The Republic of Cuba 12 



substantial inducement to ally himself with the 

 sugar industry which for over half a century has 

 been the chief source of Cuba's wealth. 



The Republic was apparently doing well under 

 the guidance of ''Don Tomas," as President 

 Palma was called in Cuba; peace, order and 

 prosperity seemed assured for a long time to 

 come, so Gen. Menocal went to Puerto Padre 

 in Oriente and there, as General Manager for 

 the Cuban American Sugar Co., helped build 

 "Chaparra," one of the greatest Centrals in the 

 world. These were followed by "Tinguaro," 

 "Nueva Luisa," "Constancia," "San Manuel," 

 "Las Dehcias," "Merceditas" and "Unidad." 

 These include the greatest sugar estates and mills 

 in existence, in whose direction President Menocal 

 still retains a large interest, which is said to 

 bring him an income of 1 100,000 a year. 



When the life, or permanency of the Republic, 

 was threatened by the uprising of 1906, Gen. 

 Menocal went at once to Havana and endeavored 

 to bring about peace through mediation between 

 the party in power and the Liberals in the field. 

 Before anything was accomplished, however, 

 Theodore Roosevelt sent his Secretary of War to 

 Cuba who arranged matters according to his own 

 ideas, and General Menocal returned to Chaparra. 



General Menocal was elected in the campaign of 

 1 91 2 and was inaugurated President of the Re- 

 public of Cuba, on May 20, 1913. Owing to the 

 number of Liberal members of the Congress hold- 

 ing over, the President found himself on several 

 occasions absolutely powerless to carry out many 

 important measures which he believed essential 

 to the Republic's best interests. The opposition 

 seemed determined to block all plans of the ad- 

 ministration by arbitrarily refusing to permit a 



