gratitude which they owe him, if a man can be saitl to be entitled to any gratitude merely for doing his duty and remaining true to his trust. = The secret efforts which have been made to defeat him and which have fallen to the ground have been instigated by Demo- cratic influence, which, working in the dark and devious ways of Tammany and Iroquois tribes, have been plotting for weeks past to bring about a fusion of the Populist and Democratic tickets, the offices to be divided in such a way that the more important ones would go to the Democrats. Hence their enmity to the champions of the no-fusion cause. A prominent Populist said of Cator to-night: “‘Some people don’t like Mr. Cator, per- haps for personal, political or business reasons, but I can say that there is no other man in the party with a fidelity so unswerving to the principles of Populism than Cator. He has always opposed any scheme looking to the abandonment of the principles of the party by even so much as a hair's breadth, and that’s the kind of men who will make the Populist cause the winning cne. ‘‘He is also fearless and outspoken on all subjects, is a good lawyer, a good talker and a man of commanding presence. There will be no fusion, and the Demo- cratic jobbers will be disappointed.’” Continued on Third Page. Taylor Rodgers and a delegation of Robert E, Busb, Secretary of the People’s Party State Central Committoe. [Sketched by a “Cald” artist at Sacramento.}