Page:Messages of the President of the United States on the Relations of the United States to Spain (1898).djvu/64

 Rh among them has materially decreased and their appearance has greatly improved.

United States Consul.

Santiago de Cuba, December 14, 1897.

Since my last dispatch on the situation in Cuba several military engagements of more or less importance have occurred and the insurgents are claiming to have had the best in the fight; but until an engagement shall take place of sufficient importance to have a controlling influence, I can safely leave the press to report on such matters.

I take it to be a matter of far greater importance that I shall watch the trend of public opinion and its effects on the political situation, for thus far battles have not been the most important factors in the Cuban problem.

Up to the present we have only garbled accounts as to the contents of the President's message, so it is too early to say what its effects will be. I shall, however, watch such results with much concern, as all parties have looked forward to it with deepest solicitation.

The order of reconcentration is now practically wiped out, and, so far as the Spanish Government is concerned, men go about nearly as they please. The insurgents and their sympathizers will unquestionably take advantage of the revocation to get from the towns and cities what they need, and otherwise strengthen their cause.

The effect on agricultural pursuits will be disappointing, because the great majority of those who would or should take up the work joined the insurgent forces when compelled to leave their homes, and the portion which came within the lines of reconcentration are women, children, old and sickly people, most of whom seem to have little interest in the problem of life. There is no one to take these people back to the fields and utilize their remaining strength. Their houses are destroyed, their fields are overgrown with weeds, they have no seed to plant, and if they had, they can not live sixty or eighty days until the crop matures, which, when grown, would more than likely be taken by one or the other of the contending parties.

Many of those who are attached to their families have them within the insurgent lines.

Finally, I give it as my opinion, an opinion that I am sure is not biased in favor of Cuba, that Spain will be compelled to prosecute a far more vigorous war than has yet been done if she conquers peace in Cuba. I think I speak advisedly when I say that in this end of the island at least there are many thousand square miles where the foot of the Spanish soldier has never trod. Within this zone the insurgents have their families, carol their horses and cattle and raise their crops. They reach the outside world by methods of their own.

Why Spain with a large body of as obedient and brave soldiers as ever shouldered a gun has not penetrated these grounds and scattered