The Minneapolis journal., 1906-09-30
Palma Was Once a
I New York School,
II master---His Long
Service as a Pa
triot.
Special Correspondence of The journal.

1PSSAS3 So3ASSPoANSAASS -
hTEW YORK, Sept. 27.-There was
~ one man who did not regard 1t
a as extraordinary that Tomas
Estrada Palma, country schoolmaster
of New York state, should be trans
formed suddenly into president Of the
.cpuhiic OF Cuba. That was Palma
himself. In his own mind he had been
the legal possessor Of the high title
nearly. thirty years before he was in
stalled. on the Goth OF May, 1902. Had
him their leader between skirmishes
with the Spanish tyrants in the ten
years war? To his peaceful neighbors
at Central Valley, where he conducted
his school for eighteen years of the
waiting period, he said little; but the
few who know his history had heard
how he persisted in claiming the office
even in the midst of his captivity in
Spanish fortress. g., .-..-
.'I am president Of the Cuban repub-
lic,' he had said to his guards, when
they demanded his occupation in the
course of a car:!.s at the battlemented
prison among the Pyrenees in 1878
His election, therefore, after the
Spanish American war, he looked upon
merely as restoration Of his rights.
With no special elation, tho with the
modesty that has always characterized
him, he leaped out Of enforced obscur-
ity into the Havana palace once occu'
pied by the gay-liveQ captains-general
of Spain. As if he had been accus-
toned to the new position in all the
decades of retirement. he went about
the complex task Of running govern
ment with as much apparent confidence
as he had shown when he established
private academy to tide over the
banishment.
Whatever may be the weaknesses Of
Tomas Estrada Palma, the Post says,
there is no lack of self-possession n
ity, he has skill at Organization anu
industry. Without Understanding his
worth. it goes without saying that ca,
pable leaders are none too numerous in
Cuba. Even man of moderate tai.
place in the councils of the new nation
at the time when Palma gained his foot
hold. As he himself once remarked tc
an Interviewer: "There were so few
strong men that any who stepped
to the front and assumed a command OF
q group Of men was obliged to become
at least a general, quickly.'. Yet the
career Of the republics president anC
his personality are Of unusual interest
Few, if any, of his countrymen, have
passed thru more varied adventures
served their cause so continuously ant
steadfastly, or displayed the conserva
tism that has been his distinguishing
trait; none has met with such success
or won such popularity
Now II Years Old.
- President Palma was born in 1885 il
the province of Bayamo, where hi
raiser. The boy had all the advantage
money could give him. He studied un
der private teacher at home, AM
finally was sent to Spain to enter tn
University of Seville. There he wa
graduated in the law, and it was hi
intention to become a barrister il
Cuba. That he was never to achiev
this ambition was due to the sprea'
to the island was followed by the nut
terings that preceded the long fight fO
liberty. His father died, and it dc
volved upon the young man to manag
the estate. The war began. The Spar
iards, besides confscating his land:
captured his mother and practically tol
tured her to death.
"They tortured her in an effort
extort from her information she did nc
possess, he said, in describing gnh his b. b.
they left, her half dead in the wood
where, after wandering for days, sh
was rescued too late to save her life.
Casting his lot with the revolution
lists, giving them what ready money
could raise, and fighting with the!
whenever the chance came, he quickl
rose to leadership, and was chosen
deputy, and finally became president {
x the provisional government. This go,
W ernment was a migratory establish
ment, moving its headquarters as ofte