THE 

 CUBA REVIEW 



"ALL ABOUT CUBA" 



Copyright, 1910, by the Munson Steamship Line 



LIBRARY 

 IVEW YORK 

 BOTANICAL 



GARDEN. 



Volume VIII 



OCTOBER, 1910 



Number 11 



CUBAN GOVERNMENT MATTERS 



THE NOVEMBER ELECTIONS — THERE WILL BE NO DISTURBANCE, SAYS 

 PRESIDENT GOMEZ — THE NEW BANK, ETC. 



Regarding the election for half of the members of the lower house and municipal 

 officers on November 1st, the second held by the republic without American supervision, 

 the hope is growing that no serious disorders will mark this important day. That the 

 President will make every effort to this end is unquestioned, for in an interview on 

 October 2d with a representative of the Nezv York Herald he made the following force- 

 ful statement : 



"There is no foundation whatsoever for the rumors published recently by some of 

 the newspapers and magazines of the great North American republic, in which it is 

 prophesied that the elections, which have been set by law for November 1st, will be 

 turbulent and disorderly, for I can assure you that these elections will be carried on 

 in such a manner as may well serve as an example to be followed, by reason of the just, 

 legal and impartial manner in which they will be conducted. I have given orders to the 

 chief of the Rural Guards that any member thereof who takes part, directly or indirectly, 

 in the forthcoming elections will be punished therefor, whether he be soldier or officer, 

 as the laws of the country prohibit this. We are bound to see that the armed forces 

 shall only serve for the purpose of guaranteeing the order and tranquility and peace of 

 the country. 



"No one, therefore, in Cuba, whether liberal or conservative, will have any cause to 

 complain of the stand taken by the Hberal government in the coming elections, and no 

 element will have cause to create any disturbance either before or after the elections, 

 especially so when the country is daily progressing politically and economically." 



The conservatives, it is said, will not participate to their full strength in these elections, 

 but will develop their party and concentrate for a victorious fight for the presidency 

 in 1912. They believe that by that time the divisions in the liberal ranks will have weak- 

 ened the present administration and make a change desirable. In the coming elections 

 there will be elected thirty-nine members to fill the vacancies of those that drew the 

 "short terms" when congress was convened first, after January 29, 1909. 



There are five dift'erent tickets in the field, but it is improbable that any of the three 

 new party groups will succeed in electing any of their candidates, unless one slips across 

 under the "minority representation rule established by the new electoral law prepared 

 under the provisional government. This law provides for certain representation, even 

 though the candidates do not receive a plurality vote. At the same time the presence 

 of new parties cannot be otherwise than a disturbing and unsettling factor, and make 

 results uncertain. 



Cuba's second National Agricultural, Industrial and Women's Work Exposition, with 

 the added feature of a national exhibit, will probably be held from January 28, 1911, to 

 Februarv 24, 1911, at the Botanical Gardens. The sum of $2.5,000 was appropriated in the 

 last bud'ge~t for the expenses of the enterprise, and President Gomez, to facilitate the 

 work and o-ive it a wider scope, has appointed a commission which will have entire charge 

 of the exp^osition, rather than the Department of Agriculture, Commerce and Labor. 



