William H. Taft
President Palma told Mr. Taft very earnestly and somewhat pathetically of his efforts to teach his people the knowledge of good government gained from his twenty years of residence in the United States, and his association with the American people, and called attention to his successful handling of Cuban finances, to the economy of expenditures of his government, to the fact that he had at all times encouraged the investment of foreign capital, and to the prosperity of his four years as President. He deplored what he regarded as a lack of patriotism on the part of the leaders of the insurrection, and cited a number of instances to prove that they were actuated by motives of greed and desire for office. His{277}demeanor was dignified and earnest, and what he said made a deep impression.
The Americans then went to the home of the American Minister at Marianao, a suburb of Havana, where the insurgents had outposts just across the bridge, about 1,000 yards from the minister's house. There they conferred, as President Palma had suggested, with Señors Capote and Zayas, with the Secretary of Government, General Rafael Montalvo, who had charge of mobilizing the forces of the government; with General Rodriguez, and with the American Consul General, Mr. Steinhart, who had been eight years in the island, understood its conditions, and spoke its language.
It was explained to Mr. Taft that some of the leaders of the revolution had been apprehended, and at present were incarcerated in the penitentiary, but that they could be summoned to the home of the American Minister, if he so desired. He did desire it, and the Liberal leaders were brought from their prison. They included Jose Miguel Gomez, Gualberto Gomez, Carlos Garcia, and others of the group. Senator Alfredo Zayas remained present, and when Mr. Taft asked for a statement from the prisoners regarding the causes of the revolution and their purposes and demands, he acted as counsel and spokesman. Dr. Zayas stated that the election of the President and his government had been absolutely fraudulent; that armed soldiers had prevented the approach of the Liberals to the polls; that they had absolute proof that the votes would never be counted but that the whole proceeding would be a farce, and that, as a protest against such frauds and miscarriage of justice, they had deliberately refrained from going to the polls after ten o'clock in the morning; that the results of the election had been absurd and ridiculous; that the Liberals were greatly in{278}the majority in the island, "as every one knew," and that the government, as constituted, was an imposition on the people, weak, inefficient and corrupt. He added that he and his compatriots wanted nothing more than that which they were in a position to enforce, and which they would have enforced had it not been for the suspension of hostilities which had been acquiesced in by the Liberals only out of deference to Mr. Taft and his commission.
In other words, Dr. Zayas stated that they wished the immediate resignation of President Palma, his cabinet, and all members of Congress who had secured their seats at the last election; and he intimated that the judges of the courts who had been appointed by the Conservative party were corrupt and incompetent, and should be replaced by better men. In fact, they demanded the removal of the entire administration, and the annulment of the results of the last election.
Against this Mr. Taft protested, stating that Dr. Zayas's suggestions were decidedly radical; that so far as Estrada Palma was concerned, he had been elected with at least the moral support of the United States government; that Washington knew and trusted him and had every reason to believe him a thoroughly honest man; and that he could not consent to any move so sweeping as that which Dr. Zayas suggested. Dr. Zayas immediately withdrew his objection to President Palma, stating that, on second thought, his retention as President would preserve the republican form of government, and save the island from a political change that should be avoided if possible. Therefore, Mr. Palma was more than welcome to remain as President of the Republic; but every other condition expressed with reference to Congress, the cabinet and the courts, must be enforced, and at once. That{279}was the ultimatum given to Mr. Taft by the leaders of the Liberals.
This ultimatum was conveyed at once to President Palma, together with the intimation that it was a bad mess all around, and that, since a force variously estimated at between twelve and twenty thousand men surrounded the City of Havana, and property was in danger, and since Orestes Ferrara had already notified the commission that if the demands were not acquiesced in, three of the large sugar plantations in the neighborhood of Cienfuegos would be given over to the torch at daylight the next morning, it was probably best to yield to the demands of the Liberals, and practically to let them have their way, in the interest of peace, brotherhood and conservation of the rights of property.
This astounding and unworthy attitude on the part of the Commission deeply hurt President Palma, who had with good cause expected not only its moral aid but probably also the military support of the armed force that came to Cuba, at least as long as the policy of his government could be justified. This mental attitude was not however indicated by any word that came from his lips. With unmoved dignity he bowed in uncomplaining acquiescence, and said that he entirely understood the situation; that Mr. Taft would receive his resignation as President, by word of mouth and in writing, as quickly as it could be dictated to his secretary; and that he would retire at once from the Presidency of Cuba. Against this action Mr. Taft protested, though he himself had obviously made it necessary, and explained that arrangements had been made, at his suggestion, in which Dr. Zayas as leader of the Liberals had acquiesced, to the effect that Mr. Palma should remain as President of the Republic, although the Liberals demanded the expulsion{280}of all other members of the administration. President Palma thanked Mr. Taft for his expression of faith in him personally, but absolutely refused to consider the withdrawal of his resignation, stating with impregnable logic, which Mr. Taft could not refute, that if his cabinet, his Congress and his courts were fraudulent, or held their positions illegally, he himself, having been elected at the same time, and in the same manner, was not the real President of Cuba. Therefore, he refused to remain longer in office. He added with punctilious courtesy that he would take the liberty of eating his supper in the palace with his family, since it was prepared, but he would not remain within its walls another day.
When this attitude of the President was communicated to the members of the Cuban Congress, a meeting was at once called, at which, after a great deal of animated discussion, a joint committee was appointed, consisting of twenty-four men, to wait upon and expostulate with President Palma, but after several hours of pleading, they were unsuccessful in persuading him to change his mind.
So came the fall of the Palma government, whereupon Secretary Taft assumed complete charge and control of the affairs of the Cuban Republic. The insurgent leaders signed a formal agreement to surrender, in which they promised to restore to their owners the horses and other property which they had seized, though as a matter of fact none of them did so; since, for good measure, perhaps, Mr. Taft through military decree gave to the rebels an absolute deed of ownership of the horses they had stolen from the stables and fields of their rightful owners. It took them nearly two weeks to disarm and disperse. Then Mr. Taft issued a proclamation granting "a full and complete amnesty and pardon to all persons who have{281}directly or indirectly participated in the recent insurrection in Cuba, or who have given aid or comfort to persons participating therein, for offenses political in their nature and committed in the course of the insurrection and prior to disbandment." This amnesty, he added, was to be "considered and construed as covering offenses of rebellion, sedition or conspiracy to commit the same, and other related offenses."
Finally, Mr. Taft announced on October 13 the turning over of the government of the island, with the full power which he himself had exercised, to Mr. Charles E. Magoon, and on that same date Mr. Magoon accepted and was installed in the office, thus beginning the second Government of Intervention. The general feeling of Cubans at that time was divided. The pessimistic elements rather suspected that the United States, having been called there a second time, might never leave. On the other hand, the thinking class, and those who had experienced the United States government and its various administrations in Cuba, especially under General Leonard Wood, were confident that it was only a temporary régime that circumstances had made necessary, and they hoped that out of it much good would come.
Thus ended the most pathetic and tragic incident in the history of the Cuban Republic, and the one which was on the whole most discreditable to the United States. Nothing could have been more deplorable than that a statesman of the great ability, the lofty ideals and especially the generally judicial mind of Mr. Taft should thus weakly and illogically have yielded to a vile conspiracy, manifested through lawless threats and unproved clamor, against a Chief of State who in validity of title, in purity of character, in unselfish devotion to the public good, and in potential efficiency of enlightened administrationship,{282}was not unworthy to be ranked even in the same category with the great President under whom Mr. Taft himself held his commission.
Estrada Palma, according to Mr. Taft's intimation, had erred. History will forever record that he erred chiefly if not solely in assuming, in his own transparent integrity, that other men were as honest as himself. He was, his enemies asserted, weak. But intelligence and justice must discern and declare that his only weakness was in an over-confidence in the people to whose service he had given all the best of his life and in whose loyalty and support he imagined that he could securely trust. He could not, in the greatness of his own soul, bring himself to believe it possible for men, for men calling themselves Cuban patriots, to do such things as those which Jose Miguel Gomez and Alfredo Zayas and Orestes Ferrara and their coparceners did. He was not moved by weakness, but by a desire to protect Cuba from the ravages of sordid revolution and from the unscrupulous exploitation of bushwhacking bandits, and to preserve for the Cuban people and their Republic the good name which had been so fairly and as he thought fully established during the years of his first administration. His place in the annals of Cuba is secure. His rank among the constitutional executives of the world is enviably high. There has been in Cuba or elsewhere no more honest administration than his, and none that more intelligently, unselfishly and untiringly strove to fulfil its every duty to the state. Its untimely fall is not to be charged against any subjective fault of its own, but to the unscrupulous malice of sordid foes, the apathy of the people in whom too great confidence had been reposed, and to the inexplicable betrayal by those who should have supported and protected it but who instead consented to its destruction.{283}
Mr. Magoon came to Cuba but little known to Cubans and unfamiliar with what was before him. During this second American intervention there were some radical changes in the administration, and more public works were undertaken than President Palma had ventured upon. The consensus of opinion among American officers, all the officers who had accompanied Mr. Magoon, was that the Palma administration had made a mistake in allowing so much money to accumulate in the treasury. It had become a temptation to those who were not in power, and it would have been better to have the money expended along lines that would tend to advance the republic rather than to permit it to accumulate. So it was realized that if it was not expended during Mr. Magoon's administration, it would be spent, and probably largely wasted, if not actually misappropriated, by the Liberals if they should secure control of the government.
The most unfortunate thing in connection with the visit of Mr. Taft, and therefore with the administration of Mr. Magoon, was that the Liberals had apparently gained their ends. The majority of thoughtful and patriotic Cubans had expected the intervention of the United States to result in the upholding of law, order and justice in the support of President Palma and his administration. They had expected that Mr. Taft would take time to investigate the case thoroughly, and that he would insist at the outset, as an indispensable preliminary to his{284}entering into conference with them, that the Liberal insurgents should surrender their arms and ammunition, return the property which they had stolen, and submit themselves loyally to the constitutional government of the island; and that after that, but only after it, he would see to it that justice was done to them as to all parties and all people. That course was unfortunately not taken. Mr. Taft entered into conference with unrepentant and defiant rebels whose followers were at the moment in arms, threatening and preparing to make further criminal assaults upon property and life. He regarded or at least treated them as no less worthy of a hearing and of being taken into conference than the President himself; and despite his protests he concluded the sorry performance by practically ousting President Palma and his cabinet at the behest of these lawless insurgents.
The sequel was tragedy. Estrada Palma died, not of pneumonia but of a broken heart. Nor was that all. Encouragement was given to the lawless and criminal elements of the island, and to those who resort to violence, insurrection and revolution as the means of attaining their political ends, which has been felt ever since and which has repeatedly given rise to attempts to repeat the performance which then was so successful. Recognition was given to the Liberals, through what were doubtless good but certainly were mistaken motives, and the Liberals insisted upon maintaining that recognition and profiting from it. So when a Council, or Consulting Board, of eleven members was formed with General Enoch H. Crowder as chairman, it contained only two Conservatives and one man of doubtful affiliations. Three members, Senors Garcia Kohly, Viondi and Carrera, did not belong to the August revolutionists but were members of the Moderado party, which had supported{285}Estrada Palma. They acted as "Independents" on the Commission, though they were intimately associated with the Liberals, and as "Independents" they participated in the municipal elections. But later they joined the Liberals outright. All the rest of the Commission, or Consulting Board, were Liberals who had actually taken part in the rebellion. No appointment to office could be made without the sanction of that Board, and the result was that the Second Government of Intervention was packed with Liberal placeholders. Competent men, who had served the State well under President Palma's administration, were dismissed and replaced by incompetents whose sole recommendation was that they were Liberals. Now the voters of Cuba are as a rule easily impressed, and do not always appreciate the possibility, through hard work, of transforming a minority into a majority. They delight in being at once on the winning side, and therefore pay much attention to determining not so much which of two rival and contending parties is really right and deserving of support, as which side is going to win. The fact that the Liberal leaders, who previously had had almost no recognition, social, political or official, suddenly came to the front, and with the apparent acquiescence of the United States, or of the commission appointed in Washington, were exerting great influence, seemed a pretty sure indication, or at least was so interpreted, that the United States had changed its ideas with regard to the government in Cuba, and was favoring, and probably would continue to favor and sustain the Liberal party. That was one of the reasons why the Liberals won their next election. In fact they pointed to it as evidence of America's moral support, and frequently referred to and displayed an order, said to have been issued through mistake, which provided that every man{286}who had stolen a horse, and who confessed his theft frankly, should have full proprietary title to that horse and need not surrender it to the owner. The order is still on the statute books, a memento of the American intervention. That was resented by the better citizens; it discouraged many people who had had great confidence in the United States, and it illustrates not the general policy of the second government of intervention, but some of the unfortunate things that took place under that intervention, that seemed to the better class in Cuba, as mistaken.
Mr. Magoon spent the larger part of the money found in the treasury on public works, the building of roads, and various enterprises for the best interests of the island. It is claimed that in some instances the contracts became a source of graft, and that the roads were not built according to specifications. At any rate, they were built, and were sorely needed, and the results on the whole were excellent. Of the 6,000,000 left by the Palma administration nearly every dollar was expended at that time.
Although the second Government of Intervention was theoretically and nominally, and doubtless meant to be actually, quite non-political and impartial as between the Cuban parties, the very circumstances of its origin made it appear to favor the Liberals. It had come into power by accepting the resignation of the Palma administration, which was practically Conservative, at the demand of the Liberals. The Liberals thus enjoyed all through its duration the prestige of victory, without having to bear any of the responsibility of being in office, or incurring any of the odium which is almost inevitable to every human government which has not learned to achieve the impossible task of pleasing everybody. There was no such foundation work to do as had been{287}done under the first Intervention, and the American government busied itself principally with routine matters, and with making it possible for the Cubans to resume control of their own affairs.
One of the most important undertakings at this time from a non-political point of view was the taking of a new census. This was not done on so elaborate a scale as the preceding census of 1899, but was more strictly an enumeration of the people, for purposes of apportionment, etc. It was taken under the direction of the American Government of Intervention in 1907, the actual work on it being done by a staff of Cuban canvassers and statisticians, and it was believed to have been accurately and comprehensively done.
The work of compiling the new census of Cuba which was taken in 1907 was continued in the early part of 1908 and was completed and results were published at the end of March of that year. The total population of the island was reported to be 2,048,980, and out of this number 419,342 were citizens and entitled to vote. It was then arranged to hold municipal and provincial elections on August 1, and a national election on November 14. These elections would be essential parts of the processes by which the United States government would bring its second intervention to a close and restore the island to the control and government of its own people. The electoral law under which they were to be conducted was promulgated for the August election on April 1 and for the November election on September 11, 1908.
This law had three salient and characterizing features. The first was that it established a system of permanent election boards which were charged with the work of conducting the elections. In each municipality there was to be a board of three members. In each department{288}or province there was to be a board of five members of whom two were to be representatives of the two principal political parties of the island while the other three were to be non-political members, officials of the courts or representatives of the education department. The second salient feature of the law was a system of compulsory registration. This provided for the making and keeping by the election boards of lists of all persons in the island who were entitled to vote. The basis of these lists was the census of 1907, and it was provided that the lists should be revised, corrected and amplified by the election boards every year.
The third and perhaps the most important feature of the law was its provision for proportional representation. This secured minority representation, giving each of the important political parties membership in legislative bodies and also in the Electoral College representation in proportion to the number of votes polled.
Under the constitution of Cuba the right of suffrage is guaranteed to every adult male in full enjoyment of his ordinary civil rights. This of course bestows the franchise upon a great number of illiterate persons. The commission which revised the electoral law in 1908 carefully considered the question of undertaking in some way to deal with the illiterate vote so that it would not be, as it seemed on the face to be, a potential menace to the state. It was finally decided however, that it would be impracticable and inadvisable to attempt in any way to modify the constitution. Provisions were, however, adopted whereby alien residents of the island, although not permitted to vote, were made eligible for election as members of municipal councils and also as associate members of municipal commissions.
THE ACADEMY OF ARTS AND CRAFTS
The Academy of Arts and Crafts is one of the notable institutions which make Havana an important centre of culture, both theoretical and applied. This great school of technology was opened in 1882, and occupies a fine building of dignified and impressive academic architecture.
THE ACADEMY OF ARTS AND CRAFTS The Academy of Arts and Crafts is one of the notable institutions which make Havana an important centre of culture, both theoretical and applied. This great school of technology was opened in 1882, and occupies a fine building of dignified and impressive academic architecture.
{289}
The provincial and municipal elections occurred on August 1. There were in the field three major political parties, namely, the Conservatives, the Liberals and the Historical Liberals. The latter two were formed by a split which had occurred in the Liberal party. The principal faction was led by Jose Miguel Gomez, who claimed to be representative of the original and only simon pure Liberals, and who regarded the other faction as an illegitimate schism. The followers of Gomez accordingly called themselves the Historical Liberal Party, but were popularly known as the Miguelistas. The other faction was led by Alfredo Zayas and called itself simply the Liberal Party, being popularly known as the Zayistas. There was another insignificant faction which had been known as the National Independent Party but which now merged itself with the Zayistas. The third party was of course the Conservative.
The result of the elections of August 1 was the polling of 269,132 votes or about 60 per cent. of the registration. The Conservatives elected their candidates for Governor in the three provinces of Pinar del Rio, Matanzas and Santa Clara. In the municipalities of the island the Conservatives elected twenty-eight mayors, the Miguelistas thirty-five and the Zayistas eighteen. The elections were conducted quietly and legally, no serious charges of intimidation or fraud were made, and the results were loyally accepted by men of all parties.
The campaign for the Presidential election was then continued with much zeal. The results of the election of August 1 were taken deeply to heart by the various Liberal leaders as demonstrating to them that the split in their party would be fatal to them in the national election unless it were healed or at least some sort of a modus vivendi were established. Accordingly Jose Miguel Gomez and Alfredo Zayas "got together" and{290}agreed upon a compromise of their claims. It was altogether apparent that Gomez was on the whole the stronger of the two candidates. Also he was the older of the two men. Therefore it was agreed that he should have the first chance at the Presidency of Cuba. He should be the candidate at the coming election of 1908, but if he was successful in being elected he should not seek a second term but at the end of his first should step aside and give his support to Zayas as his successor. With this understanding the party was reunited for the purposes of the campaign. Gomez was made the candidate for the Presidency and Zayas was nominated for the Vice-Presidency. The Conservatives nominated for the Presidency General Mario G. Menocal and for the Vice-Presidency Doctor Rafael Montoro.
The campaign was conducted with much spirit and earnestness but generally in a dignified and law abiding manner. The chief stock in trade of the Liberals was abuse of the former administration of Estrada Palma, and of General Menocal as the inheritor of its traditions and policies. There were also many intemperate attacks upon Doctor Montoro because of his former association with the Autonomist party and the brief Autonomist Government during the later part of the War of Independence. How insincere this criticism of Dr. Montoro was appeared a little later when that statesman was appointed to a very important office under the Gomez administration.
The election occurred on November 14, under the general supervision of the American Government of Intervention, and was conducted in a peaceful and legal manner, giving no cause for serious complaints on either side. The result of the polling was a decisive victory for the Liberal party. Of the 331,455 votes the Liberals{291}polled 201,199 and the Conservatives 130,256, there being thus a Liberal majority of 70,943. The Liberals carried all six provinces of the island, obtaining their largest majorities in Havana, Santa Clara and Oriente. Gomez and Zayas were assured of the entire electoral vote, though under the law of proportional representation for minorities the Conservatives elected thirty-two members of Congress to the Liberals' fifty-one.
Various reasons were assigned for this decisive defeat of General Menocal. One was, that the Liberals were in the public eye as coming men. It was said that as their leaders had never been tried as directors of the Republic, it was time to give them an opportunity to show what they could do. The policy which the Liberals had outlined in advance was very attractive to certain classes of the population. They promised to abolish the law which General Wood had made, prohibiting cock-fighting. They even harked back to "Jack" Cade for inspiration, and promised that when they came into power there should be no necessity for men to work as hard as they had been doing. In token of these two promises they adopted as their pictorial emblem in the campaign a plow standing idle in a weed-grown field without plowman or oxen, and with a fighting cock perched upon its beam. Their campaign cry might therefore appropriately have been "Cockfighting and Idleness!" It is not agreeable to recall that such issues appealed to so large a proportion of the citizens of Cuba that upon them the election of 1908 was won.
Much of the stock in trade of the Liberal campaign consisted also in denunciation of General Menocal. The Liberals declared that he was representative of the class and the régime that had practically been dismissed by the United States government in the Second Intervention,{292}namely, the "silk-stocking" or intellectual class, which did not sympathize with the people and with the real cause of popular liberty. It was also pointed out as though it were an opprobrious fact that General Menocal had associated with himself as Vice-Presidential candidate Dr. Rafael Montoro, to whose character and ability not even the Liberals ventured to take exception, but who had been an Autonomist. When this reputed reason for his defeat was mentioned to General Menocal he declared that he was willing to accept it, though he did not believe it to be the true one; adding that after having been associated with Dr. Montoro during the campaign and having intimately exchanged ideas with him, he regarded him, Autonomist though he had been, as one of the best men Cuba had ever produced, and would more gladly be defeated with him than be victorious with the companion of his opponent.
The various provincial and municipal officers who had been elected on August 1 took office and the new provincial laws went into effect on October 1, 1908. Because of the persistent failure of the Cuban Congress hitherto to enact new municipal legislation these were the first local officials chosen by the people since the municipal elections which were held under the first American Government of Intervention of 1901. Since 1901 all vacancies occurring in municipal offices had been filled either by the votes of the municipal councils themselves or by appointment of the national government. This was because no provision had been made for their election by the people. Naturally this state of affairs gave great dissatisfaction and repeated demands were made by the Liberals for the removal of the holdover officials. It was also contended by the Liberals that the election of members of the provincial councils in 1905 had been{293}illegal. Under the old law provincial governors and councilmen were elected for four years and half of the council was renewed every two years. Thus half of the council was elected in 1903 and these members took their seats in 1904, and half were again elected in 1905 and took their seats in 1906. The contention of the Liberals was that this latter half, of 1905-1906, were illegal. On April 6, 1908, the terms of councilmen elected in 1903 and seated in 1904 expired, leaving in office only those who had been elected in 1905 and seated in 1906, whom the Liberals affected to regard as having been illegally elected, and who in any case were not sufficient for a legal quorum. The Liberals demanded therefore that all seats be declared vacant and that the powers of the provincial assemblies be vested for the time in the Provisional Government of Intervention. This was done, and the provincial governors were also required to resign. These latter vacancies were filled temporarily by the appointment of United States army officers, who served until October 1, 1908, when they were succeeded by men elected by the Cuban people.
There was undoubtedly great need for a thorough revision of the laws of Cuba. Those existing at this time were for the most part a legacy of the old Spanish government and it was quite obvious that laws which had been enacted by a despotic government for the control of a subject colony were not suited for a free and independent republic. They were certainly not in harmony with the constitution which had been adopted. It was an anomalous state of affairs that after the adoption of the constitution Cuban municipalities should continue to be governed under the Spanish provincial and municipal code of 1878. This code gave the Central Government not only intimate supervision over but practical control{294}of all municipal affairs, even to the smallest details, and naturally was very unsatisfactory to the people who were desirous of local home rule as well as of national independence. In fact the efforts of the national authorities to enforce these laws were regarded with displeasure and actually caused strong local antagonism to the national government.
Under the second government of intervention, therefore, a commission was organized in 1907 consisting of both Cubans and Americans, the former being the majority, for the purpose of drafting elaborate codes of electoral, municipal, provincial, judiciary and civil service laws. This commission completed its work but all its recommendations were not adopted. Its provincial and municipal codes were however put into effect on October 1, 1908.
The general condition of the island during the second American intervention was excellent so far as the maintenance of law and order was concerned. This was largely due to the efficient work of the Rural Guard, the operations of which were directed by a number of American officers detailed for that purpose. While brigandage was not wholly suppressed, it was much diminished and held in check.
One of the chief controversies with which the government of intervention had to deal was that with the Roman Catholic church over various properties formerly belonging to it which had been confiscated by the Spanish government. There was some such property in the province of Oriente, a part of extensive estates once held by certain monastic orders. It had been taken by the Spanish government during the Ten Years' War, and at the end of that conflict the government refused to return it, but instead of doing so agreed to make an annual appropriation{295}for the benefit of the church. Upon the separation of State and Church under American intervention in 1899 these appropriations were discontinued, whereupon the church claimed that the property should be restored to it. The validity of this claim was recognized by the American government, but instead of complying with it by actual restoration of the property that government purchased a part of the property from the church at a price mutually agreed upon as satisfactory. It was over the remainder of this property that the controversy was renewed, and it was settled by a similar purchase in 1908. Another such controversy arose over valuable property in Havana, which had been taken from the church by the government for the custom house and other public offices; and it also was settled by fair purchase on July 12, 1907.
After the installation of provincial and municipal officers on October 1, 1908, and after the successful conduct of the national election on November 14 following, the American Government of Intervention busied itself chiefly with preparations for withdrawing from the island and returning the control and government to the representative of the Cuban people. This was finally effected on January 28, 1909, when Governor Magoon retired and Jose Miguel Gomez became President of Cuba. The total cost to Cuba of the second American intervention was estimated at about $6,000,000.
The general feeling of the responsible people of Cuba concerning the second American intervention was one of extreme disappointment, owing to the fact that they compared it with the intervention under General Wood, or rather with the conduct of affairs under him. That first intervention was under the control of military officers, and when they made up their mind that a thing should be done, it was done, and as a rule well done, and{296}the example which was set in directing affairs of the government, organizing public works, schools, in sanitation, and in auditing, made the second intervention suffer by comparison.{297}
Jose Miguel Gomez became President and Alfredo Zayas became Vice-President of the Republic of Cuba on January 28, 1909. With a substantial majority in Congress ready to do his will, and with the immeasurable prestige of success, first over the Palma Administration and later in the contest at the polls, the President was almost all-powerful to adopt and to execute whatever designs he had, either for the assumed welfare of Cuba or for the strengthening of his own political position. He selected a Cabinet of his own supporters, as follows:
Secretary of State, Senor Garcia Velez.Secretary of Justice, Senor Divino.Secretary of Government, Senor Lopez Leiva.Secretary of the Treasury, Senor Diaz de Villegas.Secretary of Public Works, Senor Chalons.Secretary of Agriculture, Commerce and Labor, Senor Foyo.Secretary of Public Instruction and Arts, Senor Meza.Secretary of Sanitation and Charity, Senor Duque.Secretary to the President, Senor Damaso Pasalodos.
Not many of these men had hitherto been conspicuous in the affairs of the island, in either peace or war, and their capacity for service was untried. It cannot be said that they were regarded with any large degree of enthusiastic confidence by the nation at large. Yet there was indubitably a general purpose, even among the most resolute Conservatives, to give them a fair trial and to wish them success. Men who had the welfare of Cuba{298}at heart cherished that welfare far above any mere personal or partisan ambitions.
JOSE MIGUEL GOMEZ
It would not be easy to imagine a man much more different from the first President of Cuba than his successor, the second President; though indeed the latter was a man of no mean record, especially in war. Jose Miguel Gomez was born in Sancti Spiritus on July 6, 1858. He there obtained his earlier education, which he continued at the Institute of Havana, taking his degree of Bachelor of Arts and Sciences in 1875. He joined the revolutionary forces shortly before the end of the Ten Years' War. When, after the Zanjon Peace, the struggle broke out afresh, in the Little War, Gomez took once more to the field and attained the rank of Lieutenant Colonel. This outbreak having failed, he returned to his home and devoted himself to managing his father's estate in Sancti Spiritus. When once more the Cuban patriots resumed their struggle for the cause of independence in 1895, he again answered the call to arms. The action of Manajato won for him the rank of Colonel and the command of the Sancti Spiritus brigade. He was subsequently promoted to Brigadier General and then to the rank of Division General, after the battle of Santa Teresa where he was wounded. By the year 1898 he was at the head of the first division of the Fourth Army Corps which operated in Santa Clara Province. In this command he figured in most of the battles fought in that section at the time. The capture of the supposedly impregnable ingenio Canambo in the Trinidad Valley was one of the feats of{299}this campaign. Also the attack and capture of Jibaro, a town defended by a strong contingent, and the operation of strategical importance conducted against Arroyo Blanco, are to the General's credit in this campaign, in which he was effectively assisted by a remarkable staff of young men, who won a reputation for their capability and courage. When the Santa Cruz del Sur Assembly met, at the close of the war against Spain, General Gomez was elected to represent Santa Clara. Shortly after, he formed part of a delegation which was sent to Washington on a diplomatic mission. On his return to Cuba he was appointed Civil Governor of the Province of Santa Clara on March 14, 1899; which position he held until September 27, 1905, when he resigned, having been nominated as the candidate of the Liberal party for the Presidency. His years of office as Governor of Santa Clara were interrupted by his attending the sessions of the Constitutional Convention at Havana, as a delegate from Santa Clara. When General Gomez was defeated by President Estrada Palma, who ran for re-election, conspiracies and agitations were organized which culminated in the revolt of August, 1906, against Estrada Palma's administration. Of this conspiracy and agitation Gomez was the organizer and leader. The Palma Government having proved its inability to quench the uprising, the American authorities intervened, and at the close of that intervention, on January 28, 1909, Gomez was installed as President of Cuba.
Of different type entirely, yet not unsuited to work with Jose Miguel Gomez whenever their mutual interests made cooperation desirable, was the new Vice-President, Dr. Alfredo Zayas. He too was a man of conspicuous record, in the War of Independence and afterward, though it had not been made on the field of battle.{300}
Alfredo Zayas was born on February 21, 1861, and took his degree of licentiate in administrative law in 1882 at the University of Havana, and the following year in civil and canonic law. He soon acquired a reputation as a lawyer and in the world of letters. During the War of Independence he was the delegate in Havana of the revolutionary party. His activities in this connection having been discovered, he was imprisoned in September, 1896, and was sent to Spain and incarcerated at several of the prisons of the Spanish Government in Africa. After the War of Independence, Dr. Zayas led an active political life. He was the founder and Secretary of the Patriotic Committee, was a prominent member of the Constituent Convention, of which he acted as Secretary, and was foremost in organizing and leading the activities of the National, Liberal-National and Liberal parties. He served as Senator from the Province of Havana. He was one of the jurists who formed the Consultative Committee, appointed to draw up the organic laws of the executive and judicial powers, as well as the laws relating to the provincial and municipal institutions. At different times he occupied the posts of prosecuting attorney, municipal judge, and sub-secretary of Justice. During the revolutionary movement which took place in 1906 against the Estrada Palma administration, Dr. Zayas was president of the revolutionary committee. After the provisional administration which followed the fall of President Palma, he was elected to the Vice-Presidency of the Republic.
DR. ALFREDO ZAYAS
{301}
Dr. Zayas's life in the world of letters is no less interesting. From 1890-93 he published various periodicals and collaborated in others. He has written several books on Cuban history and studies on the language of the primitive inhabitants of the Island, on bibliography, on questions relating to law and political economy, etc. He is a member of the Academy of History and for eleven years was President of the Sociedad Economica.
The armed forces of the American government were of course withdrawn from Cuba on January 28, 1909, at the same time with the retirement of Governor Magoon and the second Government of Intervention, and the maintenance of order was left for a time entirely with the Rural Guard. That body of men had been very efficient during the American intervention and was considered by many to be quite ample for all the military purposes of the island. During 1909, however, President Gomez decided to organize a permanent Cuban army. To the chief command of this he appointed his friend Pino Guerra. The organization consisted of a general staff, a brigade of two regiments of infantry of three battalions each, amounting to about 2,500 officers and men; two batteries of light field artillery and four batteries of mounted artillery, amounting to about 800 officers and men; a machine gun corps of four companies comprising 500 officers and men; and a corps of coast artillery comprising 1,000 officers and men. This force was trained and equipped under the direction of officers of the United States army who were borrowed for the purpose by the Cuban government.
The administration of President Gomez was marked with the enactment of many new laws, and of the undertaking of a number of enterprises. One law granted amnesty to all persons excepting those who had been convicted{302}of certain peculiarly odious offenses. Another suspended the duty on the export of sugar, tobacco and liquors which had been imposed by the former Palma administration. On the other hand an additional tax was imposed upon all imports. Early in the administration a perpetual franchise was granted for telephone service throughout the entire Island, an act which was severely criticized on the ground that the President himself was believed to derive pecuniary profit from it. Laws were also enacted in 1909, legalizing cock fighting and establishing the national lottery.
In 1910, the second year of this administration, President Gomez began to manifest marked sensitiveness toward the criticisms which were made of his administration, and on February 3, two editors were convicted of libelling him, because they had accused him of deriving profit from governmental activities, and they were sentenced to terms of imprisonment. In April, he appointed to a place in his cabinet Senor Morua, a negro, and the first member of that race to hold cabinet office in Cuba. In July an insurrection occurred in Oriente near the town of El Caney, which was suppressed by the Rural Guards with little difficulty.
The active participation of government officers in party politics led to a disturbing incident at the beginning of August. At that time the Secretary of the Treasury, Senor Villegas, attended a convention of the Liberal party where he became involved in a violent quarrel. In consequence, the president ordered that thereafter no member of the Cabinet should be permitted to attend political meetings, or engage in active political work; whereupon Villegas resigned his place in the Cabinet.
In November, congressional elections were held to elect half of the members of the House of Representatives.{303}During the campaign the former quarrel in the Liberal party became acute. One faction started a violent agitation for the suppression of all religious orders in the Island, for the abolition of trusts in business, and for the prohibition of the holding of property in Cuba by foreign corporations. The other faction took for the chief plank in its platform the repudiation of the Platt Amendment. An attempt was also made by the negro members of the party to organize a third faction, comprising exclusively the members of their race. Because of these dissensions in the Liberal party the Conservatives made a somewhat better showing at the election than they had done in 1908, but the Liberals were generally successful and secured a majority in Congress.
At the opening of the session, President Gomez urged revision of the tariff in order to provide fuller protection for certain manufacturing industries; the building of a new Palace of Justice; and the establishment at state expense of public libraries in the chief cities. During this year an attempt was made to assassinate General Pino Guerra, but it was unsuccessful. The would-be assassin was arrested and Guerra professed to recognize in him an officer of the police who had had some grudge against him. Alfredo Zayas and Frank Steinhart, the former United States Consul General, also made public complaints of attempts to assassinate them, and reported the matter to the Supreme Court, but that tribunal declined to investigate their charges. An attempt was made to connect the attempted assassination of General Guerra with a bill pending before Congress, which provided that the head of the army should not be removed excepting for cause. It was said that this bill was strongly opposed by the Commander of the Rural Guards, and that he had in consequence incited the attempt to assassinate Guerra.{304}There was much public discussion and agitation of this matter, but nothing practical resulted from it.
Charges continued to be made increasingly of the profligacy and corruption of the Gomez administration. It was charged, doubtless with much truth, that the number of public offices and office holders had been unnecessarily multiplied to a scandalous extent for the sake of giving profitable jobs to the friends of Liberal leaders. It was also intimated that the Government had subsidized the press to suppress the truth concerning these and other charges, and thus to avoid an open scandal which might result in a third American intervention. Taxation was declared to be excessive and oppressive, amounting in some cases to as much as 30 per cent. of the value of the property. Other charges were that public offices, executive, legislative and even judicial, were practically sold to the highest bidder for cash; that concessions for public utilities were similarly disposed of for the profit not of the public but of members of the Government, and that then extortionate prices were charged to the public for the service rendered; that the natural resources of Cuba were thus being parceled out to speculators for cash; that a bill purporting to be for the improvement of the ports had increased four-fold the expenses of those ports, for the enrichment of a speculative company, and that in general the functions of the government were being perverted to the uses and the personal enrichment of a ring of Liberal politicians.
As the date of the electoral campaign of 1912 drew near, the conduct of the administration became such as to incur the menace of another intervention. In January of that year an arbitrary attempt was made by President Gomez to thwart the activities and impair the influence of the Veterans' Association, by forbidding army{305}officers and members of the Rural Guard to attend any of its meetings, on the pretended ground that they were engaged in factional political agitation. As the organization was in no sense a partisan affair, but was composed of men of varying shades of political opinion who had the good of Cuba at heart, and who strove to avert the danger of further intervention by making and keeping the Cuban government above reproach, this decree of the President's was sharply resented and was openly disobeyed by many army officers. When on the evening of Sunday, January 14, 1912, many officers and Rural Guards attended a meeting of the National Council of the Veterans' Association, and were received with much enthusiasm, the situation caused so much disquiet that the United States government felt constrained to send a note of warning to President Gomez, stating that it was much concerned over the state of affairs in Cuba; that the laws must be enforced and order maintained; and that the President of the United States looked to the President and government of Cuba to see to it that there was no need of a third intervention.
This note evoked from President Gomez the declaration that matters in Cuba were not in as bad a state as had been reported, and that he had the whole situation well in hand. General Emilio Nunez, the head of the Veterans' Association, declared that that organization would remain firm in its object to guarantee peace, to moralize the Administration, and to spread patriotism in the hearts of the people; and that it protested against that which might be a menace to the freedom and independence of Cuba, with confidence that the people of the United States would never regard its unselfish and patriotic campaign as an excuse for unwarranted intervention. He added that the Association had not sought to annul the law against participation{306}in politics by the army, but resented the charge in the Presidents' decree that it was "playing politics." "Patriotically we shall make every sacrifice, but we shall never resign ourselves to be miserable slaves dominated by irresponsible power untrammelled by laws or principles."
The leaders of the Liberal party were by no means a unit in attitude toward the crisis, the antagonism already mentioned between President Gomez and Vice-President Zayas flaming up anew. The newspaper organ of the Zayista faction openly declared: "We are on the brink of an abyss, whither we have been brought by the stubborn stupidity of a portion of the administration and by flagrant contempt for Congress and its enactments. These things have brought on all our existing ills." Orestes Ferrara, Speaker of the House of Representatives, much alarmed at the menace of intervention which might on this occasion have been as disastrous to the Liberals as the former intervention had been to the administration of Estrada Palma, declared that party differences must be dropped and that "We must resign our passions and ambitions to save Cuba from another shameful foreign domination."
Meantime the masses of thoughtful, patriotic citizens, disgusted with what they regarded as governmental extravagance and corruption, held themselves in admirable restraint, hoping that the peril of intervention would be in some way avoided until they could have an opportunity of permanently averting it through the election of a government which would give the United States no further cause for anxiety or for even a thought of resuming control of Cuban affairs. The crisis was thus fortunately passed, and the settlement of the Cuban people with the{307}administration of Jose Miguel Gomez was postponed, as was fitting, until the fall elections.
There followed a little later another ominous incident, for which President Gomez was largely responsible, but which he repudiated and dealt with in an energetic and efficient manner. The attempt, already referred to, at the organization of a negro party in the election campaign of 1910 was followed in May, 1912, by the outbreak of what seemed to be a formidable negro revolt. The leaders of this movement were two negro friends of Gomez, General Estenoz and General Ivonnet. They had been officers in the War of Independence, and it was said that Gomez had promised them and their negro followers great rewards if they would support him in his campaign for the presidency. When these promises were unfulfilled, these two men went through the Island urging the negroes to organize a political party of their own, which would probably hold the balance of power between the Conservatives and Liberals. Because of their violent agitation to this end they were arrested and imprisoned for a time. Then they were released and treated with much consideration. Indeed, they were offered appointment to offices, which, however, they declined. Instead, they renewed their agitation, and on May 22 an open revolt under their leadership occurred. So serious did the situation appear that an appeal was made to the United States Government, and preparations were actually made to send a naval and military expedition to protect the lives and property of Americans in the Island. President Gomez, however, rallied his military forces with much energy, and on June 14 completely routed the main body of the insurgents, capturing all their supplies of ammunition and provisions. This practically ended{308}the trouble. Estenoz was killed in the fighting, and Ivonnet was captured and then killed; "in an attempt to escape."
Another embarrassment for the passing administration occurred in August, 1912, when the United States government called upon President Gomez to make prompt settlement of certain claims which had been pending for two years, amounting to more than $500,000, and growing out of contracts for the waterworks and sanitation of the city of Cienfuegos. President Gomez protested that the Cuban treasury was without funds for the purpose, and that it would be necessary to wait until Congress could make a special appropriation. This reply was not convincing, seeing that payment of these identical claims had been made in a loan of $10,000,000 which the Cuban government had made in New York with the approval of the United States; and it was naturally assumed at Washington either that the money had been spent for other purposes or that it was being purposely withheld by President Gomez on some technicality or for some ulterior motive.
As an incident of this controversy, in the closing days of August, the Liberal press of Havana conducted a campaign of vilification against Hugh S. Gibson, the American Chargé d'Affaires in Cuba, which culminated in a personal assault upon that gentleman by Enrique Maza, a member of the staff of one of the papers. This outrage provoked a sharp protest from the Washington government, in terms which implied a menace of action if reparation were not made. This alarmed President Gomez, and caused him to make at least a show of punishing the offender, and to write a long message of apology and pleading to President Taft, in which he promised to deal with Maza and with the newspapers which had been{309}slandering Mr. Gibson, to the full extent of the law, and begged for a reassuring statement of friendship from the United States government. Ultimately Maza was punished by imprisonment, and the penalty of the law was also applied to Senor Soto, the responsible editor of one of the papers which had most libelled the American Charge d'Affaires. The Cienfuegos claim was also paid; but because of it an attempt was made to enact a law excluding all foreign contractors from participation in Cuban public works!
The Presidential election occurred on November 1, and resulted, as we shall hereafter see, in assurance that the Liberal party would be retired from power in May of the following year, and that the government of the island would be confided to the hands of those who had striven to uphold the wise and patriotic administration of Estrada Palma. In the few remaining months of his administration President Gomez pursued substantially the same policy that had marked the preceding years. In March, 1913, Congress enacted an Amnesty bill which would have meant a general jail delivery throughout the Island, and which President Gomez was strongly inclined to sign. He was restrained at the last moment from doing so, however, by the energetic protests of the United States government, which indeed were tantamount to an ultimatum; and instead returned the measure to Congress with his veto, and with a recommendation that it be revised so as to avoid the objections of the United States—though he did not directly mention the United States—and then repassed. This was done and the modified bill became a law at the middle of April.
In addition to the general extravagance of the Gomez administration, the overcrowding of all government offices with superfluous and incompetent placeholders, and{310}the expenditure of more than $140,000,000 within two and a half years, there were several specific performances which provoked severe censure. One of these was the installation of the National Lottery, which was done by vote of Congress at the dictation of the President. The pretext given for this was that Cubans loved to gamble, and that if they had no lottery of their own they would send their money to Madrid, for chances in the lottery there; and it was better to keep their money in Cuba than to have it sent to Spain.
Another act of the administration which incurred strong censure and which was ultimately repealed by the government of President Menocal, with the approval of the courts, was what was commonly known as the "Dragado deal." This was the granting to a speculative corporation composed chiefly of Liberal politicians and called the Ports Improvement Company of Cuba, of an omnibus concession for the dredging of harbors, reclaiming of coastal swamp lands, and similar works; for which the corporation was authorized to collect port fees, including a heavy surtax on imported merchandise, of which a small proportion would go to the government and the remainder to the coffers of the corporation. This concession was granted by President Gomez in 1911, against the advice of the United States government, and against strong and widespread protests from the people and press of Cuba, by whom it was regarded as a monstrous piece of corrupt jobbery. While it was in force, this concession paid millions of dollars a year to its holders, with an almost undiscernible minimum of advantage to the nation.
Following this came a bargain with the railroads centering in Havana, by which the arsenal grounds belonging to the Republic and comprising a large and valuable tract lying immediately on the Bay of Havana were given{311}to those companies in exchange for two comparatively small plots which had been occupied by them as a terminal station and warehouse. In addition the railroad companies agreed to build, or to provide the money for building, a new Presidential Palace, which President Gomez hoped to have finished in time for his own occupancy. This exchange was, in itself, undoubtedly a good thing. It gave the railroads an admirable site for the great terminal which they needed and which is now one of the valuable assets of Havana and indeed of Cuba. But the manner in which the bargain was made, the exercise of political influence, and the strong and unrefuted suspicion of the corrupt employment of pecuniary considerations, brought upon the transaction strong reprobation. An ironic sequel was that the work which was done on the proposed new palace was so bad that it presently had all to be torn down.
Fortunately there was no relaxation in the maintenance of sanitary measures for the prevention of epidemics, and while there was little or no road building or other such public works those already constructed were generally well maintained. The judgment of thoughtful and impartial men upon the administration of José Miguel Gomez was therefore that it had contained some good and much evil, and that even the good had been done too often in an unworthy if not an actually evil way. It had been the administration of an astute and not over-scrupulous politician, who sought to serve first his own interests, next those of his party and friends, and last those of the nation, and not that of an enlightened and patriotic statesman, seeking solely to promote the welfare of the people who had chosen him to be their chief executive.{312}
The fourth Presidential campaign in Cuba began in the spring of 1912. The Liberal administration had given the nation a thorough taste of its quality, with the result that there was a strong reaction against it on the part of many who had been its zealous upholders. The compact between José Miguel Gomez and Alfredo Zayas was, however, carried out, the former not seeking re-election but standing aside in favor of the latter, who accordingly received the Presidential nomination at the convention which was held on April 15. Before this, on April 7, the Conservative convention by unanimous vote and with great enthusiasm nominated General Mario G. Menocal for President, and Enrique José Varona for President. The campaign was conducted with much determination on both sides, but in a generally orderly fashion, and the election, which occurred on November 1, was also conducted in a creditable manner. Although the Liberals had made extravagant claims in advance, the result of the polling was a decisive victory for General Menocal, who easily carried every one of the six provinces. This result was due in part to the popular revulsion against the corruption of the Liberal administration, and partly to the immense popularity of the Conservative candidate and his admirable record as a useful public servant in various capacities.
MARIO G. MENOCAL
The third President of the Republic of Cuba, General Mario G. Menocal, comes of one of the most distinguished families in Latin America. He was born at Jaguey Grande, Cuba, on December 17, 1866, was educated at Cornell University, New York, and became associated in professional and business work with his uncle, Aniceto G. Menocal, the distinguished canal and railroad engineer. He entered the War of Independence at the beginning and served to the end with distinction. He was defeated for the Presidency in 1908, but was elected in 1912 and reelected in 1916. His history is the history of Cuba for the last seven years.