New-York tribune., 1921-01-04
Wilson Orders General to
Havana Following APP
peals to U. S. for SUI
pervision of Elections
Renewed Control
Of Island Forecast
Belief Grows Its Affairs
Soon Will Be Directed
From Washin gtonAgain
By Carter Field

WASHINGTON, Jan. 3.-Departure
of General Enoch H. Crowder for
Cuba, at President Wilson'S orders. to
confer with President Menocal. with a
view to composing the present chaotic
conditions on the island, was an
nounced to-day by the White House.
This most recent development in the
Cuban situation follows closely the re-
ceipt in Washington of frantic nett
tions from members of the Liberal
party in the island to have the United
States supervise a new Presidential
election, SO as to prevent repetition of
the frauds they allegc against the one
held on November /.
The outcome of General Crowder's
negotiations with President Menocal
is awaited with the most intense in
terest, not so much because they prob
ably will decide whether the next
President of Cuba is to be General
Gomez, the Liberal candidate, or AL
fred Zayas, who was the administra-
ton nominee, but because Of the DOS
slblites which this action of inter
vening, however mild it may be, open
up.
There are serious students of the
Cuban situation in Washington who be-
lieve that one step will lead to an
other. and the final result will be that
the government Of Cuba will be run
fn lv,,Ac
extent as when General Leonard Wood
was Governor
Cheer for Anti-Saloon League
incidentally the Anti-Saloon League
would be perfectly delighted if the
progress of events should carry the
situation even further, and result in
Cuba becoming as much part of this
country as Porto Rico
Overhanging the whole situation is
the Platt amendment to the Paris
Peace Treaty, under which Cuba
legally obtained the freedom won for
her in the Spanish American War. The
Cuban Liberals point out that under
this amendment the United States is
obligated to see that the Cuban people
shall have a government Of their own
choosing, and that this government
must assure protection of life, indi-
vidual liberty and property to every
Cuban citizen.
This government has got itself into
a most peculiar situation with regar d
to Cuba because it has taken the posi-
ton that there must be no revolutions
there. Denying people the right to re-
volt, the administration element
in Cuba has contcnded, forces this
country into the moral OBLIGATION Of
seeing to it that the elections are
honest.
Four years ago, when President
Menocal was reelected on the face Of
the returns, the Navy Department
stopped a revolution with the promise
that there would be a careful examina-
ton into the facts by the United
States government, and that right
would prevail. Nothing followed this
promise, so last summer the Liberals
began to bestir themselves with view
to seeing that there was no repetition
They succeeded to the extent that
the State Department sent observers
down to Cuba for the November con-
test. In his recent dispatch from
Havana to The Tribune Wilbur Forres st
quoted these observers to the effect
that there had been wholesale frauds
in the recent election and in addition,
declared that the people of Cuba want
ed to return TO the rule of the United
States.
Tumulty Announces Mission
Secretary to the President Tumulty
to-day announced the departure Of
General Crowdcr in the following
statement:
upon instructions of the President
Major General Enoch II. Crowder has
sailed for Havana, Cuba, on the U S. s.
Minnesota. General Crowder goes to
Cuba to confer with President Memo
cal regardi1l, conditions in Cuba. The
moratorium and financial crisis in
Cuba continue, the solution of which
appears more difficult on account of
the unsettled Presidential election. A
of the present situation
would prove most detrimental to the
prosperity Of Cuba and harmful to the
relations between the United States
and Cuba. AS this cannot but be a
matter Of the closest concern to this
Continued on page fyc)