Page:Messages of the President of the United States on the Relations of the United States to Spain (1898).djvu/52

 Rh And I beg to confirm the following telegrams to you:

2em

Havana, February 4, 1598.

I have the honor to report that I have received $1,743.46 from various sections of the country, in addition to the $5,000 first sent, making a total of $6,743.46, which have been placed to the credit of the unofficial fund. Of this amount about $3,000 have been already expended in purchasing food, paying railroad freights on provisions sent away from the city, and the salary and expenses of an agent to attend to the purchase and distribution, who acts with the committee appointed by the government of the city. It will be necessary to keep sufficient funds on hand to meet the expenses necessarily incurred in the work here.

Most of the money I have received has been in small sums, the $1,743.46 being contributed by 37 different persons. Last mail brought me $200 from an unknown donor in Baltimore, Md. I do not see any diminution in the numbers of the suffering poor on this island, except by the daily deaths occurring everywhere from starvation. The present population, which has been concentrated at various places under Weyler's proclamation is still there, not daring to go out to their homes in the interior, if said homes were still in existence, so they continue to herd together with no employment and with but little means of subsistence outside of what we are now trying to afford them. The condition of the reconcentrados is worse in the vicinity of the smaller towns, because they can get something by begging in the larger ones, and hence the death rate is greater in the small towns.

The fact that the greater majority of these poor people are principally women and children makes the sad story of suffering and death more heartrending.

Consul-General.