10 



THE CUBA REVIEW 



COMMENT ON CUBAN AFFAIRS 



THE ATTACK ON THE AMERICAN MINISTER, INTERVENTION, ETC. 



The Jacksonville (Fla.) Times-Union 

 comments editorially in the following fash- 

 ion on the recent note of Secretary Knox 

 demanding the prosecution of the Havana 

 editor who in his publication, Cuba, grossly 

 attacked the American Minister. 



All this is interesting as showing the 

 ideas the Taft administration entertains as 

 to the powers of the government over the 

 press. We can't justly demand anything 

 from Cuba that we would not do for Cuba 

 or another foreign country. What if some 

 newspaper in the United States _ should 

 criticise the Ambassador of a foreign na- 

 tion. Would President Taft promptly pro- 

 ceed to punish the offending editor? U 

 he couldn't get at him in any other way, 

 would he order him deported? 



We do not remember any specific case 

 of the criticism of a foreign Ambassador 

 by an American newspaper. We remem- 

 ber a good deal of fun that was made 

 of one who used his ambassadorial powers 

 to beat a taxicab driver out of a part of 

 the fare he charged, and our old friend 

 Wu Ting Fang was treated humorously 

 by the press. No editors were punished 

 by the President — none was transported. 



The newspapers of this country criticise 

 Emperors, Kings, Presidents — and their 

 criticisms are generally just. It is a pity 

 that they are not always so. The laws 

 furnish a certain amount of protection 

 against newspaper attack, but Emperors, 

 Kings and Presidents can hardly be ex- 

 pected to take advantage of this protection. 

 We see no reason, however, why M. Beau- 

 pre shouldn't take advantage of it. He is 

 not too big. 



Now are we to look on this demand 

 made on Cuba as a command to Cuba to 

 do a thing that if conditions were reversed 

 we would not do for Cuba, and therefore 

 an unjust demand, or must we assume that 

 the Taft administration in its old age as- 

 sumes a new attitude toward the press — 

 that it proposes to punish newspapers that 

 criticise high officials, law or no law. In 

 either case the result is bad. It would be 

 shameful if a nation of 100,000,000 people 

 should demand that a nation of 2,000,000 

 do what it would not do under similar cir- 

 cumstances. The only effective argument 

 would be that ratio of fifty to one in 

 strength. It would be a mere matter of 

 force, and we would hate to see force 

 openly substituted for right. But it is still 

 worse if this demand is honest, and may be 

 taken as an indication of a policy of rigid 

 censorship and control of the press. 



Intervention in Cuba is no such task as 

 intervention in Mexico would be. It is not 

 to be lightly undertaken, and Americans 

 hope will not be again undertaken ; but it 

 is none the less an ever-present possibility. 

 It is impossible to affirm that the United 

 States retains any considerable degree of 

 affection for her insular Godchild. Ingrati- 

 tude has cooled the altruistic ardor which 

 prevailed at the close of the Spanish war. 

 If there is another intervention it will be 

 with some degree of anger mingled with 

 the sorrow ; and for this reason it is to 

 be dreaded by both nations. — Cleveland 

 (Ohio) Plain Dealer. 



The Havana newspaper Cuba, which got 

 into trouble recently because of slanders 

 on the American Minister and the Secre- 

 tary of the American Legation, says the 

 gathering in Havana of ex-Presidents Cas- 

 tro, of Venezuela ; Reyes, of Colombia, and 

 Zelava, of Nicaragua, and also of many 

 Mexican refugees, offers an auspicious oc- 

 casion for Latin Americans to make con- 

 certed plans to check American imperial- 

 ism. 



La Opinion, the organ of the Zayistas, 

 who are just now threatening to start a. 

 revolution because their candidate, Senor 

 Zayas, was defeated for the Presidency, 

 says all Latin America admires and loves 

 Castro because he has always been the 

 stanchest and fiercest enemy of the United 

 States, which was at one time dread, but 

 is now a laughing stock because it has been 

 so cowardly before Mexico. Castro, it says, 

 is the Latin American, ideal of liberty and 

 democracy. 



The Cuban people are not going to de- 

 stroy themselves by engaging in revolution, 

 recently said the Hon. Gonzalez de Que- 

 sada, Cuban Minister to Germany. The re- 

 cent election was conducted without riot 

 or trouble. It is true that the defeated 

 candidate for President, Vice President 

 Zayas, and his supporters, are seeking to 

 have the election set aside by the Supreme 

 Court on the ground that it was uncon- 

 stitutional, but after the court gives its 

 decision there will be no appeals to arms. 

 Zayas is a patriot who has worked hard 

 for Cuba. He is fair-minded and loyal. 



"The American people are doing more 

 than those of any other nation to develop 

 Cuba. Next to the Americans, the English 

 and Germans are helping in Cuba's devel- 

 opment." 



