The Hawaiian gazette., 1908-08-28
RESULTS or
VOTE IN CUBA
(Maf Special to the Advertised


"pulled off in these days of fervid
politics. 1t occurred Saturday, when a
new Republic voted, with brand new
voting equipment, surpassed by none
of the advanced states or municipali-
ties of the Union. President Roosevelt
and the War Department are Analysing
the vote and trying to make up their
minds whether it bodies well or bodies
i'll for an independent government OF
Cuba.
For the Cuban election by which the
governors of six provinces and the
alcaldes and councillors of SO munich.
palities were chosen, is of very great
Significance. The outcome affects in
no small way the prospects for stable
rule for the Queen of the Antilles. 1t
has a, bearing on the presidential cleo
ton, which is scheduled for next De-
cember. Apparently the Conservatives.
which is another name for the Mod.
crates, who were turned out when this
government interviewed, lave borne
away most of the honors at the ballot
boxes. The belated returns will estab.
lish this more clearly. If that provo
true, the result will be in the nature OF
rebuke to the United States for inter.
vening and putting out of office pres.
ident of the Moderate party and for
recognizing largely, since Charles E.
Magoon took his place as provisional
governor, the leaders of the Liberal
party. For if, as now seems probable,
the Conservatives have won generally,
President and that the Liberals will be
1t means that the party will choose the
retired from influence in Cuban affairs,
The Liberals fomented the revolution
that brought intervention about.
The administration here at Washing.
ton hoped that the election would show
the Cuban parties pretty evenly balance
ed numerically. That would promise
an interesting campaign and, on the
whole, would make for the advantage
of Independent government.
The energetic efforts toward equip
ping the island with up to date facili.
ties for voting and in securing an
honest registration have occupied the
provisional government ever since April
|. Over 5000 voting booths of modern
make were sent out from Havana to
the l,069 barrios, or precincts in the
island. This IN itself was an enormous
task
1t is sincerely hoped by the War De
partment and by President Roosevelt
that the presidential election in Cuba
) will not be one party affair. 1t has
, become a habit with parties down there
to withdraw, if their campaign appears
to be hopeless or if the dominant party
conducts affairs so as to throw any
doubt on the honesty of the election.
, Instead of voting the minority party
begins to stir up strife and rebellion.
The Liberals, now divided into Liberals
and Historic Liberals, seeded in 1905
and refused to vote at the presidential
election. Having withdrawn they
, promptly busted themselves in organic,
ing the revolution that broke forth the
following year. There were two cleo,
tons under the Republic and in both
of them, all except the Moderate party
/, withdrew.
The three parties, that Gov. Magoon
recognized, the Conservatives, Liberals
and Historic Liberals all put provincial
I tickets afiald Provision was made for
, other candidates to get upon the official
ballot by petition. The voters were ap.
parently Industrious in making the most
,, of that opportunity. For in the pro.
, vincial elections of August | Pinar del
!, Rio, Mantanzas, and Oriente all had an
, independent provincial ticket on the
ballot. Oriente had two. There were
independent parties in Havana prov.
, ince, which were active in advocating
the election of their favorite candi,
dates for alcalde and municipal coun.
cillors, but they put no men in the run
ming for the provincial offices and filed
the upper portion of their column on
the official ballot with the sentence.
> ono tiene candidate which means no
nominations.
There was equal zeal in the nomina.
tons for the posts of alcalde and coun-
cillors in the 80 municipalities of the
island. The Conservatives named can.
:, ddates in all but two of these MUM
cipalities; the Liberals in all but 10;
the Historic Liberals in all but 10
There were combinations between the
, two latter parties in certain municipalr
ties, so that the Conservative candi
dates were left unopposed in very few
municipalities. Twenty-one, or over q
e fourth of the municipalities, had indie
i pendent tickets; the cities of Pinar de
Rio, Havana and Santiago de Cuba, had
two independent tickets each All this
= was looked upon by Gov. Magoon as
: exceedingly encouraging and as giving
promise for a hotly contested election
t Cuba never before had complete
registration of voters, or anything tina,
Appropriated an honest registration
: The census of population, taken many
months ago, was expected to form the
+ basis of this registration but proved
: a\ disappointment. This was largely
I due to the ignorance or incapacity o:
the enumerators. But carefully
4 drawn electoral law, fashioned after
:. the best statutes in this country, wa,
e promulgated April ] and great pains
d were taken to get comprehensive and
: correct voting lists. The administra
e ton of that law began April l6, since
i which time the machinery has beer
t whirling. First the voting lists for the
t 1869 barrios were distributed to the
= various municipal alcaldes to be posted
o in public places for inspection. About
4 the same time initial permanent regis
t tiers were sent to the various munich
palities. A few days later electoral
e boards were appointed under decree
n of Gov. Magoon and soon SO such
e boards were organized and ready fol
9 business. These included one board fol-
. lpaeh nf fine 80 NmunieinaIitias ono nrn