The National tribune., 1907-12-26
CUBAN AFFAIRS.
The IsIaGd Quiet and Prosperous Gov.
Magoon Sitting EffectuaIly on the Lid.
Little Prospect of g Presidential Elec.
ti0n for Some Time.

tion for Some Time.
The War Department is mailing a po-
litical falsehood occasionally these days
that does not pertain to the campaign
of its Secretary, Mr.. Taft. The Cuban
output has to be handled sometimes in
the Insular Bureau of that Department,
for the Cuban politicians every little
while invade American newspaper col
umns. While Gov. Magoon is the head
of the Cuban Government he reports
thru the War Department.
One of the latest evidences of deS-
perate Cuban politics is a widely-circu-
lated statement that a plot is being
hatched, with the knowledge of the
Washington officials, to foist an Amer
lean President upon the island. 1t is
recognized at the Department as an eff
fort to discredit Gen. Mario Menocal,
the leading Cuban conservative, whom
Secretary Taft favored for the Presi-
dency when Palma resigned, and when
for awhile it was thought feasible to
put some Cuban in his place.
Menocal is almost as much resident
of the United States as eX-President
Palma ever was. He lived here for sew
eral years, attended the Maryland Agri-
cultural College, not far from this city,
and afterward graduated at Cornell
University. His brother, Anecito Garcia
Menocal, is a retired officer of the Civil
Engineer Corps of the United States
Navy, with the rank of Commander,
while his nephew, the son of Command
er Menocal, is at present Navy Civil
Engineer, with the rank of Lieutenant
Commander, and was for quite a time
at the United States Naval Station at
Guantanamo. Gen. Menocal is an en-
gineer by profession and one of the big
men of Cuba. He is manager of the
Chafana Sugar Estate. owned by an
American company, and said to be the
largest in the world. and naturally he is
much in sympathy with the United
States, but he is not even an active can
didate for President. He has been much
mentioned in that connection, along
with another Conservative candidate,
Manuel Sanguilly, who used to be q
Cuban Senator.
Presidential Election Far OF.
There is much skepticism at the War
Department about Cuba having any
Presidential election for long time to
come, altho President Roosevelt has ex-
pressed the hope that it might be held
within a year. The Magoon Govern
ment is running along smoothly, and
the census of the inhabitants has re-
Gently been completed. There remains
a vast amount of tabulation before the
voting lists, which win comprise about
10000 men, can be made up. The
War Department will insist upon the
municipal and provincial elections being
held first. When those subordinate
Governments are well established and
able to go it alone for a few months
without disturbance a Presidential cleo
tion might follow.
1t is' hardly expected, however, that
the three or four political parties will
consent to the holding of an election,
and matters are otherwise in such an
unsettled state that an election might
demonstrate the necessity for continued
occupation of the island. If the little
Republic is to go it alone again the
authorities here want it to start under
the best possible auspices.
The Liberals have split into two par
ties and already have two candidates
in the field. One is Gen. Jose Miguel
Gomez, former Governor of Santa Clara
Province and also Liberal candidate for
the Presidency; the other is DR.. Alfredo
Zayas, formerly a Senator from Havana,
the manager of the Gomez Campaign
Committee, and nov a member of the
Advisory Committee of the Provisional
Government The Moderates, to which
President Palma belonged, have ceased
to exist as party, and class themselves
with the Conservatives. Senor Quesada,
the Cuban Minister at Washington, is
mentioned by some of the former Mod
crates as a Presidential candidate.
The Suffrage Problem.
Gov. Magoon and War Department
officials have hoped for some wise solu
tion of suffrage problems. Several sug-
gestions have been made. Nothing has
nf ffxya OLE,
of voters is very small. Till some way
can be found to strengthen their infiu-
ence in the Government it will prob
ably be difficult to establish a stable
regime without protectorate. The
Advisory Commission has worked out
scheme for multiple voting. This would
make it possible for a man to have four
votes at an election-one based on man
hood suffrage, one for property quail
fcation, one for an educational quail
fication and one for being the head of
a family. II has also been proposed
that in the municipal and provincial
elections foreigners. including English
men, Americans and Germans, who
comprise about 80 per cent of the busi-
ness people, be allowed to vote. These
plans have not met with favor. The
Spaniards, who do so per cent of the
business on the island, think they would
be embroiled by the changes, and do
not want them.
Nothing has yet been done toward
building up a military force, the abb
sence of which proved one of the causes
of the downfall OF President Palma.
Just before he resigned the Cuban Con-
gress authorized the recruiting of a
force of 10000 men and the mastering
of volunteers, but 10 days after this was
authorized the United States interviewed
The voting lists will not be ready for
three months. The municipal and pro-
vincial elections cannot be held till some
time next Summer. A Presidential cleo
ton next Autumn is improbable, unless
Cuban affairs are in much better con-
dition than now seems possible. There
would be great objection to a campaign
and an tieGt.ou any time during the
crop harvesting season, which begins in
December and ends in March. The con-
sequent agitation would greatly disturb
industry.
Prosperity in Canada.
Geo. L. Sanburn, Captain, Co. H, 1st