Southern Branch of the University of California University of California This book is DUE on the last date stamped below JUN 5 1924 XfcOS Form L-9-5n-7,"23 / y STATE MORI," JL, liOS flNGEliES, CHI*. IS"ORY OF OUR COUN RY FROM THE DISCOVERY OF . . . . AMERICA TO THE PRESENT TIME INCLUDING A COMPREHENSIVE HIS TORICAL INTRODUCTION, COPIOUS ANNOTATIONS, A LIST OF AUTHOR ITIES AND REFERE-NCES, ETC. PROFUSELY ANEW BEAUTIFULLY ILLUSTRATED. MAPS, CHARTS. PORTRAITS. FAMOUS HISTORIC SCENES AND EVENTS, AND A SERIES OF BEAUTIFUL POLYCHROMATIC PLATES By EDWARD S. ELLIS, A. M. AUTHOR OF "THE STANDARD HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES," "YOUNG PEOPLF.'S HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES," "THE ECLEC TIC PRIMARY HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES," ETC. ILLUSTRATORS C. M. Relyea, H. A. Ogden, J. Steeple Davis, Warren Sheppard, W. H. Lippincott, A. B. Doggett, De Cost Smith, W. P. Snyder, Gilbert Gaul, W. C. Fitler, C. Kendrick, Joseph Gleeson, and others. INDIANAPOLIS, IND J. H. WOOLL1NG & COMPANY JnNl9C9 (Ebitimt be is limited to five hundred copies, of which this is Copy No COPYRIGHT, 1895, 1896, 1897, 1898, 1899, 1900, BY HENRY W. KNIGHT. COPYRIGHT, 1899, BY FRANK E. WRIGHT. COPYRIGHT, 1900, BY MAI,L,ORY & HOOD. COPYRIGHT, 1904, BY MALJ.ORY & CO. COPYRIGHT, 1905, BY THE JONES BROS. PUB. CO. SPECIAL NOTK-I. The illustrations in this volume are protected by copyright, i they must not be reproduced or copied without written permission from the publish' Disrepar.1 of this warning will ubject the offender to the penalty provided by law. 1 TABLE OF CONTENTS, VOLUME VII. Chapter XCVI. McKinley's Administration, 1897 (Continued) . 1758 Chapter XCVII. McKinley's Administration, 1897 (Concluded) . 1789 Chapter XCVIII. McKinley's Administration, 1897-1901 (Con tinued), Chapter XCIX. McKinley's Administration, 1897-1901 (Con tinued), Chapter Chapter C. McKinley's Administration, 1897-1901 (Con tinued), 1824 1860 1881 CI. McKinley's Administration, 1897-1901 (Con tinued), 1901 Chapter CII. McKinley's Administration, 1897-1901 (Con tinued), 1936 Chapter CIII. McKinley's Administration, 1897-1901 (Con tinued), 1959 Chapter CIV. McKinley's Administration, 1897-1901 (Con tinued), .....'..'... 1977 Chapter CV. McKinley's Administration, 1897-1901 (Con tinued), i 1997 Chapter CVI. McKinley's Administration, 1897-1901 (Con tinued), 2025 'e-e j 19/+2. CHAPTER XCVI McKINLEY'S FIRST ADMINISTRATION (CONTINUED) \Authoritics To anyone who sees in passing events signs of things that are to come, perhaps nothing connected with the events described in this chapter has deeper signifi cance than the words, " Let us have peace." They fell from the lips of Grant when he was at the zenith of his power. Carved in granite they look down upon the silence of his final rest. They are instinct with philosophy, and express a universal yearning for " Peace on earth and good will towards men. " And this peace is coming. Great as are the achievements of such leaders of men as he who rests in that beautiful mausoleum, they are only means to an end. They do not delay, but hasten the approach of the time when all men shall be at peace. They stimulate those discoveries in the art of war fare that, sooner or later, will convert into monuments of human folly the mighty, battle ships of which nations are now so proud, and upon which they so confidently rely. The means for human destruction will become so effective as to render war only national folly. Whether the fame of the great captains of the world will be dimmed by these new conditions might perhaps be an interesting question for speculation. The authorities for the matter in this chapter are so numerous and so well known to the reader that it is not deemed necessary to cite them.] E bones of the leaders of the great Civil War are widely scattered. Sherman sleeps on the banks of the Mississippi; Sheridan at Arlington, across the Potomac from Washington; Major Anderson, of Fort Sumter, Generals Kilpatrick, Sykes, and Keyes at West Point; John A. Dix in Trinity Cemetery on Washington Heights; Frdmont in Rockland Cemetery on the Hudson ; McClellan at Trenton ; Burnside in Rhode Island ; Hooker at Cincinnati ; Meade in Philadelphia; Lyon at Eastford, Conn.; Cushing (the destroyer of the Albemarle) in the Naval Cemetery at Annapolis; Hancock at Norristown, Pa. ; Farragut at Woodlawn Cemetery, New York ; Phil Kearny, the "one-armed devil," in Trinity churchyard, New York; Where the Union Leaden are Buried COPYRIGHT 1897. Mrs. Garfield Mrs. Harrison Mrs. Grant Mrs. McKinley Mrs. Cleveland LADIES OF THE WHITE HOUSE 1869 TO 1901 Mrs. McElroy Mrs. Hayes Miss Cleveland CHAP, xcvi McKINLEY'S FIRST ADMINISTRATION 1759 McPherson at Clyde, Ohio ; Mansfield at Middletown, Conn. , J. F. Reynolds at Lancaster, Pa.; Logan in the National Cemetery at the Soldiers' Home, Washington; Slocum at Washington; Butler at Lowell, Mass. ; Crook, the Indian fighter, Harney of the regulars, Doubleday, Gibbon, with Admirals Porter and Jenkins, and Rear- Admirals Queen, Johnson, Shufeldt, and more than a score of other heroes rest with Sheridan at Arlington. The little town of Lexington, Va., holds the ashes of Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson, while those of Jeb Stuart and Pickett repose in the Hollywood Cemetery, Richmond. Near Westbrook, close to Richmond, lies the body of A. P. Hill. Jo Johnston was buried in Greenmount Cemetery, Baltimore; Polk underneath the chancel of St. Paul's church at Augusta, Ga. ; Albert Sidney John ston was the only army commander killed in battle; Beauregard was buried in Metarie Cemetery, New Orleans ; Forrest at Elmwood Cem etery, Memphis; Semmes in New Orleans; Armistead at Gettys burg, and Garnett among the unknown dead in the same historic town. General Grant will always remain the overshadowing military leader connected with the War for the Union. It was he wno di rected the decisive and closing campaign of that mighty struggle for the life of the nation, and a grateful republic will never fail to do honor to his memory. The life and achievements of Grant have been so fully set forth in the preceding pages that a repetition of them is unnecessary. The following analysis of his character, however, is so clear and truthful that it deserves permanent record. It was written by Lieut.- Gen. John M. Schofield, an intimate and trusted friend of the great soldier: " General Sherman wrote that he could not understand Grant, and doubted if Grant understood himself. A very distinguished states- man, whose name I need not mention, said to me that in his opinion there was nothing special in Grant to understand. Others have varied widely in their estimates of that extraordinary character. Yet I believe its most extraordinary quality was its extreme simplicity, so extreme that many have entirely overlooked it in their search for some deeply hidden secret to account for so great a character, un mindful of the general fact that simplicity is one of the most promi nent attributes of greatness. "The greatest of all the traits of Grant's character was that PERIOD vii THE NEW Where * h c n * Leaders Buried g . field's ' O f Grant 1760 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES CHAP, xcvi PKRIOD vii which lay always on the surface, visible to all who had eyes to see it. THE *IEW That was his moral and intellectual honesty, integrity, sincerity, r STATES ULYSSES S. GRANT veracity, and justice. He was incapable of any attempt to deceive anybody, except for a legitimate purpose, as in military strategy; and above all, he was incapable of deceiving himself. He possessed CHAP, xcvi McKINLEY'S FIRST ADMINISTRATION 1761 that rarest of all human faculties, the power of a perfectly accurate PERIOD vn estimate of himself, uninfluenced by vanity, pride, ambition, flattery, THE NEW or self-interest. Grant was very far from being a modest man, as STATES that word is generally understood. His just self-esteem was as far above it as it was above flattery. The highest encomiums were ac cepted for what he believed them to be worth. They did not disturb his equilibrium in the slightest degree. Confiding, just, and gener ous to everybody else, he treated with silent contempt any sugges tion that he had been unfaithful to any obligation. He was too Grant's proud to explain where his honor was questioned. Self-con- fidence " While Grant knew his own merits as well as anybody did, he also knew his own imperfections and estimated them at their real value. For example, his inability to speak in public, which pro duced the impression of extreme modesty or diffidence, he accepted simply as a fact in his nature which was of little or no consequence and which he did not even care to conceal. He would not for many years even take the trouble to jot down a few words in advance, so as to be able to say something when called upon. Indeed, I believe he would have regarded it as an unworthy attempt to appear in a false light if he had made preparations in advance for an 'extempo raneous' speech. Even when he did in later years write some notes on the back of a dinner-card, he would take care to let everybody see that he had done so by holding the card in plain view while he read his little speech. After telling a story in which the facts had been modified somewhat to give the greater effect, which no one could en joy more than he did, Grant would take care to explain exactly in what respects he had altered the facts for the purpose of increasing the interest in his story, so that he might not leave any wrong im pression. - . " When Grant's attention was called to any mistake he had com- mitted, he would see and admit it as quickly and unreservedly as if and Jus- it had been made by anybody else, and with a smile which expressed the exact opposite of that feeling which most men are apt to show under like circumstances. His love of truth and justice was so far above all personal considerations that he showed unmistakable evi dence of gratification when any error into which he might have fallen was corrected. The fact that he had made a mistake and that itewas plainly pointed out to him did not produce the slightest unpleasant impression, while the further fact that no harm had resulted from 1762 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES CHAP, xcvi PERIOD vii his mistake gave him real pleasure. In Grant's judgment, no case ^jNirao W * n which an y wrong had been done could possibly be regarded as STATES finally settled until that wrong was righted, and if he himself had been, in any sense, a party to that wrong, he was the more earnest in his desire to see justice done.' While he thus showed a total absence of any false pride of opinion or of knowledge, no man could be firmer than he in adherence to his mature judgment, nor more ear- His Moral Courage GENERAL GRANT'S FIRST TOMB nest in his determination, on proper occasions, to make it understood that his opinion was his own and not borrowed from anybody else. His pride in his o\vn mature opinion was very great; in that he was as far as possible from being a modest man. This absolute confi dence in his own judgment upon any subject which he had mastered and the moral courage to take upon himself alone the highest respon sibility, and to demand full authority and freedom to act according to his own judgment, without interference from anybody, added to his accurate estimate of his own ability and his clear perception of the necessity for undivided authority and responsibility in the con- duct*of military operations, and in all that concerns the efficiency of armies in time of war, constituted Ihe foundation of that very great character. CHAP, xcvi McKINLEY'S FIRST ADMINISTRATION "When summoned to Washington to take command of all the armies, with the rank of Lieutenant-General, he determined, before he reached the capital, that he would not accept the command under any other conditions than those above stated. His sense of honor and of loyalty to the country would not permit him to consent to be placed in a false position, one in which he could not perform the service which the country had been led to expect from him, and he had the courage to say so in unqualified terms. " These traits of Grant's character must now be perfectly familiar to all who have studied his history, as well as to those who enjoyed familiar intercourse with him during his life. They are the traits of character which made him, as it seems to me, a very great man, the only man of our time, so far as we know, who possessed both the character and the military ability which were, under the circum stances, indispensable in the commander of the armies which were to suppress the great rebellion. " It has been said that Grant, like Lincoln, was a typical Ameri can, and for that reason was most beloved and respected by the people. That is true of the statesman and of the soldier, as well as of the people, if it is meant that they were the highest type, that ideal which commands the respect and admiration of the highest and best in a man's nature, however far he may know it to be above himself. The soldiers and the people saw in Grant or in Lincoln, not one of themselves, not a plain man of the people, nor yet some superior being whom they could not understand, but the personifica tion of their highest ideal of a citizen, soldier, or statesman, a man whose greatness they could see and understand as plainly as they could anything else under the sun. And there was no more mystery about it all in fact than there was in the popular mind." It having been decided that the body of General Grant should be buried in New York, with the right of sepulture of his widow beside the remains, she selected Riverside as the final resting-place. The task of providing a suitable tomb then confronted his friends. By the close of September, 1886, the subscriptions to the monu ment fund amounted to $82,669.69, and in February following the legislature incorporated " the Grant Monument Association. " Sub scriptions then virtually stood still for several years, though consid erable additions were made in 1890 and 1891. The one man, under Gen. Horace Porter, who deserves our admiring gratitude for bring- PKRIOD VII THE NBW UNITED STATES His Honor and Loyalty River side his Burial Place CHAP, xcvi McKINLEY'S FIRST ADMINISTRATION 1765 ing the subscriptions to a triumphant success was Edward F. Cragin, PERIOD VH of Chicago. In the face of obstacles that not one in a thousand THE NEW UNITED would have faced, he set to work, and by his ability, his tact, his STATES daring, and his untiring vigor, he raised $350,000 in a period of six weeks, that making every dollar required. Then, accepting a modest fee for his services, he returned to Chicago. Ground had been broken with appropriate ceremonies on the an- QRANT'S TOMB ENTRANCE TO VAULT niversary of Grant's birthday, April 27, 1891, on the site of River side Drive and 12 3d Street, and one year later the corner-stone was laid by President Harrison. The lower section of the grand sepulchre, which was planned by John H. Duncan, measures 90 feet on a side, is square in shape, and of the Grecian-Doric order. On the south side the entrance is guarded by a portico in double lines of columns, approached by steps 70 feet in width. The structure is surmounted with a cornice and a parapet at a height of 72 feet, above which rises a circular cupola, 70 feet in diameter, terminating in a pyramidal top, 1 50 feet above grade, and 280 feet above the Hudson River. Plan of Sepul- chr ire HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES CHAP, xcvi PERIOD vii The architecture is severe but noble. The interior gives a cruci- THB NEW form plan, 76 feet in greatest length. Piers of masonry at the corners STATES are connected by arches forming recesses. The arches reach a height of 50 feet above the floor, and over them is an open circular gallery, surmounted by a panelled dome, 105 feet above the floor. The plane and round surfaces are ornamented with sculpture in alto- rilicvo, depicting scenes in General Grant's career. This sculpture GRANT'S TOMB THE SARCOPHAGUS AND VAULT is by J. Massey Rhind. The granite used in the structure is very "The ^ht in color, and the sarcophagus is made of brilliant reddish por- Sculptor phyry. The crypt is directly under the centre of the dome, and stairways lead to the passage surrounding the sarcophagus where in time will rest the remains of General Grant's widow. The removal of the remains of General Grant to their last resting- place in the new and magnificent tomb on Morningside Heights overlooking the beautiful and historic Hudson was attended by one of the most imposing sights ever witnessed in the metropolis of America. The demonstration consisted of three great spectacles, the Qeremony at the tomb; the grand parade of the army, the CHAP, xcvi McKINLEY'S FIRST ADMINISTRATION 1767 National Guard, and civic bodies, and the review of the navy and PERIOD VH the merchant marine on the Hudson. THE NEW UNITED Among those gathered to witness the formal transfer were the STATES President and Vice-President of the United States, many state gov ernors, representatives of other nations, and distinguished American citizens. On our picturesque Hudson, now honored by the presence . . of the tomb, were brought together some of the mightiest ships of posing war ever assembled in this country, with representatives from other a ea navies, and a vast array of merchantmen, all brilliant with marine bunting. The water-front from I29th Street to the Battery, and from Whitehall up the East River to the Bridge, was decorated with the beautiful colors of our glorious flag, and with flags of other na tions, while the city throbbed for hours with the tramping of thou sands of marching feet, the rumble of artillery, and the tread of horses' hoofs. There were 60,000 men in the line of the land parade, which took more than six hours to pass a given point. The day was very disagreeable. It was unusually cold, and marked by gusts of wind, which often filled the air with blinding dust, and made the situation of the spectators extremely uncomfort able ; but, unmindful of this, most of them remained in their places until the close, unwilling to lose even a portion of the remarkable demonstration. At twenty minutes to eleven the booming of guns from the river fleet, followed by cheers, announced the coming of the Presidential party on their way to the dedication-stand. They were escorted by Squadron A, while the Grant family were under the escort of the Society of the Army of the Tennessee, New York Command- ery, and Military Order of the Loyal Legion, with four comrades of George G. Meade Post, No. I, G. A. R., Department of Penn sylvania, in carriages, all under the command of Gen. Daniel But- terfield. The Presidential party included Secretary Sherman, Secretary The Bliss, Secretary Russell A. Alger and Mrs. Alger, Attorney- General ^ntfjj and Mrs. James McKenna, Secretary and Mrs. James Wilson, Gen- Party eral Miles, Mrs. Miles, daughter, and aide. The occupants of the Grant carriage were Mrs. Julia D. Grant, Mrs. Frederick D. Grant, Miss Julia Grant, Master U. S. Grant third, U. S. Grant, Jr., Mrs. U. S. Grant, Jr., Miss Marion Grant, Master Grant, Mrs. Julia Grant, Mrs. Fannie Grant, Master U. S. 1768 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES CHAP, xcvi PERIOD VII STATBT GENERAL PORTER Grant fourth, Mrs. Nellie Grant Sartoris, Algernon Sartor is, Miss Vivian Sartoris, Miss Rosemary Sartoris, Jesse Grant, Mrs. Jesse Grant, Miss Nellie Grant, Master Chapman Grant, Miss Virginia Grant Corbin, and M. J. Cramer, Mrs. M. J. Cramer, and Mrs. Jesse Cramer. Next came the diplomatic corps, ied by the British Am bassador, followed by the French and German Ambas sadors, and the Mexican, Swiss, Danish, Portuguese, Turkish, and Belgian ministers, and the ministers of Ecuador. Amid repeated applause President McKinley appeared at the door of the tomb, and, linking arms with Mayor Strong, descended the plat- form to the speaker's desk. Ex-President Cleveland seated himself beside the President, and the two talked together with every appearance of the best of good fellowship. The exercises opened with prayer by Bishop Newman, who had been an intimate friend of General Grant. President Mc Kinley was warmly welcomed as he stepped forward to speak. His address was as follows : " A great life, dedicated to the welfare of the 'nation, here finds its earthly coronation. Even if this day lacked the impressiveness of ceremony and was devoid of pageantry, it MAYOR STRONG CHAP, xcvi McKINLEY'S FIRST ADMINISTRATION 1769 would still be memorable, because it is the anniversary of the PERIOD vn birth of the most famous and best beloved of American soldiers. THE NEW UNITED " Architecture has paid high tribute to the leaders of mankind, STATES but never was a memorial more worthily bestowed or more gratefully accepted by a free people than the beautiful structure before which we are gathered. Presi- " In marking the successful completion of this work we have, as dent Mc- Kinley's Address PRESIDENT McKINLEY AND HIS CABINET ON BOARD THE DOLPHIN" witnesses and participants, representatives of all branches of our Government, the resident officials of foreign nations, the governors of States, and the sovereign people from every section of the coun try, who join in the august tribute to the soldier, patriot, and cit izen. , " Almost twelve years have passed since the heroic vigil ended and the heroic spirit of Ulysses S. Grant took its flight. Lincoln and Stanton had preceded him, but of the mighty captains of the war Grant was the first to be called. Sherman and Sheridan sur vived him, but have since joined him on the other shore. The great heroes of the civil strife on land and sea, for the most part, are now 1770 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES CHAP, xcvi THE NEW UNITED STATES dead. Thomas and Hancock, Logan and MacPherson, Farragut, Du Pont, and Porter, and a host of others have passed' forever from human sight. Those remaining grow dearer to us, and from them and the memory of those who have departed, generations yet unborn will draw their inspiration and gather strength for patriotic purpose. " A great life never dies ; great deeds are imperishable ; great Worthy of the World's Homage BISHOP NEWMAN OPENING THE PROCEEDINGS WITH PRAYER names immortal. General Grant's services and character will con tinue undiminished in influence and advance in the estimation of mankind so long as liberty remains the corner-stone of free govern ment and integrity of life the guarantee of good citizenship. " Faithful and fearless as a volunteer soldier, intrepid and invinci ble as Commander-in-Chief of the Armies of the Union, calm and confident as President of a reunited and strengthened nation, which his genius had been instrumental in saving, he has our homage, and that of the world. We love him all the more for his home life and homely virtues. His individuality, his bearing and speech, his sim- CHAP, xcvi McKINLEY'S FIRST ADMINISTRATION 1771 pie ways, had a flavor of rare and unique distinction; and his Arner- PERIOD vii icanism was so true and uncompromising; that his name will stand THE NEW UNITED for all time as the embodiment of liberty, loyalty, and national unity. STATES " Victorious in the work which, under Divine Providence, he was called upon to do; clothed with almost limitless power, he was yet one of the people patient, patriotic, and just. Success did not disturb the even balance of his mind, while fame was powerless to PRESIDENT McKINLEY DELIVERING HIS EULOGY ON GENERAL GRANT swerve him from the path of duty. Great as he was in war, he loved peace, and told the world that honorable arbitration of differences was the best hope of civilization. " With Washington and Lincoln, Grant had an exalted place in Honored the history and the affections of the people. To-day his memory is held in equal esteem by those whom he led to victory and by those who accepted his generous terms of peace. The veteran leaders of the Blue and Gray here meet not only to honor the name of Grant, but to testify to the living reality of a fraternal national spirit which has triumphed over the differences of the past and transcends the limitations of sectional lines. Its completion which we pray God to speed will be the nation's greatest glory. Gray 1772 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES CHAP, xcvi PERIOD vii STATES " It is right, then, that General Grant should have a memorial commensurate with his greatness, and that his last resting-place should be the city of his choice, to which he was so attached in life and of whose ties he was not forgetful even in death. Fitting, too, is it that the great soldier should sleep beside' the noble river on MAYOR STRONG DELIVERING HIS ADDRESS whose banks he first learned the art of war, and of which he became master and leader without a rival. "But let us not forget the glorious distinction with which the metropolis among the fair sisterhood of American cities has honored his life and memory. With all that riches and sculpture can do to render the edifice worthy of the man, upon a site unsurpassed for magnificence, has this monument been reared by New York as a CHAP, xcvi McKINLEY'S FIRST ADMINISTRATION 1773 perpetual record of his illustrious deeds, in the certainty that, as PERIOD vn time passes, around it -will assemble, with gratitude and reverence ^j^J^" and veneration, men of all climes, races, and nationalities. , STATES " New York holds in its keeping the precious dust of the silent soldier, but his achievements what he and his brave comrades wrought for mankind are in the keeping of seventy millions of American citizens, who will guard the sacred heritage forever and forevermore." Mayor Strong, who presided, introduced Gen. Horace Porter, the president of the Grant Monument Association, who spoke as follows : " It is all like a dream. One can scarcely realize the lapse of General time and the memorable events which have occurred since our hero Addresl President was first proclaimed one of the great of earth The dial hands upon the celestial clock record the flight of more than a gen eration since the legions of America's manhood poured down from the hilltops, surged up from the valleys, knelt upon their native soil to swear eternal allegiance to the Union, and went forth to seal the oath with their blood in marching under the victorious banners of Ulysses S. Grant. To-day countless numbers of his contemporaries, their children, and their children's children gather about his tomb to give permanent sepulture to his ashes and to recall the record of his imperishable deeds. " It is peculiarly fitting that this memorial should be dedicated in the presence of the distinguished soldier who marched in the victori ous columns of his illustrious chief, and who now so worthily oc cupies the chair of state in which he sat. There is a source of ex treme gratification and a profound significance in the fact that there are in attendance here not only the soldiers who fought under the renowned defender of the Union cause, but the leaders of armies who fought against him, all uniting in testifying to the esteem and respect which he commanded from friend and foe alike. " This grateful duty which we discharge this day is not unmixed Grief be- with sadness, for the occasion brings vividly to mind the fatal day Q^fj.^ on which his generous heart ceased to beat, and recalls the grief Death which fell upon the American people with a sense of pain which was akin to the sorrow of a personal bereavement; and yet it is not an occasion fqr tears not a time to chant requiems or display the sable draperies of public mourning. " He who lies within the portals of yonder tomb is not a dead DAY UNDERTHE ROSES THE BLUE; THE BLUE AND THE GRAY CHAP, xcvi McKINLEY'S FIRST ADMINISTRATION 1775 memory; he is a living real ity. He has been consigned to the chamber of death, but not to the realms of forgetful- ness. Our grief is calmed by the recollection of the bless ings his life conferred and the fame he has left to the custody of his fellow-citizens. " We consecrate this day a tribute to the memory of de parted worth. The story of his life is the history of the most eventful epoch in his country's annals. Upon an occasion such as this it would seem more fitting to stand silent by the tomb and let history alone speak, but it has been deemed proper that living witnesses to PERIOD vii THE NEW UNITED STATES GENERAL DODGE GENERAL BUTTERFIELD his virtues should pay the grateful tribute of their testimony. The allotment of time permits only a brief allusion to the achieve ments of his marvellous career. " Ulysses S. Grant sprang from the loins of the American people and derived his patent of nobility direct from God. He possessed an abiding con fidence in the honesty and in telligence of his fellow country men, and always retained his deep hold upon their affections. Even when clothed with the robes of the master he forgot not that he was still the servant of the people. In every great crisis he was content to leave the efforts to his countrymen ASer- vant.of the People 1776 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES CHAP, xcvi PERIOD VII THE NEW UNITED STATES Always Facing the Front A Com- mander Of Him self and the results to God. As a commander of men in the field he manifested the highest characteristics of the soldier, as evinced in every battle in which he was engaged, from Palo Alto to Appomat- tox. He was bold in conception, fixed in purpose, and vigorous in 'execution. He never allowed himself to be thrown on the defensive, but always aimed to take the initiative in battle. He made armies and not cities the objective points of his campaigns. Obstacles which would have deterred another seemed only to inspire him with greater confidence, and his soldiers soon learned to reflect much of his determination. " His motto was, 'When in doubt, move to the front.' His sword always pointed the way to an advance : its hilt was never presented to an enemy. He once wrote in a letter to his father, 'I never ex pect to have an army whipped, unless it is badly whipped and can't help it.' He enjoyed a physical constitution which enabled him to endure every form of fatigue and privation incident to military ser vice in the field., His unassuming manner, purity of character, and absolute loyalty inspired loyalty in others, confidence in his methods, and gained him the devotion of the humblest of his subordinates. " He exhibited a rapidity of thought and action on the field which enabled him to move with a promptness rarely ever equalled, and which never failed to astonish, and often to baffle, the best efforts of a less vigorous opponent. " A study of his martial deeds inspires us with the grandeur of events and the majesty of achievement. He did not fight for glory, but for national existence and the equality and rights of men. His sole ambition was his country's prosperity. His victories failed to elate him. In the despatches which reported his triumphs there was no word of arrogance, no exaggeration, no aim at dramatic effect. With all his self-reliance he was never betrayed into im modesty of expression. " He never underrated himself in a battle, he never overrated himself in a report. He could not only command armies, he could command himself. Inexorable as he was in battle, war never hardened his heart or weakened the strength of his natural affections. He retained a singularly sensitive nature, a rare tenderness of feeling ; shrank from the sight of blood, and was painfully alive to every form of human suffering. "While his career as a soldier eclipsed by its brilliancy his 1778 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES CHAP, xcvi PERIOD vii achievements as a statesman, yet when we sum up the events of the Ty^NEw eight years during which he was President of the Republic, their STATES magnitude and importance challenge comparison with those of any other Chief Magistrate since the inauguration of the Government. When he took the helm of State the country was in a condition of ferment and disorganization, which is always consequent upon a long- continued civil war. The The Fifteenth Amendment to the Constitution had not yet been Southern Problem ratified by the States. In the South secret societies and armed bands of lawless men were creating terror and defeating the ends of justice. The prosperity of the country was still lagging, the public debt was oppressive, and inflationists and repudiators were weaken ing the national credit. Our merchant marine had dwindled to a mere shadow of its former self; political rancor had envenomed whole sections of the country, Indian wars were brewing, unsettled disputes with foreign powers threatened the national peace, and the new Chief Magistrate was confronted with problems so formidable that they were enough to appall the stoutest heart and discourage the most hopeful mind. " In the letter of acceptance of his nomination for the Presidency ' he uttered one of the sublimest sentences ever penned by states man's hand, 'Let us have peace.' Of all the many aphorisms which emanated from him, this has been deemed the most fitting to engrave indelibly over the portals of his tomb. It is typical of his nature and emblematic of the eternal peace enjoyed by his soul. " He began his administration vigorously and firmly, but he de clared that he would have 'no policy of his own to enforce against the will of the people.' In his first inaugural address he urged measures to strengthen the public credit and give to the world an His unquestionable pledge of financial honesty. His early experience for the among the Indians while he was serving on the frontier had emi- Indians nen tjy fitted him for inaugurating practical methods for improving their condition. " He took up earnestly the work of civilizing and Christianizing them, placing them on reservations, treating them as wards of the nation, and fitting them for ultimate citizenship, and thus avoided wars and saved vast sums of money. Under his administration the Fifteenth Amendment to the Constitution was ratified and all the States were readmitted to the Union. In 1 870 he recommended the CHAP, xcvi McKINLEY'S FIRST ADMINISTRATION 1779 refunding of the national debt, and an act was passed soon after pro- pERI0 . pvn viding for bonds at four per cent., a much reduced rate of interest, T um?^ and they were successfully negotiated. " For the first time in our history he brought about a genuine re form in our civil service, and in the face of the most persistent op position organized the first civil service board. " At the breaking out of hostilities, while many eminent and ex- -His True perienced public men were declaring that the war would last but a t^of " few months, and orators were waving their white handkerchiefs and the War proclaiming that they were large enough to wipe up all the blood which would be shed in the coming struggle, Grant announced his belief that the war would continue for years, and that preparations should be made commensurate with its formidable proportions. " He. wrote a letter from the field to E. B. Washburne, in which he said: 'It became patent to my mind early in the rebellion that the North and South could never live at peace with each other ex cept as one nation, and that without slavery. As anxious as I am to see peace established, I would not, therefore, be willing to see any settlement until this question is forever settled.' " Before any battles had been fought he said to a staff officer: *I believe that Virginia will be the 'principal field of military opera tions in this rebellion, that the cavalry will play an important part in that section of the country, and that the decisive battle in the war will occur there.' This prediction was verified in every particu lar. When it was represented that Kentucky would remain neutral, Grant declared that no State could remain neutral in a national war of such magnitude, and that it would be taken possession of by the troops of one side or the other, and he, without awaiting orders, promptly threw his command into Kentucky to gain the vantage- ground and hold that important territory. " In his proclamation issued at the time he spoke with the true bluntness of the soldier, saying: 'I have nothing to do with opin ions, and shall deal only with armed rebellion and its aiders and abettors.' " When the enemy came out of Fort Ponelson and attacked him, A Patrt- no one could divine the object of the movement. He promptly or- soldier dered the haversacks of the dead to be examined, and, finding they were well filled, said: 'Men defending a fort don't carry three days' rations when making a charge unless they are trying to get 1780 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES CHAP, xcvi PERIOD vii away,' and, after driving them back, sent word: 'I propose to move T^NEW immediately upon your works. ' STATES AS ear jy as fa Q capture of Vicksburg he expressed entire con fidence in the belief that it was not a military necessity to deal harshly with the enemy, and that all possible leniency should be shown to the Southern people, as they would soon again become our Mag- * fellow-countrymen. He therefore treated the prisoners with every nity consideration, paroled the officers and men, and issued this char acteristic order : 'The garrison will march out to-morrow. Instruct your commands to be quiet and orderly as the prisoners pass by, and make no offensive remarks.' " He early foresaw that to overcome the rebellion it was not only necessary to maintain large armies in the field, but to have a vigor ous support of the war in the Northern States. Over a million of loyal voters were absent at the front, and thus deprived of the right of suffrage, and prevented from offsetting by their votes the votes of the disloyal element in the North, and he wrote a remarkable letter to the Secretary of War, setting forth a plan in great detail, provid ing a method which would enable the soldiers to vote in the field. " The plan, accompanied as it was by such checks and safeguards that the votes would be entirely free and untrammelled, so strongly commended itself to the authorities that it was carried out, and proved a complete success. At Appomattox it was a nice question of judgment as to what terms to accord to the opposing army. Civil warfare is always the most bitter. " The worst feelings had been engendered ; the war had claimed as a sacrifice the best blood of the country ; the land was filled with mourning ; the excitement was at fever heat, and there was in many quarters a vindictiveness which prompted the harshest treatment permissible in civilized warfare. Chivldrv " General Grant, without consulting higher authority and without hesitation, took the responsibility of according lenient treatment and avoiding unnecessary offence. He did not demand Lee's sword, and allowed the men to take their horses home 'to work their little farms,' and when the Union batteries began to fire triumphal salutes he sent out an order, saying: 'The war is over, the rebels are our countrymen again, and the best way to rejoice after the victory will be to abstain from all demonstrations in the field.' " With his uncommon range of mental vision, he foresaw that the CHAP, xcvi McKINLEY'S FIRST ADMINISTRATION 1781 granting of these conditions would induce other armies throughout the South to accept the same terms, and thus prevent a guerilla war- THE NEW fare from being carried on for an indefinite period in the interior, and would induce such influential men as Lee and other Confederate army commanders to use their influence in aiding in the rehabilita tion of the Southern States. " He was quicker than any one else to see that reconstruction THE NAVAL PARADE "THE TALBOT," WAR-SHIP (ENGLISH NAVY) would be a task almost as formidable as the suppression of armed rebellion. He refrained from entering the captured capital, did not even step within the enemy's lines, and shrank from every act which might make him appear to pose as a conqueror. " When President Johnson, soon after the war, inaugurated his His High campaign for making treason odious, and when indictments were Honor brought in the Federal courts against Lee and other ex- Confederate officers, Grant foresaw that if such a course were pursued it would be interpreted as a gross breach of faith and a violation of the terms given in the paroles; that it would lead to exciting trials, which would last for years, be a constant source of irritation, and probably compel the Government to hold the Southern States for a long time 1782 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES CHAP, xcvi PERIOD vii as conquered territories, while he believed that every effort should THE NEW be made to bring them back into the Federal Union. UNITED STATES pjj s judgment was so clear upon this subject that he declared his intention to resign his commission in the army if his prisoners were not protected. The result was the quashing of the indictments and the creation of a disposition on the part of the South to accept the results of the war. " As President he showed in his first inaugural that he foresaw The Real Tribunal of the Future THE NAVAL PARADE "THE FULTON," CORVETTE (FRENCH NAVY) the financial errors which were likely some day to be advocated when he wrote: 'To protect the national honor every dollar of Govern ment indebtedness should be paid in gold, unless otherwise expressly stipulated in the contract. . . . Let it be understood that no repudi- at'or of one farthing of our public debt will be trusted in public life.' "Twenty years ago he said : 'At some future day the nations of the earth will agree upon some sort of congress which shall take cognizance of international questions of difficulty, and whose deci sions will be as binding as the decision of the Supreme Court is upon us.' The spirit of the age seems to be gradually tending towards a fulfilment of that prediction. CHAP, xcvi McKINLEY'S FIRST ADMINISTRATION 1783 STATES " Early in his first Presidential term he took vigorous measures PERIOD vn to have competent surveys made for an inter-oceanic canal, believing that it was essential in connecting our extensive Atlantic and Pacific coasts by a shorter water route. His foresight told him that it was impossible to defend such a canal in case of war unless we had a commodious naval station in the Gulf of Mexico. " He realized the fact that other nations held possession of forti fied islands from Bermuda to the West Indies ; he believed that we THE NAVAL PARADE-" THE DOGAU," WAR-SHIP (ITALIAN NAVY) would some day build a competent navy, and that we would be greatly embarrassed by not having even a coaling-station on any of the islands in the Gulf. He therefore negotiated a treaty for securing possession of San Domingo, with its magnificent Bay of Samana, which would afford a harbor for the largest navy afloat. " The treaty gave us, virtually without cost, an island occupying The San a commanding position, rich in many products necessary to this Treaty* country, and with so sparse a population that there were only seven inhabitants to the square mile. The Senate defeated the treaty by depriving it of the necessary two-thirds vote upon the question of its ratification. 1784 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES CHAP, xcvi PERIOD vii STATES " Now, twenty-seven years thereafter, when we have an ironclad navv an d have begun an inter-oceanic canal, have ' recently been threatened with grave complications in Cuba, Venezuela, and else where, there are few patriotic American citizens who do not regret that at that important crisis the President's policy did not prevail. " In defining the qualities of public men, it has been said that the politician looks forward to his next election, the statesman looks for- THE NAVAL PARADE "INFANTA ISABELLA," WAR-SHIP (SPANISH NAVY) s ward to the next generation. Measured by this definition, Grant manifested the highest order of statesmanship. " He was naturally of a hopeful disposition and cheerful mind, A Victim anc ^ entere d heartily into social gayeties, but there were periods in ofDe- his life when his heartstrings were attuned to strains of sadness. He underwent physical hardships and mental tortures which would have crushed a character less heroic. Like other conspicuous lead ers, it was his fate to suffer the bitter experience of detraction, mis representation, and betrayal. "It may be said of him, as was said of a predecessor: 'There were times when twenty men applied for the same office, and after he had reached a selection he found that he had made nineteen CHAP. XLVI McKINLEY'S FIRST ADMINISTRATION 1785 enemies and one ingrate.' He was assailed more bitterly than any PERIOD vu one who ever sat in the chair of State, save Washington. He THE NEW UNITED was brought to realize that 'reproach is a concomitant to great ness, as satire and invective were an essential part of a Roman triumph,' and to learn that in public life 'all honors wound, the last one kills.' " Envy and malice made him at times the target for their poi- . THE NAVAL PARADE THE TORPEDO BOAT PORTER," U. S. N. soned shafts, but their fragments fell at his feet as shattered as the reputations of those who aimed them, and even the wrath of his enemies may now be counted in his praise. " General Grant was a man who seemed to be created especially A man to meet great emergencies'. It was the very magnitude of the task &> r Great which called forth the powers that mastered it. Whether leading gencies an attack in Mexico, dictating the terms of surrender to countless thousands in the War of the Rebellion, suddenly assuming a vast responsibility in great crises both in peace and in war, writing state papers as President which were to have a lasting bearing upon the policy of the Government, travelling through older lands and min gling with the descendants of a line of kings who rose and stood un covered in his presence he was always equal to the occasion, and 114 1786 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES CHAP, xcvi PERIOD vii acquitted himself with a success that challenges the admiration of THE NEW the world. UNITED " In trivial matters he was an ordinary man ; in momentous affairs he towered as a giant. As Johnson said of Milton, 'He could hew a Colossus from the rocks ; he could not carve faces on cherry-stones.' "Even his valor on the field 'of carnage was not superior to the heroism he displayed when in his fatal illness he confronted the His Patience THE NAVAL PARADE-UNITED STATES AND FOREIGN WAR-SHIPS only enemy to whom he ever surrendered. His old will power re asserted itself in his determination to complete his memoirs. Dur ing whole months of physical torture he with one hand held death at arm's length while with the other he penned the most brilliant chapter in American history. " It is twelve years since he left the living here to join the other living, commonly called the dead, and the laurel on his brow was intertwined with the cypress. His last words, uttered at the close of his agonizing illness, were eminently characteristic of his patience and his consideration for others : 'I hope no one will be distressed on my account.' " Now that more than a decade has passed since he stood mong CHAP, xcvi McKINLEY'S FIRST ADMINISTRATION 1787 THK NEW UNITED STATES us, we can form a better estimate of his character than when he was PERIOD vii close by. Time has shed a clearer light upon his acts; he has reached a higher altitude ; distance has brought him into the proper focus, and the picture upon which we now look appears in its true proportions. We see his traits moulded into perfect symmetry and blended into majestic harmony. " A tree can best be measured when it is down. " He reached the highest pinnacle of human distinction. Men THE NAVAL PARADE TORPEDO BOAT " GUSHING," U. S. N. have dwelt upon his achievements till they know them all by heart. The record of his deeds rises to the sublimity of an epic. The story of his life is worthy the contemplation of his greatness. He did his duty and trusted to history for his meed of praise. "The more history discusses him the more brilliant becomes the lustre of his name. He was a natural leader; he was born to com mand. He was one of the men who 'mark the hours while others only sound them.' No one can rob him of a single laurel ; no one can lessen the measure of his renown. He" honored the age in which he. lived, and future generations will be illumined by the brightness of his fame. His Fame Secure T 7 88 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES CHAP, xcvi PERIOD vii " His countrymen have paid him a tribute of grateful hearts ; they THE NEW have reared in monumental rock a sepulchre for his ashes, a temple UNITED STATES to his f ame . The fact that it has been built by the voluntary con tributions of the people will give our citizens an individual interest in preserving it, in honoring it. It will stand throughout the ages upon this conspicuous promontory, this ideal site. It will overlook Tomb the metropolis of the Republic which his efforts saved from dismem berment; it will be reflected in the noble waters of the Hudson, upon which pass the argosies of commerce, so largely multiplied by the peace secured by his heroic deeds. " They owed a sacred duty which they could not fail to perform. They have reared his monument to a majestic height; but if it towered above the eagle's flight it would not reach as high as the summit of his fame. Its flawless granite is typical of the spotless character of his reputation. Its delicate lines and massive propor tions will remind us of the childlike simplicity which was mingled with the majestic grandeur of his nature. " The hallowed memories clustering about it will recall the heroic age of the Republic. Its mute eloquence would plead for equal ' sacrifice should war ever again threaten the nation's life. In this tomb, which generosity has created and which his services have sanctified, his ashes will henceforth rest, but his true sepulchre will be the hearts of his countrymen. CHAPTER XCVII McKINLEY'S FIRST ADMINISTRATION- CONTINUED) -1837-1901 [Authorities: If the brocard, " Figures don't lie," be true, this chapter should be one of the most valuable in the entire work. It consists largely of statistics from which the thoughtful student may make many interesting deductions. An illustration of the way in which an expert statistician can extract from an array of tabulated facts expressed by figures interesting and striking information is furnished by citations from an article in The North American Review by Mr. Mulhall. One of our own writers on political economy has discussed in a very able manner one of the subjects to which Mr. Mulhall alludes the relation at various times between the urban and the rural population. In the fabled "Golden Age" of the Romans, there were no cities. Everyone lived in peace and ^contentment with his flocks and herds. The political economist referred to insists that poverty, vice, and crime increase only when men leave the country and collect in urban masses. In the early history of a coun try nobody is very rich or very poor, but every one who will put forth proper effort can provide sustenance for himself and those dependent upon him. Mr. Mulhall's deduc tions seem to confirm the theory that as civilization advances "the rich become richer and the poor poorer." It is a matter worthy of the most careful investigation. If the theory be true, however, there is no apparent remedy. For the material in this chapter, the author is much indebted to The North American Review^ Henry Gannett, and Orren M. Donalson, in The Irrigation of Maine, the N view of the financial depression existing throughout the country, and with the purpose of securing what was deemed to be the necessary tariff legislation, the President convened Congress in extraordinary session, on Monday, March 15.* Hon. Thomas Brackett Reed, of Maine, was again chosen Speaker, and the task of framing the new tariff bill was en trusted to Representative Nelson Dingley, Junr., hairman of the Ways and Means Committee. *The first " extra" session of Congress was called for May 15, 1797, on account of troubles with France; the second was for October 17, 1803, because of the secret cession Extra Session of Con gress called 1790 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES CHAP, xcvn PERIOD VII THE NEW UNITED STATES Tariff Bill passed by the House When the McKinley administration came into power, it was con fronted by a deficiency of revenue amounting to more than $200,000,. ooo, all of which had accumulated during the preceding four years. Secretary Carlisle estimated in his last annual report that $45,000,000 would be added to this by the ist of July, 1897. This deficiency was due to a fall ing off in receipts from duties on imports, which amounted to more than $60,000,000 per an num. The problem, therefore, was so to revise the tariff laws as to restore the revenue that was lost by the revision of 1894. This important task was com mitted to the able representa tive, Nelson Dingley, Junr., of Maine, chairman of the Ways and Means Committee. Mr. Dingley has explained that, without indulging in any mere theories, he aimed to meet the con ditions thrust upon us. This tariff bill, which is essentially a Republican measure, passed the House, March 3ist, by a vote of 205 to 122. All the Republi cans present voted for the bill, and were joined by five Southern Democrats and one Populist. Twenty -one Populists and five Silver Republicans refused to vote. An amendment was adopted, providing that the new rates shall apply to goods which were not purchased and of Louisiana by Spain to France, whereby New Orleans was proclaimed closed as a place of deposit for merchandise; the third was for October 26, 1807, the cause being the firing upon the Chesapeake by the Leopard; the fourth was for the 4th of November, 1811, be cause of threatened complications with Great Britain; t'le fifth was for September 19, 1814, because of questions connected with the war; the sixth was for September 4, 1837, because of the stress produced by the hard times; the seventh was for May 31, 1841, be cause of the condition of the revenues and finances of the country ; the eighth was for August 21, 1856, to make provision for the army; the ninth was for July 4, 1861, be cause of the Civil War; the tenth was for October 15, 1877, for the purpose of passing the army and deficiency bill; the eleventh was for March 18, 1879, in order to make the necessary preparation for legislation at the regular session; the twelfth was for August 7t 1893, with a view of relieving the general financial distress throughout the country. NELSON DINGLEY, JR. CHAP, xcvii McKINLEY'S FIRST ADMINISTRATION 1791 THE NEW UNITED STATES N. W. ALDRICH Tariff Bill ised jy the Senate pass byt ordered to be shipped to this country prior to April I, 1897, the ob- PERIOD vn ject being to prevent an excessive importation of goods at lower rates than are levied by this bill. The tariff bill was taken up in the Senate, May 24, and was under consideration for seven weeks. Mr. Aldrich opened the debate with a speech, May 25, and the discussion continued until July 7, when the* bill was passed by a vote of 38 to 28. Naturally numerous points of difference developed, and the bill went to conference, whose report came up before the Senate on July 20, and was debated until 3 o'clock, July 24, when by unanimous consent the vote was taken. The passage of the bill was by a vote of 40 to 30, the majority being the same as that of the original bill. The affirmative vote included 37 Republicans, one Democrat (McEnery), one Silver Republican (Jones of Nevada), and one Populist (Stewart). The negative vote was cast by 28 Democrats and two Populists (Harris and Turner). The bill was promptly carried to the House, where Speaker Reed signed the measure, his an nouncement of having done so being received with Republican applause. Then the document was taken back to the Senate, where Vice-President Hobart wrote his name under that of Speaker Reed. The bill was immediately carried to the White House by Chairman Dingley of the Ways and Means Committee. President McKinley, in company with Secretary of the Treasury Gage, Attorney - General McKenna, Postmaster- General Gary, and Secretary of Agriculture Wil son, was waiting in the Cabi net room. At four minutes past four o'clock the Presidential signature was attached, and the tariff bill became the law of the land. Great hopes were entertained of the beneficent results of this measure which had been so long under consideration. The business 1792 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES CHAP, xcvn STATES PERIODVII o f the country had been unsettled for several years, and the financial depression and distress were more general than ever before. It was the uncertainty that made capital timid and acted as a blight upon in dustry and enterprise every where. The indications now pointed to a universal revival of business and the return of the blessed boon of "good times." On the day that the bill be came law, Representative Ding- ley signed the following note worthy expression of his view : " The country has reason to rejoice over the final enactment into law to-day of a tariff bill. Framed, as it is, to secure ade* quate revenue for carrying on the Government, and, at the same time, with duties so ad justed as to open up new oppor tunities for our own labor, the W. B. ALLISON Repre sentative Ding- ley's Views law will relieve the country of the uncertainty that has existed, and set the wheels of business in motion. " It means the beginning of that prosperity that was displaced in 1892, after thirty years' continuance. This law will give increased opportunities to American labor, afford the masses a purchasing power which they have lost under the conditions of the past four years a purchasing power which will enable them to buy more of the farmer, more of the merchant, more of the manufacturer, and more of every producer in the land. Then confidence will return, prices will begin to rise to a paying point, and prosperity set in upon our country. The operations of the law will increase our revenues to that point where every expenditure will be met, and there will be a surplus left with which the Government can resume the payment of the principal of the public debts. " As to the increase in duties in the present law compared to for mer bills, the largest increase has been made in the duty on sugar, partly for revenue and partly for the purpose of encouraging the pro- CHAP, xcvn McKINLEY'S FIRST ADMINISTRATION 1793 \ duction of our own sugar. It is this increase which raises the aver- PERIOD vn age equivalent ad valorem apparently above that of the tariff in 1890, T* NK ^ in which sugar was free. STATES " We have heard much reckless denunciation of the proposed tariff as 'the highest ever known/ but, as a matter of f ^ct, the average ad valorem of the tariff of 1824 was 50^ per cent, and 61^ per cent, in 1830, 48^ per cent, in 1867, and this, too, before under valuation became a science." At the same time Senator Allison expressed himself in the fol lowing cheering words : " My estimate of revenues for this fiscal year from tariff schedules is from $177,000,000 to $180,000,000, and from rebate on beer and cigarettes, $5,000,000 more. "If internal revenue receipts shall amount to $160,000,000, as I think they will, excluding the above, and miscellaneous receipts /[fuson's the same as for last year, the revenues will equal expenditures, or Views within five or ten millions, and inasmuch as many items of appropri ation, notably those for rivers and harbors and public buildings, and for the navy, are in a measure discretionary, if revenues should fall short a few millions, expenditures can easily be curtailed to make revenues and expenditures equal; or there will be no harm in using five or ten millions, or even more, from the surplus in the Treasury, as after this year the bill, under ordinary and normal conditions, will yield ample revenue. " I have no doubt the passage of the bill will have the immedi ate effect of reviving our industries, as the uncertainty which has prevailed for the last few months as respects both sales and pur chases of raw materials of production will have passed away, and both will be made freely, in the belief that we are to have stable conditions for at least four years. " Furthermore, now that our own people will have full opportu nity for competition with foreign producers, they will be able to fur nish the markets very largely as compared with the last few years. Labor, securing steady and constant employment, will be steady purchasers of things they need and do not produce." The Dingley tariff bill does not please everybody; no such bill can ever be framed. But it meets with general concurrence, and will probably be final for a goodly number of years to come. Particular schedules are likely to be changed in order to meet changing condi- I 79 4 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES CHAP, xcvn 1 PERIOD vii tions, but such modifications can hardly be important enough to fur- THE NEW n i s h issues to great national parties. The people feel that a tariff UNITED A t * STATES policy having been established, business prudence, except so far as specific changes in -schedules may prove desirable, requires that it be let alone. An agreement made by the. Dawes Commission with the represen- , tatives of the Choctaw and Chickasaw tribes foreshadows the break- Work of the ing up of the old order of things in the Indian Territory. This agreement allows the tribal governments to continue for eight years mission from March 4, 1898, the delay in the dissolution being intended to allow time for the operation of the great changes provided for, includ ing the allotment of lands in severalty, and the admission of In dians to citizenship on the expiration of their tribal existence. The Cherokees at present strongly oppose this change, but it cannot be doubted that they and the Creeks and Seminoles will ultimately con sent, with the result that the whole tribal system, with community of lands, will disappear from among the Five Tribes. The country was stirred during the summer of 1 897 by the re ports, which proved well founded, of the discovery of enormous de posits of gold on the Yukon River in Alas'ka. Two-score veteran miners went into the region the previous fall, not one of whom pos sessed more than his outfit and a few hundred dollars. When they came out, each brought from $5,000 to $90,000, while many left behind them claims valued at $20,000 to $1,000,000, which were to be worked by their partners. Naturally it was believed at first that these reports were greatly exaggerated, but the display of the gold itself by the returning miners removed all doubt of the amazing rich ness of the new find. A company of these fortunate individuals reached Seattle, July 17 direct from St. Michael's, at the mouth of the Yukon, where Klondike tne ^ ^ad been at work in the Klondike placer-mining districts, from Gold which more than $1,500,000 in gold was taken the previous winter. The party brought back one and one-half tons of gold in nugget and dust, worth in round numbers $1,000,000. The Klondike is a river flowing into the Yukon, in the North west Territory. The distance is fifty miles by river from Forty Mile, on the Alaska boundary, to the scene of the latest finds, and about forty miles in a direct line. A poor miner named George W. Cormack was the discoverer of the Klondike placer diggings, tne CHAP, xcvn McKINLEY'S FIRST ADMINISTRATION 1795 first claim being staked at Bonanza Creek, emptying into the Klon- PERIQDVII dike, August 17, 1896. Within the following year 400 cjaims were located, and the camp grew to 5,000 population. The days of the Argonauts in California had come again. James Ladue, who had lived in Alaska for fifteen years, was the STATES MAP OF THE KLONDIKE GOLD DIGGINGS AND VICINITY founder of Dawson City. He built the first house and raised the first American flag. The population soon grew to several thousands, but with the aid of the Canadian Government there was very little Dawson lawlessness. The town, beautifully situated on the Yukon, near the City mouth of the Klondike, promises to become the mining centre of the Northwest Territory. The creeks comprising the bonanza districts are Bonanza, Eldorado, Victoria, Adams, McCormack, Reddy Bui- 1796 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES CHAP, xcvn PERIOD vn lion, Nugget Gulch, Bear, Balder, and Chee-Chaw-Ka. The Main THE NEW Fork, Hunker, and Gold Bottom creeks are in the Hunker district. UNITED STATES Mrs. Tom Lippy was the first woman who crossed the divide and passed into the new Klondike camp. She accompanied her husband to Eldorado Creek, where they lived in - a tent until a small log-cabin was built. One reason for the absence of lawlessness is that the Canadian Government does not permit men to carry sidearms. All miners when they enter the district are disarmed by the police. IN ALASKA WATERS, STEAMING UNDER DIFFICULTIES Dr. W. H. Dall, one of the curators of the National Museum, Washington, has spent much time in Alaska on geographical expedi tions and is thoroughly informed regarding the country. His state ment, therefore, regarding the newly discovered Klondike gold-fields is of value and importance. " I have no doubt that the facts as told by the press are in the main Location strictly correct. The Klondike gold-fields, however, are not in Alas- ^ an territory. They are in the British provinces, in what is known as the Northwest Territories. The Klondike River, which has been on the map for about twenty years, but not under that name, branches from the Yukon River not far from the boundary between Canada and Alaska. " The nearest way to reach the Klondike River, which is a very Gold- Fields CHAP, xcvn McKINLEY'S FIRST ADMINISTRATION 1797 small one, and the gold-fields is from Chilkoot Inlet. Steamers run PERIOD vii from Sitka there and from Seattle and Tacoma. The distance from THE NEW UNITED the head of Chilkoot Inlet to the Klondike is about 500 miles. To STATES reach there it is necessary to cross the coast mountains and the chain of lakes and short streams which form the headwaters of the Yukon River. It is on these streams that the gold is found. The country is a rolling one, covered with grass. " There is a short, hot summer of about four months, with prac- SUNSET IN LYNN CANAL, ALASKA tically no spring or autumn. The ice begins to break up in the rivers about May 25, and navigation commences on the Yukon about the first week in June. It begins to get very cool by the latter part of September, and is almost winter weather by the first of October. The winter is very cold and dry, with not more than three feet of snow. There is only about three inches of rainfall during the winter, and not more than a foot or ten inches the whole year around. " It is a country in which it is very hard to find food, as there is practically no game. Before the whites went into the region there were not more than 300 natives. They have hard work to support themselves on account of the scarcity of game. Scarcity of Food 1798 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES CHAP, xcvn PERIODVII "The thermometer sometimes goes down to 68 below zero in. THE NEtt January and February. The cold, however, is not so intense as may STATES k e imagined, and 68 there could not be compared with the same here. The dress is mostly of furs in the winter, that used by the - natives, and unless there is a sharp wind blowing one may keep fairly comfortable. " When I was on the Yukon I did not find gold, but knew of it being taken out in profitable quantities for fifteen years or more. The Gold- Bearing Belt JUNEAU, ALASKA, VIEW FROM STEAMER It was first discovered there in 1866. In 1880, when I was up in that country, my last trip having been made two years ago, the first party of prospectors who made mining profitable started out. The gold is found on the various tributaries of the Yukon, and I Lave been within a comparatively short distance of the Klondike fields. I made one trip to Circle City. " The gold-bearing belt of Northwestern America contains all the gold-fields extending into British Columbia and what is known as the Northwest Territories and Alaska. The Yukon really runs along ir. .hat belt for 500 or 600 miles. The bed of the main river is in the valley. " The yellow metal is not found in paying quantities in the main river, but in the small streams which cut through the mountains on i8oo HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES CHAP, xcvn PERIOD vii either side. Mud and mineral matter are carried into the main river, THE NEW while the sold is left on the rough bottoms of these side streams. VNITED STATES j n m ost cases the gold lies at the bottom of thick gravel deposits. The gold is covered by frozen gravel in the winter. During the sum mer, until the snow is all melted, the surface is covered by muddy torrents. When summer is over and the springs begin to freeze, the streams dry up. ' At the approach of winter, in order to get at the gold, the miners find it necessary to dig into the gravel formation. " There are two routes to the fields, one which I have mentioned BIRD'S-EYE VIEW OF SITKA, ALASKA before, from Chilkoot Inlet over the mountains. This is about 500 miles. The other is up the Yukon River, which is about 1,500 miles in length, or three times as far as the other. Flat-bottomed steamers run from St. Michael's up the Yukon. The return trip from the fields is much easier, and has been taken by the miners who have made their piles and recently returned to the United States with them by way of Seattle. " The Pacific Coast Steamship Company runs steamers every four Difficul- days from Seattle. The manner in which supplies can be transport- Trans- e d over the. mountains is by mules, taking time arid expense. As portation j remarked before, it is a country in which there is practically no sustenance, and food must be taken to the gold-fields." Dr. Dall said that the natives are peaceable. He is sanguine as v CHAP, xcvn McKINLEY'S FIRST ADMINISTRATION 1801 to the outcome of the gold discovery from what he knows about the PERIOD VH country, and he does not assert, as many others do, that the reports THE NEW from Klondike are greatly exaggerated. . STATES If anything more is needed to prove that the United States is among the greatest nations of ancient or modern times, such proof is furnished by a careful study of the latest statistics of our country. T , The well-known English statistician, Michael G. Mulhall, in a Greatest recent article in The North American Review on " The Power and Nations Wealth of the United States," says : " If we take a survey of mankind in ancient or modern times as regards the physical, mechanical, and intellectual force of nations, we find nothing to compare with the United States in this present year of 1895, and that the United States possess by far the greatest productive power in the world." What a striking tribute is rendered by this intelligent Englishman in his statement that the absolute effective force of the American people is now more than three times what it was in 1 860, and that the United States possess almost as much energy as Great Britain, Germany, and France collectively, and that the ratio falling to each American is more than what two Englishmen or Germans have at their disposal. He shows by a careful comparison between the con ditions in these different countries that an ordinary farm hand in the United States raises as much grain as three in England, four in France, five in Germany, or six in Austria. One man in America can produce as much flour as will feed 250, whereas in Europe one man feeds only 30 persons. Mr. Mulhall proves further that the intellectual power of the great republic is in harmony with the industrial and mechanical, eighty-seven per cent, of the total population over ten years o/ age being able to read and write. "It maybe fearlessly asserted," says he, "that in the history of Q the human race no nation ever before possessed 41,000,000 in- Intellect- structed citizens."- Power The Post-Office returns are appealed to by Mr. Mulhall in sup port of this part of his statement, these showing that, in the num. ber of letters per inhabitant yearly, the United States are much ahead of all other nations. According to the figures of Mr. Mulhall the average annual in- 1802 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES CHAP, xcvn PERIOD vii crement of the United States from 1821 to 1890 was nine hundred TH!NEW and one millions of dollars, and he adds that "the new wealth STATES added during a single generation that is, in the period of thirty years between 1860 and 1890 was no less than forty-nine milliards GENERAL POST OFFICE, NEW YORK Urban and Rural Wealth of dollars, which is one milliard more than the total wealth of Great Britain." Classifying the whole wealth of the Union under the two heads, urban and rural, Mr. Mulhall finds that rural or agricultural wealth has only quadrupled in forty years, while urban wealth has multi plied sixteenfold. Before 1860 the accumulation of wealth for each rural worker was greater than that corresponding to persons of the urban classes ; but the farming interests suffered severely by reason of the Civil War, and since then the accumulation of wealth among CHAP, xcvn McKINLEY'S FIRST ADMINISTRATION 1803 urban workers has been greatly more than that among rural workers, PERIOD vu a fact which Mr. Mulhall thinks explains the influx of population THE NEW UNITED into towns and cities. STATES In a series of figures Mr. Mulhall shows that the " rise in wealth and increase in wages came almost hand in hand." In dealing with the development of farm values, he makes the following statement : MAP SHOWING THE LOUISIANA PURCHASE " If the United States had no urban population or industries what ever, the advance of agricultural interests would be enough to claim the admiration of mankind, for it has no parallel in history." Mr. Henry Gannett, in his book " The Building of a Nation," has grouped together a remarkable collection of facts about the popu lation, industries, and resources of our country, which are of the highest importance. It will be remembered that at -the close of the Revolution our territory was limited on the west by the Mississippi, and on the 1804 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES CHAP, xcvn PERIOD vii south by the northern boundary of Florida. To this was added the T^NEW Louisiana purchase in 1803, which brought to us 1,171,931 square STATES miles, if we include the present States of Oregon, Washington, and Idaho, which, though not a part of the purchase, were acquired as the direct result through occupation and settlement. Following this, in 1821, came the Florida purchase of 59,268 square miles, costing Gr th $5> ooo > oo ; then, in 1845, the annexation of Texas, 375,239 square of miles; in 1848, the Mexican cession of 545,783 square miles, cost- ry ing $15,000,000;' in 1853, the Gadsden purchase, at the southern part of what are now Arizona and New Mexico, 45,535 square miles, costing $10,000,000; in 1867, Alaska, 570,000 square miles, cost ing $7,200,000. Thus, for about $50,000,000 in money, our do main grew from 827,844 square miles in 1790 to 3,603,884 square miles in 1870 and to-day.* But a most striking fact is that as the population, which was only 3,929,214 in 1790, had increased to 62,622,250 on June I, 1890, and, indeed, including the people of Alaska and the Indians not then counted, to about 63,000,000, the density of population had grown far more than the area. The latter was in 1890 about four and a half times that of a century before, and yet the density of popula tion, in 1790 only 4.75 inhabitants per square mile on the average, had increased to 17.37 per square mile in 1890, even with the vast untenanted regions of Alaska to bring down the average. But the comfortable growth still possible is shown by the fact Growth that while our country is nearly as large as all Europe, it is exceeded Popula- in density of population by every country of Europe except Russia and Norway. And the most populous countries are from ten to twenty times as thickly settled. v The land surface of the United States has two systems of uplift, * There are remaining in 1897 only three Territories in the United States, exclusive of the District of Columbia, the Indian Territory, and Alaska, which does not yet dream of Statehood. The three Territories are Arizona, New Mexico, and Oklahoma. The area of Arizona is 113,000 square miles, of New Mexico, 122,000 square miles, and Oklahoma, with No-Man's Land, 39,000 square miles. The present population of Arizona is about 70,000, of New Mexico, 175,000, and of Oklahoma, 105,000. There is a general sentiment that these three Territories should be joined together and admitted as one State. They would have a land area slightly more than that of Texas, but with only one-tenth of its population. This action would remove most of the objection to the separate admission of the States. The Republicans oppose the Statehood of New Mexico and Arizona because of their predominant silver sentiment, while the Democrats, who formerly favored their admission, now dislike the preponderance it would add to the States long ago admitted. 1806 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES CHAP, xcvn PERIOD vii the Appalachian and the Cordilleran or Rocky, and with the great THE NEW stretch of the country in both latitude and longitude, there is a STATES wonderful variety of climate, soil, and vegetation. Nowhere, per haps, have the forces of nature been exerted upon a more marvellous scale, eroding cafions and gorges, forming vast basalt plains, and changing trunks of trees to amethyst, opal, chalcedony, and quartz M . crystal. The hot springs and geysers for number and magnitude lous completely eclipse those of all the rest of the world together. Nature Where Iceland has two or three active geysers, petty by compari son, Yellowstone !*ark alone has hundreds. There are thousands of hot springs, some of them covering areas of many acres, and the amount of boiling water ejected from the earth is almost incredible. The temperature of the country in the East is fairly uniform, con sidering the range of latitude, etc., but in the mountain region of the West there are great excesses. " At Yuma, near the mouth of the Colorado River, the temperature in summer often exceeds 115, and when it falls to 100 people put on their flannels. On the other hand, in Montana, temperatures of 52 below zero have been repeat edly recorded; although on the whole the climate of Montana is exceptionally mild, considering its latitude and altitude. " Taking the whole land together, " it is one of the wettest and one of the dryest countries on the globe ; it is one of the hottest and one of the coldest. " The approximate area of the public lands, excluding Alaska, being reckoned at 1,440,000,000 acres, we find that up to June 30, 1892, 873,000,000 acres had been alienated; about 130,000,000 in home steads, 224,000,000 in cash sales, 79,000,000 in railway land grants patented, 70,000,000 in swamp-lands to States, 61,000,000 in land bounties for military service, etc. Of the 567,000,000 acres re maining, perhaps 100,000,000 must be allowed for Indian reserva tions and about 103,000,000 for grants to railroads not yet patented. Most of the lands not taken up are mountainous or arid. China is the most populous country on the globe, with 360,000,- Rankin to 385,000,000 people ; India is the next ; then Russia; while Popula- fourth comes our country, and fifth is Germany. Our land has doubled its population in the last thirty years, while in the same period France has increased 3 per cent., and Great Britain anc fre- land 29 per cent. Maine and Vermont are practically not increasing, and Nevada has been actually decreasing. In 1790, Virginia was T 8o8 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES CHAP, xcvn PERIOD vii the most populous State in the Union, with Pennsylvania second. THE NEW New York in 1810 reached the second place, and in 1820 the first UNITED STATES place, Virginia then being second. In 1830, Pennsylvania pushed up to second place again, and has held it ever since. In 1 790 the third place was occupied by North Carolina; between 1840 and 1880 it was held by Ohio; while in 1890 Illinois secured it. At that census, New York showed 5,997,853 people; Pennsylvania, 5,258,014; Illinois, 3,826,351 ; Ohio, 3,672,316. Missouri was fifth with 2,679,184. The centre of population in 1790 was about 23 miles east of Bal- The timore; in 1800, about 1 8 -miles west of Baltimore; in 1810, about Popula- 4 m il es northwest of Washington; in 1820, about 16 miles north tion o f Woodstock, Va. ; in 1830, about 19 miles southwest of Moorefield, W. Va. ; in 1840, 16 miles south of Clarksburg, W. Va. ; in 1850, 23 miles south of Parkersburg, W. Va. ; in 1860, 20 miles south of Chillicothe, Ohio; in 1870, 48 miles east of Cincinnati; in 1880, 8 miles west of Cincinnati; in 1890, 20 miles east of Columbus, Ind. Perhaps the most remarkable feature in this march is the directness of its westerly progress. In the full century it has not varied half a degree from a due west direction, or gone north or south of a belt about 25 miles broad. Yet in this century it has moved across more than nine meridians, or a distance of 505 miles westward. In comparison with the centre of population we may note the centre of area, which, excluding Alaska, is in the northern part of Kansas. An arbitrary rule must be followed, of course, in determining Ratio what is urban and what is rural population. The census office treats of Urban as ur ban all concentrated bodies exceeding 8,000 in number. On andRural Popula- that basis it finds that while in 1790 the urban population was but tlon 131,472, and the rural 3,797,742, a century later the former had increased to 18,284,385, while the latter was 44,337,865. The pro portion of urban to total population in 1790 was 3.35, whereas in 1890 it had reached 29.20. In fact, in 1790 this country contained but six cities of more than 8,000 people each, while a century later it had 443. The total population had become 16 times as great, but the urban population 1 39 times as great. The North Atlantic States contain the greatest proportion of the urban element, 51.81 per cent., Rhode Island leading off with 78.80, followed by Massa chusetts with 69.90, and New York 59.50. CHAP, xcvn McKINLEY'S FIRST ADMINISTRATION 1809 In 1870 there were but 14 cities of more than 100,000 inhabitants each. In 1880 there were 20, and in 1890 there were 28. These cities combined had 9,788,150 people, or 15.6 per cent, of the whole population. There were 1 1 cities at the last census that exceeded 250,000 each. Mr. Gannett notes that within a radius of fifteen miles of the City Hall of New York, and tributary to that city as the metropolitan district is to London, live three and a quarter mil lions of people, or enough to make it the second city in size upon the globe, as shown by the creation of Greater New York. The average size of families has diminished from 5.55 persons in 1850 to 4.93 in 1890, which is over 1 1 per cent. The highest aver age is in the Southern States, due primarily to the large proportion of colored people, among whom the birth rate is exceptionally great. But the families of the whites in the South are also larger than the average, and even equal those of the North Central States, where the Germans, Norwegians, and Swedes increase the average. As to sexes, the males in the year 1890 numbered 32,067,880, and the females 30,554,370. This is a larger proportion of males than in 1850 or in 1860. The facts show, it is said, a tendency to an increase in the proportion of males, which has exceeded that of females certainly during the last forty years, although the tendency received a set-back during the Civil War, from which it is now recovering. A table shows that in Europe, while the numbers of the two sexes are nearly equal, the females are in excess, the proportion ranging from 50.58 in the Netherlands to 51.46 in th'i United King dom and 52.10 in Norway. Incur country the percentage of females at the last census was 48.79, and that of males 51.21, the excess of the latter being ascribed to immigration. No doubt emigration accounts, also, for some of the figures in European countries ; yet in Spain, where there is comparatively little of it, we find but 49.04 males to 50.96 females, and in Austria, where there is not excessive emigration, 48.91 to 51.09. Of course, the difference between our own States in this matter is great. The factories on the Atlantic border attract great numbers of female operatives, while the outdoor occupations of the West draw many males. In Montana there are two males to one female, and nearly as great a ratio in Wyoming- On the other hand, in New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Maryland, Virginia, and both Carolinas, females PERIOD VII THE NEW UNITED STATES Average Size of Families Ratio of Males and Females i8io HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES CHAP, xcvn PERIOD vii are in excess, although this excess is not great. In the District of THE NEW Columbia they constitute 52.44 per cent., and in Massachusetts. UNITED * J t r STATES which stands next, 51.42. Of our total of 62,622,250 people in the year 1890 there were 7,470,040 of negro or mixed blood, including mulattos, quadroons, and octoroons. This is a little over 12 per cent., and it shows an Ne ro increase from 6,580,793 in 1880 and from 4,880,009 in 1870. Of and course the relative proportion of increase has been greater for the Races whites. The faulty character of the census of 1870 even aroused some question as to whether the colored element was not relatively losing with enormous rapidity. But Mr. Gannett shows that in the thirty years preceding 1860 it increased 48 per cent, and in the next thirty years not less than 68. In Louisiana the colored people are about one-half the population ; in Mississippi and South Carolina, nearly three-fifths ; in the coastwise States, from Virginia to Louis iana inclusive, over one-third each. It is declared that there has been a " perceptible southward movement of the colored race." As to the Chinese, their immigration began in 1854, and averaged about 4,000 to 5,000 for fifteen years, when it became more rapid. Agitation produced the Exclusion Act of 1882, with the result that, while the census showed 104,168 Chinese here, that of 1890 showed 106,162, only a very slight increase. The Indians numbered 249,- 273 in 1890, with 216,706 living upon reservations, and more than a third of these were self-supporting and self-governing. Of our total population by the census named, 9,249,547 were of for eign birth and 53,372,703 of native birth, including the colored races. The native whites numbered 45,862,023. It is interesting to note that the changes have been comparatively small in these proportions in the last thirty years. The native ratio in 1 860 was 86.44, f which 73.46 was white; the foreign was 13.16. In 1890 the native rat^o was 85.23, with 73.24 of it white, and the foreign was 14.77. Prior to 1860 the native ratio was larger, being 90. 32, but the native white ratio is given as only 73.24, or precisely as at the last census. The leading industry of the United States, if we consider the Leading number of persons employed and supported by it, is agriculture; but tries if we consider the value of the product, it is manufactures, since the latter in 1890 exceeded $4,000,000,000, while that of agriculture was only $2,460,000,000. A very striking fact is that in 1880 the net product of manufactures was $1,973*000,000, or less than that of CHAP, xcvn McKINLEY'S FIRST ADMINISTRATION 1811 agriculture, which was $2,213,000,000 at that time. The enormous PERIOD VH gain and present status of manufactures certainly suggest their right T" K NEW to be heard as an element in the finance of the country. The value STATES of farms in 1890 was $13,276,000,000, an increase of 30 per cent. Farming tools and machinery brought the total capital up to $13,- 770,000,000, which produced a return of $2,460,000,000, or a little less than 1 8 per cent. The average size of farms decreased from 203 acres in 1850 to 134 acres in 1880, but in 1890 it increased to 137 acres. Tobacco is produced in forty-two States and Territories, but nearly half the whole crop comes from Kentucky. Virginia, Ohio, p . North Carolina, Tennessee, and .Pennsylvania are also great produ- tion of ' /~> i ttr- Tobacco cers, as, too, are Connecticut in proportion to its area, and Wiscon sin, considering its latitude. Wheat is the most important of our cereal crops, 'and in the famous year 1891 the yield was 612,600,000 bushels, whereas India produced only 235,000,000; France, 231,000,000; Russia, 186,000,- ooo; Hungary, 119,000,000; and Italy, 102,000,000. That year was also a great one for our corn, which reached 2,060,000,000 bushels, falling off about one-fifth the following year. Of oats, during that same prosperous year, the production reached 738,000,000 bushels. The rye crop is generally heavy, while barley and buckwheat come lower on the list. Cotton, of course, is of great importance, the maximum yield, that of 1892, reaching 9,038,707 bales, Texas leading off in virtue of its area, while Georgia and Mississippi are enormous producers, with Alabama following. Hay is a product of vast value, that of 1888 amounting to 47,000,000 tons, valued at $408,000,000 ; and mention must also be made of potatoes, of which the product in 1888 was 202,000,000 bushels, valued at $81,000,000. The total number of farm animals in 1892 was 169,100,000, valued at $2,461,000,000. Horses led off, with 15,500,000 in num- Value of ber and $1,008,000,000 in value. Cows numbered 16,400,000, with a value of $570,000,000. The densest sheep population is in Ohio, averaging 109 to a square mile, or nearly three times as many for the area as any other State. Of hogs, Iowa has 127 to the square mile; Illinois, 85; Ohio, 69. In about two-fifths of the area of the country, excluding Alaska, the rainfall is not adequate for agriculture, so that in eleven States 1812 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES CHAP, xcvn PERIOD vii and Territories irrigation is resorted to. The total area irrigated at TH^NEW thie date given was 3,564,416 acres, or about one-half of one per STATES cent o tne t o t a \ areas. In two States, Colorado and California, the irrigated area exceeded one per cent. Manufactures have had a rapid development in this country. In 1850 the capital employed was $533,000,000; the hands, 957,000; Manu tne wa es > $ 2 37> ooo > oo ; tne material, $555,000,000; the gross factures product, $1,019,000,000 ; the net product, $464,000,000. These figures fell somewhat short of doubling in 1860. However, in 1880 all of them had been more than quadrupled, except the number of hands, which was about tripled. For 1890, by making approximate calculations from partial statistics, Mr. Gannett reaches these vast figures: Capital, $6,180,000,000, or nearly twelvefold that of 1850; hands employed, 4,665,000, or nearly fivefold, in spite of the intro duction of labor-saving machinery ; wages, $2,000,000,000, or nearly ninefold, thus making the average wages far higher; gross product, $9,400,000,000, or over ninefold; material, $5,000,000,000, or nine fold ; net product, $4,400,000,000, or nearly tenfold. In ten years the South has made great strides in manufactures. The average yearly wages of employees in 1850 were $247; in 1890 they were $429. The average capital invested in each estab lishment hadv also increased from $4,000 to $15,000. In 1850 the proportion of net product going to employees was 51, and to capital 49; in 1890 these proportions had become 45 and 55 respectively. But in 1850 the proportion of net product to capital was 87, and, minus wages, it was 43; whereas in 1890 these proportions had respectively diminished to 71 and 39. New York is our greatest manufacturing centre, with over $750,000,000 of products in 1890; then follow Chicago, with over $600,000,000; then Philadelphia. After a long gap come Brooklyn, St. Louis, Boston, and then Cincinnati. Of steel we now produce one-fourth more than even Great Britain Steel and Iron herself; and of iron in 1890 and the two years following we pro duced 12 per cent. more. On June 30, 1890, we had 562 blast fur naces, 224 of them in Pennsylvania, and also 158 steel works, about half in Pennsylvania. Of cotton factories we had 904 in 1890, with $354,000,000 capi tal, employing 221,585 hands, or an increase of 27 per cent over 1880, and earning $66,000,000 in wages, an increase of 57 per cent. 1814 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES CHAP, xcvn PERIOD vii The product had risen to $268,000,000, an increase, in ten years, of THE NEW AQ per cent. New England carries on 63 per cent of the cotton UNITED STATES manufactures. Woollen factories had in 1890 fallen off in numbers from 1880, but they had increased their capital invested from $159,000,00010 $297,000,000, their gross product to $338,000,000, and their wages from $47,000,000 to $66,000,000, or 62 per cent, although the net product, owing to the increased cost of raw material, had scarcely increased at all. There were 18,536 periodicals of all classes published in 1891, In the same year were produced 44,316,804 gallons of whiskey, 12,260,821 of alcohol, 24,306,905 of wines, 1,784,312 of rum, 1,223,775 of fruit brandy, and 30,021,079 barrels of beer. Our mineral product for 1891 is put at $668,524,537, an enor mous total. It included $117,106,483^ bituminous coal; $128,- 337,985 in pig iron; Pennsylvania anthracite, $73,943,735 ; building stone, $47,294,746; silver, at coining value, $75,416,565; gold, $33>i75>ow> copper, value at New York, $38,455,300; lime, $35,- 000,000; petroleum, $32,575,188; natural gas, $18,000,000; lead, $17,609,322; while zinc, cement, salt, phosphate rock, mineral waters, and quicksilver add to the amount. We produce a third of the world's coal and one-fourth of its iron, Great Britain alone ex- ceeding us. We produce one-third of the world's steel, surpassing her. We produced in 1890 about 28 per cent, of the world's gold, and used to produce more, the yield in 1853 being $65,000,000. We produce two-fifths of the world's copper, and by far the greatest part of its petroleum. As to transportation, our railways have a greater mileage than those of all Europe combined. Wonders No student of American history can fail to glance ahead and won- of the d er w hat the future has in store for us. Had any person at the close of the Revolution foretold our growth of territory and population, our inventions, discoveries, and progress, he would have been set down as extremely optimistic, if not visionary, and not a tenth of his prophecy would have been believed. So it is a wild venture to speculate about what shall be a hundred or even fifty years in ad vance. The art of navigating in the air, the substitution of electric ity as the universal motor, the doubling and tripling of speed by railways and steamboats, absolute safety against fire, a specific for every disease (excepting old age), and the consequent lengthening of CHAP, xcvii McKINLEY'S FIRST ADMINISTRATION 1815 STATES human life, the perfection of engines of war to such a degree of PERIOD vii awful destructiveness that war shall become impossible, a greater THE NEW UNITED knowledge of the mysterious worlds around us, a deeper penetration of nature's secrets all these and many more may be set down as among the certainties of the future, and many a boy and girl now reading these pages will perhaps live to see their fulfilment. The number of States to-day is forty-five. At no distant day there will be a hundred, and our population will reach a billion. tion MORMON TEMPLE, SALT LAKE CITY As an indication of what is soon to come, a description is here given of an amazing but practical scheme already put forward by the irrigation experts of the West. Millions of acres have 'been Possibil- wrested from the desert and developed during late years by means of irriga- artificial irrigation. It may be said, indeed, that most of the coun try between the Missouri River and the Sierras has been thus re claimed. The deserts of sand and sage-brush in Colorado, Utah, New Mexico, Arizona, Southern California, and other Western States have thus been transformed into fruitful orchards and pro ductive farming lands. The change is so marvellous as to prove that irrigation is the one and only key that is to unlock the real wealth of the greater part of the West. Thus far, however, irrigation has been carried on in a primitive 1816 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES CHAP, xcvn PERIOD vii way, in which as much water has been wasted as has been utilized, THE NEW and being in the hands of private persons, later comers have been STATES deprived of their water rights or compelled to pay therefor an extor tionate price. It is self-evident that the question of irrigation must be considered in the interests of the people as a whole. The main trouble is that D . ffl . vast areas of the best irrigable lands in one State depend for their ties of natural water supply on rivers that rise and run for most of their Question length in another State, which if it chooses can cut off the water supply and use or waste it all on its own territory. Something of this nature has already occurred, giving rise to serious disputes between the States. Kansas asks whether her agriculture is to be destroyed in favor of Colorado's settlers, and Colorado replies by reversing the question, while Idaho and Utah, Utah and Nevada, and Nevada and California are wrangling over the same matter. It will be seen that the real trouble arises from the relations of the watersheds of these States. In the eastern half of our coun try natural boundaries, such as mountains and rivers, were largely used, but in the western half the state divisions are almost wholly on the lines of latitude and longitude. Some of the results are amusing. Thus in Arizona, people living north of the Grand Canon can reach their capital only by travelling several hundred miles out of the direct way and going through other States, for the Canon can be passed only at one point for five hundred miles of its length. The Rocky Mountains cut into parts and isolate Montana, Colorado, and Wyoming. The Cascade Range divides Washington and Ore gon into sections having no interests in common. Ingenious malig nity could not have made the various boundary lines more absurd, illogical, and mutually injurious. The irrigation people ask that the States shall be mapped out on System the basis of topography, and that their territory shall be founded on undivided water systems or drainage. As bounded now, every river of account in the irrigation country flows through two or more States or Territories. The water systems of the entire arid region are crossed and recrossed by State lines. As an illustration, the Bear River rises in Utah, flows north into Wyoming, turns west into Utah again, then back into Wyoming, crosses into Idaho, and finally returns to the State of its birth, and empties into Great Salt Lake. The endless disputes and complications, and the great interests CHAP, xcvn McKINLEY'S FIRST ADMINISTRATION 1817 involved, have led to the proposal to wipe out all the present State PERIOD vn and territorial lines, and make a new division of the arid and sub- THE NEW UNITED humid West and Southwest into States with boundaries in accord STATES with the natural contour of the country, and with special reference to the needs of irrigation. Of the different schemes proposed, the most noteworthy is that of Orren M. Donaldson, in The Irrigation Age. He admits the impossibility of including the largest rivers each in one irrigation district or in one State. But with the excep- LAKE FRONT. SALT-AIR BEACH SALT LAKE (NOW DRV) tion of the Missouri, Rio Grande, Colorado, Columbia, and Sho- shone, and of two smaller rivers, no stream in all the irrigation coun try would, under this proposed partition, flow from one political division into another. Every river would have its entire course through the arid region within the limits of one State or Territory. The inter-State division of the five large rivers named Mr. Donald son thinks could be arranged without difficulty. What a striking difference this partition would make in the map Effect on of the United States ! It would give twenty-six States and Terri- ourMa P s tories in place of the eighteen that now make up the Western half of the country, "thus securing to the West its equal influence with the East in national affairs, to which its equal population will give it full title in the not-distant future." Mr. Donaldson estimates the i8i8 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES CHAP, xcvii PERIOD vii average population of the new political divisions at 380,000, and the TpNEw average size 73,500 square miles. The map, which is reproduced STATES on another page, is from material kindly furnished by The Irriga tion Age, and fully tells the interesting story. Ic is appropriate in this place to direct attention to the peculiari ties of other State and territorial boundaries. If the new Alaskan p .. boundary is accepted, it will form one of the longest of the numer- State ous straight boundaries between one country and its neighbors, for r j es it will be a meridian of about 600 miles. The only longer stretch of straight boundary between this country and another is the parallel extending along our Canadian frontier westward from the Lake of the Woods to Puget Sound, forming the longest straight boundary line in the world. The longest similar boundary line wholly within the United States is the parallel which runs westward from the southeastern corner of Kansas to the southwestern corner of Utah, and separating Kansas, Colorado, and Utah on the north from Indian Territory, Oklahoma, New Mexico, and Arizona on the south. This line is nearly 1,100 miles in length, or about 400 miles longer than any other straight boundary wholly within the United States. The next longest is the parallel separating Idaho and Oregon on the north from Utah, Nevada, and California on the south. It is about 700 miles long. The longest straight boundary line between two States is that running southeast from Lake Tahoe to the Colorado River, between California and Nevada. It is 400 miles long, and has recently been surveved and marked at frequent intervals w?th boundary stones. There is only one very long straight boundary line east of the Lengthy Mississippi, the parallel running west from the northwestern border dary of South Carolina to that river, and separating North Carolina and Lines Tennessee on the north from Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi on the south. It is nearly 500 miles long. Carelessly drawn maps seem to indicate a considerably longer straight line between Vir ginia and Kentucky on the north, North Carolina and Tennessee on the south. But this line is not throughout its length a single paral lel. It has several kinks, each with a more or less interesting dip lomatic history. There are half a dozen other straight boundary lines east of the Mississippi from 150 to 250 miles in length. New York's southern boundary is one of these. The most famous boundary between any two States of the Union, CHAP, xcvn McKINLEY'S FIRST ADMINISTRATf(5t#Zf, 1819 THE NEW UNITED STATES and, all things considered, one of the most notable in the world, is PERIOD VH the parallel, about 275 miles in length, between Pennsylvania on the north and Maryland and West Virginia on the south. It is, for the greater part of its length, the Mason and Dixon's line of history, first famous as commemorating a quarrel between the Penns and the Cecils, dating back more than two hundred years, and having its origin even earlier, and later even more famous as expressing the popular conception of the boundary between the slave States and the free States. Not even our long-disputed Northwestern boundary has been so much in men's mouths as Mason and Dixon's line. It is entirely probable that "the survey of this early line set the prece dent for boundaries by parallels and meridians, for although British kings had before, in their large- handed way, made grants in the New World from parallel to paral lel, Mason and Dixon's line was about the earliest long boundary to be carefully surveyed. The first complete survey of the line dates to about 1767, though attempts had been made at it some years ear lier, and the western boundary of Delaware, which is to all intents and purposes part of the same line, had been surveyed with rare accuracy for that period. The only States or Territories bounded wholly by meridians and parallels are Wyoming, Colorado, and Utah, and only the first two are true rectangles. Indeed, perhaps properly speaking, only Colo rado is, since the Yellowstone Park occupies the northwestern corner MAP SHOWING PRESENT BOUNDARIES IN DOTTED LINES. PRO POSED NEW ONES IN BLACK LINES Early Surveys 1820 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES CHAP, xcvn THE NEW UNITED STATES PERIOD vii of Wyoming. New Mexico narrowly escaped a boundary solely by parallels and meridians by the interposition of the Rio Grande for a few miles -on the south. West Virginia has the most irregular boundary of any State, and is almost entirely defined by natural lines, rivers, and moun tain ranges. New Jersey has natural boundaries, save for an imaginary straight line of some miles be tween her and New York. Michigan is the only State com posed of two parts wholly sundered by a large body A Proud Birth right EARLY LOCOMOTIVE, THE " DEWITT CLINTON" (1831) of water. If a pending suit of Maryland against West Virginia shall be decided in favor of the former, the latter will be sundered into two parts, separated by intervening territory of another State, the only instance of the kind in the Union. This boundary dispute is almost as old as the historic quarrel over Mason and Dixon's line. No American, we repeat, can look upon the marvellous growth and progress of his country in territory, population, wealth, science, literature, education, invention, art, and all that makes a nation truly great, without a thrill of gratitude and a pride in his birthright; but it is wise in reflecting upon all this to remember that where there is so much prosperity and such ground for hope, there is also cause for fear. Such blessings bring their responsibilities, and the history of more than one people of the past proves that nations, like men, when they seem to be full of vigor and life, may be already smitten with death. The promises of the future cannot be realized if we fall short of our duty. There have been crucial periods in the past, when our country tottered on the verge of destruction, and doubtless such crises will confront us in the future. The most pressing duty is that of a more general, intelligen' \nd conscientious study of and interest in politics. It is too much the case that politics is left to the ignorant and corrupt members of so- CHAP, xcvn McKINLEY'S FIRST ADMINISTRATION 1821 ciety. Good men shrink from tainting themselves, as they regard it, PERIOD vii in the unclean waters ; and yet by no other means can they be puri- THE NEW UNITED fied, and by no other process can the wrong-doers be rendered pow- STATES erless to injure their fellowmen by corruption and unjust laws. The study of the Constitution should begin in all schools as soon as the pupil has the mental capacity to understand the provisions of that wonderful instrument. The history of the United States should Our be familiar to every boy and girl, and not only the achievements but the mistakes of the past made clear. Coypright l&tf, by A. P. Yates EMPIRE STATE EXPRESS, No. 999 (1897) Among the most manifest dangers that threaten our country are those that result from indiscriminate immigration. With the thou sands that come to this favored land are hundreds of the worst mis creants of the Old World. From their ranks are recruited the Q ur anarchists, the members of the Mafia, and the deadliest enemies of Dangers society. The problem of how to winnow the chaff from the wheat, of how to exclude the vicious while welcoming the worthy, is one that has long engaged thoughtful minds and that is still unsolved. A graver and farther-reaching peril is the effort of the demagogue to array capital against labor, to incite the hatred of the poor against 1822 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES CHAP, xcvn STATES IOD vn the rich, and, by leading men astray by fantastic theories of govern- ment > to strike at the foundations of law, order, and the security of home and of life itself. The growth of wealth to enormous propor tions among a few, with its influence upon legislation, is another cause for alarm. All this, however, and much more bring us back to the truth already stated, that the remedy for these dangers lies in the cultivation of the minds and hearts of our children, that they grow up with their sense of right clarified and duty made the mainspring of all their actions. Still another menace to our civilization is the disregard of law in many sections. When law becomes inoperative and crime rampant, as was the case in California and other Western States during their early days, self -protection demands the formation of vigilance com mittees, and lynching is justifiable; but when law resumes its sway, lynching, which seeks to punish crime, is itself among the gravest of crimes. There may be palliation for some of the lynchings of negroes in the South, for many thus punished have richly deserved it, but the law itself is sufficient to reach and punish them, and the woful truth is undeniable that more than one innocent victim has suffered torture and death. Better, indeed, is it that a hundred guilty should go unpunished than that one innocent person should be wronged. The frequent miscarriage of justice is a reproach to us. The in- vestigation of the Star Route frauds, as they were called, established the guilt of more than one prominent man, and yet not one of them was punished. During the draft riots of 1 863 in New York city, some of the miscrean-ts were guilty of atrocities that were never sur passed by Apaches, yet none of them suffered therefor. Indeed, one miserable wretch had a street named in his honor, and the motion was repeatedly made in common council to repeat the honor with another street. The writer once had a conversation with a man in Austin, Tex., who gave him the names of twenty-odd persons whom he had killed. In more than one instance there was not the slight est justification on the part of this murderer, and yet he was never called to account. When he returned home from one of his killings in San Antonio, where he was detained during the formal investiga tion, the crowd took the horses from his carriage and drew him in triumph through the principal streets of the state capital. Where the law is operative it often loses its restraining force Miscar- Jhistice CHAP, xcvu McKINLEY'S FIRST ADMINISTRATION 1823 through delay. A burly negro in New Jersey murdered his wife PERIOD vn most brutally, confessed it, and announced himself ready to be THE NEW J J UNITED hanged ; yet his lawyer, by legal tricks and devices, postponed his STATES execution for two years. In numberless cases, where swift punish ment would have taught its salutary lesson, the delay has so wearied the prosecution that the criminal has been allowed to go free, with some of the jurors who convicted him joining in the petition for pardon. Little wonder is it that, when public sentiment becomes so callous, one State out of our forty-five has had the hardihood to legalize prize-fighting within its borders. It is such facts as these that call for serious thought and demand the right education of the rising generation, in order that our coun try, the greatest of republics and the hope of mankind, shall fulfil the destiny that awaits it if her sons and daughters, in their prepara tion for the work of manhood and womanhood, meet the require ments of our civilization. PERIOD VIII OUR COLONIAL EXPANSION CHAPTER XCVIII Me KIN LEY'S FIRST ADMINISTRATION 1897- (CONTINUED] OUR WAR WITH SPAIN Causes of the War [Authorities: The thought of any country playing the part of the Good Samaritan among other nations is to most people Utopian to the degree of absurdity. Nations are utterly selfish, and the accepted idea of patriotism is that of necessity it is limited by the boundaries of one's own country. The reign of the universal brotherhood of man is still remote, and wars and rumors of wars will fret the world for many years to come. But that there is an unselfish and a profoundly sympathetic spirit on the part at least of one nation is proven by the intervention, followed by the sacrifices, sufferings, and hundreds of deaths of brave Americans in behalf of crushed and bleeding Cuba. Whether such intervention is of itself the herald of the day of general peace, or the signal of the en trance of the United States upon a grand career of colonial expansion similar to that of Great Britain, is a question whose answer lies in the near future. All the incidents bear ing upon this momentous subject are fully set forth in the following pages, the authori ties for which are portions of the diplomatic correspondence of our Government, the official reports from the field of operations, and the newspaper accounts from the front. The work of the newspaper correspondents has been a feature of the war, and a striking testimony to the enterprise of American journalism.] |OME four centuries have passed since Christopher Columbus, while cruising westward among theWest Indian islands, entered the mouth of a river which led into the interior of the beautiful and fertile land that the natives called Cuba. Throughout his discoveries, the great navigator believed he had reached the eastern shore of India, and he died in ignorance of 'the grandeur of the vast continent that lay just beyond CHAP, xcvm McKINLEY'S FIRST ADMINISTRATION 1825 Cuba, with its length of 760 miles, and a varying breadth of 28 to 127 miles, has an area of 41,655 square miles, nearly equal to that of the State of New York. Its soil is of inexhaustible fertility, and its climate, except during the rainy season from April to October is mild and delightful. The mountains, which extend from one end of the island to the other, are highest in the eastern portion, where they are broken into spurs and transverse ridges. The most elevated peak, that of Tarquino, is nearly 8,000 feet above the sea.* PERIOD VIII OUR COLONIAL EXPAN- S:ON 1898 Natural Features of Cuba AVENUE OF COCOANUT PALMS More than one-half of the island has never been brought under cultivation, and is still covered with primeval forests. During the rainy season the lowlands of the coast are inundated, and in the swamps the black mud becomes like glue. Add to this feature the leagues of dense forest, choked with wirelike vines and under growth, with roads that are mere bridle-paths, and with the mosqui toes and other insects an unbearable pest, while through and over all broods a smothering, fever-laden atmosphere, like the breath of *The island of Cuba was successively called Juan, Fernandina, Santiago, and Ave Maria, by its Spanish explorers and early settlers, but none of these appella tions permanently supplanted the old Indian name (Cuba, the place of gold) which it now bears. Repel- lent Charac teristics A COCOANUT TREE IN CUBA CHAP, xcvni McKlNLEY'S FIRST ADMINISTRATION 1827 a furnace, surcharged with pestilential mists, and some idea may be formed of what our brave men faced during the Santiago cam- r-^ paign, waged in a very difficult district at the worst season of the year. Cuban tobacco and sugar have long been famous throughout the world. There may be some spot elsewhere that will grow as fine Tobacco tobacco as the Vuelta Abajo district in Cuba, but as yet it has not and been discovered. The wool of the merino sheep becomes coarse when the animal is removed to other regions where the climatic conditions are similar, and the Cuban tobacco, when transplanted for even so short a distance as Key West, soon deteriorates. The ingenios, or sugar plantations, have always been the most important industrial establishments on the island. While the increasing competition of beet- sugar has reduced the sales of Cuban cane-sugar, it has never been able to displace it in foreign markets. Before the war the average value of the sugar exported was $50,000,000 and of molasses $9,000,000, which, with good government and enterprise, could be increased five-fold. Despite the enormous value of the tobacco industry, the intolerable exactions of Spain, which controls it as a monopoly, have greatly crippled the production. Like every possible source of revenue, it has been made to contribute to the insatiate greed of the Spanish officials, whose rapacity has strangled many a legitimate enterprise. The Cuban tobacco crop in 1895 was worth about '$ 10,000 ,000. Scattered throughout the island are the cafetals, or coffee estates ; but although this crop once ranked next in value to that of sugar, it has been greatly reduced by the production of Brazil. The census of Cuba, taken in 1887, was as follows : Provinces. . "White. Colored. Total. Havana ......................... 344,417 107,511 451,928 Pinar del Rio ................... 167,160 58,731 225,891 Matanzas ....................... 143,169 116,401 259,570 Santa Clara ...................... 244,345 109,777 354,122 Puerto Principe .................. 54,232 13, 557 67,789 Santiago de Cuba ................ 157,980 H4.339 272,319 Total,* 1,111,303 520,316 1,631,619 The Roman Catholic religion was the only one recognized by the Spanish Government. Education has been greatly neglected. In *Of the 1,631,619 inhabitants, one-fifth were natives of Spain, 10,500 were whites of foreign blood, 485,187 were negroes, about 50.000 Chinese, and the remainder native Cubans. The last slaves in Cuba were liberated by a royal decree of 1886. CHAP, xcvin McKiiNLEY'S FIRST ADMINISTRATION 1829 1883 there were 568 public and 267 private primary schools, but of PERIOD these 67 were entirely vacant. Salaries were withheld from the teachers of many of the public schools, and the general condition of ^ x p L A N N s,^ the island's educational system was very poor. Thousands of people I8 9 8 in the interior live like the beasts of the field. Indeed, the whole island has been treated by Spain as simply one of the means of en riching her corrupt officials, and her greed has prevented her from A Mis- garnering a quarter of the harvests that simple justice and the most Country ordinary enterprise would have brought to her. Havana is the metropolis of Cuba, and the largest city in the West Indies. With a population of nearly a quarter of a million, it has long been the leading tobacco and sugar market of the world. It was founded in 1519, and has an excellent harbor. The old city lies within the walls, and the new towns are outside, containing many beautiful suburbs, promenades, and public parks. Havana is strongly built, most of the buildings being of stone, the streets paved with granite or other hard stone. It has been graphically described by Murat Halstead as being a city of palaces fronting on alleys, some of the principal thoroughfares, including the sidewalks, being no more than twenty-five feet wide. Like all Spanish cities, its un- cleanliness is a continual invitation for the entrance of disease and pestilence. Many of the inhabitants are wealthy. Morro Castle, the ancient fortress at the entrance to the harbor, has served as the tomb of scores of political offenders, among whom has been more than one American. Although regarded as a formidable defence for the harbor, the Spaniards' main reliance has been the fortifications erected later on the neighboring hills, a short distance from the sea- front. The second city is Santiago de Cuba, on the southern coast, and the scene of the brilliant operations of our fleet and army in July, The 1898. Its population in 1892 was 71,307, that of Matanzas at the Cities same time being 56,379, of Puerto Principe 46,641, and of Cien- fuegos 40,964. Before the recent war, Cuba had a thousand miles of railroad, ex clusive of a number of private lines connecting with the large plan tations. Two thousand vessels with a tonnage of two and a half millions entered in 1894 the five principal ports, Havana, Santiago, Cienfuegos, Trinidad, and Nuevitas. The rule of Spain in Cuba has scarcely a parallel in history for CHAI-. xcvui McKINLEY'S FIRST ADMINISTRATION 1831 VIII OUR treachery and cruelty. Since October, 1896, three-quarters of a PERIOD million of peaceful country people, mainly old men, women and children, have been driven from their homes, which were burned, and herded in the towns and cities, where half of them have starved to death. THE CIVIL GOVERNOR'S RESIDENCE, HAVANA Returning to the early history of Cuba, it should be noted that Early the Spaniards waited until they believed they had exhausted the wealth of Haiti, when they colonized Cuba in 1511, by sending three hundred men i>mW Diego Velasquez, who founded Santiago tr -t o cc. LU CHAP, xcvin McKINLEY'S FIRST ADMINISTRATION 1833 on the southeast coast.* This town, for a long time, was the capital of Cuba. Baracoa, near the eastern extremity of the island, and Trinidad, on the southern shore, were also among the first settle ments. San Cristobal de la Habana was founded in 1513. This place is now known as Batabano, and is directly opposite, Havana on the southern coast. Havana (avana) received its present name in 15 19. The first Spanish settlers in Cuba were like all who have pre ceded and followed them in America and other parts of the world. Outrage and murder were diversions of which they never wearied, and shocking cruelty toward the gentle natives was the unvarying rule.f Velasquez occupied the island without losing a man. Each settler took possession of about three hundred natives, and compelled them to work so hard in the fields that they were soon exterminated. Negro slaves were imported from Spain and San Domingo, but so dreadful was the tyranny of the Spaniards that hundreds of them also died. Since Spain was continually at war with other European nations, Havana was peculiarly exposed to attack. During its first century it suffered severely from piratical assaults, being plundered and almost destroyed in 1528 and again in 1551. In 1585 Sir Francis Drake, with his English fleet, threatened the town, and, as an addi tional protection, two fortresses were built. These were the Bateria de la Punta and the Castillo del Morro, both of which still guard the entrance to Havana la Punta on the west, and the famous old Morro on the east. In 1762, Europe was involved in the Seven- Years' War, and in January of that year hostilities were declared between England and Spain. Lord Albemarle, with a fleet of two hundred ships and a force of about twenty thousand men, appeared before Havana in the following summer. The Americans at that time were loyal subjects of Great Britain, and the colonies contributed valuable assistance in the assault upon Havana, where they arrived at a time when half the British force was disabled by sickness. Lawrence Washington, a * The Haitians lived mainly on the flesh of cattle, which they subjected to a peculiar process called "bucanning " Haiti at that time was the headquarters of numerous bands of Spanish smugglers, who copied the method of preserving meat for use on shipboard. Because of this, these men came to be known as "buccaneers." t When a native chieftain was tied to the stake, and the torch was about to be applied to the fagots, a Franciscan monk held a crucifix in front of his face and exhorted him to repent in order that he might make sure of heaven "Heaven !" repeated the chieftain, "are there any Spaniards there?" "A great many," was the reply. "Then," said the native, "let me go elsewhere." PERIOD VIII OUR COLONIAL EXPAN SION 1898 Attack on Havana CHAP, xcvm McKiNLEY'S FIRST ADMINISTRATION brother of George Washington, served in the expedition, and Israel Putnam was a lieutenant-colonel, the 2,300 American troops being furnished by New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut. The Spanish garrison numbered 27,000 men, and made a desper ate defence. They consisted almost entirely of the " Cuban Volun teers," since become notorious, and no troops could have fought more bravely ; but the assailants stormed the Morro, and on the I3th of August, Havana surrendered, its defenders being allowed to march out with the honors of war. The prize money divided among the victors amounted to nearly $4,000,000, of which Lord Albemarle and Sir George Pocock each pocketed more than half a million.' Then, in 1763, England made one of the most foolish of bargains by giving Cuba back to Spain in return for Florida. An unusual piece of good fortune befell Cuba when, in 1790, Luis de Las Casas was made governor, to be succeeded six years later by the Count of Santa Clara. Both were liberal and enterprising statesmen, and did a great deal to develop the inexhaustible resources of the island. The Bateria de Santa Clara, outside Havana, was one of the many fortifications built by the Count of Santa Clara, and it was named in his honor. Cuba showed her gratitude to Spain for the services of these two governors by declaring her loyalty to the old dynasty, in 1808, when Napoleon deposed the Bourbon King Ferdi nand VII. and placed his own brother Joseph Bonaparte on the throne. It was thus Cuba won the name of "The Ever- Faithful Isle," which ac quired- a grim irony before the close of the century. JOSeph Bonaparte, after Copyright /* by r* e International Society occupying the Spanish COL. JOAQUIN RUIZ PERIOD VIII Otra COLONIAL EXPAN SION 1898 English Capture of Havana i8 3 6 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES CHAP, xcvm throne for five years, was driven out, and Ferdinand VII. came to his own. He ignored all the promises of the provisional government, and made himself an absolute despot, whose heel was struck deep jjg into his American colonies. QEN. MARTINEZ DE CAMPOS The rebellions against Spanish rule began in Buenos Ayres, Venezuela, and Peru in 1809 anc ^ 1810, and all gained their A BANANA TREE IN CUBA HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES CHAP, xcvni PERIOD VIII OCR COLONIAL EXPAN SION I8q8 Revolts in Cuba The Black Eagle Society independence. Their loyalists took refuge in Cuba, and thus made her preponderatingly loyal ; but dissatisfaction arose when Spain attempted to make the island a military station from which to direct movements against the revolting republics. As a consequence, numerous secret societies were formed, and insurrections set on foot. The first open rebellion took place in 1820, its supporters demand ing the fulfillment of the pledges made by the provisional govern ment of. Seville, when Ferdinand VII. was deposed. There were two years of fighting and anarchy before it was suppressed. The next conspiracy was for the formation of a Cuban republic, and was organized by the society of Soles de Bolivar patriots who sought to emulate in Cuba the deeds of the great South American liberator. It was planned that the rising should take place on the same day in a number of cities, but instead, the leaders were arrested and imprisoned, and the revolt of 1823 came to naught. Six years later the Black Eagle Society, a body often referred to in the history of Cuba, formed an invading expedition, with headquarters in Mexico, and a number of recruiting agencies in the United States ; but as before there were traitors in the ranks, and the ringleaders were seized and imprisoned before they could strike a blow. In 1844, the slaves on the sugar plantations about Matanzas were suspected of preparing for revolt. No real proof could be obtained , and they were put to torture. More than a thousand were convicted, seventy-eight shot, others subjected to various brutal punishments. The conspiracy of Narciso Lopez, a native Venezuelan who had served in the Spanish army, has been mentioned. He started his first revolutionary movement in 1848, but was unsuccessful. After several failures, he succeeded three years later in landing in Cuba, accompanied by a small force, and by Colonel Crittenden of Ken tucky, a West Pointer. Both leaders were captured and shot. Spain was in the throes of one of her periodical revolutions in 1868, with the result that the gross Queen Isabella was dethroned and driven out of the country. Cuba, remembering the bitter lesson of sixty years before, took good care to remain mute regarding her loyalty to the deposed Bourbons, and seizing her opportunity, began a revolution as the only means of obtaining redress for her grievances. As illustrative of the intolerable exactions made upon Cube, oy Spain, it may be stated that $26,000,000 was wrenched annually from the island. The salary of the captain-general was $50,000, with perquisites ; of the six provincial governors, $12,000 each with CHAP, xcvin McKINLEY'S FIRST ADMINISTRATION 1839 PERIOD VIII OUR perquisites, and the two archbishops, $ 1 8,000 each with perquisites ; and every one of them was a Spaniard. The duty on flour was so heavy that wheaten bread ceased to be used except by the wealthy families. A Cuban who received a prepaid letter at his door was obliged to pay 37^ cents additional postage. The Spaniards paid $3.23 per capita of interest on their national debt, while the Cubans paid $6.39. For griev ances that were but a small part of these, our forefathers revolted against Great Britain in 1776. Incredible as it may seem, Spain proposed to add to these taxes in 1868. On the loth of October of that year, Carlos M. de Cespedes, a lawyer of Bayamo, issued a declaration of inde pendence on the planta tion of Yara, and placed himself at the head of about a hundred poorly armed men. Several thousand recruits soon gathered under his lead- ALPHONSO xin, KING OF SPAIN ership, and in April, 1869, a republican constitution was drawn up, providing for a president, vice-president, cabinet, and legislature. Slavery was de clared abolished, and under this constitution Cespedes was elected president, Francisco Aguilero vice-president, and a legislature convened. The war, which opened sharply, soon degenerated into guerrilla T *> e Te , n tactics, without decisive results on either side, until at the end of ten War years everybody was ready for peace. Martinez Campos, the Span ish commander, made pledges under which General Maximo Gomez, the insurgent leader, accepted the treaty of El Zanjon, February 10, 1878. By the terms of this treaty, the Cubans were guaranteed 118 1840 HISTORY OF 1HE UNITED STATES CHAP, xcvm PERIOD VIII OUR COLONIAL EXPANSION 1898 Broken Pledges representation in the Spanish Cortes, and pardon was granted to all who had taken any part in the insurrection. But once more Cuba learned that in trusting to Spanish honor she leaned upon a broken reed. Under the electoral system that was devised at Madrid, the loyalists easily secured control of the polls", and never failed to elect a majority of the delegates, who invariably legis lated against the inter ests of Cuba. The cities were so smothered by debt that no attention was paid to sewerage or cleanliness. Except in Havana, all insane per sons were confined in prison cells. The man who attempted to labor found that on an average two days in every week were lost because they were church or state holidays. Out of the meagre earnings of the remaining two-thirds of the year, Cuba had to pay the exorbitant sal aries of her oppressors and contribute more than half a million dollars an nually to the officials who deliberately robbed her of that sum. No country in the world is so honeycombed with corruption as Spain. Some of the reforms granted by Spain to the island may thus be described: The "governor-general" became " captain-general, " the change being only in name. The right of banishment was aban doned, but under the " law of vagrancy" the obnoxious citizens were expelled precisely as before. The respectable members of society were declared " immune" against attack, but were assaulted as vigor ously as ever, and nobody was punished therefor. Every office that brought any salary or conferred any influence was appropriated by a CHRISTINA, THE QUEEN REGENT OF SPAIN CHAP, xcvin McKINLEY'S FIRST ADMINISTRATION 1841 PERIOD VIII Spaniard, and the debt saddled upon the Cubans amounted to more than one hundred dollars per capita. Among the results of the Ten- Years' War was the division of the island into the six provinces, already named, and the extirpation of I8 9 8 OUR A CUBAN BLOCK HOUSE (NEAR VIEW) slavery in 1886 as one of the consequences of the prolonged conflict. The rage of the Cubans over their betrayal led to the resolution to set on foot another insurrection that should be ended only by death 1842 HISTORY OF, THE UNITED STATES CHAP. XCVHI or .independence. Never again would they place any trust in the solemn pledge of a Spaniard. The friends of Cuban independence were widely scattered, but kept in close touch with one another. Thousands were in the United States, and New York city was the headquarters.* The dominating spirit was Jose Marti, who was a brilliant organizer, and soon had the moral and material support of more than a hundred OUR COLONIAL EXPANSION 1898 Corrupt Aid A SCENE IN EASTERN CUBA clubs. A large" amount of money was raised for purchasing arms and ammunition, and our Government was kept busy in intercepting the numerous filibustering expeditions, many of which succeeded in landing men and supplies on the coast of Cuba. After all, however, the greatest help came from the corrupt Spanish officials, who eager ly placed themselves in the way of being bribed. Thousands of the arms in the hands of the insurgents were purchased at the govern ment arsenals, and there was scarcely a check to the contraband sup- * This organization is often incorrectly referred to as a "Junta." proper term during- the Ten-Years War, but not since that time. Such was the CHAP, xcvin McKINLEY'S FIRST ADMINISTRATION 1843 plies that were sent through the lines to the Cubans confidently awaiting them a short distance inland. Few suspect how general and all-pervading was this corruption among the Spanish officials. Finally, early in 1895, the command of the new Cuban revolutionary army was tendered to and accepted by Maximo Gomez, who was still living with his family at his home in western San Domingo. The offer was made by Jose Marti, president of the organization that had been formed. The leaders, after full consultation, agreed that a general rising should take place in all of the six provinces on February 24, 1895. PERIOD VIII OUR COLONIAL EXPANSION 1898 Gomez in Com mand A SPANISH QAMP In only three of the provinces, however, were the insurgents able to display the flag of the republic on the date named, and for a time the important events were confined to one of the provinces. Calleja, the captain-general, was liberally disposed toward the insurgents, but the Madrid Government baffled every generous move Obstruc tions at on his part. The uprising in the province of Santiago cle Cuba, on Madrid February 24, seemed so trifling that the Spanish authorities were * One of the most noted of these filibusters told the writer that he regularly set aside, on each voyage, a certain percentage to be paid to the officials. Not once did he fail thus to secure immunity, sometimes for less than the usual price. The most that the American captain was ever asked by these model government servants was to be circum spect in his actions, and to help shield them from being called to account. 1844 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES CHAP, xcvm PERIOD not alarmed, but the insurgents dodged back and forth, eluding the forces sent against them, and were helped by their friends, who seemed EXPAVS to k e everywhere. Following this came the discovery of the wide- l8 9 8 spread conspiracy, including the plan for killing the resident gover- Martial Law GEN. JOSE ANTONIO MACEO nor in the province of Santiago de Cuba, the Spanish officials, and the wholesale destruction by fire of a great deal of valuable property. When this startling news reached Calleja he was alarmed. He proclaimed martial law in Santiago and Matanzas, and sent troops into those two provinces ; but the insurgents easily eluded them and continually added to their numbers. At that time there were three parties in Cuba. The Loyalists were Spaniards either by birth or Spanish patronage. They held the CHAP, xcvin McKINLEY'S FIRST ADMINISTRATION 1845 offices, and had all their interests wrapped uti in the continuance of PERIOD VIII the existing order of things. The Autonomists denounced the misgovernment of Cuba, but Ex^*^ favored home rule and not independence for the island. To them l8 9 8 the cure for. all the misery was a system like that enjoyed by Canada under English rule. The third party were the insurgents or Separatists, who saw but The ... Different one possible remedy independence and were ready to risk every- Parties thing to secure it. On the 1st of April, 1895, Antonio Maceo, accompanied by twenty-two comrades of the Ten- Years' War, coming from Costa Rica, landed on the eastern extremity of the island. The Spanish cavalry were on the watch for them, and a sharp fight followed, in which several of the Cubans were killed and Maceo had a narrow escape. He succeeded, however, in shaking off his pursuers, and threaded his way westward, living on the tropical fruits that grow wild in the woods. He was still advancing with the caution of an Indian scout, when, a little way north of Guantanamo, he ran directly into an insurgent camp. When they discovered that he was the Maceo who had fought with so much brilliancy in the Ten- Years' War, they were wild with enthusiasm. He assumed command of all the insurgent troops in the neighborhood, and the knowledge that he had taken the field rapidly spreading, gave an impetus to recruiting and led to the most determined efforts by the Spanish authorities to crush him. In several sharp skirmishes, Maceo more than held his own, and thus added to the patriotic enthusiasm of his followers. On April n, 1895, Gomez and Jose Marti landed on the southern coast from Santo Domingo. With difficulty they eluded the Spanish patrols Death of and pickets, and reached an insurgent camp, where the scarred vet- Marti eran assumed his duties as commander-in-chief. With several thou sand men, Gomez and Marti headed towards the central provinces, with the purpose of arranging for a Constituent Assembly, but Marti was led into an ambush by a treacherous guide and killed. By this time, the captain-general comprehended the serious task on his hands. The flames of insurrection were spreading like a prairie fire, and, in response to Calleja's calls, Spain sent more than 25,000 troops to quell the rebellion. Hope was greatly strengthened by the arrival, on April 16, of Field-Marshal Campos at Santiago de Cuba, on 1846 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES CHAP, xcvm PERIOD VIII OUR COLONIAL BXPAN- SION Failure of the Trochas his way to Havana to relieve Calleja. It was Campos who brought the Ten -Years' War to a close, and the feeling was general that he would again be successful. Campos now made the attempt to divide Cuba into zones by a number of powerfully guarded military lines, crossing the island from north to south, and by advancing eastward in irresistible force to drive the insurgents into the sea. The plan appeared to be a good one, but proved a failure. The trochas were crossed at will by the rebels, and the Spanish regulars were continually harassed by the Cubans, who avoided general engagements with the greatly superior forces and confined themselves to guer rilla tactics. Gomez felt strong enough in June to invade Puerto Principe, and force his way to his old cam- paigning-ground, where recruits flocked to his standard by the hundred. Some what later, Maceo, who was in Santiago province, moved against Bayamo and captured several trainloads of provisions on the way to that place. The garrison was soon in such sore straits that Campos, at the head of 1,500 men, marched to its relief. While yet several miles from Bayamo, he was furiously assailed by Maceo with a superior force and decisively defeated, sustaining a loss of more than 1 20 men and officers. Had Maceo been provided with artillery, the Spanish force would have been annihilated. Campos is one of Spain's ablest generals, and everything that was possible was done by him. The reinforcements which reached him . late in summer included the best veterans in the Spanish army. GEN. MAXIMO GOMEZ CHAP, xcvm McKINLEY'S FIRST ADMINISTRATION 1847 He concentrated his troops at strong points on the railways and along the trochas, and used the utmost vigilance. The seaports, being powerfully garrisoned and under the protecting guns of the enemy's warships, were always beyond reach of the rebels. With the beginning of the autumn campaign, the Cubans had fully 20,000 men in the field, and they displayed the same frightful fer ocity as the Span iards. Not only did they fight with the fury of desperation, but they blew up trains and bridges with dynamite, levied mercilessly upon the planters, utterly destroyed plantations, and, still avoiding open fighting, harried the enemy without cessation. The campaign of 1896 opened the new policy of the insurgents, which was destruction rather than fight ing. The purpose of this was to shut off the revenues of Spain from the productions of Cuba, thereby striking the mother country in its most sensitive spot, and leaving her to choose between utter ruin and independence for the island. Accordingly, Gomez advanced westward again, not resting until he entered Havana province. Bearing in mind Maceo's lodgment in Pinar del Rio, it will be seen that the Cubans had crossed every province and passed the entire length of the island. The campaign Copyright i&)8, by The International Society GENERAL VALERIANO WEYLER PERIOD VIII OUR COLONIAL EXPAN SION 1808 Mutual Ferocity Failure of Campos 1848 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES CHAP, xcvm PERIOD VIII OUR COLONIAL EXPAN SION 1808 A Strong Trocha Progress of the War of Campos had proved a failure, and he was criticised so viciously for his humane and civilized methods that he returned to Spain, and was succeeded by one of the worst miscreants that figure on the pages of history. This was Valeriano Weyler, who arrived early in February. The new captain -general established two trochas, or military lines of fortified posts, across the island, one from Jucaro to Moron in the western part of the province of Puerto Principe, while the other, shorter and stronger, reached from Mariel on the north to Majana on the south, barely within the eastern boundary of Pinar del Rio. This latter trocha was made of barbed wire fence, four feet high, with a trench three feet wide and four feet deep, forty yards to the rear, including also a breastwork of palmetto logs. Still farther to the rear were the log- houses which sheltered the troops. The sentinels were posted directly behind the barbed wire, and, though the trocha was only twenty-three miles in length, it required 15,000 men to guard the line. Its object was to keep Maceo in the province of Pinar del Rio, and to prevent a junction of the two divisions of the revolu tionary army. It was a formidable obstacle, but ineffective for its purpose. Maceo, with a small force of troops, crossed it on the night of December 4, 1896, with the purpose of consulting with Gomez. He met his death three days later, through the treachery, as is gener ally believed, of Dr. Zertucha, his personal physician. The successor of Maceo was General Rins Rivera. The numerical strength of the insurgents was undoubtedly over estimated, but the revolution had assumed such proportions that Spain was obliged continually to send reinforcements to Cuba. Thousands of these were the flower of the army, doomed to perish miserably in the pestilential swamps of the island, while the strength of the insurgents steadily increased Weyler's policy may be given in a sentence: the extermination of the rebels root and branch. His vigor gave him a few successes at first, and the Madrid authorities were continually cheered by his telegrams announcing the rapid progress of his methods of pacifica tion. Nevertheless, the rebellion grew, and the hospitals of Havana were filled with the sick and wounded Spanish soldiers. In the spring of 1897, Rivera was wounded and taken prisoner, and military operations in Pinar del Rio dwindled to indecisive guerrilla fighting. Although Rivera was released some months later, he accomplished nothing of account. As early as January 1 1, 1897, Weyler' proclaimed CHAP, xcvm McKINLEY'S FIRST ADMINISTRATION 1849 the pacification of the Havana, Matanzas, and Pinar del Rio provinces, and followed up the proclamation by the fiercest possible warfare throughout Matanzas. His pacification proclamations soon became a grim jest, and his brutality caused censure by the Liberalists in Madrid. The insurgents never lost their hold upon Santiago and Puerto Principe provinces in the East. By strenuous and brave efforts, the Spaniards held the Bayamo district until Apr il 2 5, 1898, when the opening of the war with the United States compelled its a ba nd onment. Throughout most of the year, the principal opera tions of the insur gents were those of General Calixto Garcia, a veteran of the Ten -Years' War, and next in rank to Gomez. He was prevented for a long time from effecting a junction with his chief by the greatly strengthened Jucara-Moron trocha, Gomez in the mean time being active in the Santa Clara province. Now came Weyler's fearful policy of "reconcentration,"/ which seemed the only possible hope of crushing the rebellion. Since the country people sympathized with the struggling patriots, and aided them so far as they dared, it was determined to bring them into the cities, where they could raise nc food for the insurgents and must themselves starve to death. With not a throb of pity in a Spanish breast, the miserable reconcentrados died by the thousand, until a quarter of a jnillion GEN. CALIXTO GARCIA PERIOD VIII OUR. COLONIAL EXPAN SION 1808 A Fearful Policy 1850 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES CHAP, xcvra PERIOD VIII OUR COLONIAL EXPAN SION 1898 Relief for the Cubans breathed out their lives amid the pangs of starvation and disease. There was nothing under the law of nations to prevent this unspeak able crime, for the reconcentrados were not prisoners of war for whom Spain would have been obliged to provide. But our Government pro tested so earnestly that in October, 1897, the Spanish authorities went through the form of instituting a few weak measures for the relief of the suf ferers. Themindfails to grasp the awful truth that Spain de liberately starved 10 death one-sixth of the inhabitants in Cuba. The act, like the Armenian massa cres, was among the greatest crimes in history. President McKin- ley was so deeply im pressed by the reports which Consul- Gen eral Lee made to him of these horrors, that shortly after his in auguration he asked SENOR SAQASTA, PRIME MINISTER OF SPAIN Congress for a grant of $50,000 for the relief of the .reconcentrados, and the return to the United States of such Americans as wished to leave the island. The grant was promptly made, and in the latter part of 1897 the Red Cross Association, one of the most beneficent organiza tions that ever existed, undertook to minister to the relief of the perish ing people. Clara Barton, president of the American section, was still in Armenia, where she was busy with her divine work, but she made haste to return to America and threw all her energies into labor for the dying multitudes in Cuba. The cry from that island was so distressful that independent, movements were set on foot. Supplies and money came from all sections, and though it was impossible to relieve a quarter of the sufferers, much was done in that direction. CHAP, xcvm McKINLEY'S FIRST ADMINISTRATION 1851 President McKinley said in his special message of April n, 1898, that the manner in which the committee, in charge, had attended to the distribution of funds and supplies which had been sent to Cuba, . ' was the means of relieving a great amount of suffering and of saving many thousands of lives. The Spanish authorities at Madrid were shamed into voting some $600, ooo for the dying reconcentrados,* and Captain-General Ramon Blanco, who succeeded Weyler, recalled in October, 1 897, rescinded PERIOD EXPANSION A SUGAR PLANTATION, CUBA his predecessor's inhuman order ; but it was ' too late to undo the fearful mischief, and the thousands continued to die like so many infected sheep. Sagasta, the leader of the Liberal Party in Spain, was open in his denunciation of Weyler, and was steadily gaining strength over the Conservative ministry, when, August 6, 1897, Canovas, prime minis ter, was assassinated, and some time later a new cabinet was formed * " How much of that sum will be expended for the benefit of the sufferers ?" was asked of General Lee by the Foreign Relations Committee of the United States Senate. " Not a dollar," was the prompt response of General Lee. " It will all be divided among the officials themselves." And such has been the custom for centuries in the country that is said to be the proudest in Europe, and whose sons consider their honor more to be valued than life itself. Death of Canovas CHAP, xcviri M-KTNT.KY'S FIRST ADMINISTRATION 1853 with Sagasta at the head. They pledged themselves to grant auton omy or home rule to Cuba, and in the mean time to push the war with greater vigor than before. The Cubans might have been won over to autonomy had it been possible to forget the treachery of Spain twenty years previous. They absolutely refused to have anything to do with the scheme; and their hatred of it was no less bitter than that of the " Weyler- PERIOD VIII OUR COLONIAL EXPANSION 1898 Copyright I&)S, by Karl Decker A GROUP OF GUERRILLAS IN CAMP ites," who opposed showing any mercy or consideration to the rebels. Thus placed between two fires, autonomy was doomed from the first. General Ramon Blanco, the successor of Weyler, arrived in Ha vana on the last day of October, 1897. He seems to have made an Captain- honest effort to better the horrible condition of things and to treat the insurgents with justice, but he was so hampered as to become powerless.* On the 8th of November he issued an amnesty procla- * Don Ramon Blanco y Erenas, Marquis of Pena Plata, became distinguished in the war against the Carlists. He was captain-general of Cuba in 1879, and he has been gov- HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES CHAP, xcvm PERIOD VIII OUR COLONIAL EXPANSION 1808 Cuban Govern ment Or ganized mation, and not an insurgent paid any attention to it. Fighting went on as before, and the ruined sugar-mills were not disturbed. No decisive advantage was gained by either side. As regarded the scheme of autonomy, Gomez notified Blanco that any one who at tempted to visit the insurgent camps with such an offer would be treated as a spy and shot. Not only was this fearful warning uttered, but in more than one in stance it was carried out in spirit and letter. It will be remembered that Jose Marti was killed early in the revolutionary movement. When the confusion resulting from the leader's loss had part ly subsided, the first Con stituent Assembly met in the province of Pu erto Principe, September 1 3> l &95- There- were members present from all the provinces, and the Cuban Government was formally organized by the adoption of a constitu tion. The supreme pow er was vested in a Gov ernment Council, which was to be composed of the president of the Re public, the vice-president, and the secretaries of war, of the interior, of foreign affairs, and of agriculture with a sub-treasury for each of the departments. The organization was effected on September 19, with Salvador Cisneros Betancourt as president, and Bartolome Masso as vice-presi dent, while Dr. Thomas Estrada Palma was made minister pleni potentiary and diplomatic agent abroad, with headquarters in the SENOR DUPUY DE LOME ernor at Catalonia and in the Philippines. He is not so lenient as Campos nor so merci less as Weyler. CHAP, xcvm McKINLEY'S FIRST ADMINISTRATION 1855 United States. Gomez was confirmed as general-in-chief of the army, PERIOD with Maceo as second in command. OUR The presidential term was fixed at two years. The second ad- rsi ministration, elected and installed at Yaza, October 20, 1897, was l8 9 8 composed as follows : President, Vice- President, Bartolome Mass6 Domingo Mendez Capote Cofyright 1898, by Karl Decker ANOTHER TYPE OF CUBAN BLOCK HOUSE Cabinet Secretary of War, Secretary of Foreign Affairs, Secretary of the Treasury, Secretary of the Interior, Jose B. Aleman Andreo Moreno de la Torre Second . Adminis- Krnesto Font Stirling tration Manuel Ramos Silva Assistant Secretary of War, Rafael de Cardenas ; Assistant Secre- tary of Fortign Affairs, Nicolas Alverdi ; Assistant Secretary of the i8 5 6 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES CHAP, xcvin 1893 Sympa thy with the Cubans The Cuban capital of necessity was an itinerant one, the exigencies of war compelling it frequently to shift from one point to another. While the friends of Cuba in Congress in sisted upon the recogni tion of the Cuban Gov ernment, it is unques tionably a fact that it was never entitled by the law of nations to such recognition. The atrocity of Spain toward the Cubans and the frightful sufferings of the latter created an in tense sympathy through out the United States for the revolutionists, and an equally intense hostility against the Madrid Gov ernment. The good of fices which President Cleveland tendered were 'CAPTAIN CHARLES D. SIGSBEE declined, as were those of President McKinley, but Sagasta saw the storm that was rising, and tried to hold our Gov ernment inactive by promises and partial reforms. At the same time, the Spanish war office strained every nerve toward building a navy so much more powerful than ours that we would not dare to go to war. The impatience and irritation of the American nation increased under the growing horrors in Cuba, the incapacity and cruelty of Spain, and the exasperating charges freely made in the Spanish press that the prolongation of the war was due to the aid given by Americans to Cubans. In some instances there were grounds for these charges, but the success of many of the filibustering expedi tions, as already shown, was due to the help of the Spanish officials 1858 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES CHAP, xcvm PERIOD themselves, while our Government put forth the most vigorous ef forts to check all illegal enterprises. Public opinion was in this sensitive state when a Cuban sympa thizer stole from the Havana post-office a letter written by Senor Don Dupuy De Lome, the Spanish minister in Washington, to Sefior Canalejas, .who had acted some months before as the confidential agent of Sagasta in this country. The thief forwarded the letter to DeLome Letter the Cuban headquarters in New York, where it was photographed and published on February 9. In this letter, President McKinley was referred to as a " low poli tician," and the writer shamelessly admitted the treacherous part he was acting in the negotiations then pending. There was but one thing for De Lome to do: he cabled his resignation, and -in March Senor Luis Polo y Bernab6 became his successor. In accordance with the custom among nations, the American battle ship Maine was ordered to Havana, on January 24, 1898. This second-class battleship had a displacement of 6,682 tons, a length of 318 feet, a breadth of 57 feet, and a speed of 17^ knots. Her guns were four lo-inch and six 6-inch breech-loading rifles, seven 6-pounder and eight i -pounder rapid-fire, and four Catlings. She had four torpedo-tubes, and her armor was 1 2 inches on the sides, 8 inches on the turrets/ 1 2 inches on the barbettes, and 2 inches on the deck. She had 34 officers and 370 men, and cost $2,500,000. Captain Charles D. Sigsbee was the commander. On Tuesday night, February 15, 1898, at forty minutes past nine o'clock, while the Maine lay quietly at anchor, she was destroyed by an appalling explosion, and 266 officers and men were killed most of them by being wedged and mangled in the crush of the wreck, where those yet living were held fast and drowned by the immediate sinking of the shattered battleship. The news of this disaster sent a thrill of horror throughout the world, instantly followed by a feeling of almost irrestrainable rage on the part of Americans, for scarcely one person in a thousand tion of doubted that the explosion was the work of Spanish officials, and that "Maine" ^ ^ad ^ een done deliberately. Had this been established beyond all question, the tempest of indignation that swept over the country would have carried everything before it. But the doubt remained, and the Americans gave a proof of their wonderful power of self-con trol by patiently awaiting the verdict of the Board of Inquiry at once CHAP, xcvni McKINLEY'S FIRST ADMINISTRATION 1859 organized by the Government, and consisting of Captain W. T. Sampson, Captain F. E. Chadwick, Lieutenant W. P. Potter, and Lieutenant-Commander Adolph Marix. The investigation was of the most thorough and impartial nature, and continued for twenty-three days, every means that could possibly throw any light upon the tragedy being employed. The report was made March 28, being dated a week earlier, and may be given in the original words : " The Court found that the loss of the Maine, on the occasion named, was not in any respect due to fault or negligence on the part of any of the officers of said vessel. " In the opinion of the Court, the Maine was destroyed by the explosion of a submarine mine, which caused the partial explosion of two or more of her forward magazines. " The Court has been unable to obtain evidence fixing the re sponsibility for the destruction of the Maine upon any person or persons. " * * In the momentous events that soon followed, all interest in the identity of the crimi nals seemed to disappear. There is more than one person high in authority who claims that he could name the two men who exploded the submarine mine. The probabilities are that they were " Weylerites," who lost patience with what they regarded as the weakness of the Spanish Government, and took this method of expressing their hatred of all Ameri cans. The penalty which their country was compelled to pay for their unspeakable crime was indeed a heavy one. PERIOD VIII OUR COLONIAL EXPANSION 1808 Verdict of the Board of Inquiry CHAPTER XCIX McKINLEY'S FIRST ADMINISTRATION 1897-1901 (CONTINUED) OUR WAR WITH SPAIN (Continued) Opening- of the War Battle of Manila [Authorities : It may or may not be true that the blowing up of the Maine was the immediate cause of the war between our country and Spain. The latter yielded so much ground during the diplomatic negotiations between the two countries that many believe she, foreseeing the inevitable loss of Cuba, would in the end have peaceably parted with the island ; but Spanish tenacity on all questions affecting the " honor" of her people makes it probable that she had already gone as far as pacific means could induce her to go. The moral certainty that, while Spain was not the actual criminal, the crime was committed by Spaniards, roused to the uttermost depth the rage of the American nation. " Remember the Maine! " was not the cry of a puritanical and forgiving people, but it was the voice of an outraged nation which felt that the smiting hand had been stayed too long. The authorities are of the same general character as those named at the head of the preceding chapter.] [HE opening of the year, with all the signs pointing to war with Spain, found the United States wholly unprepared for hostilities. There were hardly two rounds of ammunition apiece for the guns of the coast fortifications, which were and still are only partly completed, with many of the huge cannon unmounted, and only a few battleships in condition for effective fighting. A great naval power like England, by moving promptly, could have swept the Atlantic, Gulf, and Pa cific coasts, and destroyed or laid under contribution every city and town on the seaboard. But the American spirit was undaunted, and no nation in history has surpassed us in self-reliance and courage. Our resources are CHAP, xcix McKINLEY'S FIRST ADMINISTRATION 1861 practically limitless, while Spain was bankrupt, and so weak in num bers and so low in morale, as compared with the United States, that in a fair measurement of strength it was inevitable that she should be broken to fragments. Nevertheless, she was defiant, and the war spirit was so dominant that the cool and far-seeing leaders were swept onward by the current, and had to choose between revolution at home or war with the "young giant of the West." Our Government pushed its preparations with the utmost energy. Modern wars henceforward must be mainly fought on the seaboard and ocean. The coast fortifications were strengthened, material was accumulated and distributed, recruiting was hurried in all branches of the service, and arrangements were made for mobilizing not only the regular army, numbering about 25,000 men, but the National Guard of the respective States. At the government and the contrac tors' shipyards the work went on night and day. All the available ships at home were bought, and agents were sent to Europe to pur chase every craft in the market that promised to be of use, together with cannon and many tons of ammunition. The monitors and anti quated vessels that had been dozing for a generation were roused up, overhauled, and put in condition for coast defence. The organiza tion of a fleet of patrol ships and of auxiliary cruisers was begun, and millions of dollars were expended in buying and converting scores of merchant vessels. The war spirit was universal. The moans of the helpless and dying in Cuba were not borne in vain across the narrow waters. The impending war was to be one for humanity, and the noblest promptings of manhood stirred the Americans to action. When President McKinley asked for $50,000,000 as an emergency fund for the national defence, Congress on the 8th of March gave it with out debate, and without a single vote in opposition. Directly after ward, two regiments of artillery were added to the regular army in order properly to man the heavy defensive guns at different points on the Atlantic and Gulf seaboards. The President had been a brave soldier throughout the Civil War, and had proven his exalted patriotism. He knew the fearful meaning of war, and dreaded to see the "unleashing of the dogs." Amid the rising tempest of indignation he never once lost his self -poise, but strove with all the ability and energy of his nature to reach the benefi cent end in view through peaceful means. The report of the Naval PERIOD VIII OUR COLONIAL EXPANSION 1898 Spain's War Spirit Ameri can En thusiasm i86 2 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES CHAP, xcix PERIOD VIII OUR COLONIAL EXPANSION 1898 The Presi dent's Delibera tion Board of Inquiry that the Maine was blown up by an external mine was made on the 28th of March. His historical message to Congress, on April 1 1, was withheld in order to give the American residents in Cuba time to leave, and with the hope also that the anger of his own people would cool. A nation that is slow to wrath is the more terrible when it is roused. Unable to stay the fast-rising storm, the President, in his The Joint Resolu tion of Congress SCEf SAN JUAN, MATANZAS Cuban message of April 1 1, laid the facts before Congress, to which body he submitted the whole matter. An. impassioned debate followed, and several days passed before the two branches reached an agreement, the point of variance being the question of recognizing the insurgents in Cuba. Finally, on the iQth day of April, the following joint resolution, of which Senator Joseph B. Foraker of Ohio was the author, was adopted, and ap proved the next day by the President: " JOINT RESOLUTION For the recognition of the independence of the people of Cuba, demanding that the Government of Spain relin quish its authority and government in the island of Cuba, and with draw its land and naval forces from Cuba and Cuban waters, and CHAP, xcix McKINLEY'S FIRST ADMINISTRATION 1863 directing the President of the , United States to use - the land and naval forces of the United States to carry .these resolutions into effect. " Whereas, the abhorrent conditions which have existed for more than three years in the island of Cuba, so near. our own borders, have shocked the moral sense of the people of the United States, have been a disgrace to Chris tian civilization, culmina ting, as they have, in the destruction of a United States battleship, with two hundred and sixty-six of its officers and crew, wHile on a friendly visit in the harbor of Havana, and cannot longer be endured, as has been set forth by the President of the United States in his mes sage to Congress of April 11, 1898, upon which the action of Congress was in vited; therefore, "Resolved, By the Sen ate and House of Rep resentatives of the United States of America in Con gress assembled, "i. That the people of the island of Cuba are, and of a right ought to be, free and inde pendent. " 2. That it is the duty of the United States to demand, and the Government of the United States does hereby demand, that the Government of Spain at once relinquish its authority and govern ment in the island of Cuba, and withdraw its land and naval forces from Cuba and Cuban waters. " 3. That the President of the United States be, and he hereby is, directed and empowered to use the entire land and naval forces of the United States, and to call into the actual service of the United PERIOD VIII OUR COLONIAL EXPANSION 1898 SENATOR JOSEPH B. FORAKER Manly Words 1864 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES CHAP, xcix PERIOD VIII OUR COLONIAL EXPANSION 1898 States the militia of the several States to such an extent as may be necessary to carry these resolutions into effect. " 4. That the United States hereby disclaims any disposition or intention to exercise sovereignty, jurisdiction, or control over said island except for the pacification thereof, and asserts its determina tion, when that is accomplished, to leave the government and control Object of of the island to its people." vention The President was prompt in obeying the instructions of Con gress. The ultimatum to Spain was sent April 20, and consisted THE CHURCH OF MONSERRATE, MATANZAS of three parts. The first explained that the United States demanded the evacuation of Cuba by the Spanish ; the second, that the Presi dent had been ordered by Congress to use the land and naval forces of the United States to enforce this demand; and the third, that the President must have an answer within forty-eight hours. Spanish Even at this delicate stage of proceedings, Spain indulged in a Trickery characteristic act of trickery. The President's ultimatum was sent, as is the custom in such cases, to General Stewart L. Woodford, our minister at Madrid, to be delivered by him to the authorities of the country. The contents of the cablegram were first shown to the / UNITED STATES MINISTER TO SPAIN i866 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES CHAP, xcix PERIOD VIII OUR COLONIAL EXPANSION 1808 First Prizes of the War officials, who, after considering the matter for several hours, sent General Woodford's passports to him, thus preventing him from delivering the ultimatum, since the act deprived him of all standing at court. Our minister had only to leave the country, which, after reporting the facts to his own Government, he proceeded to do. On his way to the Spanish frontier he was subjected to insult and at times was in personal danger. It is generally held that the returning of a foreign representa tive's passports is equiv alent to a declaration of war against his country. At any rate, there could be no doubt in the case of General Woodford that the act was Spain's an swer to our ultimatum. Meanwhile, S e n o r Polo, the Spanish min ister at Washington, asked for his passports (April 20), and was ac companied by several American detectives on his journey to Canada. In "no instance did he suffer the le'ast annoy ance, although before leaving Washington he was outspoken in his denunciation of our countrymen. The war opened on Friday, April 22, by the Nashville s capture of the Buena Ventura and the New York's capture of the Pedro. Within a few days the captured vessels numbered nearly a score, with an aggregate value of more than $3,000,000. At night on the 25th, the large Spanish mail steamer Montserrat, carrying $800,000 in silver and eighteen large guns, landed her valuable cargo and 1,000 troops at Santiago. On April 22, the United States proclaimed a blockade of the LIEUTENANT ANDREW S. ROWAN CHAP, xcix McKINLEY'S FIRST ADMINISTRATION 1867 north coast of Cuba westward from Cardenas to Bahia Honda, a dis- PERIOD tance of 160 miles, of which Havana is nearly at the centre. Cien- fuegos, on the south coast, was also included in the blockade. On Sunday, April 24, Spain declared war with the United States, amid the wildest enthusiasm of all classes of people. The Queen Regent's horror of the approaching hostilities was pathetic, "BUENA VENTURA" CAPTURED BY THE ^NASHVILLE (FIRST PRIZE OF THE WAR) but she was powerless to withstand the demands of the maddened populace, and the sentiments she expressed were belligerent enough to please the most ardent of Spaniards. On April 25, the House, by a unanimous vote, declared that war was begun April 21 by Spain. This date, therefore, marks . the official opening of hostilities between the two countries. Under the authority of Act of Congress, the President, April 23, issued a call for 125,000 two-year volunteers for the army. The patriotic responses from all parts of the country proved that American i ,000.000 men were anxious to defend the honor of the flag. Two Volun teers days later, the respective State quotas of troops having been deter mined, calls were made for them, and the answer in every case was enthusiastic. Lieutenant Andrew S. Rowan, of the Nineteenth Infantry, on April 24 landed near Santiago and penetrated the interior to meet IT 9 1868 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES CHAP, xcix PERIOD General Garcia to perfect plans for co-operation between the Cubans and the United States forces. The following day, the Spaniards evacuated Bayamo, in the province of Santiago, which was occupied by the insurgents. Chairman Dingley reported a war revenue bill to the House (April 26), and President McKinley announced our adherence to the anti-privateering agreement of the Declaration of Paris. England published her declaration of neutrality, ordering VIII OUR OLONI/ XPANSK iSgS Eng land's Friend ship YUMURI RIVER AND ENTRANCE TO THE VALLEY, MATANZAS our ships from her ports within forty-eight hours, and declaring that war was begun by Spain when she delivered to Minister Woodford his passports. Spain now made an appeal to the Powers, but received no encour agement from any quarter. It is believed that Germany, France, and Austria would have been glad to hurry to her relief, but England, the mightiest naval power on the globe, sternly barred the way. Isolated though Great Britain may be, the world may well dread her wrath. Throughout the war she remained our steadfast friend, and the ties between her and the United States became so firmly fixed that it is impossible to believe they can ever be broken. i8yo HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES CHAP, xcix PERIOD An attack was made upon the earthworks defending the bay of Matanzas (April 27) by the monitor Puritan, the cruiser Cincinnati, VIII OUR COLONIAL EXPANSION 1898 and the flagship JVJrw Kv. The works were battered and sil enced, the gunnery displayed by the Americans being of astonish- CHAP, xcix McKINLEY'S FIRST ADMINISTRATION 1871 ing accuracy, while that of the enemy was so poor as to excite ridicule. On the 29th, Congress agreed to a naval appropriation bill of nearly $47,000,000, and on the following day the House passed the bill for a popular bond issue of $500,000,000. . There was general uneasiness regarding the Spanish fleet at the Cape Verde Islands, which had been warned to leave by the Portuguese Government as a measure of neutrality. It was a formidable squadron, consist ing of the first-class cruisers Vizcaya, Almirante Oquendo, Infanta Maria Teresa, and Cristobal Colon, and the three torpedo-boat destroyers, Furor, Terror, and Pluton. On their departure, April 29, they steamed westward, and caused much alarm in this country concerning their destination. While many believed it was Porto Rico, others feared that the ships intended to bombard some of the impor tant sea-coast cities of the United States. This uncer tainty lasted so long that the whereabouts of the Spanish fleet became one of the jests of the day. As a consequence of 'England's proclamation of neutrality, Com modore George Dewey,"- commanding the American squadron at Hong Kong, was compelled to leave that port, and the Government deter mined to delay no longer his offensive movements against the Philip pine Islands, one of the richest island groups in the world, and the most valuable of Spain's possessions in the far East. The Philippines were named in honor of Philip II., the brutal oppressor of Holland and the husband of " Bloody Mary" of England. The archipelago includes some 1,200 islands, less than one-half of * Promoted rear-admiral. May 10, i8q8; full admiral, March 3, 1899. Copyright i&)8. GENERAL AGUINALDO PERIOD VIII OUR COLONIAL EXPANSION 1898 Action of Congress Move ments oi Commo dore Dewey 1872 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES CHAP, xcix PERIOD VIII OUR COLONIAL EXPANSION 1898 which are habitable, and only ten or twelve are of considerable size. They lie southeast of Asia, 1,200 miles from Australia, and on 3 ot the ptultp-ptTie direct line between that island and Formosa. They extend north and south through fifteen degrees of latitude, and have the same latitude CHAP, xcix McKINLEY'S FIRST ADMINISTRATION 1873 as Central America. Luzon in the north is the most important of all the islands, and has an area equal to the State of Ohio. The next island in size is Mindanao, in the south. There is no definite knowledge of the population of the Philippines, and esti mates vary from 8,000,000 to double that number. It is composed mainly of Malay tribes, including a few of the aboriginal negritos who are negroes of dwarfish stature many half-breeds, and numerous Chinese. Not counting the army, the pure Spaniards in the Philippines number less than 10,000. As in Cuba, these isl ands of late years have been the scene of repeated revolts due to the misrule of Spain. These insur rections have been mainly the work of men of mixed Spanish and native blood, who are much more num erous than the Spaniards. Their principal leader, Pancho Aguinaldo, is a man of education and abil- GOVERNOR-GENERAL AUGUST'N ity, and is spoken of with high regard by Admiral Dewey. He has succeeded in winning the general suppo't of the half-civilized tribes, whose hatred of the Spaniards is as intense as that of the Cubans, and is due to the same cause. Finding it impossible to crush the rebellion in 1897, the Spanish authorities in November of that year bought off the insurgent chiefs Aguinaldo and Alexandro for $400,000 cash, and with a promise of the reforms that had been demanded. Then with that incomprehen sible idiocy which is the most distinctive trait of Spanish diplomacy, the promises were broken, and the natives were ripe for another re volt when the American squadron appeared on the scene. Manila, on the western coast of the island of Luzon, has long PERIOD VIII OUR CoLONIAk ExPANSIOt The Philip, pines Spanish Misrule i8 74 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES CHAP, xcix PERIOD VIII OUR COLONIAL EXPAASION 1898 Manila been the capital of the Philippines, and Spain's centre of trade for the Pacific. It has a population of a quarter of a million, and stands on a landlocked sea broad enough to allow all the navies of the world to ride at anchor. It has shipped vast quantities of cigars, sugar, coffee, tobacco, hemp, rice, cocoa, mats, and cordage and cot ton or mixed fabrics to all parts of the world. It contains a univer sity conducted by the Dominican order of monies, a grand cathedral, the magnificent res idence of the gover- nor-g e n e r a 1 , and numerous handsome dwellings. Manila Bay has an entrance seven miles wide, and con tains several islands, the largest of which are Corregidor and Caballo, standing in the opening, from which Manila lies twenty-six miles dis tant to the northeast. The two channels, divided by the islands at the mouth of the bay, are the Boca Grande, five miles wide, and Boca Chico, two miles across. Manila's fortified portion was the older and official part, lying to the south, but no. fortifications protected the city north of the Pasig River, which is the modern town of commerce. When the rela tions between Spain and the United States became strained, the Spaniards mounted a number of guns, and strengthened the shore batteries, special attention being given to 'those at Cavite\ This town is a suburb, about ten miles nearer than Manila to the entrance Defences of the bay, and standing on the point of a promontory. Spain knew of the danger that threatened the Philippines, and made preparations that she was confident would keep out or destroy the American fleet. Numerous mines were sunk in the harbor en trance, and torredoes strung across both channels. The following constituted the Spanish fleet which lay in Manila harbor, under the command of Admiral Montojo, complacently awaiting the hour when of the City CHAP, xcix McKINLEY'S FIRST ADMINISTRATION 1875 the Americans should dare to show themselves within reach of his guns : PERIOD VIII OUR Vessel and class. Displace ment, tons. Speed, knots. Guns, total. Torpedo- tubes. EXPANSION 1898 The Spanish Flppf Reina Maria Cristina, steel cruiser 3,520 3,342 1,152 1,130 1,130 1,130 1,030 524 524 500 I 7^z 14 14 14 16 16 10 21 22 7 13 13 12 12 6 7 5 2 2 3 3 I I Castillo, steel cruiser Velasco, small cruiser Don Antonio de Ulloa, small cruiser Don Juan de Austria, small cruiser Isla de Cuba small cruiser Isla de Luzon, small cruiser General Lezo, gun-vessel Marques del Duero despatch-boat As a specimen of Spanish bombast, the following proclamation by General Augustin, the governor-general, is worthy of permanent record : "The North American people, constituted of all social excres cences, have exhausted our patience and provoked war by their per fidious machinations, their acts of treachery, their outrages against the law of nations and international conventions. The struggle will be short and decisive. Spain will emerge triumphant from the new test, humiliating and blasting the hopes of the adventurers from those United States, that, without cohesion, without history, offer only infa mous traditions and ungrateful spectacles in her chambers, in which appear insolence, defamation, cowardice, and cynicism. Her squadron, manned by foreigners, possesses neither instruction nor discipline." The American fleet, under Commodore George Dewey, consisted of six fighting vessels and three tenders, as follows : * Vessel, class, and commander. Displace ment, tons. Speed, knots. Guns, total. Torpedo- tubes. Olympia, first-class protected cruiser, flagship, Capt. Charles V. Gridley 55OO 2O ?8 5 Baltimore, protected cruiser, Capt. N. M. Dyer...... Raleigh, protected cruiser, Capt. J. B. Coghlan 4,400 1 181 20 IO 28 oe 5 6 Boston, protected cruiser, Capt. F. Wildes "\ 180 if)tZ 2O - Concord, gunboat, Commander Asa Walker i 700 17 TC 6 Petrel, gunboat. Commander E. P. Wood 890 T-l lZ * The armament includes all the cannon on a ship. The barbette is the steel wall built up from below and enclosing the lower half or more of the revolving turret, these turrets containing the heaviest guns. A battery is a group of guns, or the place where they are mounted. The conning-tower is the armored tower at the base and forward of the steel military mast, from which, during an engagement, the commander can give his orders by means of telephones and speaking-tubes. The displacement of a ship is the weight in tons The Ameri can Fleet 1876 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES CHAP, xcix PERIOD VIII OUR It will be noted that the American fleet was superior in guns and calibre; but the advantage was far outweighed, as the Spaniards COLONIAL viewed it, by their shore batteries and the mines and torpedoes that JLXPANSION J - 1898 their assailants would have to encounter. Commodore Dewey with his fleet left Mirs Bay, near Hong Kong, where his ships had rendezvoused, on the afternoon of Wed- Advance nesday, April 27; and just as day was breaking on the 3Oth, was Manila sighted off Cape Bolinao, about a hundred miles from Manila. Steaming southward it reached Subig Bay, thirty miles from the entrance to Manila harbor, expecting to find Admiral Montojo; but he had withdrawn to the protection of the forts on shore, and Dewey followed him through the calm, moonlit night. of the water displaced by her hull. A Gatling-gun is the pioneer among machine-guns | and is so named in honor of its inventor, Dr. R. J. Catling. A knot, or nautical mile (6.080.27 feet), is nearly one-sixth greater than a statute mile (5,280 feet); the English omit the fraction. The port or larboard is the left side of a ship as one looks toward the bow ; the starboard is the right side. A machine-gun is worked automatically, and fires shot and shell. Marines are troops enlisted for service on a warship. Rapid-fire guns are generally rf less than six-inch calibre, for which the projectile and explosive are put up as one whole. C v "at guns have the projectile and explosive put up separately, and are of greater calibre than six inches. A squadron is a detachment of ships or a division ' of a fleet on a particular servile or station : a sauadron is often referred to as a fleet. A battleship is heavily armored, and carries the largest guns; and in the American navy each is named for a State, the Kearsarge being the only exception. The average cost of a battleship is $3,000.000, exclusive of the armament. The cruiser is next in fighting value to a battleship, but has greater speed, which usually exceeds eighteen knots. The unprotected cruiser has no armor protection in the shape of armor for her " vitals," as her engines, boilers, and magazines are termed. A water-tight deck, of moderate plating, serves as a roof for the " vitals." K protected cruiser has deck armor only, which presents a deflective front to shots passing through the sides and threatening the magazines. The Olympia, Admiral Dewey's flagship, is the best type of the protected cruiser. The armored cruiser like the New York and Brooklyn is the protected cruiser im proved by somewhat heavier armor on her protective deck, about her turreted guns, and the presence of a band of water-line vertical armor, three to four inches thick, on her sides just above this heavy belt, and intended as a protection to her vitals. She possesses great speed, and all the cruisers are named for American cities. The armored cruiser has been well called the cavalryman of the sea. A gunboat is a small warship, usually of less than 2,000 tons. It is of light draft, and the term may mean any small boat fitted up with one or more guns. A monitor lies very low in the water, is heavily armored, and carries one or two revolving turrets, each with one or two guns. The first monitor was the invention of Ericsson, and defeated the Con federate iron-clad Merrimac in Hampton Roads, in March, 1862. A ram is sufficiently described by its name. Our Katahdin is the only vessel of that type in existence. A ship of the first class displaces 5,000 tons or over; of the second class, between 5,000 and 3,000 tons ; of the third class, between 3,000 and 1,000 tons ; of the fourth class, below 1,000 tons, These terms do not of necessity define the fighting power of a war ship. A battleship of the second class raight well overcome, at close quarters, one of the first class. CHAP, xcix McKINLEY'S FIRST ADMINISTRATION 1877 Long before daylight, Sunday morning, May I, the alarm guns PERIOD sounded from Corregidor Island, as the Spaniards discovered to their consternation that the fleet was passing through the southern en- COLONIAL EXPANSION trance of the bay. The forts on the land side united with the can- l8 9 8 nonading on Corregidor Island, but no harm was done; and returning only a few shots, the fleet steamed uninjured past the forts, and over the mines and torpedoes directly into the harbor. The flagship Olympia led, with all lights obscured. Early in the morning, the Spanish fleet was dis covered off Cavit6. Com modore Dewey at once ordered his squadron to close in on the land bat teries at Cavite", and upon the Spanish warships ; and as the haze lifted from the bay the battle opened. With that superb marks manship never before equalled in naval warfare, the Americans poured an appalling hail of shot and shell into the doomed ships, .whose return fire was exceedingly ill - directed. Dewey ordered his ships to manoeuvre continually, to disconcert the manship Spanish gunners, who looked to see him ground in shallow water' but the American navigating officers had learned the bay thoroughly, and their consummate seamanship saved them from any such mishap. The fighting, which was terrific, lasted about four hours, with a lull midway while the Americans breakfasted and steamed over to \ the western side of the bay, and from their supply ships took on board coal and ammunition. Accepting this action as proof of defeat, the Spaniards sent exultant telegrams to Madrid, where all were thrown into an ecstasy of delight at the crushing repulse administered to the enemy. ADMIRAL MONTOJO OF THE SPANISH FLEET V Ameri can Marks- 1878 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES CHAP, xcix PERIOD But back again grimly steamed the American warships to com plete their terrible work. The rattling of the small-calibre guns, ExpAiTsioN the b om f ^e huge rifles, the crash of the shot as it found its l8 9 8 mark, and the roar of the exploding shells, made a pandemonium beyond the power of imagination to conceive. Before long, the Reina Maria Cristina, Admiral Montojo's flag- Renewal ship, broke into flames, which burned so fiercely that the admiral Battle transferred his flag to the Isla de Cuba. Hardly was this effected when the Don Antonio de Ulloa took fire; and soon afterward the Isla de Cuba was sunk. The Americans fired as coolly as if at target-practice, and it seemed' as if every shot told. One after another the Spanish ships were put out of action. The guns at Cavite were used to aid the Spaniards; but their work was as ineffective as that of the war ships. While fighting the latter,. Dewey engaged Cavite, silenced its fire, and knocked the outer fortifications into ruins. In a short time the eleven Spanish ships were destroyed; Admiral Montojo was wounded ; the captain of the Reina Maria Christina killed, be sides more than a hundred of his crew and a number of officers. On the Don Juan de Austria, the captain and ninety of his men were slain ; while many more Spaniards lost their lives in attempting to escape from the burning vessels. The total losses were estimated at about a thousand, while on the American side not a man was killed and only eight wounded. Two formidable submarine mines were exploded near the Olympia ; and two of our ships were set on fire by Spanish shells, but the flames were quickly extinguished. Having annihilated the fleet, Commodore Dewey concentrated his fire upon Cavit6 ; and though it made a fine defence, it was compelled A to surrender. A force was landed to occupy the place, and every fu?Vic- possible attention was paid to the Spanish wounded.* The fortifica- tor > tions of Cavite 1 were razed, and those at Corregidor Island destroyed. Although the Commodore felt himself able to take possession of Manila whenever he chose, he deemed it more prudent to await the arrival of reinforcements from the United States. Meanwhile, he took measures to protect the Spaniards against massacre by the in- * The following are the names of the Spanish warships destroyed : Reina Alaria, Cris tina, Castilla, Don Antonio de Ulloa, Isla de Luzon, Isla de Cuba, General Lezo, Mar ques del Duero, El Cano, Velasco, cruisers and gunboats ; Isla de Mindanao, transport ; one other ship not named. i88o HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES CHAP. Xcix PERIOD VIII OUR COLONIAL EXPANSION 1898 surgents, who fought desperately, and steadily encroached upon the city. Secretary Long lost no time in telegraphing the thanks of the President ih the name of the American people to Commodore Dewey and his officers and men. At the same time he was notified of his appointment as acting-admiral, an honor which was soon changed by. Congress into that of rear-admiral. The victory of Commodore Dewey was not only brilliant in the highest degree, but surpassed in its way anything recorded in history. Indeed, it may well be pronounced a mystery beyond comprehension from the fact that while 150 men were killed on the Spanish flagship alone, and every one of the enemy's ships was destroyed, not a man, as already stated, among the Americans lost his life. The fights of the early Spanish explorers, clothed in coats of mail and using firearms, against naked savages with bows and arrows, reveal no such amazing record. In neither of the fleets were the warships armored ; nor was " our superiority in the calibre of our guns or in the protection of our gunners decisive. Many of our small guns had no more protection Power" in than those of the Spaniards. It would seem that had all the latter Battle b een blindfolded, chance alone would have killed at least a score of Americans. Never was there a more impressive illustration of the truth that it is not the gun, so much as it is the man behind the gun, that helps to win battles. The Real ftevetme Q/atter CHAPTER C Me KIN 1. EY'S FIR S/ AD MINIS TRA TION 1 897- 1 90 1 (CONTINUED) OUR WAR WITH SPAIN (Continued) Naval Operations in the West Indies [Authorities: Those of our readers who are old enough to recall the events of the War for the Union have not failed to note a certain parallelism between its opening and that of our war with Spain. Hostilities in each case began at about the same time of the year, and it was not long before public impatience manifested itself over what seemed to be the tardiness of the military operations. Thirty-seven years previous the clamor " On to Richmond !" brought the overwhelming disaster of Bull Run. The delay in the spring of 1898 had no similar woful sequence, for it was of briefer duration, and the second thought of the public told them that the President, the Strategy Board, and the military and naval authorities understood the situation better than it was possible for them to understand it. The confidence reposed in the judgment of those who directed opera tions was fully justified by" the fruitage of unexampled victory and triumphs, and was another impressive enforcement of the truth that in many situations in life, the safest course is to make haste slowly, or, in other words, to know the ground thoroughly before venturing upon it. The authorities are of the same nature as those already named.] |HE war preparations of our Government were pushed without cessation. The recruits of the various State camps were forwarded to Chickamauga, Tam pa, and other points, preparatory to the invasion of Cuba, which it was confidently believed would be soon made.* The President made a number of nominations for major- and brigadier-generals, all of which were promptly confirmed by the Senate. Among these were Fit?hugh Lee and Joseph H. Wheeler, the famous Confeder- * The formal declaration of war in 1812 was embodied in the act of June 18 of that year, and the first hostilities occurred on July 17. A skirmish on April 25, 1846, pre ceded our declaration of war against Mexico, which was made May 9. There was fighting between France and the United States in 1798, and for several years following, i882 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES CHAP, c but no declaration of war, peace being restored February 3, 1801, by a formal treaty. As already stated, Congress decided on the 25th of April, 1898, that war with Spain had begun on the 2ist of that month. The Naval War Board, to which the important naval operations were referred, consisted of Admiral Sicard, Captain Marian (retired), Captain Crowninshield, chief of the Bureau of Navigation, with Lieut. Alphonso H. Cobb (retired) 5 secretary. CHAP, c McKINLEY'S FIRST ADMINISTRATION 1883 ate cavalry leaders, who were made major-generals. One of the PERIOD beneficent results of our war with Spain was the final cementing of the union between the North and South. While there was less ^^^ demonstration in the latter section, the people could not have been l8 9 8 more ardent in their patriotism, and the mingling of the veterans who wore the blue and those who wore the gray was perfect and absolute. Union of the Blue It should be added that the war was the most popular in which and Gray our country has ever engaged. It was eagerly advocated everywhere, and it has been shown that it was as easy to obtain a million as a hundred thousand recruits for our army. The reason for this was that it was not solely a war of conquest, but one that appealed to the noblest instincts of humanity. The invasion of Cuba was delayed by uncertainty regarding the movements of the Spanish fleet. The uneasiness as to its where abouts and destination continued, and there was alarm in Boston, New York, and other leading cities over a visit from the warships, while rumors were plentiful that it intended to bombard many of the seaboard towns. The pressing necessity, therefore, was to meet and destroy the hostile ships before they could cross the- Atlantic. Moreover, there would be great risk in sending transports, loaded with troops to Cuba, where they would be subject to annihilation by Admiral Cervera, the commander of the Spanish fleet. On the 4th of May, the fighting ships of Admiral Sampson sailed from Key West in search of the enemy. Eight days later news was received that the Spanish Cape Verde squadron had arrived at Martinique, West Indies. It was on this day that the first lives were lost on the American side. The gunboat Wilmington, the torpedo-boat Winslow, and the u T1 ?e auxiliary gunboat Hudson were attacked in Cardenas Bay by Span- low " ish gunboats and batteries. They shelled the town and withdrew, Affair Ensign Bagley and four of the crew of the Winslow being killed. Ensign Worth Bagley, the executive officer of the Winslow, was born in North Carolina in 1874, and xvas graduated from the Naval Academy in June, r895. Brief as was his service, he proved his daring, coolness, and judgment. He was a great athlete, filling the position of full -back' on the football team. Lieutenant Bernadou was commander of the Winslow, in the lamentable occurrence mentioned. 1884 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES CHAP, c General instructions had been issued to the American warships not to fire upon Spanish forts unless first attacked, it being desired to preserve our great fighting machines uninjured for the expected naval battle. Our blockading squadron longed for a chance to exchange shots with some of the batteries on shore, but did not often gain the opportunity. At daylight, May 1 3, the American squadron ap peared outside the harbor of San Juan, the capital of Porto Rico, bardment when the Morro Castle, the fort at the entrance of the harbor, fired of San a shot at the flagship Iowa. A fight at once opened, the Indiana, Amphitrite, and Terror joining the New York in the attack. The FIQHT OF THE WINSLOW" -DEATH OF ENSIGN BAQLEY marksmanship of the Americans was excellent ; but some of the shells passed over the fort into the city, did great damage, and inflicted considerable loss of life. In a short time the fortifications were battered into ruins. The aim of the Spaniards was so poor that among the Americans there were only two killed and six wounded, while the squadron itself suffered no injury.. Meanwhile, our fleet was assiduously hunting that of the enemy, and it was difficult to follow the movements of either. Comm^ ore Schley sailed under secret orders on the 1 3th of May from Hampton Roads, the Spanish fleet being reported the next day at Curasao, off i886 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES CHAP, c . PERIOD the Venezuelan coast, with Admiral Sampson off Puerto Plata, Haiti. OUR ^xp L AN N sioN The next report of the hostile squadron was ,that it had reached l8 9 8 Santiago de Cuba. Then came the news, hardly credited at first, that it had entered that harbor, where it was bottled up by the Amer ican fleet. On the 29th, five days later, Commodore Schley reported Cer- having seen some of the Spanish ships in the harbor, and the news Fitet at was soon confirmed. The dreaded fleet that had caused so much Santiago a i arm a l on g O ur coast was in the harbor of Santiago, and, so long as it could be held there, was powerless to inflict harm. The fear was that on some dark night, or during a violent storm when our own ships were compelled to keep farther than usual from shore, the fleet would make a sudden dash and escape. It consisted of the four armored cruisers Infanta Maria Teresa, Vizcaya, Almi- rante Oquendo, and Cristobal Colon, and the torpedo-boat destroyers Pluton and Furor. All belonged to the best types of their class, the cruisers being of 7,000 tons displacement, with the exception of the Cristobal Colon, which was slightly less. Every one had a speed of 20 knots, and the four carried 130 guns and 28 torpedo-tubes. The probability of the Spanish fleet slipping out and escaping caused Admiral Sampson much concern ; but there seemed to be no way of removing the danger, until Naval Constructor Richmond Pearson Hobson asked an audience with the Admiral. Hobson is a native of Alabama, twenty- seven years old at that time, and was graduated from the Naval Academy in 1889, and later studied naval construction abroad. The young man lost no time in laying before the Admiral his plan for locking in the enemy's fleet, so that only one or two Ameri can ships need remain on guard, leaving the rest free to do duty . elsewhere. His scheme was to select a crew just sufficient to navi- Daring gate the collier Merrimac, strip the old craft of everything of value, ! and then, shielded by the darkness, run her into the narrowest part . of the channel and sink her. As she went down, the crew were to jump overboard, to be picked up, if possible, by the torpedo-boat Porter, or by the steam launch of the New York, which was to run in as closely as it dared for that purpose, the craft being covered by the fleet outside. Lieutenant Hobson, like the brave man he is, offered to lead the expedition, and his words were so persuasive that the consent of the Copyright l&)8, by Vander Weyde LIEUTENANT RICHMOND PEARSON HOBSON i888 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES CHAP, c PERIOD Admiral was won. Wednesday night, June I, was selected for the venture. That afternoon the New York signalled to the ships of the squadron : " An attempt will be made to-night to sink the collier Merrimac at the entrance to the harbor. One man, a volunteer, is requested from each ship." Prepara- That nothing in all the world is so attractive to an American for the as a perilous duty was proven by what immediately followed. Al- Attempt Chough the chances were overwhelmingly against a single man com ing olit of the venture alive, it may be said that all the companies of all the ships volunteered for the dangerous work, and many vehe mently clamored for the privilege. On the Brooklyn alone, 1 50 of the crew begged to be accepted as volunteers, and about the same num ber on the Texas were equally persistent. The difficulty was in the selection of the small 'crew required; and when effected it was as follows : Lieutenant Hobson ; Gunner's Mate Philip O' Boyle, of the Texas ; Gun Captain Mill, of the New Orleans ; Seaman Anderson, of the Massachusetts, and Seaman Wade-, of the Vixen. Coal was removed from, the Merrimac until only enough for bal last remained in her hold ; and the sogg} craft was taken to a point 20 miles east of Santiago, where the work of stripping her was begun. Late in the afternoon the Vixen called on each ship and took off its volunteer, and placed them on board the flagship New York. The squadron moved close to the entrance of the harbor, and no one doubted that in a few hours the attempt would be made. There was so much work, however, to be done on the Merrimac that the prep arations could not be completed in time, and the night of June 3 was fixed upon for the attempt. Now came the keenest of all disappointments to the volunteers. It was a wise, but none the less a hard decision that these heroes . K had been held on edge so long that their nerves must have felt the Disap- strain, and that possibly they were unfitted for the duty in which ment" coolness and complete self-possession were indispensable. Accord ingly the originals, denouncing their bad luck, were returned to their respective ships, and a new selection was made : Lieut. RICHMOND PEARSON HOBSON, Assistant Naval Constructor. OSBORN DEIGNAN, a coxswain of the Merrimac. GEORGE F. PHILLIPS, a machinist of the Merrimac. CHAF. C McKINLEY'S FIRST ADMINISTRATION 1889 JOHN KELLY, a water-tender of the Merrimac. GEORGE CHARETTE, a gunner's mate of the flagship New York. DANIEL MONTAGUE, a seaman of the cruiser Brooklyn. J. C. MURPHY, a coxswain of the Iowa. RANDOLPH CLAUSEN, a coxswain of the New York. Clausen was not one of the men selected for duty. He was at work on the Merrimac, when all except the seven volunteers were ordered to leave and go aboard the flagship. He refused to go, and thus secured a place for his name on the roll of fame. As the afternoon was drawing to a close, the fleet assumed a new formation, ordered by Admiral Sampson, which, beginning westward, was : Vixen, Brooklyn, MarbleJiead, Texas, Massachusetts, Oregon, Iowa, New York, New Orleans, and Mayflower. Outside of this circle were the colliers, cable, and supply boats, with the Dolphin and Porter acting as despatch-boats. The night was calm and soft, with the full moon shining upon the unruffled sea and clothing the grim mountains in fleecy silver. Far away on the hillsides gleamed the lights of the villages around San tiago, and the single searchlight of the Morro lighthouse sent its glowing fan out upon the waters. But on the decks of the massive warships everything wore an appearance of expectancy. The men lay on the decks, with their guns and small arms at their sides, tak ing turns in sleeping two hours at a time. Between two and three o'clock, with the moon partly obscured, the crew of the Merrimac was sent aboard the Texas, and the eight who remained steamed toward the western shore of the harbor en trance, with the launch of the New York closely following in com mand of Naval Cadet Joseph Wright Powell, of Oswego, N. Y., with four men Coxswain Peterson, Fireman Horsman, Engineer Nelson, and Seaman Peterson, the launch halting and lying close to the west ern shore. The crews of the American warships, who were peering with breathless interest into the gloom, saw the flash of a single gun on Morro Castle, though the report could not be heard. A few min utes later the shore broke' into sheets of flame, and it looked as if every gun in the batteries had been turned upon the Merrimac. The cumbersome craft, 330 feet in length, seemed to bear a charmed life, for, apparently uninjured, she moved straight ahead to the nar rowest part of the channel, which was about 400 feet wide. PERIOD VIII OUR COLONIAL EXPANSION 1808 The Heroes A Stirring Scene COPYRIGHT 1896. THE MERRIMAC VOLUNTEERS FROM THE ORIGINAL DRAWING BY J. STEEPLE DAVIS CHAP, c McKINLEY'S FIRST ADMINISTRATION 1891 In order to complete our account of this remarkable exploit, we PERIOD give in this place the story told by Lieutenant Hobson himself, after his exchange and return to his friends. His narrative is absorbingly ^f*^ interesting : I8 9 8 " It was dark when we started in toward the strait," said Lieuten ant Hobson, " and it was darker when we got the ship into position. We all knew that we were taking desperate chances, and in order to be unencumbered when we got into the water we stripped down to Lieuten ant Hob- our underclothing. The ship gave a heave when the* charges ex- son's ploded, and as she sank with a lurch at the bow we got over her c sides. That we got into the water is nearly all we know of what happened in that rather brief period. Some sprang over the ship's sides, but more than one of us was thrown over the rail by the shock and the lurching of the ship. " It was our plan to escape on a catamaran float which lay on the roof of the midship-house. One of the greatest dangers of the thing was that of being caught in the suction made by the ship as she went down ; so we tied the float to the taff rail, giving it slack line^ enough, as we thought, to let it float loose after the ship had settled into her resting-place. L swam away from the ship as soon as I struck the water, but I could feel the eddies drawing me backwards in spite of all I could do. That did not last very long, however, and as soon as I felt the tugging ease I turned and struck out for the float, which I could see dimly bobbing up and down over the sunken hull. " The Merrimac s masts were plainly visible, and I could see the heads of my seven men as they followed my example and made for the float also. We had expected, of course, that the Spaniards would investigate the wreck, but we had no idea that they would be at it as quickly as they were. Before we could get to the float several row- boats and launches came around the bluff from inside the harbor. In They had officers on board and armed marines as well, and they Hiding searched that passage, rowing backward and forward, until the next morning. It was only by good luck that we got to the float at all, for they were upon us so quickly that we had barely concealed our selves when a boat with quite a large party on board was right be side us. " Unfortunately, we thought then, but it turned out afterward that nothing more fortunate than that could have happened to us, the CHAP, c McKINLEY'S FIRST ADMINISTRATION 1893 rope with which we had secured the float to the ship was too short to allow it to swing free, and when we reached it we found that one of the pontoons was entirely out of the water and the other one was submerged. Had the raft lain flat on the water we could not have got under it, and would have had to climb up on it, to be an excellent target for the first party of marines that arrived. As it was, we could get under the raft, and by putting our hands through the SANTIAGO FROM THE HARBOR crevices between the slats which formed its deck we could hald our heads out of water and still be unseen. That is what we did; and- all night long we stayed there with our noses and mouths barely out of water. " None of us expected to get out of the affair alive, but luckily the Spaniards did not think of the apparently damaged, half-sunken raft floating about beside the wreck. They came to within a cable's length of -us at intervals of only a few minutes all night. We could hear their words distinctly, and even in the darkness could distin guish an occasional glint of light on the rifle-barrels of the marines and on the lace of the officers' uniforms. We were afraid to speak PERIOD VIII OUR l8 9 8 . Dismal tion" 1894 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES CHAP, c PERIOD VIII OUR. COLONIAL EXPANSION 1898 Enemies at Hand Almost Discov ered above a whisper, and for a good while in fact, whenever they were near us we breathed as easily as we could. I ordered my men not to speak unless to address me, and with one exception they obeyed. " After we had been there an hour or two, the water, which we found rather warm at first, began to get cold, and my fingers ached where the wood was pressing into them. The clouds, which were running before a pretty stiff breeze when we went in, blew over, and then by the starlight we could see the boats when they came out of the shadows of the cliffs on either side ; and even when we could not see them we knew that they were still near, because we could hear very plainly the splash of the oars and the grinding of the oar locks. - " Our teeth began to chatter before very long, and I was in con stant fear that the Spaniards would hear us when they came close. It was so still then that the chattering sound seemed to us as loud as a hammer ; but the Spaniards' ears were not sharp enough to hear it. We could hear sounds from the shore almost as distinctly as if we had been there, we were so close to the surface of the water, which is an excellent conductoV, and the voices of the men in the boats sounded as clear as a bell. My men tried to keep their teeth still, but it was hard work, and not attended with any great success at the best. " We all knew that we would be shot if discovered by an ordinary seaman or a marine, and I ordered my men not to stir, as the boats having officers on board kept well in the distance. One of my men disobeyed my orders, and started to swim ashore, and I had to call him back. He obeyed at once, but my voice seemed to create some commotion among the boats, and several of them appeared close beside us before the disturbance in the water made by the man swim ming had disappeared. We thought it was all up with us then ; but the boats went away into the shadows again. " There was much speculating among the Spaniards as to what the ship was and what we intended to do next. I could understand many of the words, and gathered from what I heard that the officers had taken in the situation at once, but were astounded at the audac ity of the thing. The boats, I also learned, were from the fleet, and I felt better, because I had more faith in a Spanish sailor than I had in a Spanish soldier. " When daylight came a steam launch full of officers and marines CHAP, c McKINLEY'S FIRST ADMINISTRATION 1895 came out from behind the cliff that hid the fleet and harbor, and PERIOD VIII advanced toward us. All the men on board were looking curiously in our direction. They did not see us. Knowing that some one of ^f^ioit rank must be on board, I waited until the launch was quite close and l8 9 8 hailed her '"' My voice produced the utmost consternation on board. Every one sprang up, the marines crowded to the bow, and the launch's engines were reversed. She not only stopped, but she backed off until nearly a quarter of a mile away, where she stayed. The marines stood ready to fire at the wor-d of command, when we clambered out from under the float. There were ten of the marines, and they would have fired in a minute had they not been restrained. " I swam toward the launch, and then she started toward me. I called out in Spanish : 'Is there an officer on board?' An officer an swered in the affirmative; and then I shouted in Spanish again: 'I The Sur- have seven men to surrender.' I continued swimming, and when I reQ der reached the side of the launch I was seized and pulled out of the water. " As I looked up when they were dragging me into the launch, I saw that it was Admiral Cervera himself who had hold of me. He looked at me rather dubiously at first, because I had been down in the engine-room of the Merrimac, where I got covered with oil, and that with the soot and coal-dust made my appearance most disrepu- A table. I had put on my officer's belt before sinking the Merrimac, rous Foe as a means of identification no matter what happened to me, and when I pointed to it in the launch the Admiral understood and seemed satisfied. The first words he said to me when he learned who I was were * Bienvenido sea listed,' which means, f You are welcome.' My treatment by the naval officers, and that of my men also, was courteous all the time that I was a prisoner. They heard my story, as much of it as I could tell, but sought to learn nothing more. " My men were rescued from the float, and we were taken to the shore, and we were all placed in a cell in Morro Castle. I asked per mission to send a note to Admiral Sampson, and wrote it ; but when Admiral Cervera learned of it he came to me and said that General Linares would not permit me to send it. The Admiral seemed greatly worried ; but it was not until a day or two later that I learned what was on his mind. That same day he said he would send a boat to the fleet to get clothes for us, and that the men who went in the 1896 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES CHAP, c PERIOD VIII boat could tell Admiral Sampson that we were safe. I learned later - that General Linares was inclined to be ugly, and that Admiral Cer- OUR J EXPANSION vera wished to get word to our fleet as soon as possible that we were l8 9 8 safe, knowing that then General Linares would learn that the fleet knew it, and he would not dare to harm us. " When we were first placed in Morro the solid doors to our cells were kept closed for an hour or two; but when we objected to that Confined in Morro SANTIAGO FROM THE HILLS BACK OF THE CITY the Admiral ordered that they be thrown open. Then we had a view of Santiago harbor, the city, and the Spanish fleet. All of the offi cers of the army and fleet called on us that day, and their treatment of us was most considerate and courteous. General Linares did not call, but sent word that, as all the others had called, he thought that a visit from him was not included in his duties. I do not know what he meant by that, but am sure that we do not owe our safety to him. " We were still in Morro Castle when Admiral Sampson's fleet bombarded Santiago. The windows in the side of our cell opened west across the harbor entrance, and we could hear and see the shells as they struck. We knew that we would not be fired upon, as word had gone out as to where we were, so we sat at the windows and CHAP, c McKINLEY'S FIRST ADMINISTRATION 1897 watched the shells. Each one sung a different tune as it went by. PERIOD The smaller shells moaned or screeched as they passed, but the thir- teen-inch shells left a sound behind them like that of the sudden and ^^i^ continued smashing of a huge pane of glass. The crackling was sharp l8 9 8 and metallic, something like sharp thunder without the roar, and the sound continued, but decreased after the shell had gone. In many cases the shells struck projecting points of rock, and, ricochetting, Grim spun end over end across the hills. The sound they made as they struck again and again was like the short, sharp puffs of a locomo tive starting with a heavy train. " We were in Morro Castle four days, and only once did I feel alarmed. The day before we were taken into the city of Santiago I saw a small boat start from the harbor with a flag of truce up. When I asked one of the sentries what it meant, I was told that the boat had gone out to tell our fleet that my men and I had already been taken into the city. Then I feared that Morro would be bom barded at once, and believed it to be a scheme got up by General Linares to end us. We were taken to the city the next day, and were safe anyway then. " In the city we were treated with the same consideration by the naval officers and the army officers, with the exception of General Linares, which we got on t*he day of our capture. I believe that we owe to Admiral Cervera our exchange, and a great deal more in the way of good treatment that we would not otherwise have received. General Linares had no good blood for us, nor did the soldiers and marines, who would have shot us on sight the night that we went into the harbor. " We did not have time to think of sharks. We saw a great many things, though, and went through a great many experiences. When we started out from the fleet I tied to my belt a flask of medi cated water, supplied to me by my ship's surgeon. The frequency with which we all felt thirsty on the short run into the passage, and Not the dryness of my mouth and lips, made me believe that I was fright- ened. The men felt the same, and all the way the flask went from hand to hand. Once I felt my pulse to see if I was frightened, but to my surprise I found it normal. Later we forgot all about it ; and when we got into the water there was no need for the flask. " Admiral Cervera was stirred to admiration by the daring of Hob- son and his companions, and lost no time in sending a flag of truce 172 1898 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES CHAP, c PERIOD to Admiral Sampson with the news that the men were safe in his custody, and that he would be pleased to exchange them for an equiv- EXP L ANSION a l ent number of Spanish prisoners. Certain technicalities, however, 1898 intervened apparently due to the Spaniards' inveterate love of red tape and more than a month elapsed before the exchange was effected. The Ex- The exploit of Lieutenant Hobson and his comrades thrilled the change i country. President McKinley would have nominated them all at once for promotion, but decided to wait until he could learn the wishes of the young officer, who, it was suggested, might prefer the line to the engineer service. On June 27 he sent messages asking the thanks of Congress for Lieutenant Hobson, and that he be trans ferred to the line; recommending thanks for Lieutenant F. H. New- comb and the men of the revenue-cutter Hudson, and nominating Cadet Joseph W. Powell for advancement two numbers. The rec ommendations were immediately adopted, and on the 2Qth the Sen ate thanked Hobson and his crew, naming every man, an unprece dented honor. One of the most remarkable feats of the war was the run of the battleship Oregon from San Francisco on its way to join Admiral Sampson in the West Indies. It was felt that the services of this magnificent vessel were needed in the Atlantic, and that she should reach our Eastern coast at the earliest possible hour. She left San Francisco, March 19, under the command of Captain Charles E. Clark, and made her first stop at Callao, Peru, where she was joined by the gunboat Marietta, and then coaled, and steamed to Punta Arenas, at the eastern entrance to the Straits of Magellan. The two passed through the Straits, and northward along the eastern coast to A Rio Janeiro, which was reached on April 30. At this port Captain Remark- Clark learned that war had begun between the United States and Run Spain. Here the two vessels were joined by the cruiser Buffalo, formerly the Brazilian Nictheroy. Then came a situation which deeply stirred the country. The nearer the Oregon drew to the West Indies, the nearer she approached the Spanish Cape Verde fleet, which many believed was lying in wait for her. Compelled to depend upon herself alone, it seemed hardly possible that, with all the courage and skill of her officers and crew, she could withstand the attack of the enemy, whose re. 1 power had been magnified by rumor. It would be a severe blow if the enemy could sink or capture her, and 1900 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES CHAP, c PERIOD many were convinced that such was to be the end of the daring venture. OUR EXPANS'ION The Navy Department thought that if the Spanish squadron was 1898 after the Oregon and the Marietta it would attack them between Para and Cape St. Roque, Brazil, the nearest point from the Cape Verde Islands, from which the fleet sailed on April 29. The last stopping- place of the Oregon was Bahia, Brazil, whence she was to make no halt until she had crossed the zone of danger. The observer at Jupiter Inlet, on the Florida coast, opposite the Bahamas, sighted the Oregon on the morning of May 24, and that evening she came to anchor off the inlet, and lost no time in joining Admiral Sampson's fleet. The journey of the Oregon was 14, 1 33 nautical miles, and was made in sixty-eight days. Her run from San Francisco to Callao has- never End of been equalled ; and two records that surpass those made by any other ~ke battleship are her run of 2,484 knots at an average speed of 1 3 knots an hour, and one of 155, knots in ten hours. At the end of this wonderful voyage her engines were in perfect order. Captain Clark declared that he would have been glad to meet Admiral Cervera; and in the light of subsequent events the failure of such a meeting was a piece of providential good fortune wholly on the side of the Spanish commander.* * The following record of this unprecedented run is taken from the log of the Oregon : she left San Francisco, March 19 ; arrived at Callao, April 4 ; left Callao, April 8; arrived at Sandy Point, April 17 ; left Sandy Point, April 21 ; reached Rio Janeiro, April 30 ; left Rio Janeiro, May 4 ; arrived at Bahia, May 8 ; left Bahia, May 9 ; arrived at Barbadoes, May 18 ; arrived at Jupiter Inlet, May 24; arrrived at Key West, May 26. The actual steaming distance was 14,133 nautical miles, which was accomplished in sixty-eight days. jZVm.erica.tu (Tr atvssp ort CHAPTER CI McKINLE Y ' 5 FIRS T A D MINIS TRA TION 1 837- 1 90 1 (CONTINUED} OUR WAR WITH SPAIN (Continued) On Cuban Soil ; Annexation of Hawaii {Authorities : The Contemporary Review for June, 1898, contains a remarkable article, written by Dr. E. J. Dillon, and entitled " The Ruin of Spain." It is forceful, learned, and forms a strikingly vivid picture of the hopeless decay of a country that once terrified the nations of the world, and pushed its conquests into all seas and climes. In the period of its greatness, the university of Salamanca alone contained more students than the entire city has inhabitants to-day. The main cause of Spain's collapse is the lack of instruction among the people. Out of 18,000,000, Dr. Dillon says, the illiterates exceed 16,000,000. The graduates of the universities learn nothing but oratory ; among her statesmen is not a single one entitled to rank in the first or second class. Knowing the overpowering strength of the United States, and seeing the approach of war, her rulers thronged the bull- fights and declared there would be no war, because their faith in miracles is unshakable. As the Spanish writer Martos said : " We belong to that im pressible Latin race which groaned under the lash of Nero 'he tyrant, and applauded and crowned with roses Nero the artist." When Dr. Dillon demonstrates that the one and only Spaniard who was competent to crush the Cuban rebellion was Weyler, he shows in language that cannot be made more impressive the utter and absolute ruin of Spain.] Oorto Cacti antiag de&ib INCE war had been declared between Spain and the United States, the first natural step seemed to be the invasion of Cuba, with the object of ex pelling the Spaniards. There was some impa tience expressed over the delays, since it was cer tain that the garrisons of Havana, Santiago, Ma- tanzas, and other prominent cities were working incessantly to erect formidable defences, and every week and day added to their strength. The slowness, however, was unavoidable, and was due to several causes. HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES CHAP, ci Two * Old Confed erates In the first place, it is an immense task to arm and equip twenty thousand men ; and the first call of the President was for one hun dred and twenty-five thousand. A civilian can hardly comprehend the enormous amount of detail involved and the time necessary to approach even a semblance of thoroughness. Again, the men re- The Immense Task THE PANAMA" CAPTURED BY THE ST. PAUL 1 quired drilling, for of necessity they were to be pitted against Span ish regulars, who were accustomed, to guerrilla and bush fighting, were good marksmen, and numbered many thousands. The dreaded rainy season was at hand, and many of our military authorities were strongly in favor of deferring the invasion until the cool, healthful weather of autumn. Moreover, as already intimated, the Spanish fleet was a factor that caused much uneasiness in the early weeks of the war. It was generally believed to be prowling somewhere among the West Indies ; and if it should pounce upon our transports, loaded with soldiers, it might work terrific destruction, even though the transports were convoyed by a strong naval force. Finally, how ever, the conditions became favorable, and it was decided to throw a powerful body of troops into Cuba, and prosecute the campaign with all possible vigor and without regard to climatic conditions. On May 6, Major-General Miles issued an order regarding the organization of the volunteer army in combination with the standing army of the United States. It constituted seven army corps, com prising both the regular and volunteer branches of the army, leaving the several headquarters and their location, as well as the generals appointed to command them, to be named later. On the same day the commissions of the new major-generals were signed, and two of CHAP. CI McKINLEY'S FIRST ADMINISTRATION 1903 them, Generals Joseph Wheeler and Fitzhugh Lee, who had fought against the Union in the Civil War, took the oath of allegiance in the following words : " I do solemnly swear that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the United States of America, and thkt I will serve them honestly and faithfully- against all their enemies whomsoever, and that I will obey the orders of the President of the United States and the orders of the officer appointed over me, according to the rules and articles of war." A noteworthy fact connected with the swearing in of Joseph Wheeler is that he was the first ex-Confederate officer to receive a commission in the United States army. An organization of which we shall have more to tell was the regiment of mounted rifles under the leadership of Col. Leonard Wood and Lieut.-Col. Theodore Roosevelt. This was composed of cowboys, Western rangers, policemen with records for pluck and daring, and a number of "gilded young millionaires," who were leaders in the social world; but every one of them was full to the THE YANKEE " PERIOD VIII OUR COLONIAL EXPANSION 1898 The Rough Riders eyes of pluck, eager to prove, as they did upon the first opportunity, that no more virile or braver men lived. A regiment somewhat similar in make-up was also organized under the commanded: Judge J. L. Torrey, of Wyoming, the recruits for both hurrying eagerly forward, from widely separated sections of the country, in such numbers that all could not be accepted. 1904 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES CHAP, ci PERIOD The war spirit was everywhere. The response to the President's call was fully six times greater than was needed ; and despite the se- ^XPA O N N SION ver ity f the medical examination, recruits were accepted by the hun- l8 Q8 dreds and thousands, and they included the best blood of the republic The lessons of the Civil War were not forgotten, for the " political generals" remained in the background ; nor were distinctions made in favor of any class of volunteers. The American military spirit was more aggressive and more general than ever before in the history of the country, and proved the patriotism and the inherent manhood that qualify the nation to go forward upon the larger and grander career which destiny has opened Before it. Reference has been made to the unanimity of sentiment through out the United States in support of a war that was waged for human ity. Never did a more sacred cause call for the consecration of good men, and never did such a call receive so overwhelming a response. There was one impressive fact that, as already stated, quickly became apparent : our war with Spain made perfect the reunion between the North and South. Since this truth has also been men tioned, it should be recorded that, on June I, the House by a unani- Pooular mous vote P asse d the bill removing the political disabilities imposed War by the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution, thus destroying the last remaining vestige of the adverse legislation growing out of the Civil War. On the i Qth of May, it was reported that the Spanish Cape Verde fleet had reached Santiago ; but there was no certainty of the truth of the report. Commodore Schley's fleet had arrived at Key West a short time previous, the expectation being that it was about to sail on a secret expedition. On the 24th if was further rumored that the Spanish fleet had entered Santiago harbor, where, as already stated^ Lieutenant Hobson and his heroic comrades made the attempt to bottle it up, June 3, by sinking the collier Merrimac in the narrowest part, of the channel. Three days previous, the Santiago forts were bom barded by Commodore Schley with the Massachusetts, Iowa, and New Orleans. Great damage was inflicted, but it was not of a decisive nature. Since the navy of necessity took the most prominent part in the war, it is important to know more about it. According to the Offi cial Register, issued July I, and bearing the title " List and Stations CHAP. CI McKINLEY'S FIRST ADMINISTRATION 1905 PERIOD VIII OUR COLONIAL EXPANSION 1898 of the Commissioned and Warrant Officers of the Navy of the 'United States and the Marine Corps," the active list of the navy was corn- posed of 1,755 officers, divided into 781 line officers, including 65 cadets at sea; 161 medical officers, in pay officers, 209 engineer officers, including 2 1 cadets at sea ; 24 chaplains, 1 1 naval profes sors, 37 constructors, 15 civil engineers, 190 warrant officers, sail- makers, and mates, and 216 cadets at the Naval Academy. In addi tion, 182 officers on the _____ retired list were employ ed on active duty. After the opening of the war, 693 officers were appointed for duty during the continuance of hostilities, including 348 in the line, 48 in the medical corps, 38 in the pay corps, and 34 in other grades and branch es of the service. There were 24 second-lieuten ants of marines appoint ed for service during the war. Excluding the marine corps, the navy, therefore, had on July I, 1898, 2,630 commission ed and warrant officers and naval cadets on its roll of those in active service, thus forming a formidable and effective army on the sea. On the same date, the regular navy was composed of 1 1 ships of Strength the first class, 18 of the second class, 43 of the third class, 6 of the fourth class, 35 torpedo-boats building and authorized, 12 tugs, 6 sailing-vessels, 5 receiving-ships, 12 unserviceable vessels, and 33 vessels of all rates other than torpedo-boats under construction and authorized. The auxiliary navy was composed of 36 cruisers and yachts, 32 steamers and colliers, 25 tugs, 15 revenue-cutters, 4 light house-tenders, and 2 Fish Commission steamers. This makes 295 SIGNALLING ON A WARSHIP 1906 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES CHAP, ci PERIOD regular and auxiliary vessels, excluding battleships building and authorized and monitors authorized.* OUR EXPANSION ^ n * ne ^ as ^- ^ May, Cuba was environed by seventy-seven men- 1898 of -war armed with high-power guns. All were under the command of Rear- Admiral Sampson, and formed the most powerful fleet ever assembled under the Stars and Stripes. The line of battle could be augmented to seven battleships and armored cruisers, four of * The United States has always been the pioneer among nations in naval warfare, a fact attested by the large number of military and naval attaches engaged in watching out operations. In early days our ships were built of wood, with coppered bottoms, and car ried large supplies of water and provisions. Repairs were made on board * no necessity for coaling existed, and the vessels were rarely docked. Nowadays, a host of colliers accompany each fleet; and as soon as one discharges her coal into the bunkers of a battle ship or cruiser, she steams to the nearest port having good coaling facilities, reloads, and hastens back to the fleet, which is thus kept fully supplied not only with coal, but with lubricating oil and waste. Some of the colliers are armed with rapid-fire guns, so as to seize as prizes the merchant vessels of the enemy. Most of the sea-going steamships are provided with an evaporating plant, which is intended merely to distil fresh water for drinking and culinary purposes. The water in the boilers of a warship must be fresh ; and since there is not sufficient r6om to spare for the evaporating plant, each boiler is fitted with a sea-injection to be used as a last re source. Salt water is so destructive to the tubes, crown-sheets, and boilers, that frequent repairs are necessary to prevent their ruin. To meet this difficulty, the United States engineers have designed an immense distilling ship, the Iris, which can convert hundreds of thousands of gallons of sea-water into fresh water every week ; and, by means of pow erful pumps, all that is required can be transferred to any warship whose tanks need refilling. The Solace is a floating hospital, equipped with the most approved operating-tables, and every appliance of modern surgery. Nothing is wanting to minister to the comfort of the sick and wounded. Electric fans, a laundry, a refrigerating-machine, skilled sur geons and trained nurses, are the most noticeable features of the hospital ship, which ren dered its blessed service after the battle of Santiago. On her fore-truck is displayed the Red Cross flag of the Geneva Convention, and she is immune from capture. There are also vessels fitted up for the sole purpose of providing for the comfort of the sailors. They are simply huge floating refrigerators, carrying thousands of tons of beef and vegetables, which may be kept fresh and sweet for months in the frigid cham bers of the vessels, no .matter how tropical the climate. The supply of these delicacies is as regular as if the ships lay in New York harbor, and medical authorities agree that the excellent health of our fighting sailors is largely due to this cause. Admiral Cervera expressed his astonishment that the American fleet had so much ammunition remaining after its heavy bombardment of the forts and his ships. This was because the Armeria and Fern were especially fitted out to carry ammunition for the ships. The Vulcan, which was also added to Sampson's squadron, contained a foundry, blacksmith's shop, boiler-shop, and a shop provided with machine tools, including lathes, planers, boring- maehines, and plate-rollers. The complement included the most skilful machinists, gun smiths, electricians, blacksmiths, coppersmiths, brass-workers, plumbers, shipwrights, and carpenters. The British navy is similarly furnished, but its outfit is not so complete as ours. Through this admirable foresight, most of the repairs needed by our fleet can be made thousands of miles from a navy-yard. 1908 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES CHAP, ci PERIOD which the Brooklyn (flagship), Iowa, Massachusetts, and Texas OUR I8 9 8 were with Commodore Schley off Santiago; two the New York (flagship) an d Indiana with Rear-Admiral Sampson, off the north- ern coast of Cuba; while the Oregon was at Key West, filling her coal-bunkers, preparatory to joining Rear-Admiral Sampson. In addition to these armorclads, the monitors Amphitrite, Puri tan, Terror, and Miantonomah were off the northwestern coast of Second Attack on Santiago OFF FOR CUBA Cuba. To the eastward of Havana, between Cardenas and Cienfue- gos on the south, were the ships of Commodore Watson's blockading squadron, which included cruisers, gunboats, torpedo-boats, revenue- cutters, auxiliary cruisers, and converted yachts and tugs. The bombardment of the Santiago forts, May 31, by Commo dore Schley, with the Massachusetts, Iowa, and New Orleans, having been followed by Hobson's sinking of the Merrimac in the channel, Admiral Sampson decided to make another attack on the fortifications at Santiago, with the purpose of completing the work begun by Commodore Schley. On Sunday, June 5. the Admiral summoned all CHAP. CI McKlNLEY'S FIRST ADMINISTRATION 1909 the captains to his flagship, explained his intention to them, and in structed each in the part he was to take in reducing the fortifications, which the Spaniards were actively repairing. The signal to clear for action was given at six o'clock the next morning, and forty minutes later the ships gradually formed into two lines, eight hundred yards apart, on each side of the entrance to the harbor. On the east were the New York, Admiral Sampson's flag- PERIOD VIII OUR COLONIAL EXPANSION 1898 HAULING TIMBER IN CUBA ship, Iowa, Oregon, Yankee ^nd Dolphin ; while on the west were the Brooklyn, with Commod 3re Schley on board, Massachusetts, Texas, Vixen, and Suwanee, the lines being formed six miles off-shore. Then they steamed slowly in toward the mouth of the harbor until somewhat more than two miles from shore. All the men having breakfasted, the New York at eight o'clock sent a shell from one of her 8-inch rifles curving over toward the ancient Morro, which the Spaniards had long believed impregnable. The Brooklyn was hardly a minute behind the flagship, and as the bombardment opened, the two lines began manoeuvring the Admi- The Opening Gun 1910 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES CHAP, ci PERIOD ral's squadron turning to the east, and the Commodore's to the west. The precision with which this was done made a beautiful and impres- rl A o' N sive picture. 1898 The lighter ships, obeying the signals, remained beyond the range of the heaviest shore batteries, while the battleships gradually steamed in, delivering their destructive fire. The shore batteries An Im- replied weakly at first, but the gunners soon gained confidence and Picture returned a strong fire ; their marksmanship, however, was exceedingly poor, and not one of the American ships received material damage. It is unnecessary to say that the marksmanship of our country men was admirable from the first. The shot and shell dropped in the batteries and forts, and dust, masonry, guns, and men were hurled high in air. The New York and Texas were astonishingly accurate and active in their work, and the Yankee, manned by the naval militia, ran close to shore,-and her men fought like veteran bluejackets. The cannonading lasted for two hours and a quarter. Vast dam age was inflicted, and the venerable Morro tumbled and honey combed by the terrific tempest that descended upon it. The injury to the attacking fleet was trifling. A bursting shell hit the Suwa- nee, and a flying fragment slightly bruised a seaman, while a shot that struck the military mast of the Massachusetts scarcely left a trace.* Ten miles distant on a mountain-top, the Cubans began popping away with a battery at the Spaniards, but accomplished nothing. All this was preliminary to the first landing of United States sol diers in Cuba, which was made June 11, when 620 marines from the transport Panther went ashore at Caimanera, Guantanamo Bay, * It was wonderfully interesting to watch the result of the firing against the defences of Santiago. Beginning at 4,000 yards, the range was soon reduced to 1,800, the most effective work being done at from 2,200 to 2, 800 yards. It was hard for the untrained eye, looking under the smoke from the cannon's discharge, to follow the course of the shell ; but there was no mistake as to where it landed. When the shells hit soft spots on the cliffs and exploded, they sent reddish earth and stones hurtling skyward. Others struck point-blank and burst into radiating fragments, which left thin lines of bluish smoke trailing after them. Sometimes a shell plunged into a huge crevice and exploded out of sight, but in a moment huge boulders that had been loosened would tumble down ward into the sea. At one point the cliff was like .flint, and the shells rebounded and glanced off without producing any effect. Occasionally these deflections were in straight lines, and again a vicious, corkscrew whirling gave a vivid idea of the fearful force of the projectile. The terrific impact made the shells glow with heat as they spun upward into the clouds, or bounded straight back as if seeking to return to the ships from which they had been fired. I 9 i2 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES CHAP, ci PERIOD under the protection of the Marblehead. Despite the Spanish boasts that the place would be defended to the last, not a hostile shot was during the landing. A few minutes after two o'clock in the 1898 afternoon, Color- Sergeant Richard Silvey, of Company C, First Battalion of Marines, of Brooklyn, raised the flag above the ruins of a blockhouse. As the Stars and Stripes streamed to the breeze, the First marines dropped their carbines, picks, and shovels, and swinging in their caps above their heads, broke into enthusiastic cheering. a As soon as the men were safely ashore, the half-dozen houses at the entrance to the bay were fired. This was by orders of the com manding officer, who took every precaution to prevent an outbreak of yellow fever among his men. While the landing was under way, the Oregon, Marblehead, Yankee, Yo Semite, Porter, Dolphin, and Vixen lay off-shore, and prevented any resistance on the part of the Spaniards. The town of Guantanamo stands fifteen miles distant, at the head of the bay, while only the blockhouse, a fishing village, and the cable-station mark the entrance. The landing was for the purpose of establishing a naval base for the American fleet, and especially a coaling-station, the facilities for which were perfect. The sur rounding country is very mountainous ; and since the roads were mere mule-paths, the difficulties of moving heavy artillery rendered it a poor place for the landing of troops. That the Spaniards were on the alert to seize the first advantage was soon proven. They were lurking among the trees and under growth, and displayed the ingenuity of Apaches in picking off the American soldiers without revealing themselves. They veiled their bodies in leaves, stole up within range, and fired their deadly shots without detection. The marines upon landing pitched their camp on the brow of a low hill which overlooked the outer bay and the entrance to Guan tanamo harbor. It was a bad location, for it was exposed on three sides, and offered an invitation to the guerrilla tactics of the enemy. Camp The place was named Camp McCalla, after the commander of the c a a Marblehead. It was known that more than a thousand Spanish bush whackers were prowling within a few miles of the camp, all armed with the deadly Mauser rifles and familiar with every foot of the ground. Late on Saturday afternoon, June 11, a grizzled insurgent ran CHAP ci McKINLEY'S FIRST ADMINISTRATION 1913 into Camp McCalla with the report that the Spanish skirmish-line was approaching. Within the same minute the sharp ping of rifles was heard, and the reports showed that the enemy were making a fierce attack upon the outposts. The Mausers were answered by volleys from jthe Lee-Metford rifles of the Americans, who were eager to plunge into the bushes after the invisible foe. Colonel Huntington and his officers managed to hold them in check, and to give all their energies toward resisting the assault on the camp. While the subsequent conduct of the Cubans was in more than one instance anything but creditable, it must be conceded that at PERIOD VIII 1898 MODE OF TRAVELING IN CUBA. Camp McCalla they were brave and gave great aid to the Americans. This was due to their experience in bush-fighting and their familiarity with the guerrilla tactics of the enemy. The firing was so savage that Commander McCalla, of the Marble- head, hurried his marines ashore, and the fighting lasted for more than half-an-hour. The enemy hovered around the camp through the night, making fully a dozen attacks, the most determined of which was about one o'clock in the morning, when volleys were fired from every side. The outposts were driven in, the sentries retreating slowly, and returning shot for shot. Colonel Huntington dared not fire the two field-pieces that had been hauled up the hill, for to shell Bush Fighting DEPARTURE OF UNITED STATES TROOPS FOR MANILA CHAP, ci McKINLEY'S FIRST ADMINISTRATION 1915 the thickets and swamps would be as dangerous to the marines as to the enemy. During this Indian -like fighting, four Americans were killed and several received slight wounds. Captain Charles D. Sigsbee, formerly of the Maine, was in command of the St. Paul, and was engaged in blockading San Juan, Porto Rico, when, on June 22, the enemy made a spirited attack upon him. A Spanish unprotected cruiser and the torpedo-boat destroyer Terror steamed out of the harbor, and the latter dashed at the St. Paul, which calmly awaited her coming. When within effective range, the American planted three shots into her with such precision that an officer and two men were killed, a number wounded, and the craft so badly crippled that, to escape sinking, she was hastily towed back to the protection of the fortifications. Thenceforward she troubled the St. Paul no more. An account has been given of the landing of 620 marines from the transport Panther, on the iith of June. Ten days later, the vanguard of the American army of invasion effected a landing at Daiquiri village, a short distance inland, and seventeen miles to the eastward of Santiago. General Shafter's transports arrived with 15,000 troops on June 20. A consultation was held by General Shafter, Admiral Sampson, and General Calixto Garcia, and an understanding reached by which every detail was carried out without any difficulty. The Spanish garrison at Daiquiri made a weak resistance, and then ran off before the combined fire of the land and sea forces, pausing long enough to set fire to a part of the town, and blowing up two of the magazines of the garrison. The enemy were looking for the invasion ; and in order to deceive them, the coaling-ships were sent to the west of the entrance of San tiago Bay, as if they were transports looking for a landing-place for the troops. When the Spaniards discovered this decoy at daylight, they opened a heavy fire upon the colliers, but did not graze them. In the mean time, the troopships, falling back out of sight of land, steamed eastward, and at last lined up off Bacanao, an inlet a little to the west of Playa del Este, where the cable-station was established. The day could not have been more favorable. While the transports were drawing near the long -trestle pier at Daiquiri anchorage, the battleships opened fire upon the village of PERIOD VIII OUR COLONIAL EXPANSION 1898 Exploit of the St. Paul Landing of the Troops HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES CHAP, ci PERIOD Juragua, some six miles west of Daiquiri, and thus succeeded in 1898 Success- Work diverting the attention of the enemy from the transports. It did not ta ^ e l n to s ^ ence tne shore batteries, and the New Orleans anc j j-he gunboats accompanying the transports by a heavy fire cleared the shore in front and prepared the way for the landing of the troops. Then the converted tugs and steam launches towed the long lines of boats alongside the transports, and the men, as happy VESUVIUS," U. S. N. and eager as schoolboys let out for a holiday, scrambled into them. Each had a shelter-tent, two hundred rounds of ammunition for his rifle, and three days' rations. The first regulars to reach the shore belonged to the First and Eighth infantry, while the Second Massachusetts led the volunteers. The hills and undergrowth wherever a foe could lurk were continu ally raked by the gunboats, and so thoroughly cleaned out that not an answering shot was fired. The landing was completed without the loss of a man. Advancing to Daiquiri, it was found only partly injured by fire,. an d the Americans took possession, and at night a strong guard was. placed to avert -all possibility of surprise. There was no molesta tion, and the task of landing the remaining two-thirds of the troops was resumed the next morning, the Spaniards still offering no re- 1918 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES CHAP, ci PERIOD VIII OUR . COLONIAL EXPANSION 1898 sistance, though occasionally firing a shot. One of these from the Estrella battery killed a sailor on the Texas. A war always brings forward a number of inventions for a prac tical test of their effectiveness.. Among these must be mentioned the dynamite-cruiser Vesuvius, of which much was expected. This unique craft arrived off Santiago, June 14. Keeping out of sight until night, she stole up to within a third of a mile of the Morro, and, DAIQUIRI, CUBA (WHERE U. S. TROOPS FIRST LANDED> taking up her position, fired three shots at one-minute intervals. These Vesuvius W ere discharged by means of compressed air. There was no percep tible recoil, and the report given off resembled the cough of a huge animal. The effect of these shots was prodigious, dirt, stones, and debris being hurled to a height of several hundred feet by the ex ploding gun-cotton, while gaping caverns were opened in the mountain, side. The work accomplished, the Vesuvius backed out of her dan gerous position with great speed. This craft subsequently gave further proof of its fearful power ; but of necessity she was always in great peril, since she was unprotected, and a single shot from the enemy was likely to blow her and her crew into fragments by explod ing the dynamite on board of her. * * The Vesuvius, until she demonstrated her usefulness, was regarded with general distrust. Her chief defect is her inability to turn rapidly owing to her great length and CHAP, ci McKINLEY'S FIRST ADMINISTRATION 1919 Since the first American army of invasion was now firmly estab- PERIO& lished on Cuban soil, and the movement against Santiago had fairly begun, it is necessary, in order to understand the progress made in OUR 3LONI> EXPANSION pressing the war to a triumphant conclusion, that attention should l8 9 8 be given to events elsewhere. Despite the decisive disaster at Manila, the war spirit in Spain continued defiant and aggressive. Beyond all question, the leaders Defiance saw from the first the folly of a struggle against the resistless power Spain and limitless resources of the United States; but the majority of the Spanish people are ignorant, and the bulletins that reported every defeat of their arms as a victory over the American "pigs" were generally believed, until gradually the disheartening truth became known. The myth of Spanish " honor" could not be satisfied until at least one victory was gained, or the country was crushed by over whelming disaster. The " Butcher Weyler" and his numerous partisans were rampant, and proclaimed themselves ready to shed their last drop of blood before surrendering a foot of territory ; but of them the remark of one of our noted humorists might be repeated : such patriots are very particular about shedding the first drop. These men remained at home to vex and embarrass the Government. Moreover, Carlos, the pretender beyond the border, had numerous supporters, and they were vigilant to seize the first opportunity presented, which they did not hesitate to declare would be when Spain attempted to buy peace by yielding up any part of her territory. Furthermore, a certain unrest prevailed in this country regarding Spain's threatened cam paign against us. Even though her fleet at Manila had been sent Spain's to the bottom of the sea, and Admiral Cervera and his squadron Fleet were believed to be securely locked in Santiago harbor, there was a third fleet under Admiral Camara upon which Spain placed great hope. Sometimes it was reported that it was on the eve of crossing the Atlantic and bombarding our leading cities. This, however, narrow beam. Although provided with twin screws, it is hard for her to turn in a radius of less than 400 yards. Another defect is that her three tubes are stationary and can be trained only by the rudder. Thus the task becomes almost impossible in rough weather. For years she was the fastest boat in the navy. Her tubes are of 1 5-inch calibre, but at this writing she has never fired the full charge she is capable of throwing. Sub-calibre charges of 5-, 8-, and lo-inch projectiles, containing 'from 200 to 500 pounds of gun-cot ton, were used in the attack on the defences of Santiago. Her range of effectiveness is from one mile to one mile and a half for smaller charges, and her power is so tremendous that it is unlikely that higher charges will be employed. CHAP, ci McKINLEY'S FIRST ADMINISTRATION 1921 caused less apprehension than the belief that Admiral Camara would PERIOB take his \\arships through the Suez canal and attack Admiral Devvey's ships before reinforcements could reach the American commander. L N '**i JL JjXPANSIOK Our Government was determined to hold the great advantage gained l8 9 8 in the Philippines and to reinforce Admiral Dewey at .the earliest prac ticable day. While the Admiral was confident that he could capture Manila whenever he chose to do so, he refrained because his force Dewey's Consum- was not strong enough to occupy and hold it. This gallant officer mate proved himself not only a consummate sailor .and fighter, but a Abllit y statesman. Fully comprehending the many delicate duties of his responsible situation, he was so prudent and tactful that he com mitted no blunder.* He held several interviews with Aguinaldo, leader of the insur gents, but always did so unofficially, and thus avoided committing his Government to any scheme or policy that could possibly embar rass it. He won the high regard of Aguinaldo, and formed a liking for the remarkable man, from whom he secured a pledge to conduct his war against the Spaniards in a civilized manner. Dewey warned the insurgent leader that if he failed to do so the guns of the Ameri can fleet would be turned upon him ; and Aguinaldo kept his promise. Aguinaldo displayed energy and ability in his operations against the Spaniards, and won a number of creditable successes. Within a fortnight he gathered around him a force of 3,000 armed men and captured 1,600 prisoners, besides the entire province of Cavitd His recruits increased rapidly as he marched against the city of Manila, and his successes steadily continued. On May 24 he issued three proclamations. In the first he stated that he had laid down his arms and disbanded a strong army upon the solemn assurance of Spain that the reforms demanded would be * Mr. Cunninghame-Grahame, a former member of the British Parliament, made the charge that the gunners of Dewey's ships in the battle of Manila Bay were British sea men, bribed to leave her Majesty's service by the pay of .100 a month apiece. Despite the absurdity of the statement, our Government made an investigation, which was com pleted July 18. The truth was established that of the 1,445 men on the American ships, only 67 were aliens, and of these but 8 were British subjects, 4 of whom were on the Olympia and 4 on the Raleigh. Not one of the 8 was a gunner. They were ordi nary seamen, a carpenter's mate, a coal-passer, and a water-tender. Thirty-one of the 67 aliens were Chinese mess attendants and cooks, all of whom Admiral Dewey recom mended should be allowed to become American citizens by the passage of a special law. It would seem that Mr. Cunninghame-Grahame had need only to recall the War of 1812, to comprehend that, if his charge were true, it was not impossible that Admiral Dewey would have suffered a defeat at Manila. 1922 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES CHAP, ci PERIOD VIII OUR COLONIAL EXPANSION 1898 Expedi tions to the Philip pines O. RAMON DE AUNON, SPAIN'S SECRETARY OF THE NAVY praised nation of North America." On May 11, Maj.- Gen. Wesley Merritt was ordered to the Philippine Islands as military gov ernor, and on the 22d the cruiser Charleston sailed from San Francisco for Manila by way of Hono lulu, cheered by the 7,000 soldiers gathered at the Presidio. On the 25th, the transports Australia, City of Peking, and City of Sydney left the port for the same destination, bearing 2 , 5 oo troops. On granted; but the prom ise had been repudiated. In view of this, he for bade in his second proc lamation every attempt at negotiation between the rebels and the Span iards for peace. His third proclamation was addressed to the Filip- pinos ; and after grace fully expressing his grati tude to the great North American nation, gave rigid orders to respect the lives and property of all foreigners, and to conduct the war hu manely " in order to retain the high opinion of the never-too-highly- ADMIRAL CAMARA (SPANISH NAVY) CHAP. CI McKINLEY'S FIRST ADMINISTRATION 1923 June 15, the second expedition sailed in four transports, with 3,540 men. At the request of General Merritt, a naval convoy escorted the transports from Honolulu to Manila. On June 28, the third fleet of vessels, laden with troops and supplies, sailed from San Francisco, carrying 4,650 men. The steamer Indiana was the flag ship, and was accom panied by the City of Para, the OJiio, and the Morgan City. The total strength of these three expeditions was 10,464 enlisted men and 470 officers. The first was commanded by Brig. -Gen. Thomas M. Anderson, the second by Brig. -Gen. F. V. Greene, and the third by Brig.- Gen. Arthur MacArthur. The cruiser Charleston, which joined the first expedition at Honolulu, seized Guam, the largest of the Ladrone Islands belonging to Spain, and the ships arrived with out mishap at Manila on June 30.* The situation before the arrival of the American rein forcements was that the Spanish troops in Manila numbered about 25,000, while the insurgents, always increasing in number, made * Capt. Charles V. Gridley, who commanded Admiral Dewey's flagship, the cruiser Olympia, in the battle of Manila, died at Kobe, Japan, June 4. lie was not wounded in the battle, but succumbed to illness on his way home, a few days after President Mc- Kinley had sent to the Senate his nomination for advancement six numbers in the list of his grade. Captain Gridley was born in Indiana, and being graduated from the Naval Academy in 1863, fought through the last two years of the Civil War. As an ensign, he was in the battle of Mobile Bay, and was promoted to the rank of master on May 10, 1866, being shortly afterward assigned to the Brooklyn, the flagship of the Brazil squad ron. He was promoted to a' lieutenancy on February 21, 1867, and assigned to the Kearsarge. While still on the Kearsarge he was made lieutenant-commander, March 12, 1868, and for four years was instructor at the Naval Academy. He reached the rank 124 CAPT. CHARLES V. GRIDLEY PERIOD VIII OUR COLONIAL EXPANSION 1898 I 9 2 4 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES CHAP, ci P vm D i8g8 Spain's Greed and Idiocy stea( ty encroachments upon them. The discourtesy, sometimes reaching insolence, of the officers of the German warships in the har bor toward Admiral Dewey, together with the half-repressed sympathy of Germany for Spain, caused the loyalists in the city to base strong hopes upon German interference. Undoubtedly this would have manifested itself openly but for the friendly attitude of England. To show the greed and idiocy of Spain's rule over her colonies, the following may be given as the list of grievances of the native SPANISH CAVALRY AT FORD Filippinos, living in Madrid. Since quotations are made from the administrative budget of 1896-97, there can be no question of the basis of these complaints. Quoting from the budget, the complaint states that the Philippine treasury pays a heavy contribution to the general expenses of the Government at Madrid ; pays pensions to the Duke de Veragua (our guest during the Columbian Exhibition) of captain on March 14, 1897, and on July 28 took command of the Olympia. At Manila, when Admiral Dewey thought the time had come to open the engagement, he said: "When you are ready, Gridley, commence firing." The Captain did not wait, and by his orders the first shot of that memorable battle was fired. When, yielding to sickness. Captain Gridley left the fleet, Admiral Dewey on.the flagship escorted him down the bay as a mark of his esteem of the brave and faithful officer. CHAP, ci McKINLEY'S FIRST ADMINISTRATION 1925 and to the Marquis of Bedmar, besides those of the sultans and PERIOD VIII native chiefs of the islands of Sulu and Mindanao ; it provides for the OUR entire cost of the Spanish consulates at Peking, Tokio, Hong-Kong, Singapore,. Saigon, Yokohama, and Melbourne; for the staff and material of the Minister of the Colonies, including the purely ornamen tal Council of the Philippines ; the expenses of supporting the colony of Fernando Po, in Africa ; and all the pensions and retiring allow- Gross ances of the civil and military employees who have served in the gance Philippines, amounting to the sum of $1,160,000 a year. And here is a summary of what Spain has done in return : " More than $ 1 7,000,000 is ,the amount consigned in the Philip pine budget for that year, but not a penny is allowed for public works, highways, bridges, or public buildings, and only $6,000 for scientific studies, indispensable repairs, rivers, and canals, while the amount set apart for religious purposes and 'clergy amounts to nearly $1,400,000. This sum does not include the amounts paid to the clergy for baptisms, marriages, fees for funerals, papal bulls, and scapularies, which exceed the Government allowances. The magnif icent sum of $40,000 is set apart as a subvention to railway com panies and new projects of railways, but the College for Franciscan monks in Spain and the transportation of priests comes in for $55,000!" It seems impossible that this situation could occur in the nine teenth century. The total sum expended for all new improvements was $6,000, yet the sum paid to the choir of the Manila Cathedral was $4,000. Sixty thousand dollars was all that was devoted to the support of public instruction, including naval, scientific, technical, and art schools, museums, libraries, the observatory, and a special chair in the University of Madrid. And by no means the least im portant of all was the ever-present fact that, from the governor-gen- Uni- eral down to the lowest alguacil, the chief aim and effort in life was to rob and steal. A goodly portion of Weyler's enormous for tune was accumulated while he was governor-general of the Philip pines. Reference has been made to the important part played in those islands by the insurgent leader Don Emilio Aguinaldo, of Fami, or General Aguinaldo, as he is more commonly called. Since he con tinued to be active in making history during the closing events in Manila, he and his doings deserve a more extended notice. 1926 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES CHAP, ci PERIOD VIII OUR In the closing months of 1897, the insurgents held the mountains in the interior of Luzon, and the Spaniards the sea-coast towns. Governor-General Primo de Rivera saw only one way of ending this condition of affairs, and that was by buying off the insurgent leaders. Negotiations were opened, and finally the rebels agreed to lay down their arms on the following conditions : First The expulsion or secularization of the religious orders, and the abolition of all the official vetoes of these orders in civil affairs. Second A general amnesty for all rebels, and guarantees for their personal security and from the vengeance of the friars and parish priests after returning to their homes. Third Radical reforms to curtail the glaring abuses in the administration. Fourth Freedom of the press to denounce official corruption and blackmailing. Fifth Representation in the Spanish Parliament. Sixth Abolition of the iniquitous system of secret deportation of political suspects. CHAP, ci McKINLEY'S FIRST ADMINISTRATION 1927 The governor-general agreed to these conditions, and paid about PERIOD half a million dollars to Aguinaldo on the pledge that he and his associates should leave the country. They departed, and Aguinaldo E^ 1 ,^ refused to make an equitable division with his comrades, the situa- l8 9 8 tion that followed being much the same as that which succeeded the signing of the treaty of Zanjon, which terminated the Ten Years' War in Cuba. The governor-general of the Philippines peremptorily Spain's refused to carry out a single one of the promises made. Without regarding the perfidy of this course, its stupidity is inconceivable; for, though Aguinaldo and his friends had left the islands, he going to Singapore, and the others to Hong-Kong, it was easy for them to return, and they did so, considering themselves absolved from their pledges by the violation of faith on the part of the governor-gen eral. Even before the war with this country had begun, the enraged insurgent leaders had decided to revive the insurrection. Before resuming our account of the campaign in Cuba, it is necessary to give attention to a number of other events directly con nected with the war. In Chapter LX XX VII I. the Hawaii question was fully treated, down to the close of President Cleveland's second administration. The President was stoutly opposed to the annexa tion of the islands, although such a step was strongly favored by the natives and by this country. Indeed, but for the opposition of Con gress, Mr. Cleveland would have used force to restore Queen Liliuo- kalani to the throne. The Dole Government firmly refused to relin quish its authority to the deposed queen. The war with Spain emphasized two important needs of this coun try. The first was the completion of the Nicaragua Canal. Had this existed, the Oregon, instead of making the long, expensive, and dangerous voyage from San Francisco by way of Magellan Straits, could have shortened it by one-half, and communication between the Atlantic and Pacific seaboards would have been made quick and easy. tant An equally urgent need was the possession of the Hawaiian Islands. Had these been acquired five years previous, when Presi dent Cleveland withdrew from the Senate the treaty of annexation, a cable would have been laid and Admiral Dewey would have had a base of supplies in the Pacific, with communication to our shores, and Honolulu would have been a great naval outpost, easily defended and invaluable to us. Hardly had the news of Dewey's overwhelming victory reached CHAP. CI McKINLEY'S FIRST ADMINISTRATION 1929 the United States when Representative Newlands introduced into the House a resolution for the annexation of Hawaii. President Dole showed the eagerness of himself and his fellow-citizens for the com pletion of this step by offering to transfer the islands to our country for the purposes of our war with Spain. A position of neutrality would have been onerous to us, for Hawaii was the only practicable stopping-place for our expeditions on their long voyage from San Francisco to the Philippines. The proposal for annexation developed a strong opposition in the Senate, but the final result was inevitable from the beginning. Every possible argument for and against such action was brought forward, and more than one interesting historical fact was revealed. Thus, within a comparatively brief period, the United States, Eng land, and Germany had established a protectorate over Samoa ; Spain made good her claim to the Caroline Islands and the Pelews ; France had supplemented her earlier protectorate over the Society, Marquesas, and Paumotu groups, her occupation of New Caledonia and her con trol of the Loyalty Archipelago, by annexing Tahiti and the New Hebrides ; while Germany and England divided between them all the unappropriated islands in an immense expanse of the west Pacific, with the exception of Samoa, Tonga, and Nine.* The German flag floated over the shores of New Guinea from Cape King William to Astrolabe Bay, and was now hoisted over the Kermadec, Marshall, Brown, Providence, New Ireland, New Britain, and most of the Solomon group. Great Britain some time before had gathered into her fold the Fij is, the south side of New Guinea, the Louisade groups, Long and Rook's islands, and she now assumed possession of a number of other islets. Between 1888 and 1892 inclusive, she raised her flag over the Gilbert, Ellice, Enderbury, and Union groups, and nearly twenty other islands. * Despatches sent from Sydney, Australia, in July, 1898, show that the British cruiser Mohawk had annexed the Santa Cruz and Duff groups of the Pacific Islands. The total number of islands annexed is eighteen. These islands lie to the east of 'the Solomon Islands, their position being approximately 10 south, 167 east. The group is of vol canic formation, and on one of the islands is an active volcano. The northwest monsoons, which prevail from November to April, bring stormy weather and rains. The Santa Cruz group, or Queeu Charlotte Islands, as their other name is, were discovered in 1595. There is a tragedy connected with this outward part of the New Hebrides. A quarter of a century ago Bishop Patterson was murdered there, and four years later Commodore Goodenough shared the same fate. The group, which contains seven principal islands, has a total area of 360 square miles. The estimated population is 5,000. PERIOD VIII OUR COLONIAL EXPANSION 1898 Interest* ing Histori cal Facts 1930 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES CHAP, ci PERIOD VIII OUR The United States did not utter a word in opposition, except perhaps to claim that where our commercial interests were concerned COLONIAL we should feel at liberty to take the same action. The European UrXPANSION + 1898 nations have always been alert to acquire naval and commercial sta tions in the Pacific. England was none the less anxious to establish a coaling-station in the Fijis because she already possessed Sydney, Melbourne, Auckland, Hong-Kong, and Singapore, besides Vancou- HAWAIIAN HOTEL, HONOLULU The New- lands Resolu tion Passed ver and Esquimalt on this side of the ocean. Germany added to her appropriation by taking Kiao-Chow. France secured a station in Tahiti ; and Russia, although she had Vladivostok, added Port Ar thur. Since we possess a great frontage on the Pacific, it would seem that it was as much our duty to provide for ourselves as it was for the powers named to look after their own interests. The final vote on, the Newlands resolution for the annexation of Hawaii was taken on July 6, and the proposal was carried by 42 to 21. It is worth noting that among the opponents were three Republicans and among the supporters six Democrats. SCENES IN HAWAII COPYRIGHT 1898. >I/A-^ V v< FROM THE ORiOINAL DRAV&J t %'f.'%rTOi'^^^^ "^> ^ HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES CHAP, ci P vni D On tne even i n g f July 7> President McKinley signed the official o^ copy of the resolutions, and thus was completed the annexation of EXPANSION tne islands to the United States. The assumption of their formal l8 9 possession was deferred until the Hawaiian legislature ratified the resolutions. The course adopted was precisely the same as when Texas, glaimed by Mexico as a part of her territory, was admitted to the Union, and the treaty followed the precedent afforded during MAIN STREET, HONOLULU (LOOKING TOWARD THE MOUNTAINS) President Grant's administration for the annexation of the Domini- The Ha- can republic to the United States. President McKinley appointed Com- as members of the Hawaiian commission Senators Shelby M. Cul- mission l O m, of Illinois, John T. Morgan, of Alabama, Representative Robert R. Hitt, of Illinois, and President Dole and Chief Justice Judd of the. Hawaiian republic. The American Commissioners were all mem bers of the Committee on Foreign Relations and Foreign Affairs, and were eminently qualified for their work. Pending the transfer of the islands to the United States, and the adjustment of the new rela tions, H. M. Sewall, minister to the Hawaiian republic, remained at Honolulu as diplomatic agent of the United States. CHAP, ci McKINLEY'S FIRST ADMINISTRATION 1933 PERIOD It is an impressive fact that so-called civilization proved a curse to Hawaii, as it proved to be in many similar instances. When Captain Cook discovered the islands, in 1778, they contained a native population of about 200,000. In the course of the following century, five-sixths of this number disappeared, and Blight of there are more each of Japanese and Chinese to-day than of Hawaiians. In 1897,' the American population was less than three per cent, of the whole. Since the annexation of the islands, however, this ratio has steadily risen, as it will doubtless con tinue to do. fir HAWAIIAN NATIVES EATING POI The bulk of the steam passenger and freight traffic between San Francisco and Honolulu is controlled by the Oceanic Steamship Company, its rates being $75 cabin passage and $25 steerage, though a number of fine sailing vessels which make regular trips between Port Townsend and San Francisco and Honolulu with limited pas senger accommodations charge $40 for cabin passage. The time for passage between San Francisco and Honolulu by steamer is from six to seven days. Freight rates from San Francisco are : By steamers, $5 per ton and 5 per cent, primage ; by sailing vessels, $3 per ton and 5 per cent, primage ; while the rates to Atlantic ports are from $5 to $7 per ton, with 5 per cent, primage, and the duration of the Passen ger and Freight Tra ght ffic 1934 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES CHAP, ci PERIOD VIII voyage between Honolulu and New York from 89 to 1 34 days. On the islands there are three railroads, which are used principally in carrying the products of the plantations to the various points of ship- ment, and aggregate about seventy miles in length. The currency of the islands is of the same unit of value as that of the United States. The gold is all of American mintage, and United States silver and paper money is in circulation and passes GOVERNMENT BUILDING, HONOLULU at par. The Hawaiian money is paper, the paper being secured bjr Currency silver held in reserve. Banks keep two accounts with their deposi- Isiands tors silver and gold, and checks are so worded that the depositor may specify the account from which the check is to be paid, though in case the check does not state in what currency it is to be paid the law provides that the holder may demand gold if the amount is over $10. The Hawaiian silver money amounts to $1,000,000, of which $300,000 is held by the Government to secure a like amount of paper. The total money in circulation is estimated at $3,500,000. The rate of exchange is i % per cent, on Eastern cities of the United States, and I per cent, on the Pacific coast. Gold is at a premium of I per cent. The annual internal taxes average $6.48 per capita; the total revenue from all sources, $2,283,070 (in 1 896) ; expendi- CHAP. CI McKINLEY'S FIRST ADMINISTRATION 1935 tures, $2,137,103; and the public debt, $4,101,174, bearing interest at 5 and 6 per cent. Commercial travellers are, under the laws now in force, required to take out a license, costing at Honolulu, for the island upon which it is located, $570 ; and on each of the other islands* $255. The market for all kinds of labor is overstocked, and it would be unwise for any one to visit the islands with no capital on the mere chance of obtaining employment, many of those who have so arrived being compelled to return disappointed. Wages on the plantations, including house and firewood, or room and board, range from $125 to $175 per month for engineers and sugar-boilers; $50 to $100 per month for blacksmiths and carpenters ; $40 to $75 per month for locomotive drivers; $roo to $175 per month for bookkeepers; $30 to $40 per month for teamsters. In Honolulu the' rates are $5 to $6 per day for bricklayers and masons, $2.50 to $5 per day for car penters and painters, and $3 to $5 per day for machinists. Cooks receive from $3 to $6 per week ; nurses, house servants, and gar deners, $8 to $12 per month. Retail prices of provisions are as follows; hams, 16 to 30 cents per pound; bacon, 16 to 20 cents; flour, $2.60 to $5 per 100 pounds; rice, $3.25 to $5 per 100 pounds; butter, 25 to 50 cents per pound; eggs, 25 to 50 cents per dozen; and ice, 1 1- cents per pound. The productions of the islands are almost entirely a class of arti cles for which the people of the United States have in the past been compelled to send money abroad. Sugar, coffee, tropical fruits, and rice, for which we send outside the country more than $200,000,000 annually, are the chief productions of the islands, and they may be greatly increased. Most of the business is in the hands of Americans and Europeans. In 1899, there were 545,370,537 pounds of sugar exported. Two years previous, 337, 1 58 pounds of coffee and 5,499,499 pounds of rice were exported. The exports to the United States, for the year ending June 30, 1903, were valued at $26,201,175, of which $25,310,684 represented sugar. PERIOD VIII OVK COLONIAL EXPANSION 1898 Ha waiian Wages Produc tions of the Islands (Droop? iu (DubcL, CHAPTER CII McKINLEY'S FIRST ADMINISTRA TION 1897-1901 (CONTINUED} OUR WAR WITH SPAIN (Continued) 7% York, with Admiral Sampson, now appeared hurrying up from the eastward, and, observing her, the Pluton and Furor sped LIEUT.-COMMANDER RICHARD WAINWRIGHT, U. S. N. PERIOD VIII OCR COLONIAL EXPANSION 1898 The Terrified Span iards Daring Work of the Glouces ter 1966 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES CHAP, cm PERIOD VIII OUR COLONIAL EXPANSION 1898 after the Vizcaya, aiming to get into the protection of her starboard side. The Indiana rained shells upon the first destroyer, when, seeing t ^ e hopelessness of flight, both started back for the mouth of the harbor, four miles to the eastward. The Gloucester was on the alert, and joined her converging fire with that of the Indiana. One of the drifting and battered destroyers, with her guns silent, displayed a flag of truce. She was in flames, and her crew ran her ashore, where she soon blew up. The second was beached, and the men scrambled to land. It was remarkable that, after receiving the THE MEN BEHIND THE GUNS ' first fire from the Gloucester, the destroyers, through their superior speed, were able to run away from her, only to return to be destroyed by the plucky American. Admiral Sampson sent two shots after the destroyers, but it was the Gloucester which effected their destruction. Meanwhile, the Infanta Maria Teresa and Vizcaya were 'edging toward shore and were seen to be in distress. The Texas was firing terrifically, when the Vizcaya ran up a white flag, and Captain Philip shouted the order to cease firing. COPYRIGHT 1898. ''DON'T CHEER, BOYS; THE POOR FEUtOWS ARE. DYIfl.Q " FROM THE ORIGINAL DRAWING BY J. STEEPLE DAVIS CHAP, cm McKINLEY'S FIRST ADMINISTRATION 1969 The Spaniards saw they were doomed, and ran for the beach. P ^ I I D Clouds of smoke rolled upward, from each, through which vivid jets ^^ of flames showed, and boats were seen putting out from the cruisers for the shore. The Iowa paused long enough to make sure that the two were out of the fight, when she joined in the pursuit of the Colon and Almirante Oquendo, which were speeding for life along the coast It lacked a few minutes of eleven when the Spaniards suddenly % Two turned the Almirante Oquendo toward shore. At that moment the Brooklyn and Oregon were abeam and the Texas astern. The first two pushed on after the Cristobal Colon, leaving it to the Texas to finish the Almirante Oquendo. Nothing, however, remained to be done, for the ship was afire, and the flag at the stern was hauled down. The Texas was drawing up, when the burning ship was shaken by a thunderous explosion. The exultant Americans started to cheer, when Captain Philip raised his hand and called : "Don't cheer! the poor fellows are dying!" It was a chivalrous act that will always live in the annals of the American navy. Leaving the Almirante Oquendo to her fate, the Texas joined A Wonder- in the chase of the Cristobal Colon, which was ploughing through f u l the waters at a speed that threatened to leave her pursuers Chase behind. The chase was the greatest of- modern times. Only on her trial trip did the Texas attain such speed, while the fourteen thousand miles of storm and sunshine through which the Oregon had come to gain a coveted opportunity like this seemed to act as the spur to a spirited charger. The Brooklyn was the swiftest of all the pursuers, but was believed to be inferior in strength to the ( risto bal Colon. She took the lead, standing well out from shore, aiming to cut off the Spaniard at a point far ahead that jutted out into the sea.* * Few persons suspect the enormous expense involved in gunnery-practice by our warships. A single shot sometimes costs the Government $2,500, and multiplying this amount by hundreds and thousands some idea of the prodigious cost is gained. The Spanish Government appropriated large sums for target -practice, but in accordance with Castilian honor the amounts were divided among the officers, without, in the majority of in stances, the test of a single gun. The result of a meeting between the hostile ships HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES CHAP, cm PERIOD VIII OUR COLONIAL EXPANSION I8g8 A Mighty Rush Naval officers describe the work of the Oregon as magnificent and thrilling, and no such display of power and speed by a battleship was ever seen as when, at the opening of the chase, she made her mighty dash across the bows of the huge Iowa, with every gun ex cept one 13-inch in the after-turret blazing, and the water tumbled into foam by her tremendous rush, which in ten minutes drew her out of the bunch of pur suers and placed her next to the Brooklyn. An officer of this won derful craft wrote : " The Oregon was the only battleship keeping up with the pace set by the Brooklyn, and kept neck and neck with her during the early part of the race, and by her fast running got on the inside of the Brooklyn and next to the Colon. From 9 130 in the morning, when the Colon first poked her nose out and the race was on, until I :i5 in the afternoon, when the last ship surrendered, the Oregon was pushed for all she was worth under forced draught, and the fact that she had high pressure of steam at the beginning gave her a good start, which she kept up. When the Colon surrendered no other vessel except the Brooklyn was in sight, and the capture was made by the Brooklyn because the Commodore was on board and we gave way to her. The Colon s officers said was inevitable, and demonstrated the true economy of the American method. When the Vizcaya tried to ram th.e Brooklyn, the latter fired in the space of a few minutes 183 8-inch, 65 6-inch, 12 6-pound, and 400 i-pound shells, the cost of which was $31,000. The shot that did the most execution was an 8-inch shell, which raked the Vizcaya fore and aft, and killed in its passage eighty Spaniards. Great execution was also done by the 1 3-inch shells of the Oregon. CAPT. CHARLES E. CLARK, U.S. N., OF THE OREGON" COPYRIGHT 1898. THE "OREGON'S" MIGHTY RUSH (JULY 3) FROM THE ORIGINAL PAINTING BY WARREN SHEPPARD 1972 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES CHAP, cm P VIII D a ^ ter tne fight that the Oregon, caused them to haul down the flag, as they could not stand the terrific fire from her guns, and if they N cou ld have outdistanced her they were confident of disabling the 1898 Brooklyn and getting away. The Oregon was the farthest east of all at the start, except the Indiana, Captain Philip, of the Texas, wondered how we could make such speed, and was amazed at the way the Oregon pushed ahead and kept along with the Brooklyn. In fifteen minutes she passed all the fleet to the westward, and, bearing down close inshore, engaged with all her guns at once everything in sight." While the pursuit of the last remaining Spanish ship was at its height, the Brooklyn was well off shore, as already stated, with the Oregon holding a middle course about a mile from the Cristobal Colon, A and the Texas laboring with might and main to keep her place in the y? r ^ at race. Gradually but surely the Brooklyn forged ahead and the Ore gon was abeam, when the Spaniard, convinced that there was no hope, headed for shore, and a few minutes later hauled down his flag. The Brooklyn, Oregon, and Texas converged on her, and stopped their engines when only a few hundred yards away. Commodore Schley left the Brooklyn, and going aboard the Cristobal Colon, received her surrender. Observing the approach of the New York with Ad miral Sampson, the commodore signalled that a great victory had been won.* * It seems incredible that warships can signal to each other when so distant as to be invisible by daylight from aloft, but it has been done. The Cincinnati and Admiral Sampson's flagship, the New York, communicated by searchlight at night when more than thirty miles apart. Signalling may be divided into visual and oral. For short distances, in the daytime, ships use what is generally known as the "wigwag." This method depends upon an alphabet similar to the Morse code employed in telegraphing. It is called the Myers code, and is the base for nearly all naval signalling. Thus a wave of a flag to the right means I, or a dot; when waved to the left 2, or a dash. The system is also used in the United States army when co-operating with the navy. In the army, signalling is done by a few highly trained experts, while nearly every one understands it in the navy. Each ship has a series of red and white electric lanterns fastened to a cable running up and down the mast. In the Myers code, red corresponds to I, and the white to 2. With the aid of a keyboard any letter or number can be made at will. The same code is used for sound signalling, one toot of a steam whistle meaning i, two short toots 2, and a long blast the end of a word. By this means a squadron can manoeuvre when its ships re invisible to one another in a fog. The same sounds may be made with a horn or by gun-fire. A lantern may be used at night in wigwagging, as a flag is used by day light. A convenient method is that of fitting an electric lantern with a key for making and breaking the circuit, thus producing flashes. It will be readily seen how the searchlight can be employed at night on the principle of the wigwag or by the flash method. The searchlight at Sandy Hook of 200,000.000 CHAP, cm McKINLEY'S FIRST ADMINISTRATION 1973 Naturally, great rejoicing followed. The ships cheesed one an other, the captains exchanged compliments through the megaphones, and the band of the Oregon played the Star-Spangled Banner and otner patriotic airs. Coming alongside of the Texas, in his gig on his return from the Cristobal Colon, the happy Commodore Schley called to Captain Philip, "It was a fine fight, Jack, wasn't it?" Three cheers were given for their old commander, and Captain Philip, calling all hands to the quarter-deck, bared his head and fervently thanked God for the great victory. In a voice tremulous with emotion, he said: "I wish to make public acknowl edgment that I believe in God the Father Almighty. I ask that all you officers and men lift your hats and from your hearts offer silent thanks to the Almighty." Every hat was removed and every head bowed. Each heart spent a minute or two in silent communion with his Maker, and candle-power can flash a signal from New York to a fleet more than a hundred miles distant. This searchlight is the most powerful in the world. The heliograph is more generally understood, mirrors being used to flash the sunlight This is a popular method on the plains, where messages have been understood one hundred and twenty-five miles from the sending point. Moonlight or artificial light has been employed at night. Heliography is popular in the Spanish army. As stated the methods named are based upon the Myers code ; but the navy employs another which is more secret and of altogether a different nature. It is PERIOD VIII A WARSHIP'S SEARCHLIGHT Thanks to Gotf '974 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES CHAP, cm PERIOD VIII then, unable to restrain their enthusiasm, all gave three ringing cheers for their commander. OUR EXPANSION ^ n ^is remarkable sea-fight, Spain lost 6 ships, 600 men killed l8 9 8 and wounded, and 1,200 prisoners, while the Americans had i man killed and 2 wounded. Admiral Cervera, when questioned, said that he made his dash out of the harbor in obedience to orders from Captain - General Blanco, who re ceived his instruc tions from Madrid. He took a westerly course from the harbor because only the Brooklyn and three Amer ican battleships were on that side of the harbor. He believed he could whip the Brooklyn and outrun all the others. The wrecks were strewn along the Cuban coast for fifty miles, the ex treme point mark ing where the Brooklyn and Ore gon captured the Spanish Cristobal t Colon. Before she could be boarded, the Spaniards opened all ary the sea- valves and threw the caps overboard. This was unwarrantable, ' the flag-hoist system. The large number of flags or pennants, differing in color, shape and design, have each a particular meaning ; and when several are strung together and displayed aloft, they" farm a number, the signification of which must be found by examining a book in which all the signals are explained. This book is carefully guarded ; and since a cipher is often employed, it is impossible for an enemy to understand the messages. The flag-hoists being invisible at night, pyrotechnic signals are displayed, red and green stars being fired into the air from pistols prepared for such use. New systems are continually tested, and it is not improbable that a semaphore method similar to that used in the British navy will be adopted by our fleets, to say nothing of others that are sure to be evolved by the inventive ingenuity of our countrymen. THIRTEEN-INCH SHELLS CHAP, cm McKINLEY'S FIRST ADMINISTRATION 1975 PERIOD VIII since it is a principle of international law that, the moment any prop erty is surrendered, the party surrendering it becomes simply a trustee, and is in honor bound to hand over the property intact to the victor. COLONIAL r *