The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1901-03-14
Framed On American Model and
Makes the Suffrage Universal.

Cuba has a constitution which has
been drafted by its own people. The
making of this constitution has been
different from that of the other coun-
tries on the American continent which
revolted from SPAIN 1t has been made
under the direction of the United
States, as the intervening military au-
thority which compelled Spain to re-
linqUish sovereignty over Cuba. That
was not the way with Mexico and the
Central and South American countries,
which freed themselves from Spain
without the aid or Intervention OF the
big American republic
The convention which framed this or
ganic law for Cuba was composed of
thirty-one members or delegates. These
were chosen from the different prov
inces, but it was not required that the
delegate should be a resident of the
province from which he was elected,
so 1t happened that residents of Ha-
vana have represented the provinces of
santiago, MataDzaS and Pinar del Rio,
in the convention. The election was
held on Sept. 15 under regulations pre-
scribed by the American military au-
thorities- The basis of suffrage was
substantially that of the municipal
elections which were held last June.
The qualification required was ability
TO read or write, the possession of real
estate or personal property to the value
of $3.50, or a certificate of service in the
1 -~~ 2 NAAS - -AAJ
The first meeting of the convention
was held on Nov. 3 1t was opened
by Governor General Wood, who, as the
representative of President Mckinley,
stated to the delegates that their duty
would be to form and adopt a constitu-
ton for Cuba, and when that was done
to formulate their opinion of what
should be the relations with the United
states. 1t is for this reason that the
constitution itself does not contain any
reference to the United States
The majority of the delegates were
Identified with what is known as the
revolutionary element of the island.
Some of them had been insurgent mill
tary chiefs, while others had worked
for the cause of Cuba in different ca
pacltieS. The convention took some
days to pass upon the qualification of
its members and to adopt rules for its
guidance. Then in December it began
a series of secret sessions in which
were discussed various drafts for prof.
ectS which were submitted by indiVid-
ual members. The real work of draft
ing this organic law, or constitution
was placed in the hands of a central
committee composed of five members
They We're DIR. Leopold Berriel, Con
zales Llorente. Antonio Bravo COrreOsO.
GOnZalO QueSada and Rus Rivera. The
latter was chairman. This committee
would report from time to time upon
the progress it was making. and its
work would be reviewed in these secret
sessions.
Late in January the public sessions
were begun, because the whole project
of a constitution, section by section
and article by article, was ready for
discussion. In private, a two-thirds
majority of the delegates had agreed
that they would support the draft with
a few changes. This did not prevent
some interesting debates and deter
mined efforts to amend or change some
of the main provisions One of the
most notable debates was held at the
outset, when a proposition was made
TO eliminate the part of the preamble
which invoked the blessing of Almighty
God This effort was defeated by an
overwhelming vote There was also a
long discussion over the separation of
church and state. Some members, while
protesting to believe in the widest re
ligiOuS liberation. sought to leave it
whether the state should recognize the
church or not. AS the great majority
of the Latin people are Roman Catho-
lies, this meant the Catholic church
The sentiment of the convention was
strongly against leaving open even a
possibility of a future state church, and
so the constitution makes absolute the
prohibition.
Among the members who took a
leading part in the debates were Man
uel Sanguilly. Judge Llorente who is rs
years old; Juan Gualberto Gomez the
colored orator and writer; Dr.. BerrieI
Ellseo Giberga, Bravo CorreOsO, Cen
eraI Aleman and Alfredo Zayas. Other
notable figures in the convention were
General Nun2z, civil governor of Ha-
vana province; DIR. Miguel Gener and
Diego Tamayo, both members of Cen
eral Woods cabinet. General I,acret
Morlot, Salvador Cisneros, General Be
tancourt, civil governor of MatanZas:
General Alexandra Rodriguez, mayor of
Havana; and Marua DelgadO, a colored
man who has made many translations
from English into Spanish. The
youngest member of the convention
was Enrique Villuendas, who was one
of the secretaries.
The parliamentary management of
the constitution was chiefly in the
| hands of RUis Rivera and GonzaIo
QueSada, representing the central COM
mittee which drafted it. They proposed
or accepted some amendments and
fought the adoption of others The
most important change made by the
convention was in esta blishing uni
Versal suffrage. The original draft of
the constitution had left that subject
to be determined by a general law to
| be passed, later by the Cuban congress-
| But the sentiment in favor of MAX
| ing universal suffrage a part of the
| constitution was SO strong that it had
/ to be respected, and this clause was
| ton follows closely the constitution of
| the United States. There are some pro-
/ visions from the constitution of Spain
| in guaranteeing personal rights, these
! are meant to secure under the Span
| ish system of laws the same guarantee
/ that obtained under the American
| constitution through the common law
! and the bill of rights
| The Cuban constitution establishes
| three coordinate branches of govern
| ment; the executive, legislative and
J judicial, on the same lines as in the
! United States. There is to be q con-
| greSs, composed of two branches, the
! senate and the camara or house; a
| supreme court, with subordinate judi
| cial tribunals, and president and vice
| president. There are also to be sepa-
! rate governments for the six different
| provinces, each of which shall elect it's
| own civil governor. But these pro-
vinces do not fully correspond to states
| in the American Union, because their
powers and functions are almost Who'll
! ly executive.
A general power of suspension is
! given all the executive officers. from
the aFcaldes or mayors, up to the presi-
! dent, in addition to the regular veto
| power This SuspenSive power relates
| to the acts of executive officials as well
! as to the ordinances of the municipal
councils, the regulations of the pro
| vincial assemblies and the acts of the
| IF { unlike awning in the