Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1920-03-06
Frederic Ha.kin's Letter
CUBAN POLITICS.


Cuba before long. which will neces-
state American Intervention under
the Plat amendment.
This is the prediction Of Emilio
Cassi, a prominent Italian citizen
of Havana, who came here In 1898
with the Rough Riders. and had
the distinction Of being the bugler
who rode with Colonel Roosevelt
and his stan. He was before that
resident of Jerome, Ariz., where
he enlisted in the Rough Riders"
Except for annual visits to Europe
before the war, Mr. Cassi has lived
in Havana ever since He is a very
acute observer and a student not
only of Cuban politics, but Of world
politics as we'll. While he does
not cherish any illusions about
Cuba or the Cubans, Mr.. Cassi likes
both.
/ 1t is fair to say that other au-
thorities do not, concur in Mr..
Cassi's pessimistic predictions about
Cuba's political future. The optim-
lists say that Cuban political life
/ has never been more orderly than
at present; that President MenOcal,
who is retiring from Office, is max
ing no effort to name his own sue
cessor, and that under the new
election law drawn by General
Crowder, there is every prospect OF
a fair and orderly election. 1t is
admitted, however, that both Of the
leading parties are split into fac
tions bitterly hostile to each other.
Mr.. Cassi says this is situation
which never fails to lead to revolu
ton. No one man. can control
enough support to keep him in
power.
The following account of Cuban
politics is based to considerable
extent upon information furnished
by Mr.. Cassi, but is amplified and
corroborated from other sources,
so that he is not to be held exclu-
sively responsible for it.
The fact of the matter seems to
be that Latin-American politics, as
typically represented in Cuba, are
very much like our own. Just as
in the United States, here are par
ties which do not stand for much,
and they put forth platforms which
consist largely Of high-sounding
but empty phrases. And back of
these parties and their platforms
are hidden a variety OF forces
financial, religious. political, per-
J sonal, racial-which use the par
ties as best they can for their own
ends.
The difference between Cuban
politics and our own is more one
Of temperament than of anything
else. A demagogue in this country
capitalizes discomfort by founding
a new party or whooping UP some
new cure-all for national ills. In
Cuba he capitalizes it by organic
ing a revolution and serving out
rifles.
! The Conservative and Liberal
parties in Cuba, therefore, are no
more truly representative Of the
social and economic forces at work
in the country than are the Dem
ocratic and Republican parties in
this country. 1t is to the forces
|, behind them that one must look for
a real understanding Of Cuban life.
The most interesting of these
semi-covert forces in Cuba, from
an American point Of view, is the
Spanish element in the population.
and the new and ambitious Spain
which stands behind it.
There are said to be about $780,
900 Spaniards in Cuba, which means
that between one-third and one
fourth of the population is Spanish.
By a Spaniard is meant one born
| in Spain, or the child of Spanish
born parents, if he has kept his af-
filiations with the Spanish element
There could be no greater mistake
than to imagine that a Spaniard and
Cuban Of pure Spanish descent
are the same thing. The sharpest
social and political division in the
island is between the Cubans OF
colonial descent and the Spanish
families which have come here
since the war of 1898. Each OF
these elements has its own social
life. its own clubs. and, to a con-
siderable extent. its own customs
Members. of the old aristocratie
fCuban families. which have beer
here since the 18th and 18th cen.
turtles, would under no considera.
tons marry Spaniards. This so
cial cleavage, owing to the similar.
tiles Of culture and identity Of Ian.
guage. disappears to some exteh,
in the lower classes. There is mo-
much active hostility between
Spaniard and Cuban, nor is there
complete social separation; bu
there are the two elements having
2 Indifferent aspirations for the island
In order to understand the pc
litical influence Of this Spanish ele
v ment in Cuban life. you must un
q derstand something Of modern
n Spain. Before our war with Spain
she was decadent country, which
n had been engaged for a couple o
d centuries in losing a world EN-
e pire. We took the last bits of tina
: empire away from her at the poin
n Of a gun. This robbery had tn,
n effect of waking Spain from a lon,
a sleep. Since then. Spain has show
n new energy in every phase of he
national life. Burdened by an idl
landed aristocracy and beset Will
. internal political troubles, she i
e nevertheless making great prog
/ ress. This progress is sharply re
l. hected in the new and aggressiv
q Spanish literature, of which W.
y have recently heard so much il
= this country. Before the war o
1898, Spanish literature consiste,
a, almost wholly Of high-HoWn 70
N mances. based upon the GREATNESS
lie OF the vanished past. Modern Spai,
- has produced q group Of realisti
le novelists who are among the mos
10 o~A1~~ha -