The Key West citizen. [volume] (Key West, Fla.) 1879-current, 1933-04-27

In Chicago, wholesale murder
is carried on by the underworld.
In Cuba, wholesale murder is car
ried on by the government of
Gerardo Machado against citizens
who dare criticize his terror. Stu
dents, professors, lawyers, doctors,
labor-leaders, business men have
been shot down ruthlessly in their
homes, on the streets, or in Jail.
The blood thus shed is on our
hands. We, as nation, were re-
sponsible for Cuba's independence.
American lives were lost to, make
it free. Today, morally and legal
ly we are directly responsible for
the grim conditions prevailing on
that island. By the Plat Amend
ment-set forth in a permanent
treaty May %, 1903-Cuba con-
scented to our right Ito intervene
for the preservation of Cuban in
dependence, the maintenance of
government adequate for the pro-
tection of life, property and indi-
vidual liberty" Yet now we as
sumo the holy role of non-respon-
sibility for terrible crimes.
was in Machado's snowy cap
ital on September %, 1882, when
DIR. Clemente Vasquez Bello, pres
ident of the Senate, and Machado's
trusted adviser, was assassinated.
Within few hours some of the
most honorable men in Cuban life
who had had the temerity to OPP
pose Machado, men who had no
relation to the Vasquez Bello
crime, were wiped out by the gov
ernment's secret murder gang.
That afternoon / had an appoint
ment with Leopoldo Freyre de An
drade, an authority upon the sugar
question. / kept my appointment
with dead man. Before sunset
not only Leopoldo, but his two
brothers, Gonzalo and Guillermo,
were lying in blood on the second
floor of their home. Gunner had
forced their way inside his resi-
dence and moved down the three
brothers. The police, next door,
close enough to hear all the firing.
delayed Is minutes before appear
ing. Gonzaio, well-known law
yer, had dared defend political
prisoners illegally held by the milf
tary authorities. He and his
two brothers paid the usual price.
Dozens of other prominent Cubans
took refuge in foreign legations
in order to escape similar fate.
The tendency of Cuban rulers
to mulct their country as thor
oughly as possible has reached the
maximum corruption under Ma
chado. For the 1880 elections Ma
chado nominated members of his
own family and many intimate
friends. He already had pup
pet congress, but he wished to dish
out the fat lottery collections to
his intimate circle. The so-callcd
Chadbourne sugar plan created a
new bonded indebtedness of s42.-
00O. 900 of which $4,000. 900 1t has
been charged. went to high Off
cials. Cuba's ostentatious capt.
toll building was erected by the Ma
chado government at cost Of
$4,000, 900 plus si2,00O.000 in
graft. An officer Of the Chase
National Bank estimated that Gu
ba's great central highway cost
500, 0OO, 900. An American COM
pany previously offered 10 build
the entire road for $40, 0O0. 900.
considering this as somewhere
near normal, the read represented
= loss in graft of SIS. 600 600.
TO hold Cuba helpless under
its tyranny. the Aaehado govern
ment, though il cannot pay school
teachers. i permitted 70 buy large
quantities az arms IN the United
States. And. since Maehado hiss
eiamped the I'D d0wn upon al pop
nlar expression. since no aan's
life or property Il safe. since le-
gAi rights have disappeared. only
individual rebellien az 4 violena
nature has been left the CShans