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RECENT TEMPORARY GOVERNMENT

OF CUBA BY THE UNITED STATES
AND ITS EFFECT ON THE CONDI-
TIONS IN THE ISLAND.

On May 20, 1902, the military government of Cuba, by order of President Roosevelt, issued in compliance with the promise made by the United States Congress in the Teller Resolution, transferred the government of Cuba to its newly elected President and Congress. Under the presidency of McKinley, a brief war with Spain had secured Cuba's freedom from Spanish dominion. Three years of military administration had established order, constituted a government, placed the finances of the country on a sound basis, and the new Republic entered on its national life under the best auspices. But one circumstance distinguished it, in its relation with the United States, from other Latin American Republics; namely, the existence of a law of the American Congress, known as the Platt amendment, which had been adopted by the Cubans as a part of their constitution, and was later embodied in a permanent treaty between the two countries. According to the law and treaty, the Republic of Cuba undertook to enter into no compact with foreign powers which would tend to impair the independence of the Republic, to contract no public debt to the service of which it could not properly attend, to lease coaling stations to the United States, and to execute and extend plans for the sanitation of the cities of the Island, and consented that the United States might exercise the right to intervene for the preservation of Cuban independence, the maintenance of a government adequate for the protection of life, property, and individual liberty, and for discharging the obligations with respect to Cuba imposed by the Treaty of Paris on the United States which were now to be assumed and undertaken by the Government of Cuba.

But while economically, with the assistance of the United States, the progress of Cuba was highly gratifying, in political matters, where the Cubans were left to themselves, the result was not so satisfactory. It was soon evident that political passion was becoming more and more intense, and personal ambition keener. To such an extent was partisanship carried in the Cuban Congress, that the minority party, availing themselves of the provisions of the constitution which require the presence of two-thirds of the total membership of each branch to open sessions and of the omission of the constitution to provide means for compelling, the attendance of absent members, remained away from the meetings of the Congress and prevented sessions except at irregular intervals. During the term of Congress lasting from April 4th to October 20th, 1904, a period of 199 days, the Lower House was, due to the obstructive tactics of the minority, able to hold but sixteen daily sessions and the Senate but twenty-six daily sessions; and a similar rcord of infrequent and irregular sessions continued throughout

1905.

For the administration of the executive departments no law whatever has been provided. The Cuban Congress, engrossed in its political squabbles, took no steps to remedy the situation beyond passing an electoral law, the defects of which made extraordinary. fraud possible, and a skeleton provisional law. Those who had criticised the military government for promulgating legislation instead of leaving all legislative matters for the action of the Cuban Congress, were effectively silenced. So barren of legislative results were the sessions of Congress, that in five years of the self-administered Republic only two annual budgets were passed; the three remaining budgets being pro

vided, when Congress had failed to act, by the doubtful expedient of executive order.

Another source of bitterness was the policy of the government, in the hands of the Moderate party, to dismiss the officeholders of the opposition party, the Liberals, and to reserve the positions in the public service for its own followers. Local pride was especially outraged by the action of the Moderate government in turning out the Liberal town councils, by illegal or technical interprétations of the irritating municipal law, and substituting Moderates.

But what most exacerbated the strained relations between the political parties were the intimidation and colossal frauds practiced at the elections of 1905. The Liberals claimed that the Moderates used the rural guard and municipal police to intimidate the voters, that the assaults to which the Liberals were exposed were such as to make it dangerous for them to appear for registration, and they accordingly refrained from registering, and withdrew from the elections. Nevertheless, the returns made by the Moderate election judges showed that 432,313 persons had voluntarily appeared for registration. That the electoral lists had been padded to the degree of absurdity is made evident by the fact that the census of Cuba just completed shows that there are now in the Island only 419,342 persons of all parties entitled to vote. It is probable that 200,000 names were fraudulently inserted in the registration lists.

Even during the elections there had been armed encounters between individual Moderates and Liberals. In Cienfuegos, an attempt made by the Moderate chief of police to arrest a Liberal congressman resulted in the death of both, and the government was bitterly blamed. A few months later a post of the rural guard near Habana was attacked and several guards murdered while asleep, and prominent Liberals were charged with this deed. But it was not until August, 1906, that open revolt against the government began. On that date a small armed force took the field, and uprisings immediately followed throughout the country led by prominent leaders disaffected with the government. The ranks of the insurgents were augmented on account of the natural tendency to insurrection that had been cultivated by a long period of insurrection in Cuba, as well as by the inclination of many to secure relief from daily toil and live on the country and property of others. The power of this irregular force to do damage was incalculable. The greater part of the wealth of Cuba lies in its sugar plantations and sugar mills, most of which are owned by foreign capital, and the flaring of a few matches could in a short time have destroyed property of this kind to the value of millions of dollars.

The government of Cuba found itself entirely unprepared. Its artillery and rural guard force was comparatively small, and so scattered as to be unable to cope with the insurrectionists. The government made desperate efforts to organize militia, but with very unsatisfactory results. President Palma, in a letter to a friend a few weeks later, thus summarized the situation:

From the first days of the insurrectionary movement I understood the situation and was able to appreciate it with a serene mind. I saw before me numerous masses, tired of the order and legality to which they appeared to have submitted during the four years of the Republic, eager for license and forays, follow like a mob the first adventurer who invited them to rise; I saw everywhere persons who sympathized with disorder and encouraged disturbances; I saw the press in the morning, afternoon, and at all hours, assisting with unparalleled cynicism the secret conspiracy organized in behalf of the rebels; I suddenly found myself in the midst of a tremendous social disorganization, with thousands of insurgents in three provinces and the menace of rebellion in two others, without sufficient regular forces to undertake immediately an active campaign against the former and to beat and disorganize them; at the same time I constantly feared that they would carry to the great sugar plantations of Santa Clara the measures of destruction already realized on railroad stations, locomotives, bridges, culverts, etc.; I saw the customs revenues fall off by one-half and the other income of the State to 25 or 30 per cent., and that the millions of the Treasury were being spent in streams with uncertain result and to very doubtful advantage, a large part being used for keeping up hastily improvised militia, which, for that very reason, could not inspire sufficient confidence as to their reliability for undertaking the labor, the privations, and the dangers of a Con persecution of adversaries, who were also Cubans and in a great number of cases friends and comrades.

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The Appeal for Intervention by the United States.

By the beginning of September the Cuban government realized the helplessness of its situation, and applied to the United States Government for American intervention; and President Palma announced his irrevocable intention to resign his office in order to save his country from complete anarchy.. The American State Department did all in its power to discourage the request, but the pleas of the Cuban government continued. On September 14, 1906, President Roosevelt sent an official letter to Señor Quesada, the Cuban Minister to Washington, in which he described the terrible disaster imminent in Cuba and the evils of anarchy into which civil war and revolutionary disturbances would assuredly throw her, and pointed out that the only way in which Cuban independence could be endangered was for the Cuban people to show their inability to continue in their path of peaceable and orderly progress, and that our intervention in Cuban affairs would come only if Cuba herself showed that she had fallen into the insurrectionary habit. He solemily adjured all Cuban patriots to band together to sink all differences and personal ambitions, and to rescue the Island from the anarchy of civil war. He said that, under the treaty with Cuba, as President of the United States he had a duty in the matter which he could not shirk; that the 3rd article of the treaty explicitly conferred upon the United States the righ to intervene for the maintenance in Cuba of a government adequate for the protection of life, property, and individual liberty; that the treaty conferring the right was the supreme law of the land and furnished him with the right and means of fulfilling the obligation he was under to protect American interests; that his information showed that the social bonds throughout the Island had been so relaxed that life, property, and individual liberty were no longer safe; and that, in his judgment, it was imperative for the sake of Cuba that there should be immediate cessation of hostilities and some arrangement which would secure permanent pacification of the Island. He closed the letter by announcing that he would send Habana the Secretary of War, Mr. Taft, and the Assistant Secretary of State, Mr. Bacon, as special representatives of the American government, to render all possible aid toward securing peace.

The Peace Commission.

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Secretaries Taft and Bacon arrived in Habana September 19, 1906. The task confronting them was extremely serious. Though there was no doubt that the American naval forces assembling in Habana harbor could in a short time disperse any large bodies of insurgents, it was quite evident that the employment of force would certainly give rise to guerilla warfare, which would have caused an immense destruction of property, and cost much blood and money to suppress.

The Peace Commission, constituted by Secretaries Taft and Bacon, gave hearing to prominent men of the Island, and had many conferences with the leaders of the different political parties, it received and considered suggestions for the settlement of the pending differences, and finally proposed a compromise which it made earnest efforts to have accepted. The compromise contemplated the resignations of the Vice-President. Senators, and Representatives, Governors, and Provisional Councilmen elected at the fraudulent elections of December 1905; the laying down of the arms of the insurgents; the constitution of a commission for the purpose of drafting laws most urgently needed; and the holding of elections under the provisions of the electoral law to be drafted by such commission. Their endeavors to have the plan accepted by all parties were without avail. The President insisted on resigning, all the cabinet officers resigned. and the President called a special session of Congress to submit his own resignation and that of the Vice-President. Pursuant to the call, Congress met September 28, received the resignations, and adjourned on the same day without electing a successor to the President. country was thus left without a government, and President Palma

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so informed the Peace Commission, and stated that it was ne sary for him to turn over the national funds to some responsible person. Secretary Taft accordingly issued the following proelamation establishing the Provisional Government of Cuba:

To the People of Cuba:

"The failure of Congress to act on the irrevocable resignation of the President of the Republic of Cuba, or to elect a successor, leaves this country without a government at a time when great disorder prevails, and requires that pursuant to a request of President Palma, the necessary steps be taken in the name and by the authority of the President of the United States to restore order, protect life and property in the Island of Cuba and islands and keys adjacent thereto and for this purpose to establish therein a provisional government.

"The Provisional Government hereby established by direction and in the name of the President of the United States will be maintained only long enough to restore order and peace and public confidence, and then to hold such elections as may be necessary to determine those persons upon whom the permanent government of the Republic should be devolved. "Insofar as is consistent with the nature of a provisional government established under authority of the United States, this will be a Cuban government conforming, as far as may be, to the Constitution of Cuba. The Cuban flag will be hoisted as usual over the government buildings of the Island. All the executive departments and the provisional and municipal governments, including that of the City of Habana, will continue to be administered as under the Cuban Republic. The courts will continue to administer justice, and all laws not in their nature inapplicable by reason of the temporary and emergent character of the Government will be in force.

"President Roosevelt has been most anxious to bring about peace under the constitutional government of Cuba, and has made every endeavor to avoid the present step. Longer delay, however, would be dangerous.

"In view of the resignation of the Cabinet, until further notice the heads of all departments of the Central Government will report to me for instructions, including Major-General Alejandro Rodriguez, in command of the Rural Guard and other regular Government forces, and General Carlos Roloff, Treasurer of Cuba.

"Until further notice, the Civil Governors and Alcaldes will also report to me for instructions. 'I ask all citizens and residents of Cuba to assist in the work of restoring order, tranquillity and public confidence.

"(Signed)

"WM. H. TAFT,

"Secretary of War of the United States,

"Provisional Governor of Cuba".

The general public satisfaction with this action is apparent from the fact that, though the government and the insurgents had thousands of men under arms, this simple decree was sufficient to establish the provisional administration, the only American force landed being a small squad of marines to protect the Treasury. The important and delicate task of the disarmament of the insurgent forces and of the militia was then successfully carried into effect by commissions consisting of American officers and prominent Cubans; and a general amnesty was issued. The general attitude of the people of Habana toward the action of the Peace Commission was made evident when Secretaries Taft and Bacon embarked for the United States on October 13, 1906. The people of Habana forgot their political differences, and taking thought of the fact that the horrors of civil war had been averted, all parties joined in a demonstration of gratitude and praise for the work that had been accomplished. The shore of the bay was lined with thousands of cheering people, all available water craft was pressed into service to escort the ships to the mouth of the harbor, the forts exchanged salutes with the vessels, and amid cheers and all possible display of goodwill the Peace Commission left Cuba. The character and extent of the service of Secretaries Taft and Bacon, and the appreciation thereof in Cuba, are indicated in the resolution adopted by a mass meeting of the American residents of Habana, as follows:

"Gentlemen:

"The American residents of Cuba, temporarily organized for the purpose of making known to you their situation and necessities in connection with the recent disturbances, desire to express to you their high appreciation of the great services your wise and prudent measures have secured to them and to all the people of Cuba.

"The results you have accomplished are greater than could have reasonably been hoped for at the time of your arrival. Nearly thirty thousand armed men, moved by the most intense and bitter passions, were then arrayed against the armed forces of the government and a disastrous conflict was imminent, in which enormous loss of life and property would have been inevitable. It scarcely seemed possible that these angry elements of discord and strife could be brought into. peaceful and orderly citizenship

without bringing into active service the military power at your command to compel a cessation of the struggle for supremacy between the contending forces. But in less than one month the wise and sagacious methods you pursued and the skill and adroitness with which you approached the difficult task committed to your charge have brought peace and quiet to Cuba. Warlike conditions have vanished, with no immediate probability of their resumption. The armed forces have surrendered their arms and most of them are already in their fields and shops engaged in peaceful industry.

"Not the least satisfactory of the considerations involved is the fact that in the settlement of the turbulent conditions that have prevailed, you have caused but little irritation or resentment, and have secured from the Cuban people increased respect and regard for the United States, and greater confidence and trust in the goodwill and wishes of the American people for the people of Cuba and their future welfare.

"We do not believe that so successful and speedy an achievement under conditions SO difficult and dangerous has any parallel, and the thanks and gratitude of the people of Cuba, as well as of the great people you represent, are due to you for these inestimable services.

"Wishing you a safe return to the United States and the enjoyment of higher honors in the future, we are,

Very sincerely yours,

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Upon Secretary Taft's leaving the office of Provisional Governor, President Roosevelt appointed in his place the Hon. Charles E. Magoon, who had shortly before retired from the position of Governor of the Canal Zone and the American Minister to Panama, in which post he had successfully carried out the difficult task of organizing the Canal Zone Government, and had e blished friendly relations with the Republic of Panama. assist him, officers of the United States Army were appointed advisers to the acting secretaries of the Cuban executive departments.

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Governor Magoon's Administration.

Governor Magoon's administration has been one the benefits of which will endure for generations in Cuba. Its most lasting monument and the most grateful to the poor farmer of the country will be the network of roads constructed under American supervision. Cuba is dependent upon its agriculture for the production of wealth, and has been subjected to great economic waste by reason of lack and cost of inland transportation. The products of Cuba are hauled to market over trails that are barely passable during the dry season and absolutely impassable during the rainy season. In many localities it is impossible to transport the products in wagons or carts and necessary to pack them on horses or mules. Where carts can be used, it is necessary to employ from four to ten oxen, horses or mules, where two would be sufficient if good roads existed. Days are spent in hauling a load to market where hours would be sufficient if the roads were good. Realizing the necessities of the situation, the provisional government has given its best efforts to supplying the remedy. A comprehensive plan of road improvement was adopted; and in all parts of the Island trunk roads and local roads have been constructed and are now under construction, to the amazement and delight of the agriculturist, who has never seen his needs given such attention. On September 29, 1906, when the provisional government began, there were but 366 miles of macadamized highway in Cuba, many of which had been constructed under the American military government. On May 1, 1908, the mileage had been increased by the provisional administration to 573 miles and there were 457 miles of road under construction, most of which will be completed by the end of the current year.

Other public works have been provided in all parts of the Island. Harbors have been dredged, lighthouses built, hospitals. asylus, courthouses and other public buildings erected and repaired, bridges provided, and waterworks furnished the prin

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