THE 

 CUBA REVIEW 



"ALL ABOUT CUBA." 



Copyright, 1907, by the Munson Steamship Line. 



NEW YOl, 



Volume VL 



SEPTEMBER, 1908. 



Number 10. 



<3C 



THE AUGUST AND NOVEMBER ELECTIONS AND GOVERN- 

 MENT ACTIVITIES. 



November 14 the Date for the Presidential Election — The Candidates. 



The presidential elections in Cuba are to be held on November 14. The elec- 

 tions for municipal and provincial officers were honestly conducted, and it leads 

 to the belief that the presidential elections will be. Governor Magoon anticipates 

 a spirited campaign. 



The presidential race will be a straightout battle between the liberals and 

 conservatives. The candidate of the former is Gen. Jose Miguel Gomez. Alfredo 

 Zayas, the candidate of the other faction of the- liberals, has withdrawn from 

 the presidential race, but has accepted the nomination for vice-president, and 

 the party consolidated under the leadership of Gen. Gomez, on September 3, voting 

 for the same men who in 1905 were defeated by Palma. 



The two factions will not actually fuse, but the Zayistas will support Gomez 

 The cabinet seats and the Congress nominations will be divided between them. 

 It was agreed also to support Sefior Zayas for the presidency in 1913. 



The conservative candidate for president is Gen. Mario Menocal, and the vice- 

 president Rafael Montero, both nominated unanimously August 24. The 

 united strength of the two liberal factions in the August elections was 

 shown to be 156,841, while the conservatives polled 105,718. Forty per 

 cent of the voters did not go to the polls. Of the eighty-two mayors 

 chosen the conservatives elected but twenty-nine, the remaining fifty-three having 

 been chosen by the Miguelistas or the Zayistas. The combined liberal vote for 

 provisional governors exceeded the conservative vote in each of the six provinces. 

 The conservatives vote exceeded the combined liberal vote in thirteen munici- 

 palities. In the municipality of Santiago de Cuba, the conservative vote exceeded 

 the combined liberal and independent vote. ^ 



It is difficult to form an opinion from these figures as to the outcome of the 

 election on November 14 for president and members of Congress. If the liberals 

 get together they may sweep the island, and the Miguelistas may possibly do so 

 alone, as the conservatives polled but 11,477 more votes on August 1 than the 

 Gomez faction. . 



The uncertain factor is the 42 per cent, which abstained from voting, and if 

 they vote at the presidential election, their 185,141 votes will have a decisive influ- 

 ence. Which way those votes will be cast it is impossible to determine, for 

 nobody seems to know whether liberals or conservatives chiefly stayed at home. 



Frank Steinhart, general manager of the Havana Electric Railway Company, 

 while in New York, said to a newspaper reporter: "There are many able men 

 in Cuba — scholars and statesmen — quite qualified to govern the island in a manner 

 to bring credit to themselves and Cuba. Both of the candidates have big per- 

 sonal followings, and the election is likely to be close. The so-called conservative 

 class in Cuba is the best educated class, composed mainly of lawyers, doctors, and 

 other professional men, together with the planters, who have had the advantage 



