The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1914-05-20
CLEANS CELEBRATE FESTIVAL
 OR THEIR INDEPENDENCE DAY


 ~UBANS will enjoy a holiday today to ceIe4 A1 brate their festival of indep ependence c0mmemOrating that ssgIoriosa z twentieth Of May in 1902 when the cause Of Cuba Libre trinmphed, the republic formally took it's place among the nations of the world the Stars and banner of Spain. was hauled down, Thomas Es1 trada Palma was inau gtfrated first president and the new constitution went into effect. The day also has melancholy significance to Cuban patriots. for it was May 20 1895, that Jose Marti. who had tanned the revolution which Mas to have asuceessfuI issue was killed at the battle of Dos Rios 5 9 #
 The most beantifuI and that eyes ever be- held said Columbus, who discovered Cuba in 1z92 and thus laid the foundation for the Span isl1 rule over the island which continued for four centuries From the first the people of the island were bjected to heavy expressions In 4763 the English captured Havana and held it for a time, but by treaty it was returned to spain When Napoleon drove the Bourbons from Spain Cuba remained true to Ferdinand VII, and thus won the title of the Ever Faith ful Isle When Ferdinand was stored to the throne century ago he H repaid the debt h e owed the Csibans and it was the despotic treat nent of the monarch whose cause they had ilp- held which led the people of the Queensof tn e Antilles 10 their fl rst revolution Tn 1890 the Spanis sh King was forced to make conces- sionssto the Cubans, but these did not qHelI the spirit of revolt, and in 1923 the first move for iEsdependelce vas made by SoIes de Bolivar. The leaders were imprisoned lon the very day the republic was to be proclaimed, and Spain's rule became more rigorous. Two years later the Black Eagle Society started another reyolu- tionafv movement, with headquarters in Mexi- %, but this was also suppressed.
 The spirit of rebellion flamedforth afresh with negro insurreetioIl insi 845 and the revo- ltltion headed by Nareiso Lopez in Il 849 and the two following years. Tn iS48 President Polk who had carried on the first warsof the United States against Mexico. offered Spain S1OOOQO- 900 for Cuba, but the offer was indignantly re- fused The people of the United States sym pathized with the Cuban revolutionists and Col Crittenden. of Kentucky. and many other Ameri- cans were killed during the unsuccessful Lopez revolution
 In 1868 Carlos Gespedes at the head Of an army of only 128 men, raised the standard of revolt. A republic was proclaimed, with Ges- pedes as president and the ten years war be- gan, which ended when Cuba was promised greater measure of home rule and representa- ton in the Spanish Cortes.
 For time the spirit of rebellion slumbered but in f894 it broke forth afresh. Jose Marti organized an expedition in New York fitting out three vessels, but they were intercepted by the United States Marti then joined the revolu- tionists in Cuba, and was slain in skirrnish a few days after his arrival. Tn 1896 Gen. Valer- iano Weyler was charged with the task Of sup pressing the rebellion, and acted with such cruelty as to win the title of The Butcher,' The destruction of the Maine in Havana harbor aroused the people of the United States and made Cuban intervention necessary Palma who was inaugurated president in 1902 soon be- came unpopular, and in 1906 he resigned Uncle Sam intervened until new elections could be held. and in 1909 Gen. Gomez became president Just year ago today he was succeeded by Mario c. MenoeaI