Show thoughts about cuba BY NEMO three years and more lave elapsed since the present cuban rebellion broke out it is probable that in history past or to come no parallel to its conditions will be found the rulers of abe the island unable to defeat the insurgents are themselves undefeated and the insurgents elusive and triumphant and enduring beyond usual measure in guerilla warfare are no nearer the actual accomplishment of their purpose than they were at the outbreak of hostilities nature and her ghastly handmaiden hand band maiden pestilence have fought for the insurgents but natures batt lings have been balanced by new arrivals of spanish soldiers men some of them boys many of them forced almost at bayonet point to take the places at af the diseased and the dead against the doggedness of the insurgent the pride of the ruler lias has been matched the insurgent can hold out indefinitely the spaniard span sard will while the stubborn warfare of these unyielding forces has proceeded with fluctuating results that in the long run have practically balanced each other a third army of human beings has been slowly ground to destruction of their woes boes we must think and having havin g thought we mus must tact act though the spaniards have been chiefly confined within the limits set up by themselves prisoners in tact fact their own fortifications yet they have retained d a fear compelling power over the feeble minds of the children and the timorous natives of both sexes who are afraid to fight BOA and did not dare to flee these pacific pacificus os quietly obeyed the government when orders went forth through the country regions ions to gather within town limits and stay there the expected freedom to ahe ih e in peace under the surveillance of the spanish army changed at once into death dealing bondage unable to cultivate land to any great extent herded together in huts unfit for I 1 swine suffering from lack of food and by lack of food rendered more helpless and weak spirited than before they have died like hies flies in autumn and in dying have suffered woes boes that are unequalled unequal led even by the bloody sufferings of the armenians Armen ians or the plague ridden starvation of the hin doos the language of a moderate woman like clara barton the famous redcross red eed cross heroine and the stories pictured by the truthful ua camera more than justify these comparisons in one hospi hospital tal alone a place where care and tender oversight are expected four hundred ot of the pacificus pacific os have died of starvation the burdens of the insurgents who in rebelling did so in full expectation of the fortunes and misfortunes of war have been as naught beside the woes boes of these unhappy non combatants where spain has slain its hundreds by fire and sword it lias has slain its hundreds of thousands by hunger and by neglect this has taken place and is still doing so within dinty miles of the land that declares in favor of life liberty aud and the pursuit of happiness this war measure of spain against harmless ones will ever stand out prominently in the annals of the brutalities of which our race is capable this is not war with its glamour of excitement and of chance but relentless murder without the shedding of blood when a man sees a weak one persecuted and refuses to side with the weak lie is no man the rule for a man is the rule for a nation murder of women and children helpless and enfeebled and starving is at our door at last we begin to appreciate it their broken lives their untimely deaths their rights to a happier condition are making themselves slowly understood among our people every stratum of society Is permeated the great underlying love of fairplay fair play is stirring this nation north and south and it is girding itself to punish and not to wage war let us be careful that our motives are pure and our minds used the wild talk of a blundering off official leial like de lome is nothing to our great conservative millions war or even the thought of war over such a matter is unworthy our contemplation it would be an absolute reversion to the barbaric irascibility of olden times we have grown away from such things tile tiie selfish motives of tobacco factors and sugar gamblers in pointing out to a great fair minded country a chance to filch from spain because she is weak that which is hers as truly as new england is ours has moved us only to condemn and not to approve we refuse to add to our racial problems at the nod of self seek ing men the heart ot of the nation is unresponsive to such temptation and furthermore even the terrible maine disaster with its sorrow and its loss has grandly shown to the world that we are arc slow to anger and plenteous in conservatism despite all guesses to the contrary our people have refused to believe that the spanish government could be suicidal enough to have direct connection with the disaster we believe that she would foresee more damage to herself than to us in this sudden and horrible event if this were all that had an indemnity would be sufficient and a war be quite contrary to international precedents but while this nation set in might to lead the western hemisphere can stand insults to its vast self it cannot permit inhumanity to its weak neighbors it will enter into conflict with spain not because certain of victory but because spain slaughters the innocent this nation believes in the glories of peace hut but it must be peace with honor and not with dishonor that assuredly comes from silence in the presence of brutal abuses by its own past it knows full well the horrid cost of war yet its great true heroic heart beats high to declare that it Is better to die in iii protecting the de fenceless than to live in falsehood to its own grand past its conscience is aroused its arm is bared to smite and that quickly lest there be none acde of the starving left to save with such a pure motive its actions will have the cordial goodwill good will of european nations short decisive work will be made of the solemn task and when the smoke has cleared justice will have been done to the unjust and cuba libre may then develop in quiet its own individuality |