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Show MAINE IN'; iAVANA ! Wreckage of the Ship Reflects on This Government i Washington, D. C, Jan. 25. Governor Gover-nor Magoon of the provisional gov-1 gov-1 ernment of Cuba, in his annual report ! to the secretary of war, made public i today, brings to his attention the wreck of the United States battleship Maine in Havana harbor and recommends recom-mends that the government take immediate im-mediate steps to accomplish its removal re-moval without further delay. He 8&j s : "The wreck of the Maine continues to lie In the mud and waters of Havana Ha-vana harbor. The sunken battleship la a serious menace to the shipping of the harbor as it occupies a portion of the best anchorage. The obstruction I has increased annually during the past ten years by causing a shoal. The moderato tides prevailing in the harbor har-bor are hardly sufficient to prevent a gradual filling up and this shoal seriously ser-iously interferes with the action of r the tides and, therefore, the entire harbor is rapidly filling. It will be necessary, In a short time, to begin dredging in order to provide proper I anchorage for the large amount of shipping now entering the harbor unless un-less the wreck is removed. The anchorage an-chorage is also restricted by the wreck and the shoal, for ships are obliged to anchor at sufficient distance to prevent pre-vent grounding in case they strain on their cables. "Even more important than this obstruction ob-struction to navigation is the fact that : thi6 wreck, although it contains the bodies of sixty-three American seamen, sea-men, or what is left of them. Is apparently ap-parently abandoned and forgotten by the government and the people of the United States. Thousands of Americans Ameri-cans and other thousands of other nationalities na-tionalities annually enter the harbor of Havana and probably not one omits to "express regret and cento re for. thg. deplorable Bpectacle. It has become a national reproach and ah international scandal. The neglect to remove the wreck is attributed by many, especially the, large Spanish contingent ra Cuba, the fear that its removal will disclose the fallacy of the popular belief that the Maine was destroyed by a torpedo or mine instead of an interior explosion; ex-plosion; so far does this opinion prevail pre-vail that I believe the Cuban government govern-ment was deterred thereby from dealing deal-ing with the wreck as an obstruction to navigation of its coastal waters and destroying it; however, it should be added that the Cuban authorities were also restrained by a belief that the United States would some time desire de-sire and attempt to remove It and preserve pre-serve the wreck as a whole instead of breaking it up and removing it in the m,ore inexpensive manner. "The correspondence on file in the department of state and the navy department de-partment at Washington shows that a belief prevails in those departments that it is necessary to secure, by a treaty or fttherwlse, the consent of the republic of Cuba to the authorities of the United States entering the harbor of Havana and proceeding with the work of removal; this permission, if necessary, can be easily secured and the Cuban government would gladly afford every assistance In its power to accomplish the desired result, not only on-ly because of the Injury to the harbor har-bor facilities, but also because of the prompting of patriotism and sentiment senti-ment "I earnestly recommend that the United States government take Im-I Im-I mediate steps to accomplish the re-moval re-moval without further delay." |