The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1908-01-07
CUBA MAKING
HARD PROBLEM

The War Department is mailing
political falsehood occasionally these
days that does not pertain to the
campaign of it's secretary, Mr.. Taft
The Cuban output has to be handled
sometimes in the insular bureau OF
that department, for the Cuban poll
ticians every little while invade Amer
lean newspaper columns. While Gov
ernor Magoon is the head of the Gu
ban Government, he reports through
the War Department.
One of the latest evidences Of des-
perate Cuban politics is widely-cir-
culated statement that a plot is being
Matched, with the knowledge of Wash
ington officials. to foist an American
President upon the island. 1t is rec
ognized at the department as an ef-
fort to discredit General Mario Memo
cal, the leading Cuban Conservative
whom Secretary Taft favored for the
Presidency when Palma resigned, and
when, for a while, it was thought
feasible to put some Cuban in, his
place.
Menocal is almost as much a resi-
dent of the United States as EXPIRES
ident Palma ever was. He lived here
for several years, attended the Mary
land Agricultural College. not far
from this city, and afterward gradu-
ated at Cornell University. His
brother, Anecito Garcia Menocal, is a
retired officer of the Civil Engineer
Corps of the United States Navy, with
+bo rapl- % oop,poopdar v-biIa bic
nephew, the son of Commander Memo
cal, is at present a Navy civil engin-
eer, with the rank of lieutenant COM
mander, and was for quite time at
the United States Naval Station at
Guantanamo. General Menocal is an
engineer 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. Naturally
he is much in sympathy with the
United States, but he is not even an
active candidate for President. He
has been much mentioned in that
connection, along with another Con-
sentative candidate, Manuel Sanguil-
ly, who used to be a Cuban Senator.
ELECTION FAR OFF.
There is much skepticism at the
War Department about Cuba having
any Presidential election for a long
time to come, although President
Roosevelt has expressed the hope that
it might be held within a year. The
Magoon government is running along
Ill, g l,A fra1, l.
itants has recently been completed.
There remains a vast amount of tab
ulation, before the voting lists, which
will comprise about 100000 men, can
be made up. The War Department
will insist upon the municipal and
provincial elections being held first.
When those subordinate governments
are we'll established and able to go it
alone for a few months without dis
turbance, Presidential election 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 con-
tinued 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
parties and already have two candi-
dates in the field. One is General
Jose Miguel Gomez, former Governor
of Santa Clara Province, and also Lib
eral candidate for the Presidency; the
other is DR.. Alfredo Zayas, formerly
Senator from Habana, the manager of
the Gomez campaign committee, and
now a member of the advisory COM
mittee of the provisional government.
The Moderates, to which President
Palma belonged, have ceased to exist
as a party and class themselves with
the Conservatives. Senior Quesada, the
Cuban Minister at Washington, is
by some of the former
as a Presidential candi-
date.
THE SUFFRAGE PROBLEM.
Governor Magoon and War Depart
ment officials have hoped for some
wise solution of suffrage problems.
Several suggestions have been made,
but nothing has come of them. The
class of voters is very
small: Till some way can be found to
their influence in the gov
it will probably be difficult
to establish a stable regime without a
protectorate. The advisory commits
sion has worked out a scheme for null
tiple voting. This would make it pos
sible for a man to have four votes
at an election-one based on manhood
suffrage, one for a property qualifica-
ton, one for an educational qualifi-
cation, and one for being the head of
a family. 1t has also been proposed
that in the municipal and provincial
elections foreigners, including English
men. Americans and Germans, who
about 80 per cent. of the BUSH
ness people, be allowed to vote. These
plans have not met with favor. The
Spaniards, who do 60 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 alb
sence of which proved one of the
causes of the downfall of President
Palma Just before he resigned. the
Cuban Congress authorized the re-
cruiting of a force of 10000 men and
the mastering Of volunteers, but ten
days after this was authorized the