The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-05-15
THE CUBAN ARMY
GOV. MAG0ON's ORDER MpANs
 STABILITY FOR REPUBLIC.
Insurrection, 1t is Said, wou,s H. Been Impossible Had Force Other Than Rural Guard Existed
 Decree FarreachinE Tn
 Effects on Islands Future

r Il a f Been Impossible Had Force Other . Than Rural Guard Existed Decree FsrreachinE in Effects on Islands Future.
 Washington Post.
 The most important step taken hv
 the United States to enabIe cnha to
 exist as an Independent repubIic ia
 round Tn the decree just issued hv , Provisional Governor Charles E. , Magoon, for the reorganization of the . armed forces of the island. When
 the American troops are Withdrawn
 next February, the re-estabIished re public win find itself eauipned not , only with rural guard to police the
 cauntry bpt with a regular army to |, suppress insurrection. Those familiar with the reason the , administration of President Estrada
 Palma was So suddenly destroyed may i recall that 1t was due to the inability , of constituted authority to put into the field a loyal force equipped to maintain public order. Palma. fin a
 letter he wrote at the time of Ameri- can reoccupation. thus graphically
 described his helplessness
 T suddenly found myself in the
 midst of a tremendous social disorEan-
 ization, with thousands of insurgents
 in three provinces and the menace of
 rebellion in two others, without suffi-
 cient regular forces to undertake im-
 mediately an active campaign against
 the former and to best and disorganize
 them; at the same time, constantly
 feared that they would carry to the
 great sugar plantations of Santa Clara
 the measures of destruction already
 realized on railroad stations, locomo-
 tives. bridges. culverts. &c.
 Saw Customs Receipts Shrink.
 T saw the customs revenue fall on
 by one-ha1f, and the other income of
 the state to 25 or 50 pel cent and the
 millions of the treasury were being spent In streams, with uncertain re-
 suits and to very doubtful advantage a large part being used for keeping 1 up hastily improvised militia, which for that very reason. could not inspire l sufficient confidence as to their relia- 1 bility for undertaking the labor, the
 privations. and the dangers of a con- I stant persecution of adversaries who 1 were also Cubans. and. in a great num-
 Der of cases. friends and comrades" I When 1t Is considered also that the republic has been obliged to pay out | millions of dollars to indemnify private | parties for loss and destruction of property by insurgents. the impera- 1 tive necessity of providing the new 1 government with a force upon which 1t can depend to preserve the peace will , be realized.
 These various considerations are re- sponsible for the decree issued by Gov. Magoon The original law under which the rural guard was organized, and pursuant to which it has been main tained, never contemplated a military force. though the guard was provided with a military organization, such as Is attempted by metropolitan police in the United States.
 Duty of Rural Guard.
 The model of the rural guard was that of the rural guard of Mexico The duty which 1t was and now Is required to perform is of constabulary character. It is broken up into small attachments of from three to twenty five men. which are stationed at more than 3S0 places througnout the island. | It's principal duty is to patrol the is- l land. arrest violators of the law. ex ecute court processes, and similar | services.
 Tn the course of time. and especially | during the insurrection. it assumed and l was considered to be military force. 1 This was bad because 1t then stood on | the same footing as the old guardia | civil, of Spanish times, and the ami | mostly against the guardia civil was | such that during the years of the Cuban war of liberation the Cubans did not | consider the members of this organi- zation as prisoners of war, but executed them whenever captured.
 The feeling against the Cuban Rural guard was intensified by It's participa- tion in politics. Much has been accom- plished since American occupation began in modifying this feeling against the rural guard. but 1t has proved in- possible to eliminate 1t entirely without returning the guard to the status in- tended by the law under which it was established.
 Palma in Helpless Plight.
 When the inBurrection occurred, in 1906, President Palma was confronted with the necessity of guarding Havana and the larger towns and to obtain a force to send into the field. This com pelled the concentration of the rural guard with the result that the country was deprived of protection. The insur- gents thus were enabled to do whatever they risired. This concentration would not have been necessary had there ex- isted small military force in each Of the provincial capitals.
 The decree Gov. Magoon asm protnul- gated preserves the rural guard organ ization intact. as now constituted with out decrease in numbers-it consists of about 1000 officers and men--under the command of Maj. Gen. Alejandro Rodrigues The Cuban artillery. rapid fire gun squads. and mountain gun battery, which were organized under the original ldW, anu AVAhAo& n pm of the rural guard have been detached. and constitute the basis of the regular army provided for in the decree.
 The enlisted strength of the army is a brigade of infantry. corps of field artillery. corps of caost artillery. and corps of machine guns. The of the army. named by Gov Magoon, is Faustion Guerray Puentes. who will have the rank of major general.
 Guerra was an tnsurgent fin 1908. but. nevertheless. his appointment comments itself to all classes One property owner declared he considered Guerra's selection insurance of his adding:
 If President Palma had had a milf tary force with Guerra at the head of it, the insurrection would have been prevented, and if Guerra had been at the head of the Rural Guard, 1t would not have happened that Rural Guard officers wrote letters to the leaders of the insurgents in their ( localities advising them that the Rural Guard had been ordered to go to A certain place, and that the information F' was furnished so that they might not . be at that place" Another comment made of Magoon's action is that the organization of the army under Guerra puts an end to insurrection."
 In view of the creation of military force to maintain peace. the authorities are confident there will be dissipa-