| Show I GENERAL SICKLES ON SPAIN I I Former Minister to Madrid Tells What the Dons Think of Us and Why f hey Expect to Win One fact that needs to be appreci atedated in order to understand the situation sit-uation in the present war between the United States and Spain said General Dan Sickles the other day is the difference in the extent and accuracy of the information which each country possesses in regard to the other Probably there is no man in the country better qualified to discuss the SpanishAmerican complication than the doughty old general He is of the last of the fighting volunteer generals gener-als of the civil war and perhaps the most prominent of those who remain Though he is past 70 now and has to stump around upon one leg < the other was left upon the field of Gettysburg he takes a keen interest In the present war and is actively engaged with Lieutenant Lieu-tenant General Schofield in the formation forma-tion of the National Volunteer Reserve General Sickles knows the realities of war for he was in the thick of the fray at Chancellorsville and Gettysburg Gettys-burg and other hard fought fields He Is familiar with the political aspects of the present contest too for he has been a congressman and a member of our European diplomatic corps Likewise Like-wise it may be believed that he understands under-stands the temper disposition and resources re-sources of the Spanish for he was formerly the United States minister at Mndrid and his wife was a Spanish lady Americans are as a rule wellread and wellinformed > went on General Sickles They dont know all about Spain but they know in a more or less general way of its extent and Its resources re-sources They know too something of the character and habits of the people A good many of them have actually visited Spain and have seen the country coun-try for themselves Nearly all the others have read about it To be sure I think the ideas which our people have formed regarding Spain are not alto trethpr accurate We are apt to regard the upper classes of Spain as Ignorant lazy and worthless and to believe that the rest of the nation is made up of I Viullfiprhters and muleteers who are I Idfi for little else As a matter of fact the resources of Snaln arp Tit to prove surprisingly great considering the desperate condition in whih skip is now placed and the average Spaniard though he may be adverse to ordinary labor looks upon fighting as an honorable honor-able and worthy employment acid gen nrallv has enjoyed some training for it Mind I am not casting doubt qn the result of the present war it can have but one ending What I may gay is I that we must not expect Spain to crumble crum-ble to pieces nt the first touch ot a hostile hos-tile nation The fully informed people of this country do not expect that but the realize that Spain is Immeasurably i weaker than the United States In general the ideas In regard to our op nonent which prevail in this country are pretty accurate or SPANIARDS KNOW LITTLE OF US When one turns to Spain however the situation is very different ThY people peo-ple of Spain taken en masse are not well educated or widely traveled and they are particularly Ignorant as to what this partjjrlar part of the world Is like Even those whom one would expect to find well posted in this particular par-ticular cherish singular delusions That these incorrect ideas persist Is due I u14 I r l t lW 1 1 y 1 BSI l t I i Y rlt r4y r f h r G f n1 il r 1 r t r fit t I i 1 f i l1 I 1 I L GENERAL DANIEL E SICKLES I believe to the fact that they are constantly con-stantly put forward by the editors of newspapers and the civil leaders who know them to be false One cannot avoid the conclusion that there Is systematic sys-tematic and willful misrepresentation of the United States on the part of the Spanish leaders Why this is so Is hard to say but It accounts for the general misinformation that obtains throughout through-out Spain on this particular subject Well educated Spaniards belieye that there is a small cultured class in the United States but that as a nation We are made up chiefly shopkeepers and ditch diggers EXPECT TO WHIP US They have been told over and over again that we have no courage that we are afraid to fight that our navy Is useless or nearly so and thatour leaders = lead-ers are all blowhard politicians Naturally Natu-rally they have come to Believe this and so confldentally expect to whip upI t up-I f 4 1 < < As for the lower classes they actually believe that the principal industry of America is the raising of hogs and at the word Americanos they conjure up visions of swine herders and their droves One or two instances will give a better bet-ter idea of these popular misconceptions I misconcep-tions A comic paper has Just been started in Madrid It is called The Porker and is devoted to the ridicule of Americans The title does not seem at all crude or exaggerated to the average aver-age Spaniard Ill warrant The other day the Spanish press printed a report re-port that the savages of Ohio and Illinois Illi-nois had risen up and that all the regular regu-lar troops would have to be called from the seaboard to quell the outbreak From what I know of the state of public pub-lic information in Madrid I dare say this story didnt raise a smile of incredulity In-credulity in all the capital unless it was in the case of some American born resident It seems to be the settled policy of the Spanish officials and newspapers news-papers to increase rather than to dispel dis-pel this Ignorance Therefore the Spanish Span-ish people are likely to experience a rude awakening before this war is over an awakening that may be fraught with danger to these same officials I THE SPANISH FIGHTING SPIRIT At the same time I believe that those who expect Spain to yield the present contest without a struggle are badly mistaken The Spaniard is really a desperate fighter when he is pushed 1 to it What Spain has done toward quelling the insurrection in Cuba is not to be taken as a fair test of what she can do in an extremity There may have been sufficient reasons why the Spanish generals did not wish to bring the Cuban war to a speedy end and anyway in that contest the Spanish nation na-tion has not been straining every nerve as they will against the United States The Spaniards boast about shedding the last drop of blood in defense of his countrys honor may be partly buncombe bun-combe but it is not altogether wtihout foundation Some of the wars between the South American countries whose people are of Spanish blood give Instances of this desperate species of bravery In the war between Chile and Peru after the Chilian vessel had been sunk and while her crew were struggling in the water they still fought with their knives against the Peruvians who came to rescue them and died rather than accept ac-cept aid at the hands of their enemies Do you think that the present plan of raising an army by calling out the national militia will provide a more efficient effi-cient force than the north had at its command at the beginning of the civil war warThe The conditions are widely different but they are alike in this at the beginning begin-ning of the civil war it was necessary to make an army and now it is necessary neces-sary to make an army There was militia mi-litia to be called on then as now Perhaps Per-haps it Is a little more numerous and a trifle more efficient and better equipped now A WARTIME MAXIM The truth of the matter is that we have plenty ot material for the ranks but It inevitably takes some time to get it into shape for efficient work Perhaps Per-haps the best lesson to be drawn from the civil war is the necessity of taking plenty of time for preparation it will shorten the contest in the end A good maxim for wartime and one that our leaders seem to be obeying is Prepare I for the worst and hope for the best It looks now as though the brunt of the present war would fall upon the navy While I am not a naval authority it I seems to me that our navy should easily outclass Spains in point of efficiency effi-ciency and settle that par of the affair at the first opportunity I I WAR WILL STRENGTHEN AMERICAS j I AMER-ICAS MORAL INFLUENCE I I If the war is vigorously carried to a successful termination I think that It I should strengthen the moral influence I of the United States among the European Euro-pean nations by correcting some of the I false notions that prevail throughout ithe I continent in regard to us and by showing the old world the American I people as they really are Strong in i I righteousness just and brave I i |
