The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-07-24
POLITICAL UNREST IN CUBAN REPUBLIC Government Makes Several
 Serious BlunderS GOMEZ IS FRIGHTENED Call for Troops and Statements Made by Administration in Answer
 to Opposition Press Only
 Inflames Conditions

Havana. Monday. July 17.-Not since the establishment of the Cuban repub- lie have there existed such peculiar po- litical conditions as have prevailed for the past few weeks-conditions fraught with great unrest and much peril to the stability of the republic and yet apparent ly not assignable to any specific source other than the nervous tendency of the Cuban people to yield to alarm on insuf- f1cient provocation. This tendency has been stimulated in the present instance by the action of the government in mak- ing ostentatious military preparations for defense and indulging in expressions of its determination to crush mercilessly any attempt at revolution at time when it was apparent that from one end of the island to the other there was not visible the faintest symptom of any tendency to disorder
 The result of this policy on the part of
 President Gomez and his advisers has had an unhappy effect. Already confidence Tn the government has been shaken and the administration has alienated many of it's supporters.
 The immediate provocation of this state of affairs was the initiation of attacks on the administration by the newspaper Fl Dia, founded for this express purpose by Congressman Armand Andre, wherein 1t was charged that the president and his eRtourage had accumulated vast sums by distributing enormously valuable conces- slons among foreign corporations and po- litical friends of the administration. The attacks continued so persistent that the president issued a public statement giv-
 ing what purported to be an inventory
 of his estate which appeared to oe of buz
 moderate dimensions.
 Eventually the government assumed an
 attitude of defiance. The city was thrown
 into semi-panic by the sudden call to
 arms of the garrison of Castle La Fuerze
 and the surrounding of the palace soon
 after midnight by rural guards, artillery and infantry. According to the palace the movement was merely to determine how rapidly the troops could be turned out in an emergency, but this explana- ton was received with open incredulity It was openly declared that the adminis- tration was panic-stricken, but for what cause no one could hazard guess Then General Machado, secretary of the interior, who also discharges the functions of war, issued a statement de- Inouncing the critics of the president. | whom he announced was first and fore | most a soldier who would not finch from | shedding blood and making the astonsh-
 cent Of the Cuban people oppose the pres-
 idept's administration they would be crushed without mercy. The utterance served to renew and inflame the attacks l of the anti-administration press. Added to these elements of unrest has been renewal of the agitation regarding the succession to the presidency. Despite General Gomez's reiteraton that he would never accept a renomination, mary of his supporters continue to campaign actively in nis behalf and re-electionist clubs are being formed.
 | There Is no reason to believe that Vice lnouncing his claims to the nomination which was accorded him in the last cam paign as the price of support Of his fac tion in the election of General Gomez Still another probable candidate for the presidency whose popularity in the libera, ranks is high is Gen. Carlos Garcia Velez the special ambassador at the coronation at London, who is now on his way home and who Is sure to take an active part fu affairs