10 



THE CUBA REVIEW 



GENERAL COMMENT ON CUBAN AFFAIRS 



ANDREW CARNEGIE AND THE SPANISH WAR 



A remarkable interview with Mr. Andrew 

 Carnegie, by Edward Marshall, appears in the 

 Philadelphia Ledger of December 6th. Mr. 

 Carnegie is the world's most notable peace 

 advocate, and in this interview he voices the 

 reflections suggested to him by the great 

 European. Incidentally he is let! to express- 

 ing his opinion regarding the Spanish war and 

 as this is interesting to Cuba Review readers, 

 his remarks on the subject are herewith ap- 

 pended. 



Speaking of the motives generally under- 

 lying the beginning of warfare, Mr Carnegie 

 said : 



"There has been much balderdash in talk 

 about unseKish motives as the origin of war- 

 fare. It is safe to say that 99 per cent of all 

 the slaughter wrought by civilization under 

 the cloak of a desire to better bad conditions 

 really has been evil. It is impossible to 

 conceive of general betterments through gen- 

 eral slaughter. There have been few altru- 

 istic wars." 



"But how about the Spanish war?" Mr. 

 Marshall asked, "Surely it was not greed 

 which sent our men and ships to Cuba?" 



"No," said Mr. Carnegie," that was not 

 war, but world police work. Gradually, 

 through the course of several years, it had 

 become known that the conditions imposed 

 upon Cuba by misgovernment had become 

 intolerable. They had become one of the 

 wide world's scandals, and were so reported 

 by our press. 



"Inevitable rebeUion was continually in 

 progress, with no prospect of decisive victory 

 for either side. The richest of the Antilles 

 was approaching ruin. Our Government had 

 urged Spain to remedy the terrible conditions, 

 but without result. 



"No political quarrel gave rise to oiu* hos- 

 tihty to Spain. It was an outburst of right- 

 eous indignation. Finally, after the press 

 reported almost unbelievable facts and it had 

 become evident that the revolt which was in 

 progress would be endless if some change for 

 the better did not come, a congressional com- 

 mittee went to Cuba, investigated matters 

 with such thoroughness as circumstances 

 made possible and made its report. 



"I shall never forget the visit paid to me 

 by Speaker Reed, who came from Washington 

 to N ew York to see me, one Sunday morning, 

 and told me that, while he never before had 

 lost control of Congress, he had found it quite 

 beyond his mastery after it had listened to the 

 di'eadful story of poor Cuba's wrongs. 



"A cry has arisen in Congress," he told me, 

 "and that cry is: 'What is Spain doing in this 

 hemisphere, anyhow?' " 



" 'I am helpless,' he continued. It is an 

 outburst of holy passions.' 



"President McKinley had received reports 

 from our Ambassador at Madrid stating that 



doubtle.sR it wovild be possible to reach a 

 peaceable agreement, but it was too late then 

 for further parley. 



"Quite properly we demanded that the 

 alien nation should retire from her mis-gov- 

 ernment of Cuba. Animated by an entirely 

 righteous determination to remedy existing 

 and unbearable conditions, we attacked and 

 quickly conquered. 



"Mark the result. To-day Cuba is an 

 independent State and we are her be.st friends. 

 We have done much and, if occasion rises, we 

 gladly shall do more for her. She has been 

 as a promising ward for whose advancement 

 we have labored and are laboring. We were 

 proud of our ward and have reason to be. 



"Our skirmish with Spain was a most un- 

 usual international episode. We harmed 

 none of the people of the land wherein we 

 fought, but taught them what we could of 

 wise self-government and gave them inde- 

 pendence. To battle for the liberation of the 

 slave is worthy work, and this of ours was 

 such a battle. 



"Our Spanish war was not the outgrowth 

 of our rivah-y with any one or any one 

 with us; it was the manifestation of our high 

 sense of responsibility as strong and healthy 

 human beings for the welfare of the weak and 

 oppressed. 



"It did not make toward militarism on this 

 continent, but the reverse; in a few months, it 

 estabhshed permanent peace where peace had 

 been a stranger. It was police work on the 

 highest plane, substituting order for disorder." 



GOOD SENSE OF THE CUBANS 



General Wootl was an excellent guide, phil- 

 osopher and friend to Cuba, and she was in- 

 deed fortunate in having his regime as a 

 model at the beginning of her self-governing 

 career. Many of the lessons it taught she 

 has wisely taken to heart, which is a distinct 

 tribute to the good sense of the Cuban people. 

 The continued ability of the Cubans, not only 

 to take care, but to take good care, of them- 

 selves and their country is most gratifying to 

 their innumerable well-wishers in this country. 

 —Baltimore (Md.) Sun. 



BALLOT STUFFING AN IMPROVEMENT 



One million two hundred thousand votes 

 for congressmen in Havana Province alone, 

 the total population of Cuba being some 

 3,000,000, arouses more than a suspicion of 

 ballot-box stuffing at the November election. 

 Still it may be said that trying to misuse poli- 

 tical forms is some improvement over aban- 

 doning political form altogether and appeal- 

 ing to force. If the man on horseback is once 

 out of the system, the reform of the election 

 machine is an easier matter. There is noth- 

 ing in American history to make the present 

 Cuban situation especially discouraging. — 

 Springfield (Mass.) Republican. 



