El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1912-05-06

: puzzle, and a s chanEeable as kalelco-
SCOPE Every revolution Of the political
wheel adds a new complication, and no
one who has any regard for his repu-
tatiOn as a prophet viii endeavor 10
forecast the various steps which may
! lead to the final solution of cuba
many problems.
TO begin with. there are two princi-
pal political parties in Cuba-the Con-
servatives and the Liberals. The Con-
serVative party is made up largely OF
the property owning people OF tie IS
land. while the Liberal party IS the
party OF the masses. There are no pO-
Htical questions demanding legislative
action upon which these two parties
differ, the principal issue being one Of
the masses against the classes
The National Veterans.
In addition TO these two parties there
is a National association of Veterans,
{ composed Of the men who took part in
Cuba war for freedom These men
j for while kept somewhat aloor from
active partisanship Dut for several
years past they have played an lnfiu-
entail part i'm the political situation in
Cuba. Another factor is the negro
( party. known as the "Colored indie
I pendent party
The Conservatives have comparative
I y few interparty troubles During the
precOnventiOn campaign. which ended
on April : in the nomination OF Cen
Mario MenOCal as the Conservative
candidate for president and DIT. In
riQue Jose VarOna for vice president
there was IN unusual unantmIty OF
opinion in favor OF the nomination or
Gen. MenOcal- In the case of the vice
presidency. the DreCOnYentIOn forecast
was that Gen. Freyre de Andrade
would be the party nominee. There
was strong element supporting him,
and he could probably have won out
with a safe margin. However. he de-
Clared that While the vice presidency OF
Cuba was an office which he would like
TO hold. Yet he placed his personal am
DltlOnS IS secondary to the welfare OF
his party. and as fl seemed to him that
the ticket would be stronger with DR..
NarOna g candidate for vice president
he would request the convention 10
nominate Dr. NarOna by reclamation
This maguanimOuS attitude won loud
plaudits for Gen Andrade. and is al
most without precedent in LaUn-Amer-
lean politics Gen. Andrade declared
that his weakness lay In the fact that
il would be iuadvisable to nominate a
ticket consisting OF two military men,
and that he felt IL much better 10 sac
rifice himself than 70 sacrifice Gen
MenOcal as the presidential candidate.
Seeks Veterans Votes.
1t may he seen from this that with
such a spirit in the Conservative party
there IS little room for knitting the
ticket. or for internal dissensiOnS- The
COnserva tives. therefore, 20 into the
presidential campaign united and ready
TO poll their full party vote But Is is
the general belief OF those who know
Cuban politics that the Conservatives
need something more than a full party
vote TO win. Where they will get The
additional votes is the problem con-
fronting Gen MenOcal and his assO-
ciates, If he can command a majority
Of the Cuban Veterans votes. he viii
probably have d safe lead
The situation in the Liberal party is
Dy no means rosy II was practically
agreed when the election of 1903 was
neId that II DIT Alfredo ZayaS would
stand aside and allow Jose Miguel Co
mez 10 have the nomination for the
presidency, the latter would, in the
next campaign. throw the weight of his
influence TO LayaS- Zay2s was given
the vice presidency, which office he has
held since that time. When the present
campaign opened up, DR.. Zayas an
nounced his presidential candidacy, and
expected to get the unanimous support
of his party. However. he was destined
TO be disappointed Gov. Asbert Of the {
province OF Havana, developed presi- I
Dental aspirations and announced his I
CANDIDACY At the same time another I
politician named Hernandez decided to 1
be a candidate for the nomination Of
the Liberal party.
Gomez Willing TO BE Sacrifice.
To cOmplcate the situation president i
Gomez Is said TO have been persuaded !
tnat MS party would go down TO ineyi- /
laDie defeat unless he were renOminat-
ed, and ne decided 10 offer himself up
on the political altar, il necessary. 10 (
=
time was he an avOwed candidate for .
the office but his enemies declared /
Jnat he was more than a receptive can
oldate. and his friends were busy try
ing TO persuade him and his party that
me salvation of the Liberals in Cuba
depended upon him
Gen Gomez did not figure actively in
lhe preconventiOn campaign. but he at
IeLnPted 10 create such situation
"4tAln MS party so thar the nomination
ne was not dVOWedly seeking might
come TO him. At one time he IS said
10 nave promised 10 support Gen Memo
cdl. the Conservative When called 10
TASK Dy his own party associates he
promptly recanted. A little later il
vas announced that lie would support
LOF- ASoerl- When the followers OF
wee president Zayas heard of this,
tney called him 10 task fOr forgetting
his promise OF four years ago. and
threatened TO investigate his finances, !
ana thereupOn he declared il would be /
beneath the dignity OF the president 10
support any man for nomination OF
ERECTION, and that therefore, ne would I
be neutral
Meanwhile those papers watch were
regarded as his personal organs came I
put in lonENWluded. high sounding ed
.oElals, saying that the salvation OF the
LIBERAL party in cuba depended upon (
Jose Miguel Gomez. and calling upon {
am to make such sacrifices as might
pc necessary TO lead the LIBERAL host I
10 victory once again.
II president Gomez expected to win
The nomination in this way. he reck-
oned without his host. There was
vigorous fight for delegates in the
)recOnvention campaign, and when ali
u the returns were in, the Zayistas ,
-laimed that they had so out OF the
80 Delegates which would constitute
lie national convention Of the Liberal Z 7
party.
Zayas q Nominated.
The convention met on sunday. April
>. The Asbert delegates refused to
AXE part i'm IT, They claimed the Zay-
stas had not legally elected the ma
ority OF the delegates. and decided 10
lOld aIoof and take advantage of what a
.ver situation arose after the nomina- /
ion by the Zayista convention had 81
Deen made. When the convention met
here was considerable excitement over q
he failure OF the Asbertistas TO attend. {
someone proposed that a committee be
ent to them asking them to come into }
ne convention This was agreed TO- u
,ut before the committee had time TO Y
BRING reply. the convention. after
cine debate. decided 10 proceed to the
nomination OF candidates for president
nd vice president Ihereupon, vice D