THE 

 CUBA REVIEW -■' 



"ALL ABOUT CUBA." 



Copgright, 1909, by the Munson Steamship Line. 



NEW YORK 



botanical 

 Qakoen. 



Volume VIII. APRIL, 1910. NUMBER 5. 



CUBAN GOVERNMENT MATTERS. 



President Gomez's Message at the Opening of Congress — The Havana Arsenal 



Property Exchange — Disagreement Settled Between Contractors and 



Government — Raising the Maine. 



Preliminary political activities are actively under way all over the island, al- 

 though the coming Presidential campaign is yet very remote. According to the 

 two wings ot the Liberal Party when General Gomez was declared the united 

 candidate and elected to the office of President of the Republic, Doctor Alfredo 

 Zayas, who then accepted the nomination of Vice-President, was to be the Presi- 

 dential candidate at the next election, but this provided for a permanent fusion 

 of the Miguelistas and Zayastas, which although striven for continuously during 

 the first year of the new administration, has not yet been attained. General Gomez 

 has declared through Secretary of State Sanguily very recently thai he will not be 

 a candidate for re-election, and this has strengthened the chances of Dr. Zajfas. 

 At a meeting of the Liberals of Santiago on March 22 he was nominated for Presi- 

 dent, and General Demetrio Castillo Duany, who fought with General Shaffer before: 

 Santiago, in 1898, for Vice-President. El Liberal, a daily newspaper of the city,, 

 endorsed the nominations and urged its united support. 



It is not such smooth sailing, however, in other provinces, for Liberals in 

 Havana are favoring General Eusebio Hernandez for President. And it was stated 

 that General Lainaz del Castillo, who is strong with the laboring classes, would 

 accept the nomination for Vice-President on this ticket. The conservatives are 

 in the meantime keeping quiet, knowing that dissension among the Liberals can 

 only favor their own party plans. 



Congress reconvened on April 4 and Sr. Gonzalo Perez was elected Speaker of 

 the Senate. 



An extraordinary session on April 6 was called to discuss a report that a bribe 

 had been offered a member for his vote in favor of the exchange of the arsenal 

 for the Villaneuva Station. As it was shown that the bribe had merely been 

 offered and rejected. Congress adjourned, taking no further action. It is probable 

 that the exchange will be reported on favorably soon. 



President Gomez's message at the opening of Congress said that Cuba was 

 fully able to mamtain her reciprocity agreement with the United States, by which 

 the island secured the minimum tariff; recommends the formation of a court of 

 arbitration composed of senators and representatives to settle ail labor disputes,, 

 deprecates all legislation designed to prevent foreigners acquiring land in Cuba and 

 favors the establishment of agricultural banks to assist the native farmers. 



The proposed exchange of the Havana arsenal property for the Villaneuva 

 Station of the United Railways is a subject of much discussion in the newspapers. 

 El Mundo on April 4, said that the exchange would be most detrimental to Cuban 



