Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-10-14

All of which points to the fact that all
though the Washington government is al
ready committed to a certain policy with
regard 10 Cuba and has boosted of the
success of that. policy to the world. it
cannot bespeak continued support for IT
on the ground OF consistency alone. II the
Cubans shall again show the incom-
potency to govern themselves that they
have in the last three years. Here in Ha-
vana one meets many a business man,
American, Spaniard or other foreigner,
and some Cuhans OF the better class who
will oppose the second American evacua-
ton on the ground that the Cuban people
have already shown their inability to gov
ern themselves.
Must Learn the Way.
Another class to which an even larger
! number of Cubans belong contend tuaS
| Cuba should not again he left To walk
| alone until she has learned after years OF
careful training the art OF self government.
! The Americans should give us lessons
| for twenty years in the conduct of munic-
/ ipal elections alone. said prom nent
| Cuban physician who has done more than
any other Cuban for the eradication OF
yellow fever. land our course in the art
| OF holding national elections should cover
| period OF not less than ten additional
| years 1t would be an absolute crime for
years ago. You have heard the story Of
!, the mother who lost three of her children.
| each child being Choked to death by the
| swallowing of a thir3be. When some one
| saw her giving a thmble to her fourth
child to play with and reconstructed with
| her the mother replied. 1 intend to give
| each of my remaining children a thimblc to
| play with. It is the only way they will
| ever learn not to swallow it Surely the
United States will not nn:ct such a policy
| upon us"
Ambition 70 rCuba Libre.
These words came not from an annexa-
zionist. but from an honest and able Cuban
who has all his life been a patriot am
bilious for Cuba lbre. He would take up
arms today should tie United States under
take to annex his native land by force. but
he contends that We have already proved
to the Cuban people and to the world the
| sincerity of our attentions To the people We
| freed from Spain and that il is not neces-
sary to cut loose from them years before
they are ready or fit for self-goVernment
simply defense against the charge Of
bad faith. 1T would be worse than bad
| faith,'' he added. 1T would be a crime OF
which | do not believe the Americans viii
| be guilty for the United States to evaCuate
| this island in year or even in ten years
f-government cannot be taught people
overnight and yet only on that assumption
could the American evacuation three years
L.
/ that policy. well intentiOned it was. has
been proved beyond the shadow of a doubt
! by the vents of the. last month in Cuba. and
| much as II hurts me TO say ii If the Ameri-
| can provisional administration ceases next
year or in the next ten years it is only
| question of a short time when YOU must
| come again, each time parading before the
world the inability OF my people to govern
| themselves and shaking the worlds con-
| tdence in our stability as well as damaging
| our credit" 1t is no answer to such a
man to say. we have promised to leave
Cuba as soon as quiet has been restored.
Furnished the Cause
| Because the liberals have made the bur-
| den of their charges against the govern
| ment the corruption of the elections OF
last December the idea has gone abroad
| that such was the real underlying cause of
| the revolution. After my first ten days
here that still stood out as the corner
stone of the whole trouble. Closer
| quaintance with Zayas and the other leaders
of the liberal party, several visits to the
| camp of the rebel army, the army of the
| constitution" as its leaders have named it,
| forces one to the conclusion that the steal
| ing of the election was the occasion and
not the cause. Zayas and his confreres were
| clever enough 20 see that this incident
| furnished the basis for strong case
| against the government and they were
| quick to make of it. But these things
| are not talked Of in the ranks of the rebels.
| With the aid of an interpreter | ques-
| toned forty fifty rebels in several
| camps about the result of the peace nego-
| tations at Havana and the new elections.
! Not of these men appeared to have
| the slightest idea of what had transpired.
| One gave as his reason for taking up arms
| against the government his wish to leave
| the sugar plantation where he was en-
| ployed and get into politics; another was
| even franker about his reasons for re
| voting and declared in Spanish: Il
| wanted to get back to the woods: | like the
| life" The majority of the others ques-
| toned showed by the answers that they
| were merely following their leaders. When
| Zayas and his friends found that they had
| been cheated at the polls it cast
| matter for them to turn a rabbe of bSs
| tween fifteen and twenty thousand mt&
| from their work to the woods; the revolus
| tionary habit does pot die out in five years.
| And now that they had another taste of it
the difficulty of keeping them quiet for
another five years will be all the more
| difficult.
| Important Correspondence.
| Before this letter is published the Presi-
dent will probably have acted upon the
| recommendation of Secretary Taft and
made public the official correspondence be-
| tween Washington and Havana. which
| gives in detail the reasons of the President
for the sending of Secretary Taft and
| Secretary Bacon on this special mission. In
| previous letters the urgency of the appeals
| of Palma for intervention has been alluded
| to, and also his threat TO resign even before
| the commission could reach Havana.
| PalmaS unwlingness to push the war
against the rebels not due to fears for
! his personal safety but to his conviction
that the vast majority Of the Cuban people
were in sympathy with the rebels. Even
| in his own party he was unable to find
| dozen men whom he trusted. and rather
| than see his country turned to
| armed band of ruffians such as he knew the
| revolutionary forces to consist of In large
| measure, Palma ready to surrender the
| reins of government to the United States
! to have and to hold for indefinite
| period. w.
| VICTORIA FALLS