Evening star., 1902-03-22
OUR MILITARY IN CUBA
Time for Withdrawal Seems
Now to Be in Sight.
NATIVES ARE ANXIOUS
FORMAL TRANSFER OF POWER
WILL BE SPECTACULAR.
Americans on Island Concerned as to
Future of Schoo1s-Question
of Citizenship. 20,
NATIVES ARE ANXIOUS
Special Correspondence Of The Evening star.
HAVANA March 10: 1872

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Special Correspondence of The Evening Star. :.
HAVANA. March 10. 1907
To digress from the palpitating problem
Of reciprocity the chapter in making ready
to end the American military occupation is
almost finished.
Chief Clerk Steinhart, who has the whole
business of thesmilitary control at his fin
gers end. says that thirty: days Will be
enough to make the complete transfer. If
President Palma is inaugurated on May 1
by June 1 all the details of the island ad-
ministration will be in the hands of the
new government After that several months
may be required to settle the affairs Of the
American troops proper, but this is a mat
ter which will not affect the Cuban admin
istration. Camp Columbia, presumably.
will not be dismantled entirely. for a time
at least. and the American army headquar-
ters will be there instead Of in the palace
in the city of Havana. How long the, sol
diers are to stay. and how many Of them
are to stay, Is a question for future adjust
ment. It is not In any way interfering
with the plans of the Cuban officials.
though it causes frequent rereading of the
Platt amendment. -.
The formal transfer of power to the Gu
ban authority is likely to be spectacular.
perhaps even more so than when the Span
States. The Cubans want to see their flag
go up, If not with pOmp at least with eciat,
and that feeling has the sympathy of the
American officials. 1t may be that the fla gs
of good many nations will be flying that
day, as all the foreign consulates including
that Of Spain, will perforce observe 1t.
Spanish Flag Seen Occasionally.
Whether there will be other Spanish
standards than those Of the consulate is a
Iii no Acf1
riano. the Spanish Casino and other Span
ish clubs now fly the colors of their country
on Sundays and church holidays. Away
back in the beginning of the American con-
troll, or in what seems a long time back. OBJ
lection was made to the Spanish colors, on
the ground that they were red rag to
Cuban sensibilities Some small riots oc
CURED, and they were not allowed to be
run up for a few weeks. The military or
ders forbade it. But this period of irrita-
ton did not last long. For three years
now the Spanish flag has been hoisted reg
ularly without any Cuban patriot feeling
that he has license to pull 1t down.
Members Of the numerous and influential
Spanish colony In Havana have divided
views on the course that should be taken
by them when the time comes for the Of
fetal recognition OF the Cuban republic. AS
individuals they may do what they please.
but as members of societies and organiZa-
tions they are sensitive lest they be mis-
understood. Whatever their commercial in
terests may be, their hearts are still with
Spain. They are getting along pretty we'll
with the Cubars, and IN these three years
marked progress has been made in healing
old wounds. The ties Of blood and race are
beginning to tell, yet there Is still wide
gulf separating the two elements.
No Faith in Cuban Republic.
The Spanish classes have no faith In the
Cuban republic and they don't want to
+ho iicv
dictates that they do not antagonize it, and
moreover. at the bottom they are not rec
onciled to the United States for making
Cuba independent. and they are not recon-
ciled either to the dominance of the Amer
lean people. They do not like to think OF
the traditions of their own race being lost.
That is a longer ways of that most OF
them imagine, but the thought Of it dis
tresses them. Because OF this race an
tagonism some Of them are willing to salute
the Cuban flag, since 1t means the disap-
pearance as the emblem of official authority
of the stars and stripes. though these will
be flying out at the military headquarters
in Marianao and Camp Columbia.
Others influential in the Spanish circles
are also urging that when the day comes
all the clubs and societies welcome the re-
public on grounds Of kindred Latin ideas
and even as a protest against the tendency
to enguif the Latin race in Cuba IN What
they call 1.-The sea of American absorption"
Little of this discussion is public. The
talk is only heard privately and l have
been surprised to find how much there is
Of it. In the end good sense Is likely to
prevail and Spain's citizens In Cuba will
probably bury their resentment and greet
the new Cuban republic under which they
must live.
They have chaffed and ridiculed the Gu
bans somewhat, telling them since the Platt
amendment was adopted that their revolt
against Spain in the independence 1t has
brought bears out the old Castilian pro-
verb of those who carry wheat to the mill
and bring away sawdust. Yet they feel
notable degree of comfort and security be-
cause the experiment of independence Is to
be tried under conditions which recognizes
a paramount influence on the part of the
United States.
European Class Distrustful.
1t is not at ali secret that not only the
Spanish element, but a large European
class in Cuba has not believed that the
Cuban flag was going up on May l or June
l. or on the first OF any month. At times
this intrigue has partaken of the nature of
a conspiracy. 1t entered into the economic
movement for the relief Of Cuba and 1t in
terfered with the work of the delegations
which went to Washington.
Some of these delegates, in spite of their
earnestness in urging tariff concessions,
would be content to have them fail for the
present, If Estrada Palma could be induc-
ed to refuse to take the Office to which he
was elected General Wood came down
on this scheme with an iron hand. Almost
contemptuously he told the schemers that
the United States military authority would
end on a fixed date, which was within
few weeks. AS Mr.. Palma himself was not
drawn into it. there never was ground for
believing that the military occupation was
going to last much longer.
But the men who wanted to bring about
a collapse as a means to- certain end die
very hard. Some of them still hope that
after General Wood reaches Washington,
instead of the definite official announce
ments looking to the transfer of authority.
the prospects of legislation by Congress and
the general conditions will cause further
delay. 1t is a groundless hope. ,
No Shock Anticipated.
There will be no shock when the admins
tration of Cuban affairs falls from Ameri-
can hands The momentum already acquir-
ed will be enough to carry forward the new
government for months to come. While for
the last two years the plan has been fol-
lowed OF putting the Cubans into RESPONSE
BILE offices. subject only to supervision Of
the American authorities. within two or