12 



T H P: CUBA REVIEW 



CUBAN AND AMERICAN COMMENT 



EFFECT OF THE AMNESTY LAW— ANNEXATION MOVEMENT ALIVE 



BIG JOB FOR ENGINEERS 



.Iniiirsty Imx>.'s Lciializc Crime. — Tlicre 

 is perliaps iiotliiiig which could have such 

 far-reaching disastrous effect on the coun- 

 try as the indiscriminate amnesties which 

 have become a feature in Cuba, says La 

 Luclia (Havana), for they practically le- 

 galize crime by condoning it sweepingly. 

 The country is overrun by a swarm of 

 criminals after these amnesties go into ef- 

 fect, and a reign of crime and terror be- 

 gins. The good citizen is placed in ])cril 

 without having even a law (jf self-tlefense 

 to protect him. 



\V'e have been witnesses of these indis- 

 criminate amnesties and watched with dis- 

 may the phenomenal increase of crime after 

 such pardons had been granted. We have 



seen the jails again become full of the ^^ Expcriencia Optimisma: 

 men so recently set at liberty l;ecause ot (7^^^ ^/ pesimismo etcnw 



crimes committed by them upon their re- Que el porvenir uos augura, 



i„„g„ " Cacra tal 6 ciial Gobierno, 



Pero Cuba esta segura. 



" The Piatt amendment is a secure base for Cuba, 



thinks La Lucha's cartoonist, and he makes ex- 

 perience say that while governments may come 

 and go, Cuba is secure. 



against the wislios of the people of the 

 island, if the Cubans prefer their methods 

 of government to methods that might meet 

 the approval of Americans, what affair is 

 it of ours? By all means let them alone, 

 with full permission to govern themselves 

 in tlieir own wav. — Nciv Orleans Pieavune. 



Cuba Making Good. — Caspar Whitney, 

 correspondent and magazine writer, has an 

 article in the current Collier's, telling of 

 twelve years of freedom of the Cuban peo- 

 ple after generations of servitude. Mr. 

 Whitney says Cuba is fulfdling her prom- 

 ise to establish orderly government based 

 on the conception of economy in fmances, 

 slow but sure development of internal re- 

 sources, the insistence on sanitary cleanli- 

 ness and the establishment of an cfticient 

 and mobile military force sufficient to sup- 

 press incipient rebellion and to enforce gov- 

 ernment mandate. Mr. Whitney says that 

 while much has been done, much more re- 

 mains to be done, and while the struggle 

 onward will be a painful one for the little 

 republic, Americans should keep hands off 

 and allow the island people to work out 

 their own fate. 



Should Be Raised Intact. — Sacrilege to 

 the bodies of our own brave men entombed 

 for twelve years in the ship's hold is in- 

 volved in the suggestion that the sunken 

 wreck of the "Maine" be cleared from Ha- 

 vana Harbor by the use of dynamite. On 

 every groimd of decency and humanity the 

 wreck should l)e raised intact. The coun- 

 try would listen with no patience to the 

 suggestion. — A'^. Y. Times. 



.liinexation Movetncnt Persistent. — The 

 United States anne.xationists are constantly 

 calling to public attention the shortcomings 

 of the Cuban Congress, the mistakes of 

 the Cuban (jovernnient and the indications 

 of dissatisfaction and unrest in the island. 

 It may be true that all these imperfections 

 exist, but even so, what is it our business ? 

 Under the Piatt amendment to Cuban or- 

 ganic law this country is entitled to inter- 

 vene to restore order should a chronic state 

 of insurrection prevail in the island, but 

 neithei sound public policy nor justice de- 

 mands that the United States annex Cuba 



During a debate in ll.e Cuban Congress 

 one member shot at another with a revol- 

 ver. Unless Cul)a is careful, it will soon 

 lie placed in Kentucky's c\as^. -Pliiladel- 

 t>hia (Pa.) Inquirer. 



Xo More .States, Except Cuba. — Unless 

 public feeling on the subject should change 

 greatly, there will be no more states in the 

 .American union. Onlv Cuba, under cer- 

 tain circumstances of immigration and de- 

 velopment, might ripen to statehood. — 

 Minneal^olis (Minn.) Tribune. 



