ed
approach the camps to bring them food, because as they had not
themselves surrendered as commanded by Weyler, they were liable to be
shot at sight.

Elsewhere Cubans by thousands were driven into towns and cities which
were still under Spanish control, and were there kept prisoners within
the Spanish lines. They were not quite so badly off as those in the
concentration camps, though the difference was not great. They had no
means of obtaining food, save as the municipal authorities, more
merciful than Weyler, opened "soup kitchens" and thus in charity kept
some of them from starvation. As it was the mortality from starvation,
disease and exposure was appalling. As it was reported that many of
these sufferers were American citizens, the President of the United
States asked Congress to appropriate $50,000 for their relief. This was
done, and the sum was sent to the Consul-General at Havana. He was,
however, able to reach only a small proportion of the sufferers, and
thus was presently compelled to report that he had been unable to expend
more than a fraction of the sum at his disposal. This monstrous policy
of waging war against non-combatants, including women and children, did
more perhaps than anything else to crystallize public opinion throughout
the United States against Weyler and against the Spanish government
which he represented and which was responsible for him, and to
strengthen the demand that was being made for intervention in behalf of
humanity.

This demand was made not merely by the "yellow press," which was
inspired by sordid and sinister motives, but also by the most
thoughtful, disinterested and upright men of America. Fitzhugh Lee, the
highly competent and trustworthy consul-general at Havana, officially
reported in December, 1897, that in the Province of Havana alone there
had been 101,000 of the "reconcentrados," of which more than half had
died. About 400,000 innocent and unoffending persons, chiefly women and
children, had been transformed into imprisoned paupers, to be sustained
by charity or to die of disease and famine. Senator Proctor, of Vermont,
one of the foremost members of the United States Senate, made a personal
tour of investigation in such parts of the island as were accessible,
and reported to his colleagues that "It is not peace, nor is it war; it
is desolation and distress, misery and starvation." The people of the
United States thus came to the conclusion that the Spanish were