16 



THE CUBA REVIEW 



GENERAL COMMENT ON CUBAN AFFAIRS 



SPOILSMEN ARRAYED AGAINST THE 

 PRESIDENT 



Many in close touch with the ins and 

 outs of Cuban conditions, political and com- 

 mercial, believe the republic faces the most 

 serious problem since the American flag 

 was lowered from the national palace, says 

 the New York World's Havana corre- 

 spondence of September 1st. It finds that 

 Cuba at present faces conditions that 

 might be subdivided into four parts. 



1. A chaotic political condition, and the 

 attempt of professional politicians and 

 those who crave power to overthrow the 

 influence of and discredit the Menocal ad- 

 ministration. 



2. The action of Congress in refusing to 

 accede to the wishes of the President and 

 temper the "immunity clause" of the con- 

 stitution so that its members would not be 

 entirely immune from civil courts. 



3. The recent Presidential decree that 

 dissolved the Ports Company of Cuba and 

 annulled millions of invested foreign capital, 

 which may serve to cheapen the commercial 

 integrity of the republic with foreign in- 

 vestors. 



4. The recently enacted military retiring 

 law, by which nearly one hundred army 

 officers have been retired and which po- 

 litical factions have seized upon for cam- 

 paign material to stir up discontent in the 

 army. 



Cuban politics are thorough disorganized. 

 The Liberal Party is shattered and the 

 "patriotic conjunction," composed of Con- 

 servatives and Asbert Liberals, and which 

 elected President Menocal, is likewise dis- 

 rupted. This division was brought on by 

 the President's honesty. "Instead of listen- 

 ing to party clamor Menocal set about run- 

 ning his office in a business way. Where a 

 man of opposite faith was efficient he was 

 retained in office," and this conduct, as may 

 be imagined, caused a loud and far reach- 

 ing howl of objections from the politicians 

 who want all the government jobs. 



The refusal of Congress to temper the 

 "immunity clause," which allows members 

 to slay and pillage without fear of civil 

 courts, was a slap at the President. This 

 wrangle grew out of the killing of Gen. 

 Armando de J. Riva, Chief of the National 

 Police. The accused men are in jail, but 

 persistent rumor says enough evidence of 

 a certain sort will be produced to clear 

 them. 



The law retiring army officers has given 

 those opposing the administration a chance 



to stir up strife, and politicians have seized 

 upon it as a weapon to question Menocal's 

 executive ability. 



The World writer predicts that "Menocal 

 will either make a magnificent success or a 

 rank failure. There is no middle-of-the- 

 road way for him." 



ANNEXATION FAVORED BY CUBANS 



General Pino, a member of the Cuban 

 Congress for the province of Pinar del Rio, 

 in an interview with a representative of the 

 Charlotte (N. C.) Observer, spoke very 

 freely concerning his country's relations 

 with the United States. He said : 



"If the question was put to a vote, the 

 people of Cuba would in all probability 

 express a willingness and even a desire to 

 become a State of the American Union, 

 but intervention at the hands of the Ameri- 

 can people is not desired and will never be. 



"If we were to become a State of this 

 Union and elect our own Legislature and 

 Governor and other State officers our people 

 would be entirely satisfied. But we would 

 be opposed to a government like that which 

 Porto Rico now has. We would not want 

 a Governor appointed by Washington in 

 whose selection our people would have no 

 part." 



He said also that "in all sections of the 

 island one may see a contented people en- 

 gaged in the various lines of human en- 

 deavor, confident that their times of armed 

 conflict are past and that every one is guar- 

 anteed life and liberty. The courts in the 

 island at this time are far superior to any- 

 thing Cuban people have heretofore known." 



General Pino has extensive tobacco fields 

 in Pinar del Rio and is devoting almost his 

 entire time and attention to their cultivation. 



AMERICAN PRIDE PUNCTURED 



he Prado or "Broadway" of Havana, 

 now paved with cement and thronged with 

 hurrying automobiles, elegant equippages 

 and gay throngs, and illuminated by electric 

 lights, becomes a veritable fairyland on 

 balmy evenings. The band is playing, and 

 listening Americans innocently sit down in 

 some vacant seats, when along comes an 

 attendant to collect a fee of 5 cents. The 

 American resents it, and immediately hires 

 an automobile at $5 an hour rather than 

 pay the pittance for a seat which he feels 

 ought to be free. After all, it is the spirit 

 of things to which the American takes ex- 



