Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-10-05
BY WILLIAM HARD.

The State Department at TINS week
end confronts in Cuba revolutionary
condition which in these columns has
been frequently forecast and which ON
cially has been as frequently denied.
President Machado now has arrayed
against him not only Col. Carlos Men
dieta, leader of the Nationalist
Union" but also former President
Menocal and former President Zayas,
his only two living predecessors IN the
Cuban presidential Office. The martial
law which President Machado has sum-
moned the Cuban Congress to proclaim
is but a formal recognition of a state
of things which has long existed and
which long has obliged the Cuban gov
eminent to maintain its power through
the daily application of the practical
equivalent of martial law. Formal
martial law will merely regularize for
the so-called elections" of November /
next the general disfranchisement Of
the Cuban people which long ago was
in substance effected.
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The studies of the State Department
now are in part directed toward the
"constitutionality or "unconstitution-
atty of the Machado regime. The pol
icies of President Woodrow Wilson and
the policies subsequently of Secretary
of State Charles Evans Hughes planted
in the State Department tendency
toward favoring supposed "constitu-
tional'' governments in nearby Latin
American countries against "subver-
sion" by the "lawless forces" of "revo-
luton" The puzzle for the State De-
partment in Cuba is the allegation by
Cubans of the highest legal eminence
that it is the incipient revolutionists
in Cuba who represent constitutional
ism" and it is President Machado who
represents 'lawlessneSs" and "uncon-
stitutionality."
Our conscientiously law-minded Sec
rotary of State, Mr.. Henry L. Stimson,
is thereupon caught between the blades
OF pair of scissors. He comes from
New York. His Undersecretary of State.
Joseph p. Cotton, comes from New York
His Ambassador to Cuba, Harry F..
Guggenheim, comes from New York
New Workers have bought Cuban sugar
plantations profusely. They have pro-
fusely lent money to the Cuban Ma
chado administration. They have en-
! tered into large undertakings in Cuba
with possibilities of ultimate large
profits on the assumption that the au-
tnorlz1ng acts Of the Machado admin
istration have been legally valid. They
now are faced with the declaration of
numerous Cuban scholars and states
men TO the effect that every act of the
Machado administration since MAY 20.
1923, when President Machado took
once 1or the second time, has been
constitutionally null and void"
X y
That opinion is held and has heen
expressed by Enrique Jose Varona. Do
mingo Mendez Capote, Juan Gualberto
Gomez, Pedro Betancourt, Aurelio AL
varez, Aurelio Hevia. Roberto Mendez
Penate, Jose Marti, Manuel Piedra and
Cosme de la Torriente, most of whom
bore arms for Cuba in the revolution
against Spain, all of whom have held
high ONCE in Cuban party life and
OF whom, as, for instance, Cosme de la
Torriente. who has represented Cuba
automatically in both hemispheres and
who has presided over the Assembly Of
the League of Nations, command the
attentive ear of the whole world.
Such testimony obviously is not
lightly disregarded by so careful legal
ist as Mr.. Stimson. On the one hand,
| for him, Is the natural New York
theory, almost universally there enter
tanned, that Machado represents Cuban
| orderliness and Cuban sound economic
development. On that hand. too, is
the clause in the so-called PLAT
| amendment" and in our fundamental
| treaty with Cuba empowering the
United States to intervene in Cuba
for the protection of property" On
the other hand is the contention of the
| Cuban Nationalist, backed now by ex-
President Menocai and ex-President
zayas, who are Cuba's outstanding
elder statesmen" that Machado repre-
sents a denial of constitutional" free
dom. On that other hand, additionally,
is the clause in the so-called PLAT
amendment" and in our fundamental
treaty with Cuba empowering the
United States to intervene in Cuba
for the protection of liberty" How to
combine in Cuba the protection of prop
erty with the protection of liberty is
Mr.. Stimson's problem.
The Cuban Nationalist have sug-
gested that Mr.. Stimson could solve
this problem by offering American
supervision to a Cuban general election.
They profess themselves perfectly will
ing that Machado should run for Presi-
dent in such an election. They are
sure they would Overwhelmingly beat
him. They point out that Mr.. Stimson
in Nicaragua arranged supervised
election which was fair and which
resulted in the acknowledged peaceful
success of the Nicaraguan political
party which had been conducting an
armed revolt. They want Mr.. Stimson
to install-a similar policy in Cuba and
assert that 1t would have a similar
consequence.
The essence of their grievance ir
Cuba today Is that some "a men, as
they claim, have usurped the total po-
Itical electoral power of the whole
Cuban people. The links in the chain Of
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