Mr. Lee to Mr. Day.
No. 723.]
Havana, December 7, 1897.
Sir:
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(The consul-general informs the Assistant Secretary of State that measures for the relief of the reconcentrados are not sufficiently energetic to be effective, and that he is advised by the Governor-General that authority to admit articles of food and clothing from the United States to Cuban ports free of duty rested with the authorities at Madrid.)
I see no effects of the governmental distribution to the reconcentrados. I am informed that only $12,500, in Spanish silver, had been dedicated to the Havana province out of the $100,000 said to have been set aside for the purpose of relieving them on the island, and that reports from all parts of the province show that 50 per cent have already died and that many of those left will die. Most of these are women and children, I do not believe the Government here is really able to relieve the distress and sufferings of these people.
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I am informed an order has been issued in some parts of the island suspending the distribution of rations to reconcentrados. * * * The condition of these people is simply terrible.
I inclose herewith an official copy of the comparative mortality in Havana for the six months ending November 30. It will be perceived that there has been a great increase in the death rate, and without adequate means in the future to prevent it the mortality will increase. I hear of much suffering in the Spanish hospitals for want of food and among the Spanish soldiers. * * * I hear, also, that the Spanish merchants in some parts of the island are placing their establishments in the names of foreigners in order to avoid their provisions being purchased on credit by the military administration, and that the Spanish army is suffering much from sickness and famine, and that a great deal of money is needed at once to relieve their condition. In some parts of the island, I am told, there is scarcely any food for soldiers or citizens, and that even cats are used for food purposes, selling at 30 cents apiece.
It is a fair inference therefore to draw from the existing conditions, that it is not possible for the Governor-General of this island to relieve the present situation with the means at his disposal. * * *
I am, etc.,
Consul-General.
[Confidential.]
Mr. Lee to Mr. Day.
No. 726.]
Havana, December 13, 1897. (Received December 18.)
Sir: I have the honor to make the following report:
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The contest for and against autonomy is most unequal. For it, there are five or six of the head officers at the palace, and twenty or thirty other persons here in the city.
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