CONGRESS. (PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE.) 



m 



CONGRESS. The third session of the Fifty- 

 fifth Congress began Monday, Dec. 5, 1898, at 

 noon, and at 1.27 o'clock the President's message 

 was received. It was as follows: 



To the Senate and House of Representatives: 



Notwithstanding the added burdens rendered 

 necessary by the war our people rejoice in a very 

 satisfactory and steadily increasing degree of 

 prosperity, evidenced by the largest volume of 

 business ever recorded. Manufacture has been 

 productive, agricultural pursuits have yielded 

 abundant returns, labor in all fields of industry 

 is better rewarded, revenue legislation passed by 

 the present Congress has increased the Treasury's 

 receipts to the amount estimated by its authors; 

 the finances of the Government have been suc- 

 cessfully administered and its credit advanced to 

 the first rank, while its currency has been main- 

 tained at the world's highest standard. Military 

 service under a common flag and for a righteous 

 cause has strengthened the national spirit and 

 served to cement more closely than ever the fra- 

 ternal bonds between every section of the country. 



A review of the relation of the United States 

 to other powers, always appropriate, is this year 

 of primary importance in view of the momentous 

 issues which have arisen, demanding in one in- 

 stance the ultimate determination by arms and 

 involving far-reaching consequences which will 

 require the earnest attention of the Congress. 



In my last annual message very full considera- 

 tion was given to the question of the duty of the 

 Government of the United States toward Spain 

 and the Cuban insurrection as being by far the 

 most important problem with which we were then 

 called upon to deal. The considerations then ad- 

 vanced, and the exposition of the views therein 

 expressed, disclosed my sense of the extreme 

 gravity of the situation. Setting aside, as logic- 

 ally unfounded or practically inadmissible, the 

 recognition of the Cuban insurgents as belliger- 

 ents, the recognition of the independence of Cuba, 

 neutral intervention to end the war by imposing 

 a rational compromise between the contestants, 

 intervention in favor of one or the other party, 

 and forcible annexation of the island, I con- 

 cluded it was honestly due to our friendly rela- 

 tions with Spain that she should be given a rea- 

 sonable chance to realize her expectations of re- 

 form to which she had become irrevocably com- 

 mitted. Within a few weeks previously she had 

 announced comprehensive plans which it was 

 confidently asserted would be efficacious to rem- 

 edy the evils so deeply affecting our own country, 

 so injurious to the true interests of the mother 

 country as well as to those of Cuba, and so re- 

 pugnant to the universal sentiment of humanity. 



The ensuing month brought little sign of real 

 progress toward the pacification of Cuba. The 

 autonomous administrations set up in the capital 

 and some of the principal cities appeared not to 

 gain the favor of the inhabitants nor to be able 

 to extend their influence to the large extent of 

 territory held by the insurgents, while the mili- 

 tary arm, obviously unable to cope with the still 

 active rebellion, continued many of the most ob- 

 jectionable and offensive policies of the govern- 

 ment that had preceded it. No tangible relief was 

 afforded the vast numbers of unhappy reconcen- 

 trados despite the reiterated professions made in 

 that regard and the amount appropriated by 

 Spain to that end. The proffered expedient of 

 zones of cultivation proved illusory; indeed, no 

 less practical nor more delusive promises of suc- 

 cor could well have been tendered to the ex- 

 hausted and destitute people, stripped of all that 

 VOL. xxxix. 12 A 



made life and home dear, and herded in a strange 

 region among unsympathetic strangers hardly less 

 necessitous than themselves. 



By the end of December the mortality among 

 them had frightfully increased. Conservative es- 

 timates from Spanish sources placed the deaths 

 among these distressed people at over 40 per cent, 

 from the time Gen. Weylers decree of reconcen- 

 tration was enforced. With the acquiescence of 

 the Spanish authorities a scheme was adopted 

 for relief by charitable contributions raised in 

 this country and distributed, under the direction 

 of the consul general and the several consuls, by 

 noble and earnest individual effort through the 

 organized agencies of the American Red Cross. 

 Thousands of lives were thus saved, but many 

 thousands more were inaccessible to such forms 

 of aid. 



The war continued on the old footing without 

 comprehensive plan, developing only the same 

 spasmodic encounters, barren of strategic result, 

 that, had marked the course of the earlier ten 

 years' rebellion as well as the present insurrection 

 from its start. No alternative save physical ex- 

 haustion of either combatant, and therewithal 

 the practical ruin of the island, lay in sight, but 

 how far distant no one could venture to con- 

 jecture. 



At this juncture, on the loth of February last, 

 occurred the destruction of the battle ship Maine 

 while rightfully lying in the harbor of Havana 

 on a mission of international courtesy and good 

 will a catastrophe the suspicious nature and 

 horror of which stirred the nation's heart pro- 

 foundly. It is a striking evidence of the poise 

 and sturdy good sense distinguishing our na- 

 tional character that this shocking blow, falling 

 upon a generous people, already deeply touched 

 by preceding events in Cuba, did not move them 

 to an instant, desperate resolve to tolerate no 

 longer the existence of a condition of danger and 

 disorder at our doors that made possible such a 

 deed, by whomsoever wrought. Yet the instinct 

 of justice prevailed, and the nation anxiously 

 awaited the result of the searching investigation 

 at once set on foot. The finding of the naval 

 board of inquiry established that the origin of 

 the explosion was external by a submarine mine, 

 and only halted, through lack of positive testi- 

 mony, to fix the responsibility of its authorship. 



All these things carried conviction to the most 

 thoughtful, even before the finding of the naval 

 court, that a crisis in our relations with Spain 

 and toward Cuba was at hand. So strong was 

 this belief that it needed but a brief Executive 

 suggestion to the Congress to receive immediate 

 answer to the duty of making instant provision 

 for the possible and perhaps speedily probable 

 emergency of war, and the remarkable, almost 

 unique, spectacle was presented of a unanimous 

 vote of both houses, on the 9th of March, appro- 

 priating $50,000,000 " for the national defense and 

 for each and every purpose connected therewith, 

 to be expended at the discretion of the President." 

 That this act of prevision came none too soon 

 was disclosed when the application of the fund 

 was undertaken. Our coasts were practically un- 

 defended. Our navy needed large provision for 

 increased ammunition and supplies, and even 

 numbers, to cope with any sudden attack from 

 the navy of Spain, which comprised modern ves- 

 sels of the highest type of Continental perfection. 

 Our army also required enlargement of men and 

 munitions. The details of the hurried prepara- 

 tion for the dreaded contingency is told in the 

 reports of the Secretaries of War and of the 

 Navy, and need not be repeated here. It is suffi- 



