Mr. Sherman to Mr. Dupuy de Lôme.
Sir: Referring to my previous notes touching the effects of the policy of concentrating the rural population in the garrison towns as an incident to the Spanish military operations in the Island of Cuba, I have the honor to advise you that official reports from the United States consular representatives in that quarter show that the mortality among the “concentrated” citizens of the United States who are receiving necessary relief in Sagua la Grande and Santa Clara for the months of June and July was over 3 per cent, thus approximating in two [Page 509] months to the normal death rate of a whole year. An increase of this appalling mortality is to be expected during the more sickly approaching month of September as the result of a repressive policy which I have had the honor to describe and characterize in my preceding notes.
Accept, etc.,