The Evening statesman. [volume] (Walla Walla, Wash.) 1903-1910, 1906-11-23
GRIEVANCE OF CUBAN LEADERS

If Governor MagOOn mas not sue
ceeded. in harmonizing the Cuban NAL
contents he has 1t least managed to
give us a very faire idea Of their
objects which they have in view.
grievances, their resentments and the
Hitherto the country at large has
known very littles however, much It
| may have guessed of the real nature
of the contest and the personnel OF the
contestants. That it was a struggle
for office and emolument between two
more or less clearly defined elements
of the native population the most casual
observation seemed to disclose. But
as regarded the validity OF ;h'ir con-
ficting claims and the relative decency
and virtue of tneir methods very few
of us had any material upon which to
base a satisfactory conviction. Now. at
| last we begin o see things little
more clearly, says the New York SIN.
We perceive, for example savage.
and embittered quarrel over the spoils
| Of politics, and we perceive also
what is still more o1ninous-a race and
color line upon which the battle must
eventually rage.
That the so-called "Moderates are
white Cubans, while the so-cailed
| Liberals" are black Cubans, may be
| accepted as a perfectly safe general
| statement of the case That the former
have up to this time virtually mo-
nopolized the official places and en-
joyed the official emoluments while
| the latter have been left to console
| themselves with the spectacle of their
compatriots in clover is a fact now
| established beyond the reach Of con
| troversy. The followers = of Maceo,
Rabi, Lacret, Gualberto, Gomez and
Randera have during four years looked
through the windows upon a rich and
tempting banquet the best places
whereat were occupied by Mr.. Estrada
Palma, Mr. Gonzalo Quesada and the
favored members of their cliques and
coteries.
Nor is it reasonable to suppose that
| they were reconciled to this brilliant
spectacle of luxury by considering the
roles which the banqueters and the
hungry rabble had respectively played
In the tragedy of 1896 SO, which made
81 -,
Cuba differs in no important respect
from human nature elsewhere. Cheer
full selfsacrifice, if indeed there was
ever such thing, went out with the
melancholy and picturesque Knight Of
La Mancha, upon whose noble ashes
we invoke all peace in passing.
Maceo is dead Some say he was
treacherously murdered and there is
another story. Lacret and Rabi have
dera may still live. Gualberto Gomez
is very much alive. But all the men
who followed them ten years ago
have not forgotten that while they
bore the heat and burden Of the day,
did such fighting as was done and shed
whatever blood the cause of Cuban
liberty expended in that episode, Es-
| trada Palma, Gonzalo Quesada and
nine-tenths Of those who have shared
| the dividends with them since 1902
| were barring their breasts in sumptu-
Gus and luxurious environments
New York, Washington, Chicago, Ha-
| vana-where unlimited funds were
| available and the cuisine was beyond
| reproach. They have good memories,
| not only for their own exploits, but
for the exploits Of the others, and
| they would be less or more than NOR
tai men il they We're able to consult
those memories without a sense of
| injury.
The truth of history is with them.
In the one Cuban affair worthy of the
name of battle the imulatto Maceo
| name of battle, the mulatto, Maceo,
| were negroes. Nine-tenths of the real
actors in the Instruction were colored
men. Right or wrong, noble or ignoble,
| they did the work, took the risk,
faced the danger and endured the
| hardship. Certainly they have reason
| upon their side. If the so-called war
Of liberation" inaugurated in 1895
| meant a contest for the spoils of rev.
olution, the Cuban negroes have a
right to quarrel with the outcome, and
the Liberals have a grievance, as things
stand. -.