The age-herald., 1901-02-25


 Street. Northwest, Washington, February -(Special)-As agreed upon, the Gu ban constitution makes no provisions touching the relations of the proposed new government with the United States It had been hoped that the convention would incorporate some satisfactory pro- visions in this regard. The President, through Governor General Wood is ex- rected to insist that a supplementary document dealing with this question shall be prepared by the constitutional conven- tion that shall have the same force as If it were part of the constitution. It is possible that, until this is done, the Gov ernor General may refuse to transmit the constitution to the President. It has been argued against incorporating pro- visions in the constitution settling the re- lations of Cuba to the United States that the constitution or the supplemental doc ument could be changed by the Cubans after the new government had been recog niEed so as to eliminate the semi-protec- torate required by the United States. That would be a gross breach of faith, but II the Cubans were to be guilty of such an action they would with equal certainty violate treaty. That being the case, the United States Is expected to insist upon the proposed supplemental document.
 Quite number of Senator's however, believe in having Congress pass resp lution which will state specifically what conditions are demaded of Cuba, reso- lution that would be put into the form of a treaty between the United States and Cuba. This they urge on the ground that the United States has absolutely no right to pass directly upon the Cuban consti tuition, because Cuba is foreign territory and so decided by the United States Su- preme Court.
 It appears that, while Secretary Root has stated in a letter to General Wood exactly what must be the conditions agreed to by Cuba, the members of shs Senate Committee on Cuba and those of the House committee on insular affairs have no direct knowledge from the Pres ident as to the conditions to be required of Cuba, though the President has on several occasions consulted with mem- bers of the Senate and of the House on the Cuban problem.
 There is certainly no agreement in Con- gress as to what should be done. but there Is comparatively little opposition to requiring Cuba to agree to certain con ditions precedent to the erection of n government. Those who would naturally be expected to be antagonistic to the views of the administration are more nearly in agreement with the proposi- ton that Cuba can not be turned over to it's people without some safeguards that will prevent misgovernment or inter- ference with American interests. The differences of opinion are as to the meth- ods of securing the results desired and as to the extent of the demands that should be made on Cuba.
 One Senator of deep learning. who Is opposed to the administration thinks that there is too great a tendency to make drastic demands of Cuba. He does not care to be quoted for fear he might be understood as being critical and might embarass the government in set ting a problem of the greatest delicacy. He would not be too specific in the impo- sition of conditions, baut would require the Cubns to agree to make no treaties and enter into no engagements that makewould be inimical to the United States He would make no particular re- quirement that the Cubans shall not con- tract foreign indebtedness nor would he insist upon a. provision forbidding the as- sumption of the Cuban debt. He does not fear that with a provision binding Cuba to make no arrangement with any foreign nation that would be inimical to the United States would be violated by the Cubans, nor does he see any danger of Cuba assuming any ante-bellum debts, and at the same time he thinks that no