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the party refused to give it their support, scores of
newspapers withheld their assistance, and finally in
the month of September a convention of "gold Demo-
crats" nominated John M. Palmer and Simon B.
Buckner on a platform which declared for a gold
standard. In the meantime the silver party had
endorsed the Democratic candidates (Bryan and
Sewall), and the Populists had nominated Bryan and
Thomas E. Watson. There were also other tickets
in the field, namely: the Prohibitionists, the National
Party, the Socialist Labour Party. After a very
serious discussion of the issues McKinley was elected.
Immediately following his inauguration, 4 March,
1897, he convoked Congress in special session to
revise the tariff. During the course of the same
summer the Dingley Tariff became a law.
Cuban Question — War with Spain. — More serious than the tariff question was the situation in the neigh- bouring Island of Cuba. In February, 1S9.5, for the sixth time in half a century, the natives of Cuba, weary of the misrule of Sjjain, rose in revolt and founded a republic. In 1S08 there was an insurrec- tion in the island which lasted for ten years. By 1878 it had collapsed, but broke out in 189.5 on a larger scale. General Campos attempted to suppress the rebellion, but was soon superseded bj- General Weyler, whose methods were drastic. The chief feature of his policy was to bring the non-combatants into the towns, so that they could not give any further aid to the insurgents. Penned in camps which soon became filthy, and poorly fed, they died in great numbers. Of course, this pohcy interrupted production and, if continued, would soon depopulate the island. In his annual message, 7 Dec, 1896, President Cleveland noticed the progress of the insurrection, and declared that the United States could not be expected to maintain that attitude in- definitely. In Cuba upwards of .850,000,000 of Ameri- can capital were invested in plantations, mines, rail- ways, and other lines of business. A trade amounting to about .$100,000,000 was being destroyed. The wretched condition of the reconccntrados excited the syropaf hy of the American people, and they began to send food and medical aid to the stricken island. President Cle\c!:ind declared that when it became evident that Spain was unable to subdue the rebelhon, American obligations to Spain would be superseded by obligations still higher.
When McKinley became president, he demanded the release of American prisoners in Cuba, and requested the Spanish Government to put an end to the conditions existing in the island. At that time it was costing the United States much money to enforce the neutrality laws. A new administration in Spain led to the recall of General Weyler, and to the promise of local autonomy for Cuba; also to the release of the .\merican prisoners and to an ameliora- tion of the state of the reconccntrados. These con- cessions, however, did not pacify the insurgents, and they rejected the offers almost unanimously. In his message to Congre.-ss, 6 Dec, 1897, President McKin- ley expressed the opinion that the time for interven- tion on the part of the United States had not yet come. He believed that Spain should be given a reasonable time in which to jirovc the efficiency of the new sys- tem. The Sp.inish Govenunent had agreed to ad- mit free of duty art iclcs contributed by .■Kniericans for the relief of the rcconrcntniilofi. In February, 1S9S, there was publislied by the Cuban junta in Xew York a private letter of the Spanish .Ambassador to Wash- ington, Senor Dupuy dc Lome, in which the diplomat referred to Prc\si(lent M(d\inley as "a pot-house politi- cian and caterer to the rabble ", who was endeavouring to stand well with the Spanish Minister and the Jin- goes of his party.
An incident more grave than this, which was settled by the resignation of Seuor de Lome, was the destruc-
tion of the battleship "Maine" and about 260 of her
officers and crew, by a mine in Havana harbour. It
was generally believed to have been the work of
Spain, and, of course, the Cubans did not attempt to
remove that idea. A war between the United States
and Spain was what the natives of Cuba were eager
to bring about. A court of inquiry was unable,
however, to fix the responsibihty for the explosion,
which has since been shown to have been an external
one. Congress voted $50,000,000 for strengthening
the national defences and buying ships and material
of war. On 19 April, 1898, Congress adopted a resolu-
tion declaring for the freedom of Cuba, demanding the
withdrawal of Spain from the island, and authorizing
the president to compel such withdrawal by force.
Diplomatic relations were broken off by Spain on 21
April. A few davs later Congress declared war, and
200.000 volunteers were enlisted. On 1 May, 1898,
Commodore Dewey destroyed the Spanish fleet and
captured the forts in Manila Bay, and took posses-
sion of Cavite. A joint land and naval force then in-
vested the city of Manila. Another Spanish fleet,
under Admiral Cervera, took refuge in the harbour
of Santiago de Cuba, where it encountered the Ameri-
can fleet, under Rear-Admirals Sampson and Schley.
Cervera lost all his crews and vessels. Besides the
loss in killed and wounded, the Spanish admiral and
about 1800 of his men were taken prisoners. On 14
July, 1898, General Toral surrendered Santiago and
his army of 25,000 men. General Miles landed a
force on the Island of Porto Rico just as hostilities
came to an end. Before the tidings had reached the
Philippines, Dewey's fleet and an army, under General
Merritt, had taken Manila and 7000 Spanish prisoners.
By the treaty of peace, signed 10 Dec, 1898, at Palis, it was provided that Spain should relinquish her title to Cuba, cede Porto Rico, Guam, and the Philippines to the United States, and that the United States should pay $20,000,000 to Spain. On 6 Feb., 1899, the treaty was ratified by the United States Senate. It was also accepted by Spam, and the $20,000,000 was promptly paid. Diplomatic rela- tions were soon resumed. During the progress of the war with Spain the people of the United States began to take a different view of territorial expansion. Though the inhabitants of Hawaii had made repeated applications for annexation to the LTnited States, it was only on 7 July, 1898, that the president signed the joint resolution of Congi-ess which provided for annexa- tion. The formal transfer took place on 12 August.
The natives of the Phihppines, who had been rest- less under Spanish rule, ex-pected their political inde- pendence after the success of the Americans. Their failure to receive it led them on 4 Feb., 1899, to at- tack the United States troops at Manila. A war, disastrous for the natives and their leader Aguinaldo, ensued and continued for more than a year. Peace was finally imposed on all the discontented elements in the islands, and in 1900 a commission was sent thither by the president to organize civil government in such locaUties as appeared to be ready to receive it. On 1 May, 1900, a system of civil government went into operation in Porto Rico also. Cuba continued under the military control of the United States for many months. In June, 1900, however, the city governments in the island were turned over to the peoi)le, and on 5 Dec. a constitutional convention as- sembled.
In the presidential election of 1900, McKinley and Roosevelt, the Kei)ul)lican nominees, defeated Bryan and Stevenson, the Democratic candidates. While holding a reception ihiring the summer of 1901, at the Pan-.\meriean ICxposition at Buffalo, President McF\iiiley was shot by an anarchist, and died on 14 September. In succeeding to the presidency, Mr. Roosevelt ainiounced his intention of continuing the policy and retaining the cabinet of his predecessor.
