Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1901-09-28
Gen. Wood Can Assure the Cubans
of That.
PALMA TO Be FIRST PRESIDENT
How the Elections May Be Ex-
pedited.
AIDE ONDITI S
Written for The Evening Star.

Written for The Evening Star.
General Wood has returned to Cuba to
be met with a long line of question marks.
He is ready to answer them all. That is
one outcome of his visit to Washington.
His answers win show that the United
States government is in the front in the
movement for setting up the independent
Cuban government If there be any lag
ging behind it will be the fault of the Gu
bans themselves.
After the death Of President Mckinley
a question was raised at once in the is
land whether the policy which he had ma
tured and which was ripening was likely
to be halted, or whether 1t would go on
without change. When the Platt amend
ment was under discussion its enemies
in the constitutional convention claimed
that while they might count on President
Mckinley's known good viii they could
not tell what would happen should there
be change in administrations. That Is,
they objected that there was no certainty
of a continuous American policy.
When they We're voicing their objections
the Cuban radicals were thinking only of
a change in the American administration
through the natural course of political
events. They did not dream of the tragedy
which brought 1t so suddenly. Yet when it
came they renewed the questions which
had been asked during the debate in the
constitutional convention.
No Change in Policy.
General Wood gives them a full an
swer No change will be made in the
policy to which the Mckinley administra-
ton was pledged. President Roosevelt is
in full sympathy with that and General
Wood has shown that the liberal reel
procity with Cuba to which President Nc
Kinley was committed will be supported
by his successor. General Wood while in
Washington spoke privately of the criti-
cism which his own declarations had met
with in some quarters of the United
States, but he stated that he felt the need
of education in this country on the eco
nonic conditions in Cuba. AS the mill
tary governor and the representative of
the American authority he did not think
his full duty would be done by merely CIV
ing the Cubans good administration. He
wants the people of the island to be travel
ing the high road to prosperity when the
United States places the government in
their own hands. He believes that if they
are happy and content they will get along
better and feel more kindly to the United
States than if they enter upon their ex-
pertinent in the midst of industrial dis
tress due to hostile economic policy en-
forced by this country.
With deep sense of his own RESPONSE
bility General Wood seeks to make clear
to the American Congress and to the
American people what he believes Is due
to the island Feeling as he does, he is not
likely to be turned aside by unfrendly
comment or by criticism that he is going
outside his sphere when he seeks to point
out the course which the United States
should take In dealing with Cuba.
1t Is as well settled now as anything can
be settled ttat Estrada Palma will be the
first president of the Cuban republic If
political shrewdness~is one of the tests of
capacity for self-government the way in
which Pa1mas campaign has been man
aged shows that the Cuban politicians are
equal to the test. Nearly all of them felt
that Palma was the man for the place and
for the hour.
Palma Accepted by All Parties.
One parsonage alone was in the path.
This was Maxine Gomez. If the old insur-
gent chief had wanted to be president he
could not have been beaten. But he show
ed his own sincerity by refusing to stand
as a candidate and by indorsing Palma.
After that the way was open for carrying
out the plans that had been made months
and months ago. One of the Cuban Off
Gals who was in Washington this week
told me how 1t was all done They did not
want their first chief executive and pos
sfbiy their only one. to be the choice of
party. So they managed to have support
ers of Palma in all the political organiza-
lions.
The nationals wanted to gain power and
the offices for themselves by electing Max
tmo Gomez president and Palma vice presj~
dent, but Gen. Gomez repudiated their
scheme and gave them a sharp lecture be-
nationals which had been waiting it's time
came forward quietly and proposed him for
the first president. Meanwhile the radical
republicans, under the negro leader Juan
Gualberto Gomez. who had several candi-
dates in mind. found themselves check
mated because there were many repub-
licans who were for Palma and no one
else. Then they tried to accept his candi-
daey on an anti-Platt amendment platform
but in this, too. they were beaten.
Among the union democrats, or annex
t-~- Tgnf-
was not liked by the ambitious leaders. es-
pecially the old autonomists But when
they sought to dodge his candidacy and
leave the way clearer for some one else
they found that the former insurgents
whom they had been welcoming into their
ranks were all for Palma. So they have
accepted him Even the populists. as the
shadowy workingmen's or socialfstic partv
Is caIed, have had to indorse Palma Its
membership, which Is not crowded is made
up mostly of Cuban cigarInakers who We're
revoiutionists. and when the test came
they, too. wanted Palma All this could
not have happened unless a genuine and
widespread sentiment existed among the
people for Palma. yet the way his friends
nave managed to make all the political par
Ties DOW to this sentiment shows their skill
Ma.o Defines His Position.
The followers of Bartholomew Maso are
not yet ready to admit that Palma is the
only candidate Meetings are still held by
various groups to indorse Maso, and mani
festos are issued in his behalf, but his sup
porters know that they are in the minority.
Moreover, they are not spread among all
the parties and they are made I'D chiefly
OF small groups. Weeks ago Maso wrote
letter In which he defined his position
FIRST he explained that he was not am
bilious for public office and did not seek It,
but he ended by saying that he was in the
hands of his friends. Thereupon the sys-
tematic movement was begun TO nominate
him for president The outcome of IL prob
ably Will be his election as vice president
The combination OF Palma and Maso will
not be bad one. Palma is the true tyne
OF the Cuban conspirator against the Span
ish government, an idealist and an aei-
tator, yet with large fund of sound sense
gained during his long residence in the
United States. Maso was the type of the
native Cuban property owner who took the
field against Spain. Both men now are
conciliatory toward the Spanards.
1t is General Woods purpose to hasten
the election OF the president and vice presi-
dent by having the constitutional conven-
ttoE modify the electoral law which IL
Drafted No fault is found with the basis
or the principles of this law, but it's ma
chinery can be simplffied by doing awav