CUBA. 



211 





imports of Cuban produce into the United States 

 in 1900 were sugar for $18,243,639 and tobacco 

 for $9,703,331, and among the exports of United 

 States produce to Cuba were provisions for $5,- 

 214,489, iron and steel manufactures for $3,717,- 

 127, breadstuffs for $2,122,553, lumber for $2,122,- 

 553, and cattle for $2,042,710. In a special mes- 

 sage to the Cuban Congress President Palma 

 requested Congress to pass laws for the reestab- 

 lishment and development of stock-raising, sug- 

 gesting that measures be taken to stimulate 

 private enterprise, especially by removing all 

 duties from cows and from bulls of established 

 breeds, stallions, and jackasses, also for one year 

 from fencing wire. He proposed to prohibit the 

 slaughter of cows fit for breeding. Of 16,000,000 

 acres now unproductive, more than half the area 

 of Cuba, nearly the whole is good grazing ground, 

 capable of supporting 4,000,000 head of stock. ' 

 President Palma estimated that in the first year 

 of his administration 400,000 cattle would ar- 

 rive, the average consumption for food being 

 300,000. Half of those arriving he thought ought 

 to be pastured for six months before slaughter- 

 ing, insuring an addition to the national income 

 estimated at $2,000,000, and he suggested pro- 

 hibiting the slaughter of lean cattle for three 

 months after importation. 



Railroads, Posts, and Telegraphs. There 

 are 950 miles of railroads, of which British com- 

 panies own 551 miles. 



The length of telegraph-lines is 2,300 miles, 

 with 3,450 miles of wire. 



Establishment of the Republic. An elect- 

 oral law was framed by a committee of the con- 

 stitutional convention. On Jan. 1, 1902, presi- 

 dential electors were chosen, who, on Feb. 24, 

 1902, elected Tomas Estrada Palma President 

 of the republic and Seiior Estevez Vice-Presi- 

 dent. In fulfilment of the joint resolution of the 

 United States Congress, approved on April 20, 

 1898, for the recognition of the independence of 

 the people of Cuba, demanding that the Govern- 

 ment of Spain relinquish its authority and gov- 

 ernment in the island of Cuba and withdraw its 

 land and naval forces from Cuba and Cuban wa- 

 ters, and directing the President of the United 

 States to use the land and naval forces of the 

 United States to carry these resolutions into ef- 

 fect, the President of the United States was au- 

 thorized in the army appropriation act approved 

 on March 2, 1901, to leave the government and 

 control of the island of Cuba to its people so 

 sooij as a Government shall have been established 

 under a Constitution which, either as a part 

 thereof or in an ordinance appended, defines the 

 future relations of the United States with Cuba 

 in substantial agreement with the Platt amend- 

 ment. These provisions are that the Govern- 

 ment of Cuba shall never enter into any treaty 

 or compact with any foreign pow r er which will 

 impair or tend to impair the independence of 

 Cuba, nor in any manner authorize or permit any 

 foreign power or powers to obtain by colonization 

 or for military or naval purposes or otherwise 

 lodgment in or control over any portion of the 

 island; that it shall not assume or contract any 

 public debt to pay the interest upon which, and 

 to make reasonable sinking-fund provisions for 

 the ultimate discharge of Which, the ordinary 

 revenues of the island, after defraying the cur- 

 rent expenses of government, shall be inade- 

 quate; that it consents that the United States 

 may exercise the right to intervene for the preser- 

 vation of Cuban independence, the maintenance 

 of a Government adequate for the protection of 

 life, property, and individual liberty, and for 



discharging the obligations imposed by the treaty 

 of Paris on the United States, now to be as- 

 sumed, and undertaken by the Government of 

 Cuba; that all acts of the United States in Cuba 

 during its military occupancy be ratified and 

 validated, and all lawful rights acquired there- 

 under maintained and protected; that the Gov- 

 ernment of Cuba execute and as far as neces- 

 sary extend the plans already devised or other 

 plans to be mutually agreed upon for the sanita- 

 tion of the cities of the island to the end that 

 a recurrence of epidemic and infectious disease 

 may be prevented, thereby assuring protection 

 to the people and commerce of Cuba, as well as 

 to the commerce of the Southern ports of the 

 United States and their residents; that the Isle 

 of Pines be omitted from the proposed constitu- 

 tional boundaries of Cuba, the title thereto being 

 left to future adjustment by treaty; that to 

 enable the United States to maintain the inde- 

 pendence of Cuba and to protect her people, as 

 well as for its own defense, the Government of 

 Cuba sell or lease to the United States lands 

 necessary for coaling or naval stations at certain 

 specified points to be agreed upon with the Presi- 

 dent of the United States; and that by way of 

 further assurance the Government of Cuba "em- 

 body these in a permanent treaty with the 

 United States. 



These conditions having been fulfilled, President 

 Roosevelt in a message to Congress dated March 

 27, 1902, recommended measures for diplomatic 

 and consular representation in Cuba. The people 

 of Cuba having framed a Constitution and elected 

 a President, preparations were made by the Sec- 

 retary of War to terminate the military occupa- 

 tion and permit the installation of the Govern- 

 ment of Cuba on May 20. The Cuban Senate 

 and House of Representatives was convened by 

 Gov. Wood on May 5 to pass on the credentials 

 of their members, after which they officially in- 

 formed the American military Governor of the 

 election of Estrada Palma as President of the 

 republic. President Palma selected his Cabinet 

 on May 17 from both the Nationalist and Re- 

 publican parties and included one Independent. 

 It was composed as follows: Secretary to the 

 Government, having charge of the Rural Guard, 

 Sanitation, the Post-Office, and the Signal Serv- 

 ice, Diego Tamayo; Secretary of State and 

 of Justice, Carlos Zaldo; Secretary of Agri- 

 culture, Emilio Terry; Secretary of Public 

 Works, Manuel Luciano Diaz; Secretary of 

 Public Instruction, Eduardo Yero: Secretary 

 of Finance, Garcia Montes. Gov. Wood form- 

 ally transferred the government and control to 

 President Palma and the Cuban Congress on May 

 20, advising them that the transfer was made on 

 the understanding and condition that the new 

 Government, pursuant to the appendix to the 

 Cuban Constitution adopted by the constitutional 

 convention on June 12, 1901, assumed the obliga- 

 tions which the United States had assumed with 

 respect to Cuba by the treaty with Spain signed 

 at Paris on Dec. 10, 1898. The judicial and sub- 

 ordinate executive officers appointed by the Gov- 

 ernment of occupation continued in the dis- 

 charge of their functions, except such of them as 

 Gov." Wood had already replaced with nominees 

 of the President-elect, and all the laws promul- 

 gated by the provisional military Government 

 remained operative until they should be changed 

 by the new Government. Gov. Wood, in the 

 proclamation of transfer, recited the obligations 

 imposed on Cuba in her relations with the United 

 States by the American Congress and accepted 

 in the appendix to the Cuban Constitution of 



