Cuba, Old and New Part 7

XIII

_VARIOUS PRODUCTS AND INDUSTRIES_

The Encyclopaedia Britannica states that "although the fact has been controverted, there cannot be a doubt that the knowledge of tobacco and its uses came to the rest of the world from America. As the continent was opened up and explored, it became evident that the consumption of tobacco, especially by smoking, was a universal and immemorial usage, in many cases bound up with the most significant and solemn tribal ceremonials." The name "tobacco" was originally the name of the appliance in which it was smoked and not of the plant itself, just as the term "chowder" comes from the vessel (_chaudiere_) in which the compound was prepared. The tobacco plant was first taken to Europe in 1558, by Francisco Fernandez, a physician who had been sent to Mexico by Philip II to investigate the products of that country. The English, however, appear to have been the first Europeans to adopt the smoking habit, and Sir Walter Raleigh was notable for his indulgence in the weed. He is said to have called for a solacing pipe just before his execution. Very soon after their arrival, in 1607, the Virginia settlers engaged in the cultivation of tobacco, and it soon became the most important commercial product of the colony. Smoking, as practiced in this country, appears to have been largely, and perhaps only, by means of pipes generally similar to those now in use. The contents of ancient Indian mounds, or tumuli, opened in Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and Iowa, show the use of pipes by the aborigines probably centuries before the discoveries by Columbus. Many were elaborately carved in porphyry or some other hard stone, while others were made of baked clay. Others, many of them also elaborately carved and ornamented, have been found in Mexico. Roman antiquities show many pipes, but they do not show the use of tobacco. It is a.s.sumed that they were used for burning incense, or for smoking some aromatic herb or hemp.

The first knowledge of the use of the plant in Cuba was in November, 1492, when Columbus, on landing near Nuevitas, sent his messengers inland to greet the supposed ruler of a supposed great Asiatic empire. Washington Irving thus reports the story as it was told by Navarete, the Spanish historian. Referring to those messengers, he says: "They beheld several of the natives going about with firebrands in their hands, and certain dried herbs which they rolled up in a leaf, and lighting one end, put the other in their mouths, and continued exhaling and puffing out the smoke. A roll of this kind they called a tobacco, a name since transferred to the plant of which the rolls were made. The Spaniards, although prepared to meet with wonders, were struck with astonishment at this singular and apparently nauseous indulgence." A few years later, a different method was reported, by Columbus, as employed in Hispaniola. This consisted of inhaling the fumes of the leaf through a Y-shaped device applied to the nostrils. This operation is said to have produced intoxication and stupefaction, which appears to have been the desired result. The old name still continues in Cuba, and if a smoker wants a cigar, he will get it by calling for a "tobacco." The production of the plant is, next to sugar, Cuba's most important commercial industry. Its early history is only imperfectly known.

There was probably very little commercial production during the 16th Century, for the reason that there was then no demand for it. The demand came in the first half of the 17th Century, and by the middle of that period tobacco was known and used in practically all civilized countries.

The demand for it spread very rapidly, in spite of papal fulminations and penal enactments. For a time, in Russia, the noses of smokers were cut off.

The early part of the 18th Century saw Cuba actively engaged in production and shipment. In 1717, Cuba's tobacco was made a monopoly of the Spanish Government. Under that system, production was regulated and prices were fixed by the agents of the government, in utter disregard of the welfare of the producers. As a result, several serious riots occurred. In 1723, a large number of planters refused to accept the terms offered by the officials, and destroyed the crops of those who did accept, a condition repeated in the State of Kentucky a few years ago, the only difference being that in the Cuban experience the monopolist was the Government, and in Kentucky it was a corporation. A few years later, in 1734, the Cuban monopoly was sold to Don Jose Tallapiedra who contracted to ship to Spain, annually, three million pounds of tobacco. The contract was afterward given to another, but control was resumed by the Crown, in 1760. Finally, in 1817, cultivation and trade were declared to be free, subject only to taxation.

[Ill.u.s.tration: STREET IN CAMAGUEY]

In time, it became known that the choicest tobacco in the market came from the western end of Cuba, from the Province of Pinar del Rio. It was given a distinct name, _Vuelta Abajo_, a term variously translated but referring to the downward bend of the section of the island in which that grade is produced. Here is grown a tobacco that, thus far, has been impossible of production elsewhere. Many experiments have been tried, in Cuba and in other countries. Soils have been a.n.a.lyzed by chemists; seeds from the _Vuelta Abajo_ have been planted; and localities have been sought where climatic conditions corresponded. No success has been attained. Nor is the crop of that region produced on an extensive scale, that is, the choicer leaf. Not all of the tobacco is of the finest grade, although most of it is of high quality. There are what may be called "patches" of ground, known to the experts, on which the best is produced, for reasons not yet clearly determined. The fact is well known, but the causes are somewhat mysterious.

Nor does the plant of this region appear to be susceptible of improvement through any modern, scientific systems of cultivation. The quality deteriorates rather than improves as a result of artificial fertilizers.

The people of the region, cultivating this special product through generation after generation, seem to have developed a peculiar instinct for its treatment. It is not impossible that a time may come when scientific soil selection, seed selection, special cultivation, irrigation, and other systems, singly or in combination, will make possible the production of a standardized high-grade leaf in much greater quant.i.ty than heretofore, but it seems little probable that anything so produced will excel or even equal the best produced by these expert _vegueros_ by their indefinable but thorough knowledge of the minutest peculiarities of this peculiar plant.

Thus far, it has not even been possible to produce it elsewhere in the island. It has been tried outside of the fairly defined area of its production, tried by men who knew it thoroughly within that area, tried from the same seed, from soils that seem quite the same. But all failed.

Science may some day definitely locate the reasons, just as it may find the reason for deterioration in the quality of Cuban tobacco eastward from that area. The tobacco of Havana Province is excellent, but inferior to that of Pinar del Rio. The growth of Santa Clara Province is of good quality, but inferior to that of Havana Province, while the tobacco of eastern Cuba is little short of an offence to a discriminating taste.

Tobacco is grown from seeds, planted in specially prepared seed beds.

Seeding is begun in the early autumn. When the young plant has attained a proper height, about eight or ten inches, it is removed to, and planted in, the field of its final growth. This preliminary process demands skill, knowledge, and careful attention equal, perhaps, to the requirements of the later stages. Experiments have been made with mechanical appliances, but most of the work is still done by hand, particularly in the area producing the better qualities of leaf. From the time of transplanting, it is watched with the greatest care. A constant battle is waged with weeds and insect life, and water must be brought if the season is too dry. If rains are excessive, as they sometimes are, the crop may be partly or wholly destroyed, as it was in the autumn of 1914. The plant matures in January, after four months of constant watchfulness and labor, in cultivation, pruning, and protection from worms and insects. When the leaves are properly ripened, the stalks are cut in sections, two leaves to a section.

These are hung on poles and taken to the drying sheds where they are suspended for three or more weeks. The time of this process, and its results, depend upon moisture, temperature, and treatment. All this is again an operation demanding expert knowledge and constant care. When properly cured, the leaves are packed in bales of about 110 pounds each, and are then ready for the market. Because of the varying conditions under which the leaf is produced, from year to year, it is somewhat difficult to determine with any accuracy the increase in the industry. Broadly, the output appears to have been practically doubled in the last twenty years, a growth attributed to the new economic conditions, to the extension of transportation facilities that have made possible the opening of new areas to cultivation, and to the investment of capital, largely American capital.

The exports show, generally, a material increase in sales of leaf tobacco and some decline in sales of cigars. The princ.i.p.al market for the leaf, for about 85 per cent of it, is in the United States where it is made, with more or less honesty, into "all-Havana" cigars. This country, however, takes only about a third of Cuba's cigar output. The United Kingdom takes about as much of that product as we do, and Germany, in normal times, takes about half as much. The remainder is widely scattered, and genuine imported Havana cigars are obtainable in all countries throughout the world.

The total value of Cuba's yearly tobacco crop is from $40,000,000 to $50,000,000, including domestic consumption and foreign trade.

The story that all Cubans, men and women alike, are habitual and constant smokers, is not and never was true. Whatever it may have been in the past, I am inclined to think that smoking by women is more common in this country than it is in Cuba, particularly among the middle and upper social cla.s.ses.

I have seen many American and English women smoke in public, but never a Cuban woman. Nor is smoking by men without its exceptions. I doubt if the percentage of non-smokers in this country is any greater than it is in the island. There are many Cubans who do smoke, just as there are many Americans, Englishmen, Germans, and Russians. Those who watch on the street for a respectable Cuban woman with a cigar in her mouth, or even a cigarette, will be disappointed. Cuba's tobacco is known by the name of the region in which it is produced; the _Vuelta Abajo_ of Pinar del Rio; the _Partidos_ of Havana Province; the _Manicaragua_ and the _Remedios_ of Santa Clara; and the _Mayari_ of Oriente. Until quite recently, when American organized capital secured control of many of the leading factories in Cuba, it was possible to identify a cigar, in size and shape, by some commonly employed name, such as _perfectos, conchas, panetelas, imperiales, londres_, etc. The old names still appear, but to them there has been added an almost interminable list in which the old distinction is almost lost. Lost, too, or submerged, are many of the old well-known names of manufacturers, names that were a guarantee of quality. There were also names for different qualities, almost invariably reliable, and for color that was supposed to mark the strength of the cigar. An accomplished smoker may still follow the old system and call for a cigar to his liking, by the use of the old terms and names made familiar by years of experience, but the general run of smokers can only select, from a hundred or more boxes bearing names and words that are unfamiliar or unknown, a cigar that he thinks looks like one that he wants. It may be a "_superba_" an "_imperial_" a "Wilson's Cabinet," or a "Havana Kid."

There is a wide difference in the dates given as the time of the introduction of the coffee plant in Cuba. One writer gives the year 1720, another gives 1748, and still another gives 1769. Others give various years near the end of the century. It was doubtless a minor industry for fifty years or more before that time, but it was given an impetus and began to a.s.sume commercial proportions during the closing years of the 18th Century.

During that century, the industry was somewhat extensively carried on in the neighboring island of Santo Domingo. In 1790, a revolution broke out in that island, including Haiti, and lasted, with more or less violent activity, for nearly ten years. One result was the emigration to Cuba of a considerable number of refugees, many of them French. They settled in eastern Cuba, where conditions for coffee-growing are highly favorable.

Knowing that industry from their experience with it in the adjacent island, these people naturally took it up in their new home. The cultivation of coffee in Cuba, prior to that time, was largely in the neighborhood of Havana, the region then of the greater settlement and development. For the next forty years or so, the industry developed and coffee a.s.sumed a considerable importance as an export commodity, in addition to the domestic supply. In 1840, there were more than two thousand coffee plantations, large and small, producing more than seventy million pounds of coffee, the greater part of which was exported. From about the middle of the century, the industry declined, in part because of lower prices due to increase in the world-supply through increased production in other countries, and in part, because of the larger chance of profit in the growing of sugar, an industry then showing an increased importance. Coffee culture has never been entirely suspended in the island, and efforts are made from time to time to revive it, but for many years Cuba has imported most of its coffee supply, the larger share being purchased from Porto Rico. It would be easily possible for Cuba to produce its entire requirement. There are few more beautiful sights in all the world than a field of coffee trees in blossom. One writer has likened it to "millions of snow drops scattered over a sea of green." They blossom, in Cuba, about the end of February or early in March, the fruit season and picking coming in the autumn. Coffee culture is an industry requiring great care and some knowledge, and the preparation of the berry for the market involves no less of care and knowledge. The quality of the Cuban berry is of the best. It is the misfortune of the people of the United States that very few of them really know anything about coffee and its qualities, notwithstanding the fact that they consume about a billion pounds a year, all except a small percentage of it being coffee of really inferior quality. But coffee, like cigars, pickles, or music, is largely a matter of individual preference.

Cuba produces a variety of vegetables, chiefly for domestic consumption, and many fruits, some of which are exported. There is also a limited production of grains. Among the tubers produced are sweet potatoes, white potatoes, yams, the arum and the yucca. From the latter is made starch and the ca.s.sava bread. The legumes are represented by varieties of beans and peas. The most extensively used food of the island people is rice, only a little of which is locally grown. The imports are valued at five or six million dollars yearly. Corn is grown in some quant.i.ty, but nearly two million dollars worth is imported yearly from the United States. There are fruits of many kinds. The banana is the most important of the group, and is grown throughout the island. It appears on the table of all, rich and poor, sometimes _au naturel_ but more frequently cooked. There are many varieties, some of which are exported while others are practically unknown here. The Cuban mango is not of the best, but they are locally consumed by the million. Only a few of the best are produced and those command a fancy price even when they are obtainable. The aguacate, or alligator pear, is produced in abundance. Cocoanuts are a product largely of the eastern end of the island, although produced in fair supply elsewhere. The trees are victims of a disastrous bud disease that has attacked them in recent years causing heavy loss to growers.

[Ill.u.s.tration: PALM-THATCHED ROOFS A PEASANT'S HOME]

Since the American occupation, considerable attention has been given, mainly by Americans, to the production of oranges, grape-fruit, and pineapples, in which a considerable industry has been developed. There are several varieties. The guava of Cuba makes a jelly that is superior to that produced from the fruit in any other land of my experience. If there is a better guava jelly produced anywhere, I should be pleased to sample it, more pleased to obtain a supply. But there is a difference in the product even there, just as there is a difference in currant or grape jelly produced here. It depends a good deal on the maker. Some of the best of my experience is made in the neighborhood of Santa Clara, but I have tried no Cuban _jalea de guayaba_ that was not better than any I have had in the Far East or elsewhere. The _guanabana_ is eaten in its natural state, but serves its best purpose as a flavor for ices or cooling drinks. There are a number of others, like the _anon_, the _zapote_, the _granadilla_, the _mamey_, etc., with which visitors may experiment or not as they see fit.

Some like some of them and others like none of them. An excellent grade of cacao, the basis of chocolate and cocoa, is produced in somewhat limited quant.i.ty. The industry could easily be extended. In fact, there are many soil products not now grown in the island but which might be grown there, and many others now produced on small scale that could be produced in important quant.i.ties. That they are not now so produced is due to lack of both labor and capital. The industries of Cuba are, and always have been, specialized. Sugar, tobacco, and at a time coffee, have absorbed the capital and have afforded occupation for the greater number of the island people. The lack of transportation facilities in earlier years, and the system of land tenure, have made difficult if not impossible the establishment of any large number of independent small farmers. The day laborers in the tobacco fields and on sugar plantations have been unable to save enough money to buy a little farm and equip it even if the land could be purchased at all. Yet only a very small percentage of the area is actually under cultivation. Cuba now imports nearly $40,000,000 worth of alimentary substances, altogether too much for a country of its productive possibilities. It is true that a part of this, such as wheat flour for instance, cannot be produced on the island successfully, and that other commodities, such as rice, hog products, and some other articles, can be imported more cheaply than they can be produced locally. But the imports of foodstuffs are undoubtedly excessive, although there are good reasons for the present situation. It is a matter that will find adjustment in time.

The island has mineral resources of considerable value, although the number of products is limited. The Spanish discoverers did not find the precious metals for which they were seeking, and while gold has since been found, it has never appeared in quant.i.ty sufficient to warrant its exploitation.

Silver discoveries have been reported, but not in quant.i.ty to pay for its extraction. Nothing is ever certain in those industries, but it is quite safe to a.s.sume that Cuba is not a land of precious metals. Copper was discovered in eastern Cuba as early as about the year 1530, and the mines near Santiago were operated as a Government monopoly for some two hundred years, when they were abandoned. They were idle for about a hundred years when, in 1830, an English company with a capital of $2,400,000 reopened them. It is officially reported that in the next forty years copper of a value of more than $50,000,000 was extracted and shipped. During that time, the mines were among the most notable in the world. In the meantime, ownership was transferred to a Spanish corporation organized in Havana.

This concern became involved in litigation with the railway concerning freight charges, and this experience was followed by the Ten Years' War, in the early course of which the plant was destroyed and the mines flooded. In 1902, an American company was organized. It acquired practically all the copper property in the Cobre field and began operations on an extensive and expensive scale. A huge sum was spent in pumping thousands of tons of water from a depth of hundreds of feet, in new equipment for the mining operations, and in the construction of a smelter. The best that can be done is to hope that the investors will some day get their money back. Without any doubt, there is a large amount of copper there, and more in other parts of Oriente. So is there copper in Camaguey, Santa Clara, and Matanzas provinces. There are holes in the ground near the city of Camaguey that indicate profitable operations in earlier years. The metal is spread over a wide area in Pinar del Rio, and venturous spirits have spent many good Spanish pesos and still better American dollars in efforts to locate deposits big enough to pay for its excavation. Some of that cla.s.s are at it even now, and one concern is reported as doing a profitable business.

The bitumens are represented in the island by asphalt, a low-grade coal, and seepages of petroleum. At least, several writers tell of coal in the vicinity of Havana, but the substance is probably only a particularly hard asphaltum. The only real coal property of which I have any knowledge is a quite recent discovery. The story was told me by the man whose money was sought to develop it. It was, by the way, an anthracite property. In response to an urgent invitation from a presumably reliable acquaintance, my friend took his car and journeyed westward into Pinar del Rio, through a charming country that he and I have many times enjoyed together. He picked up his coal-discovering friend in the city of Pinar del Rio, and proceeded into the country to inspect the coal-vein. At a number of points immediately alongside the highway, his companion alighted to sc.r.a.pe away a little of the surface of the earth and to return with a little lump of really high-grade anthracite. Such a substance had no proper business there, did not belong there geologically or otherwise. The explanation soon dawned upon my friend. They were following the line of an abandoned narrow-gauge railway, abandoned twenty years ago, along which had been dumped, at intervals, little piles of perfectly good anthracite, imported from Pennsylvania, for use by the portable engine used in the construction of the road. My friend declares that he is entirely ready at any time to swear that there are deposits of anthracite in Cuba. A very good quality of asphalt is obtained in different parts of the island, and considerable quant.i.ties have been shipped to the United States. Signs of petroleum deposits have been strong enough to induce investigation and expenditure.

An American company is now at work drilling in Matanzas Province. The most extensive and promising mineral industry is iron, especially in eastern Cuba. Millions of tons of ore have been taken from the mountains along the sh.o.r.e between Santiago and Guantanamo, and the supply appears to be inexhaustible. The product is shipped to the United States, to a value of several millions of dollars yearly. A few years ago, other and apparently more extensive deposits were discovered in the northern section of Oriente, The field bought by the Pennsylvania Steel Company is estimated to contain 600,000,000 tons of ore. The Bethlehem Steel Company is the owner of another vast tract. The quality of these ores is excellent. In Oriente Province also are deposits of manganese of which considerable shipments have been made.

It is not possible in so brief a survey of Cuba's resources and industries to include all its present activities, to say nothing of its future possibilities. At the present time, the island is practically an extensive but only partly cultivated farm, producing mainly sugar and tobacco, with fruits and vegetables as a side line. The metal deposits supplement this, with promise of becoming increasingly valuable. The forest resources, commercially, are not great, although there are, and will continue to be, sales of mahogany and other fine hardwoods. Local manufacturing is on a comparatively limited scale. All cities and many towns have their artisans, the bakers, tailors, shoemakers, carpenters, and others. Cigar making is, of course, cla.s.sed as a manufacturing enterprise, and so, for census purposes, is the conversion of the juice of the sugar-cane into sugar.

A number of cities have breweries, ice factories, match factories, soap works, and other establishments large or small. All these, however, are incidental to the great industries of the soil, and the greater part of Cuba's requirements in the line of mill and factory products is imported.

While little is done in the shipment of cattle or beef, Cuba is a natural cattle country. Water and nutritious gra.s.ses are abundant, and there are vast areas, now idle, that might well be utilized for stock-raising. There are, of course, just as there are elsewhere, various difficulties to be met, but they are met and overcome. There are insects and diseases, but these are controlled by properly applied scientific methods. There is open feeding throughout the entire year, so there is no need of barns or hay.

The local cattle industry makes possible the shipment of some $2,500,000 worth of hides and skins annually. Other lines of industry worthy of mention, but not possible of detailed description here, include sponges, tortoise sh.e.l.l, honey, wax, mola.s.ses, and henequen or sisal. All these represent their individual thousands or hundreds of thousands of dollars, and their employment of scores or hundreds of wage-earners. Those who start for Cuba with a notion that the Cubans are an idle and lazy people, will do well to revise that notion. There is not the hustle that may be seen further north, but the results of Cuban activity, measured in dollars or in tons, fairly dispute the notion of any national indolence. When two and a half million people produce what is produced in Cuba, somebody has to work.

XIV

_POLITICS, GOVERNMENT, AND COMMERCE_

The British colonists in America were in large measure self-governing. This is notably true in their local affairs. The Spanish colonists were governed almost absolutely by the mother-country. A United States official publication reports that "all government control centred in the Council of the Indies and the King, and local self government, which was developed at an early stage in the English colonies, became practically impossible in the Spanish colonies, no matter to what extent it may have existed in theory. Special regulations, decrees, etc., modifying the application of the laws to the colonies or promulgating new laws were frequent, and their compilation in 1680 was published as Law of the Indies. This and the _Siete Partidas_, on which they were largely based, comprised the code under which the Spanish-American colonies were governed." There was a paper provision, during the greater part of the time, for a munic.i.p.al electorate, the franchise being limited to a few of the largest tax-payers. In its practical operation, the system was nullified by the power vested in the appointed ruler. It was a highly effective centralized organization in which no man held office, high or low, who was not a mere instrument in the hands of the Governor-General. Under such an inst.i.tution the Cubans had, of course, absolutely no experience in self-government. The rulers made laws and the people obeyed them; they imposed taxes and spent the money as they saw fit; many of them enriched themselves and their personally appointed official household throughout the island, at the expense of the tax-payers.

A competent observer has noted that such terms as "meeting,"

"ma.s.s-meeting," "self-government," and "home-rule," had no equivalent in the Spanish language. The first of these terms, distorted into "_mitin_,"

is now in common use, and its origin is obvious. Of theories, ideals, and intellectual conceptions, there was an abundance, but government based on beautiful dreams does not succeed in this practical world. Denied opportunity for free discussion of practical methods, the Cubans discussed theories in lyceums. Under the military government of the United States, from January 1, 1899, to May 20, 1902, there was freedom of speech and freedom of organization. The Cubans began to hold "_mitins_," but visions and beautiful theories characterized the addresses. Prior to the Ten Years'

War (1868-1878), there were organizations more or less political in their nature, but the authorities were alert in preventing discussions of too practical a character. In 1865, a number of influential Cubans organized what has been somewhat inappropriately termed a "national party." It was not at all a party in our use of that term. Its purpose was to suggest and urge administrative and economic changes from the Cuban point of view. The suggestions were ignored and, a few years later, revolution was adopted as a means of emphasizing their importance. The result of the Ten Years' War was an a.s.sortment of pledges of greater political and economic freedom.

Much was promised but little if anything was really granted. There was, however, a relaxation of the earlier absolutism, and under that there appeared a semblance of party organization, in the form of a Liberal party and a Union Const.i.tutional party. There was no special difference in what might be called their platforms. Both focussed, in a somewhat general way, the political aspirations and the economic desires of the Cuban people, much the same aspirations and desires that had been manifested by complaint, protest, and occasional outbreak, for fifty years. National independence had no place in either. That came later, when an army in the field declared that if Spain would not grant independence, the island would be made so worthless a possession that Spain could not afford to hold it.

A few years after their organization, the Liberals became the Cuban party, and so remained, and the Union Const.i.tutionals became the Spanish party, the party of the immediate administration. Later on, the Liberal party became the Autonomist party, but Spain's concession of the demands of that group came too late, forced, not by the Autonomists but by the party of the Revolution that swept the island with fire and sword from Oriente to Pinar del Rio. The Autonomists sought what their name indicates; the Revolutionists demanded and secured national independence.

Shortly before the final dispersion of the Army of the Revolution, there was organized a body with the imposing t.i.tle of _La Asamblea de Representantes del Ejercito Cubano_, or the a.s.sembly of Representatives of the Cuban Army. It was composed of leaders of the different military divisions of that army, and included, as I recall it, thirty-one members.

This group made no little trouble in the early days of the American occupation. It gathered in Havana, held meetings, declared itself the duly chosen and representative agent of the Cuban people, and demanded recognition as such by the American authorities. Some of its members even a.s.serted that it const.i.tuted a _de facto_ government, and held that the Americans should turn the whole affair over to them and promptly sail away.

But their recognition was flatly refused by the authorities. At the time, I supported the authorities in this refusal, but afterward I felt less sure of the wisdom of the course. As a recognized body, it might have been useful; rejected, it made no little trouble. Transfer of control to its hands was quite out of the question, but recognition and co-operation might have proved helpful. That the body had a considerable representative quality, there is no doubt. Later, I found many of its members as members of the Const.i.tutional Convention, and, still later, many of them have served in high official positions, as governors of provinces, members of Congress, in cabinet and in diplomatic positions. I am inclined to regard the group broadly, as the origin of the present much divided Liberal party that has, from the beginning of definite party organization, included a considerable numerical majority of the Cuban voters. In the first national election, held December 31, 1901, this group, the military group, appeared as the National party, supporting Tomas Estrada y Palma as its candidate.

Its opponent was called the Republican party. Realizing its overwhelming defeat, the latter withdrew on the day of the election, alleging all manner of fraud and unfairness on the part of the Nationals. It is useless to follow in detail the history of Cuba's political parties since that time.

In the election of 1905, the former National party appeared as the Liberal party, supporting Jose Miguel Gomez, while its opponents appeared as the Moderate party, supporting Estrada Palma who, first elected on what he declared to be a non-partisan basis, had definitely affiliated himself with the so-called Moderates. The election was a game of political crookedness on both sides, and the Liberals withdrew on election day. The result was the revolution of 1906. The Liberals split into factions, not yet harmonized, and the Moderate party became the Conservative party. By the fusion of some of the Liberal groups, that party carried the election of 1908, held under American auspices. A renewal of internal disorders, a quarrel among leaders, and much discontent with their administrative methods, resulted in the defeat of the Liberals in the campaign of 1912 and in the election of General Mario Menocal, the head of the Conservative ticket, and the present inc.u.mbent.

A fair presentation of political conditions in Cuba is exceedingly difficult, or rather it is difficult so to present them that they will be fairly understood. I have always regarded the establishment of the Cuban Republic in 1902 as premature, though probably unavoidable. A few years of experience with an autonomous government under American auspices, civil and not military, as a prologue to full independence, might have been the wiser course, but such a plan seemed impossible. The Cubans in the field had forced from Spain concessions that were satisfactory to many. Whether they could have forced more than that, without the physical a.s.sistance given by the United States, is perhaps doubtful. The matter might have been determined by the grant of the belligerent rights for which they repeatedly appealed to the United States. At no time in the entire experience did they ask for intervention. That came as the result of a combination of American wrath and American sympathy, and more in the interest of the United States than because of concern for the Cubans. But, their victory won and Spain expelled, the triumphant Cubans naturally desired immediate enjoyment of the fruits of victory. They desired to exercise the independence for which they had fought. Many protests and not a few threats of trouble attended even the brief period of American occupation. There was, moreover, an acute political issue in the United States. The peace and order declared as the purpose of American intervention had been established. The amendment to the Joint Resolution of April 20, 1898, disclaimed "any disposition or intention to exercise sovereignty, jurisdiction, or control over said Island except for the pacification thereof," etc. The island was pacified.

The amendment a.s.serted, further, the determination of the United States, pacification having been accomplished, "to leave the government and control of the island to its people." There was no pledge of any prolonged course of education in principles and methods of self-government. Nor did such education play any appreciable part in the experience of the American military government. The work of the interventors had been done in accordance with the specifications, and the Cubans were increasingly restless under a control that many of them, with no little reason, declared to be as autocratic as any ever exercised by Spain. Transfer and departure seemed to be the politic if not the only course, and we transferred and departed.

That these people, entirely without experience or training in self-government, should make mistakes was quite as inevitable as it is that a child in learning to walk will tumble down and b.u.mp its little nose. In addition to the inevitable mistakes, there have been occasional instances of deplorable misconduct on the part of individuals and of political parties. For neither mistakes nor misconduct can we criticize or condemn them without a similar criticism or condemnation of various experiences in our own history. We should, at least, regard them with charity. There are, moreover, incidents in the two experiences of American control of the island that, at least, border on the unwise and the discreditable. The only issue yet developed in Cuba is between good government and bad politics.

The first President started admirably along the line of the former, and ended in a wretched tangle of the latter, though not at all by his own choice or direction. Official pre-eminence and a "government job" make quite the same appeal to the Cubans that they do to many thousands of Americans. So do raids on the national treasury, and profitable concessions. We see these motes in Cuban eyes somewhat more clearly than we see the beams in our own eyes. A necessarily slow process of political education is going on among the people, but in the meantime the situation has afforded opportunity for exploitation by an a.s.sortment of self-const.i.tuted political leaders who have adopted politics as a profession and a means of livelihood. Cuba's gravest danger lies in the political domination of men in this cla.s.s. The present President, General Mario Menocal, is not in that group. The office sought him; he did not seek the office. Some of these self-const.i.tuted leaders have displayed a notable apt.i.tude for political organization, and it is largely by means of the many little local organizations that the Cuban political game is played.

Although, I believe, somewhat less now than formerly, the little groups follow and support individual leaders rather than parties or principles.

Parties and their minor divisions are known by the names of their leaders.

Thus, while both men are nominally of the same party, the Liberal, the adherents of Jose Miguel Gomez, are known as Miguelistas, and the adherents of Alfredo Zayas are known as Zayistas. Were either to announce himself as a Conservative, or to start a new party and call it Reformist or Progressive or any other t.i.tle, he could count on being followed by most of those who supported him as a Liberal. This is a condition that will, in time, correct itself. What the Cuban really wants is what all people want, an orderly, honest, and economical government, under which he may live in peace and quiet, enjoying the fruits of his labor without paying an undue share of the fruits to maintain his government. For that the Cuban people took up arms against Spain. For a time they may be blinded by the idea of mere political independence, but to that same issue they will yet return by the route of the ballot-box. The game of politics for individual preferment, or for personal profit, cannot long be successfully played in Cuba, if I have rightly interpreted Cuban character and Cuban characteristics.

"We, the delegates of the people of Cuba, having met in const.i.tutional convention for the purpose of preparing and adopting the fundamental law of their organization as an independent and sovereign people, establishing a government capable of fulfilling its international obligations, maintaining public peace, ensuring liberty, justice, and promoting the general welfare, do hereby agree upon and adopt the following const.i.tution, invoking the protection of the Almighty. Article I. The people of Cuba are hereby const.i.tuted a sovereign and independent State and adopt a republican form of government." Thus opens the Const.i.tution of the Republic of Cuba.

I recall an intensely dramatic moment connected with the closing phrase of the preamble. I have used a translation published by a distinguished Cuban.

That phrase, in the original, is "_invocando el favor de Dios_," perhaps more exactly translated as "invoking the favor (or blessing) of G.o.d." When the Const.i.tution had been drafted and broadly approved, it was submitted to the convention for suggestion of minor changes in verbiage. One of the oldest and most distinguished members of the body proposed that this phrase be left out. Another member, distinguished for his power as an orator and for his cynicism, in a speech of considerable length set forth his opinion that it made little difference whether it was included or excluded. There was no benefit in its inclusion, and no advantage in excluding it. It would hurt none and might please some to have it left in. Immediately across the semi-circle of desks, and facing these two speakers, sat Senor Pedro Llorente, a man of small stature, long, snow-white hair and beard, and a nervous and alert manner. At times, his nervous energy made him almost grotesque. At times, his absorbed earnestness made him, despite his stature, a figure of commanding dignity. Through the preceding addresses he waited with evident impatience. Obtaining recognition from the chairman, he rose and stood with upraised hand his voice tremulous with emotion, to protest against the proposed measure, declaring "as one not far from the close of life, that the body there a.s.sembled did not represent an atheistic people." The motion to strike out was lost, and the invocation remains.

The result of the deliberations of the Const.i.tutional Convention is a highly creditable instrument. It contains a well-devised Bill of Rights, and makes all necessary provision for governmental organization and conduct. One feature, however, seems open to criticism. In their desire to avoid that form of centralized control, of which they had somewhat too much under Spanish power, the new inst.i.tution provides, perhaps, for too much local government, for a too extensive provincial and munic.i.p.al system. It has already fallen down in some respects, and it has become necessary to centralize certain functions, quite as it has become desirable in several of our own matters. Cuba has, perhaps, an undue overload of officialdom, somewhat too many public officers, and quite too many people on its pay-rolls. The feature of Cuba's Const.i.tution that is of greatest interest and importance to the United States is what is known as the Platt Amendment. The provision for a Const.i.tutional Convention in Cuba was made in what was known as Civil Order No. 301, issued by the Military Governor, on July 25, 1900. It provided for an election of delegates to meet in Havana on the first Monday in November, following. The convention was to frame and adopt a Const.i.tution and "as a part thereof, to provide for and agree with the Government of the United States upon the relations to exist between that Government and the Government of Cuba," etc. Against this, the Cubans protested vigorously. The United States had declared that "Cuba is and of right ought to be free and independent." The Cubans held, very properly, that definition of international relations had no fitting place in a Const.i.tution "as a part thereof." Their point was recognized and, under date of November 5, Civil Order No. 310 was modified by Civil Order No. 455. That was issued to the delegates at the time of their a.s.sembly.

It declared as follows: "It will be your duty, first, to frame and adopt a Const.i.tution for Cuba, and, when that has been done, to formulate what, in your opinion, ought to be the relations between Cuba and the United States." Taking this as their programme, the delegates proceeded to draft a Const.i.tution, leaving the matter of "relations" in abeyance for consideration at the proper time. Yet, before its work was done, the Convention was savagely criticized in the United States for its failure to include in the Const.i.tution what it had been authorized, and virtually instructed, to leave out. The Const.i.tution was completed on February 11, 1901, and was duly signed by the delegates, on February 21. A committee was appointed, on February 11, to prepare and submit plans and proposals regarding the matter of "relations." Prior to that, however, the matter had been frequently but informally discussed by the delegates. Suggestions had been made in the local press, and individual members of the Convention had expressed their views with considerable freedom. Had the United States kept its hands off at that time, a serious and critical situation, as well as a sense of injustice that has not yet entirely died out, would have been averted.

Before the Cubans had time to put their "opinion of what ought to be the relations" between the two countries into definite form, there was presented to them, in a manner as needless as it was tactless, a statement of what the American authorities thought those relations should be. The Cubans, who were faithfully observing their earlier instructions, were deeply offended by this interference, and by the way in which the interference came. The measures known as the Platt Amendment was submitted to the United States Senate, as an amendment to the Army Appropriation bill, on February 25, 1901 The Senate pa.s.sed the bill, and the House concurred A storm of indignant protest swept over the island The Cubans believed, and not without reason, that the instrument abridged the independence of which they had been a.s.sured by those who now sought to limit that independence. Public opinion in the United States was divided.

Some approved and some denounced the proceeding in bitter terms. The division was not at all on party lines. The situation in Cuba was entirely changed. Instead of formulating an opinion in accordance with their earlier instructions, the members of the Convention were confronted by a choice of what they then regarded as evils, acceptance of unacceptable terms or an indefinite continuance of a military government then no less unacceptable.

A commission was sent to Washington to urge changes and modifications. It was given dinners, lunches, and receptions, but nothing more. At last the Cubans shrugged their shoulders. The desire for an immediate withdrawal of American authority, and for Cuban a.s.sumption of the reins of government, outweighed the objection to the terms imposed. A Cuban leader said: "There is no use in objecting to the inevitable. It is either annexation or a Republic with the Amendment. I prefer the latter." After four months of stubborn opposition, the Cubans yielded, by a vote of sixteen to eleven, with four absentees.

In many ways, the Cuban Government is like our own. The President and Vice-President are elected, through an electoral college, for a term of four years. A "third term" is specifically prohibited by the Const.i.tution.

Senators, four from each Province, are chosen, for a term of eight years, by an electoral board. Elections for one half of the body occur every four years. The House is chosen, by direct vote, for terms of four years, one half being elected every two years. The Cabinet, selected and appointed by the President, consists of eight Secretaries of Departments as follows: Agriculture, Commerce, and Labor; State; Government; Treasury (_Hacienda_); Public Instruction; Justice; Public Works; and Health and Charities. There is a Supreme Court, and there are the usual minor courts. The Const.i.tution also makes provision for the organization and the powers of the Provincial and Munic.i.p.al Governments. To the Const.i.tution, the Platt Amendment is attached as an appendix, by treaty arrangement. As far as governmental system is concerned, Cuba is fairly well equipped; a possible source of danger is its over-equipment. Its laws permit, rather than require, an overburden of officials, high and low. But Cuba's governmental problem is essentially one of administration. Its particular obstacle in that department is professional politics.