Meade County news., 1917-03-15
RACE PROBLEM BIG FACTOR
IN CUBAN TROUBLE

home of General Gomez and of Cen
eral Guzman, the Liberal leader who
has been clamoring for American SUI
pervision Of the new elections.
Stirs Washington.
Orlente occupies the extreme east
ern end of the island. 1t has been a
hotbed of disturbance for years. The
population is about half negro.
In this eastern part of Cuba the re-
bellion scored its greatest initial sue
cess, when Maj. Rigoberto Fernandez,
military commander of an insurgent
force, seized Santiago and notified the
United States he had mined the har-
Dor.
1t was this notable blow in the
insurgent cause which stirred Wash
ington into action.
Twice the American army has in
tervened in Cuba since the war Of
1898. Maj. Gen. Leonard Wood COM
manded our forces in the occupation
of 1900-1902, while Maj. Gen. Thomas
W. Barry was the leader of the 1906
1907 expedition. In the latter case
General Barry had 1000 troops, but
was never compelled to do any fight
ing.
The Cuban regular army is now
considered an efficient force. 1t con-
sists of 1000 men, garbed almost ex-
actly like American troops. A United
States army officer has been detailed
by request to train the Cuban forces.
They are well equipped and make a
good showing. But President MenOcal
has not all the army behind him. This
is compliment to his honor in a way
which seems curious to Americans.
The preceding president, Gomez, now
leader in the revolt, had promoted
military men Of his party wholesale,
without regard to merit. When Memo
cal was elected conservative army
officers, brought up in Cuban ideas,
expected their turn for promotion at
the expense of their rivals had come.
But MenOcal decided that for the good
of Cuba the merit system must be up
held. This had the effect of alternating
conservative army officers without at
tachlng to him any large part of the
liberals. A good share of the army
became disaffected, claiming that the
president had not played fair with
them.
Immensely Prosperous.
Tilya Dracidanf NToHocO 90 NIoxrioo
who refused to execute Felix Diaz
when he caught him, and later was
unseated and slain by Dlaz and
Huerta, Menocal did not pursue the
business of politics in traditional Span
ish-American style and now he suffers
for it.
Cubans, too, are ready for a revo-
luton because they are immensely
prosperous. They have been rolling
in wealth since sugar almost doubled
in price. Other nations might think
this prosperity cause for keeping
the peace and letting the prosperity
continue. But good fortune unfor-
tunately has reacted on the Cuban tenn
permanent differently. In plain Eng
lish, the Cuban thinks it is about time
to go on spree. OF course, that is
not the attitude of the planters and
merchants, who are mostly Conserva-
tives, but it is the point of view OF
the Liberal masses.
The Liberals think they have a good
cause in the undoubted corruption Of
the recent elections. Not only did the
registry lists, or rather the census lists,
which serve as a record of the persons
entitled to exercise the right of suf-
frage, contain no less than 100000 fic-
titiOus names, or nearly half the num-
Der of the voting population, but re-
peating was practiced openly and on
an enormous scale, cases of men vot-
ing eight or ten times being common
Neutral observers agree these frauds
were committed by both sides. The
Liberals accuse the administration Of
the bulk Of the frauds and the Con-
servatives retort with like charge.
The Liberals further say the admin
istration used the army to drive Lib
erals away from the polls. manlpu-
lated the votes after they were cast
and falsified the returns
Raise Standard Of Revolt.
1t is a fact that when the liberals
seemed TO be winning, the admins
tration suddenly seized telephone and
telegraph lines and the returns began
coming in very slowly. There fol-
lowed court contests. and finally 1t
was decided to hold elections in GER
tain districts over again.
Either believing that these elections