Evening star., 1901-06-10
Not Flurried. in Cuba Over Rejection
Of Conventions Act.
PROBLEM OF FHE new CONDITIONS
Radicals and Conservatives Ac-
cuse Each Other.
T III E G U B A N 8 D E
Special Correspondence Of The Evening Star.

special Correspondence OF The Evening Sth
HAVANA, June Z, 1901.
They have Spanish saying, mo asamos
ia pringamos," which is much heard these
days. Freely turned into English it means
I'VE are cooking our hare before catching
him." This is the Castilian version Of the
old English recipe for cooking hare.
Just where the application lies is not so
easy to determine. The radicals say it Is
the conservatives who thought they had
found indirect means Of accepting the
Platt amendment. The conservatives put 1t
on the radicals. who, they declare, are cher
ishing unfounded hopes of a "fracaso" or
failure OF the efforts to harmonic the
American relations with the Cuban repub-
lie and already are planning what to do If
the ultimate outcome is failure. Then there
is group of American capitalists and poll
ticians who have wanted failure as means
Of forcing the annexation issue They have
complacently assumed that 1t is all up with
the Cuban republic and are preparing to
cook their annexation hare. There is also
a small body Of Spanards who take the
same view and do not hesitate to give their
ideas Of the way the hare should be cook
ed. They like 1t boiled with plenty of pi-
quaint sauce.
The People Are Tranquil.
While these mutual MISUNDERSTANDING
continue the people of the island are tran
qull. That is one result which has been
reached by the proceedings of the last year.
The time has passed when the Cuban pub
Tic can be thrown into a fever a rage
over any unexpected check to their aspira-
t1ons. Now they take everything coolly.
When the news first came that the Wash
lngton cabinet had rejected the action of
the constitutional convention in accepting
the Platt amendment with it's own interpre-
tatlon a member of the convention asked
me what the effect would be in the United
states, and whether the violent talk of the
radlcals which was then predicted would
nave bad influence. l told him the Amer
lean people were not likely to be ruffled,
and In all probability would keep on the
even tenor of their way
1nls member in turn assured me that
tnere would be no excitement in Cuba and
MS assurance was correct. There Is In
terest, but no excitement The Latin habit
OF del1beratlon. while at times exasperating
mas Its good features. and this is one of the
periods when the good features are mani
lest: The best view of the situation was
that taken by New York LAWYER He
had come to Havana to close up some
contracts, and his business was in no way
affected by political conditions He ar
rived on a Wednesday morning boat and
had planned to return Saturday That was
more than a month ago. The first two
weeks he lost ten pounds worrying Then
he began to take his affairs easily Last
week one or the principals for whom he is
doing the business came down to hurry up
matters. The principal at once began to
fret over the Platt amendment and the
constitutional convention. Never mind"
the LAWYER told him. they would take
their own time anyhow and you and |
can't hurry them any more than We can
hurry our own fellows into signing these
contracts This was true No one who
wanted to save his reputation prophet
could have said a week ago what would
be the outcome of the last move, for the
members of the convention themselves were
at sea. NO one can say today, but the
situation begins to clarity a little and by
another week 1t may be possible to make
passable guess. In the meantime the
people have learned to wait on their SER
wants, the members of the constitutional
convention VINO to some extent are also
their masters.
L had thought that there might be some
disturbance or unrest in the province OF
Santiago. A Havana merchant whose
business enables him to keep thoroughly
posted on what is going on there told
me there would be no trouble and there
has been none. Several new sugar mills
ne said, Were being erected railroad build
ing was proceeding and everybody was at
work. His own advices convinced him that
what politics exists is confined to Santiago
city and two or three other towns, and in
the cities the politics is rather a struggle
or factions than a protest against the
American policy Santiago Is coming to be
known as the Kentucky Of Cuba, but it
local issues and parties.
Result of New Conditions.
1t Is still an open question just how the
new conditions forced upon the convention
are going to resolve themselves During
the last month 1 have not been able to
convince myself that the members of the
convention, who secured the qualified in
dorsement of the Platt amendment, could
not have secured its unqualified accept
ance. yet 1t Is only proper to give weight
TO their own statements that they could
not. The mass OF the Cuban people ten
days ago thought that the Platt amend
ment was accepted and acquiesced in it,
The Spanish commercial element also
thought so. and was preparing to adjust
itself to the formation of a Cuban govern
ment under those terms Before the test
came l asked one of the conservative
members why they We're at such pains to
draw fne-spun distinctions, when it was
known that Gualberto Gomez and the other
radicals would vote against anything short
OF actual rejection. AT that time it was
known privately that there were seven
teen votes In the convention which were
determined that the amendment should not
fail DR. Gener was in the midst Of his
municipal campaign, and it was not known
then that he would let his vote be re-
corded in the negative. This member said
to me: "While we have seventeen votes
against letting the amendment fall we
only have seven in favor of it's unqualified
acceptance" Yet this reasoning was not
convincing, and he privately was urging
his associates to take Secretary Roots hint
and not include extraneous matters in the
resolution of acceptance.
Against this opinion. which is a personal
one of my own, l should state that some of
the radical members who are radical only
for appearance sake, favored the qualified
acceptance the best way out of the
difficulty In which they had involved them
selves, and in advance they had privately
soon as the convention voted they
would publicly 1sastaln its action and
urge acquiescence in the will of the
majority. This was done by several of them
who are again in a dilemma and are not
entitled to sympathy. +, They are still afraid
Of taking the responsibility for defeating
the amendment, but they have not the
courage to reverse themselves and take
their stand with the conservative members,
The Cuban Side.
There is a Cuban side to the situation
which 1t is only fair should be set forth. 1t
does no good for Americans to assume that
the chief motive inspiring the members Of
the convention is their desire to continue
to draw $40 day Indefinitely Fully one
half the delegates are officeholders who
receive regular salaries and therefore have
no additional pay, SO that it does not mat
ter to them how long the convention con-