The Montgomery advertiser., 1907-04-11
TAFT LEAVING CUBA
SECRETARY THINKS INTERVIEW
 TON IS NECESSARY,
He Sends . Letter to Governor Msroop which He Says Has the Appro- A val of President
 Roosevelt

nittees of the Liberals, Conservatives and Republican Parties and leading men of the community. including law yers. bankers. representatives of the chamber of Commerce and others, and aiter fui1 discussion of the situation with you,. General Barry and Consul general Steinhart,I make the followins recommendations. having in view the, circumstances making intervention nec- essary.
 The question now arises when shall the elections be held? The advisory committee appointed to draft electoral, municipal judiciary and civil service iaws, composed of three Americans, four Liberals and four Conservatives, de- Stared TO me It was impossible to hold ialr elections until a census had been taken and that view has been strength- ehed by assurances from all political parties. All the parties thrc" gfi their committees, have expressed the view that the wisest course will be to hold A preliminary election to test the elector. al laws, and the tranquility of the coun. try.
 The Liberals urge that this be. for municipal and provincial officers, while the Conservatives insist it our Tt to be
 imited to municipal offic. rs, but they agree In holding preliminary election. The Liberal. Party expresses the view that a census can be completed in four months and that provincial and muni- CT elections may therefore be held in September.
 The conservative party expresses no opinion as to the time required for the taking of a census but 1t insists upon great care ana that the registration
 ist founded upon the census should pc subJected to a sevece and impartial Judicial scrutiny, as proposed by the advisory commission and that the pre- lfminary election shall be held a req sonable time after the completion of the census. The liberal party holding that he preliminary elections should take place in September recommends that the presidential and congressional elections be held Dece mber 31 next and that the regular. constitutional party shall elapse thereafter before the reassembling of the electoral college to name Senators and the President. The members of this college will be elected at the general elections. Ac- cord1ng to the constitution these elec- toraI colleges will not convene until loo days after the general electionA
 The liberal party suggests that the new congress shall meet to receive the vote of the election for President 1n time to permit of his inauguration on May 20. 1903, the anniversary of the inauguration of the first Cuban Prest- dent.
 The conservatives insist that this preliminary election is in the nature or an experiment and that three months Is not sufficient interval to determine whether this experiment has been success and they recommend that not less than six months eIapse between the preliminary and the pres ldential and congressional elections.
 u IS hardly necessary to reiterate thatS the position of President Rooss. Welt is exactly what it was when the nrst proclamation was issued establish Tn ga provisional government under the Platt law in this island. to vii. Ihat Cuba must be turned. over to A Cunan Government fairly elected SO soon as the conditions of tranauilitv in the country permits and that the sta. bility of the government establishes be assured. T do not think four months a suf hcient time for the taking of a cen- sus necessary for an election. It would be most unwise, therefore. to nx definite date for the holding of a preliminary election. All that can De done and all that ought to be done Is to declare that the census be taken In as short time as possible, mak. ing the census thorough, fair and complete for electional purposes. and an announcement that the preliminary election shall be held within such pe. riod thereafter as may afford a reas. enable time for complying with all the requirements of the new electoral law.
 The municipal and provincial eIee- tions which in a sense are local should be held at the same time. I have aI- ready expressed the opinion that the elections by which the present pro- visional authorities were brought into power were attended with such irreg- ularity that the restgnations of these officials should be at the service of the Government although the present conditions justify the maintenance of the de facto status of these officials so long as they conduct themselves properly, rather than an indiscriminate removal of them with the possible ex- citemeAt and controversy likely to at- tend the election of their suocessors. Still the question of the proper policy to pursue in regard to the present provincial officers is a matter which is in your hands for decision, but 1t Is certain that so soon as the present conditions as to provincial officials can be cured by, election, that elections should be held and therefore both mu- nicipal and provincial elections should be held as preliminary elections. It is true that at the provincial elections provincials will be elected, constitut- Ing one-third of the electoral college. to vote for Senators, but at the national elections there will be elected two- thirds of the members of this same college and therefore the selection ot q provincial council will have compar- etivelyN little bearing on the national election
 "Three months may not be sufficient time in which to test the questions of tranquility and the success of expert mental preliminary election therefore tied than that the national election shoud be held within six months after the preliminary election.
 Tt is. of course. proper to comply with the constitutional requirement re- garding an interval of zoo days be- tween the congressional and president ial elections and the voting hv the cleo toral college, the assembline of Congress ana the inauguration of the new Pres ident. The government will then de- voIve upon the newly elected President and Congress.
 |, "The carrying out of this plan, of course Is strictly dependent on the tranquility of the country which must continue through .wo elections and which must give assurance Of the sta- bility of the new government because without this the United States would not be discharging the obligation de- volving upon it hy reason of the inter. vention.
 Tt is in the interest of the business s-I, sz1a