The History of Cuba Volume IV Part 11

One thing more remained. There was one remote possibility that the men who had remained free from the fever, in the noninfected room of the mosquito house and in the infected clothing house, were in some unsuspected way immune against the disease. To determine this, one of each of the companies permitted himself to be bitten by an infected mosquito, with the result that he promptly developed the disease. That was the final, complete and crowning demonstration which made Camp Lazear forever famous in the annals of humanity. At a single stroke the pestilence which had been the haunting horror of the tropics was potentially conquered. Dr. Reed proclaimed to the world that the specific agent in the causation of yellow fever was a germ or toxin in the blood of a patient during only the first three days of the attack, which must be transmitted by the bite of a mosquito inflicted upon its victim at least twelve days after taking it from the blood of the first patient. In no other way was it possible to convey the infection. The notion that it was conveyed through the air, in the breath of patients, in their soiled clothing or the discharges of their bodies, was baseless.

That historic achievement was alone sufficient to make that first year of General Wood's administration in Cuba forever gratefully famous. Of course the lesson thus learned was at once put into effect with all possible thoroughness. War was declared upon the death-dealing mosquito.

In February, 1901, the campaign was begun by Major William C. Gorgas, U.

S. A., the chief sanitary officer of Havana. Every case of yellow fever was immediately reported, and the patient was rigidly isolated during the three days in which his blood was infective. All the rooms of his house and the adjacent houses were closed to prevent the escape of possible infected mosquitoes, and were then thoroughly fumigated so as to destroy every insect within them. In this way the spread of the disease was prevented. At the same time measures were taken to exterminate the mosquitoes altogether, by depriving them of breeding places. It was ascertained that the insect required for propagation a certain amount of stagnant water, in which its eggs might be deposited and hatched. Steps were therefore taken to drain or otherwise get rid of all pools, or to apply to them a film of oil which would prevent the insects from using them, and to screen carefully all vessels and other receptacles in which water was necessarily kept. These were the same methods which Major--since Major General--Gorgas a few years later applied with distinguished success for the elimination of yellow fever from the Isthmus of Panama and thus rendered possible the construction of the interoceanic ca.n.a.l.

[Ill.u.s.tration: STREET IN VEDADO, SUBURB OF HAVANA]

Begun in February, 1901, this work in Havana was so vigorously and skilfully prosecuted that before summer every case of yellow fever had disappeared from that city and its environs. During the summer a few cases occurred, but the last of them was disposed of early in September.

That was the last case of yellow fever to originate in a city which for a century and a half had annually been scourged by that disease. Since that date the only cases that have been known there have been a few which were imported from less sanitary ports--at one time Havana had to establish a fever quarantine against United States ports! Thus the island which had long suffered reproach as the especial home of one of the deadliest of diseases, as a veritable plague-spot, which American life insurance companies forbade their policy holders to visit, became noted for its freedom from that scourge and for its general salubrity.

A similar campaign was also conducted against another variety of mosquito which, by a like series of experiments, had been proved to be the propagating medium of so-called malarial fevers; with highly gratifying results.

Among the important reforms effected by General Wood was that of the entire system of law and justice. It began with the penal inst.i.tutions.

When the Americans a.s.sumed control, they found the old Spanish prison system still in existence. Most of the prisons were antiquated, unsanitary and inhuman structures, to enter which was ominous for the body, the mind and the soul. There was no segregation of prisoners according to age or degree of criminality. Mere boys, sentenced for some slight misdemeanor, were herded in with adult felons of the most hardened and incorrigible type. Many had been confined for months, even years, awaiting trial. They had been arrested, locked up in default of bail, and then practically forgotten. Of these many were innocent of any wrong-doing; while some of those who were probably guilty were kept in confinement awaiting trial for a much longer term than they could have been sentenced for under the law if they had been tried and found guilty.

This shocking state of affairs was vigorously attacked during the first year of the American occupation, and it was thoroughly reformed before that occupation ended. There was a prompt disposal of all untried cases.

Where it was possible, the prisoners were at once brought to trial. But in many cases there was n.o.body to appear against them; perhaps through lapse of time all the witnesses were dead; and it was impossible to make even a show of prosecuting them. Such persons simply had to be set at liberty. The system of jurisprudence was so modified as to a.s.sure prompt trials thereafter. The management of the prisons was made to aim at the reformation of the prisoners and not simply at their vindictive punishment. In some prisons schools were opened, to give the inmates instruction which would conduce to their right living after their release. Of course the buildings were renovated as far as possible, so as to make them sanitary and as comfortable as prisoners have a right to expect their prisons to be.

This led, under General Wood's administration, to a general revision of the system of courts, court procedure and jurisprudence. In the first year of intervention, indeed, General Ludlow established a Police Court in Havana. This was not authorized by Governor Brooke, and was regarded as of doubtful legality. Nevertheless it remained in operation and undoubtedly served a good purpose in disposing promptly of most of the petty cases of arrest for misdemeanor. So valuable was it that General Wood, on becoming Governor, determined to place its legal status on the surest foundation possible, by issuing an official order for its creation and recognition. In this he did not himself escape criticism, not from Cubans but from Americans. The same people, or the same kind of people, who had blamed him for paying so much attention to Cuban education now declared that he had no business to meddle in any way with the judicial system of Cuba. That was not what America had intervened for. To such objections little attention was paid. General Wood rightly regarded it to be his business to do anything in any department of government that would promote the ends of justice and good government and the welfare of the Cuban nation.

Police courts were therefore established not only in Havana but also in the other cities. The Department of Justice was moved to examine into the conduct of all the courts. When judges were found to be unjust, corrupt, incompetent, or otherwise unfit to serve, they were removed.

Competent clerks were appointed, and they and all other court employes were put on fair salaries, the fee system which formerly prevailed and which was so susceptible of abuse, being abolished. Competent and trustworthy lawyers were employed at state expense to serve as counsel for those who were too poor to hire them.

It was under General Wood, in his first year of administration and the second year of American intervention, that Cuban civil government was elaborated, that an election system was devised and put into effect, and that political parties had their rise. The Civil Governors of the Provinces were now all Cubans: Of Pinar del Rio, Dr. J. M. Quilez; of Havana, General Emilio Nunez; of Matanzas, General Pedro Betancourt; of Santa Clara, General Jose Miguel Gomez; of Camaguey, General R. Lopez Recio; of Oriente, General Demetrio Castillo. It was General Wood's wise and just policy to fill Cuban offices with Cubans to the fullest possible extent.

Therefore it was determined in the spring of 1900 to hold an election for munic.i.p.al officers throughout the island. An order was issued on April 18, appointing the election for June 16, for officers to be installed on July 1 for a term of one year. The officers to be chosen were Mayors, or Alcaldes; members of City Councils or Ayuntamientos; munic.i.p.al treasurers and judges, and judges of the police courts.

The preparations for the election were made and a new electoral law was drafted by a commission of fifteen members, appointed by General Wood.

Of the fifteen, thirteen were Cubans and two were Americans. The Cubans were representative of the various political parties into which the people of the island were beginning to divide themselves. It cannot be said that the meetings and deliberations of the commission were particularly harmonious. In the end two reports were submitted to the Governor, of which he selected for adoption that presented by the minority. It comprised the new elections law, which he promulgated on April 18 in the proclamation calling for the election. This law provided that a voter must be a male Cuban, native of Cuba or born of Cuban parents while they were temporarily visiting abroad, or a Spaniard included within the terms of the Treaty of Paris of 1898, who had not elected to retain his Spanish allegiance; he must be twenty-one years old, and must have lived in his munic.i.p.ality for at least thirty days immediately preceding registration; and he must be able to read and write; or own property worth $250 in American gold; or have served in the Cuban army prior to July 18, 1898, and have been honorably discharged therefrom. The ten consecutive days from May 6 to May 16 were appointed as days of registration.

The total number of voters registered was 150,648, which was a little more than fifty per cent, of the total number of men of voting age, which had been shown by the census of 1899 to be 297,765. However, there were some thousands of adult males in the island who had elected to retain their allegiance to Spain, and therefore could not vote, so that the number registered was considerably more than one half of the possible voters. At the election on June 16 the total vote cast was 110,816. There were some protests and complaints of fraud and illegal voting, and it is not improbable that there were some such abuses; as there have been known to be in other lands, even in the United States of America. On the whole the elections were probably reasonably fair and honest; they were peacefully and quietly conducted; and they gave much encouragement to the expectation that the people of Cuba would prove themselves worthy of the opportunity of self-government which was being placed before them.

At this election there were three parties. The Union Democratic was composed of the more conservative element, including many of the old Autonomist party, and it was largely inclined toward annexation to the United States, or toward a permanent and efficient protectorate by that country. Its numbers were few, and it took little part in the election.

The Nationals and the Republicans ranged from liberal to radical, and between the two in principle there was no perceptible difference. These parties did not long survive, but were transformed and merged into the Conservative and Liberal parties of later years.

Political parties in Cuba had their origin about the time of American intervention in the war. That was an a.s.surance that Cuba was to have her independence and become self-governing, and that made it seem worth while to form into parties. The full development did not come, however, until it was seen that the United States intended to keep its word by leaving the government and control of Cuba to the people of the island, and that conviction did not come to the general Cuban mind until some time after the United States entered the war. It first began to arise in considerable strength when the United States government forbade the granting of any franchises or concessions during the American occupation. That certainly looked as though the Americans expected to get out of the island at an early date. As the administration of General Wood went on, constantly increasing the partic.i.p.ation of Cubans in the government, the confidence in American good faith increased, and of course the organization of parties became more complete.

There were then, however, as there are now, no such differences between the parties on matters of political economy or administrative and legislative policy, as exist in other lands. They are simply the "Ins"

and the "Outs." One party is in office and wants to stay in. The other is out and wants to get in. In their methods, however, the two differ widely. The Conservatives have been consistently in favor of const.i.tutional and lawful measures, the maintenance of peace and the safeguarding of life and property. They have always been willing to accept and abide by the result of an election, even though it were against them. The Liberals, on the other hand, as we shall more convincingly see in the course of this narrative, have been in favor of practically any means which would enable them to gain control of affairs. They have on several occasions not hesitated to involve the island in revolution, provided that they would be able to profit from it by gaining office.

In this first election for munic.i.p.al officers there was little partisan rivalry, and indeed that did not rise to any great pitch until the end of the first intervention and the establishment of a purely Cuban government. The chief partisans.h.i.+p was really personal. Each important military or political leader had his own following. Such rivalries were not yet, however, acrimonious or sufficient to have any material effect upon the progress of public affairs.

Reference has been made to the reform of the taxation system which included the abolition of a number of annoying and oppressive imposts.

There followed a revision of the tariff on imports, for the dual purposes of promoting commerce and industry and of providing a revenue for the insular government. In December, 1898, the United States had ordered maintenance of the old Spanish tariff, with certain modifications, chiefly dictated by the change of relations between Cuba and the United States. Subsequently other modifications were made from time to time as the need or desirability of them became apparent through experience. But on June 15, 1900, an entirely new tariff law went into effect, framed chiefly by American experts and following pretty closely the general lines of the American tariff system. Naturally it was calculated to encourage commerce between Cuba and the United States, particularly by the admission of products of the latter country into Cuban markets at a minimum of cost. In view of the scarcity of food in Cuba and the devastated condition of much of the agricultural lands, American food products, both meats and breadstuffs, thus gained easy access to the Cuban market. This seemed anomalous, since Cuba was an agricultural country capable of producing a large surplus of food for export instead of needing imports of food. It was obvious, however, that this feature of the tariff would be merely temporary, and in fact it was materially modified by the increase of rates on such imports very soon after the establishment of the Cuban government.

Despite the fact that during the year about three million dollars' worth of food was imported, the total of Cuban imports was less than in the preceding year; a circ.u.mstance due to the change in tariff rates. At the same time there was a very considerable increase in exports. It was an interesting circ.u.mstance, also, that there was a decrease in trade with the United States; a pretty effective reply to the complaint which some made that the new tariff had been improperly framed so as to give the United States a monopoly of Cuban trade. It did give the United States some advantages which that country had not enjoyed before, but on the whole it was probably as fair and impartial as it could well have been made. Commercial reports showed that Cuban imports from the United States were $26,513,613 in 1900 and $25,964,801 in 1901; and that Cuban exports to the United States were $31,371,704 in 1900 and $43,428,088 in 1901. Thus Cuban purchases from the United States were decreasing slightly, while Cuban sales to the United States were greatly increasing, and the balance of trade was growing more and more largely in Cuba's favor.

CHAPTER XI

The supreme work of the Government of Intervention, from the political point of view, was to prepare Cuba for complete self-government and then to relinquish the control of the island to its own people. It was with that end in view that General Wood filled all possible offices with Cubans. It was also to the same end that the munic.i.p.al election was held in June, 1900, under a new election law. Soon after that election there came a call for another, of vastly greater importance. On July 25, 1900, the President of the United States authorized General Wood as Military Governor of Cuba to issue a call for the election of a Cuban Const.i.tutional Convention, which should be representative of the Cuban people and which should prepare the fundamental law of the independent insular government which was about to be erected.

General Wood issued the call, fixing September 15 as the date of the election. This call repeated and reaffirmed the Congressional declaration of April 20, 1898, concerning the purpose of the United States not to annex Cuba but to "leave the government and control of the island to its people." It also called upon the people of Cuba, through their Const.i.tutional Convention, not only to frame and adopt a Const.i.tution, but also, "as a part thereof, to provide for and agree with the Government of the United States upon the relations to exist between that government and the Government of Cuba." That was a most significant thing. It made it quite clear that the United States expected and intended that some special relations should exist between the two countries, apart from those ordinarily provided in treaties.

Comment, criticism and protest were provoked; some temperate, some intemperate. Most of the unfavorable comments, and by far the most severe, came from the United States and were obviously animated by political hostility to the President. In Cuba the chief objection was based upon the ground that the island was thus required to do something through a Const.i.tutional Convention which that body was not intended to do but which should be done by the diplomatic department of the government; and also to put into the Const.i.tution something which did not belong there but which should be determined in a treaty. In this there was obviously much logical and moral force, and that fact was appreciated by General Wood, and by the government at Was.h.i.+ngton, with the result that a.s.surances were presently given that the order would be satisfactorily modified. On the strength of this a.s.surance, which was given in undoubted good faith, Cubans generally prepared for the coming election and for the great work which lay beyond it. They had been so disturbed by the original form of the order that many had declared that they would not partic.i.p.ate in the election or serve as delegates to the Convention. The promise of modification mollified them, and thereafter all went smoothly and auspiciously.

The call for the election was issued on August 11. The qualifications for suffrage which were prescribed were the same as those in the preceding munic.i.p.al election, and were generally accepted as fair and just. The election was held on September 15, and it pa.s.sed off in very much the same fas.h.i.+on as its predecessor. Only a moderate degree of popular interest was manifested in it, and the vote cast was not a large one. The candidates were divided among the three parties already mentioned, but all save one were elected from the two radical organizations, the Nationals and the Republicans. Just one, Senor Eliseo Giberga, of Matanzas province, was returned by the Conservative Union Democrats. There were a few charges of fraud, but they were vague and general in terms and were not formulated nor pressed, and in the main the result of the polling was accepted in good part. The number of delegates from each province had been prescribed in the call for the election. The roll of the convention comprised the names of many of the foremost members of the Cuban nation, distinguished in war, in statecraft and in science, and was well representative of all parts and parties of the island.

The convention met for the first time on November 5, 1900, at two o'clock in the afternoon. All the delegates were present, and a great mult.i.tude of the people gathered in and about the palace to witness the spectacle and to pay honor to the occasion. They were not alone from the capital, but from all parts of Cuba. Every province and almost every important munic.i.p.ality was represented. Expectant optimism prevailed.

There was only one note of uncertainty. That was concerning the promised modification of the order concerning relations with the United States.

The modification had not yet been announced. There were a few who began to doubt whether it would ever be; but most put faith in the Military Governor and were sure that he would keep his word.

He did. At the appointed moment, when all were a.s.sembled, General Wood called the Convention to order and addressed it briefly.

"It will," he said, "be your duty, first, to frame and adopt a Const.i.tution for Cuba, and when that has been done, to formulate what, in your opinion, ought to be the relations between Cuba and the United States. The Const.i.tution must be adequate to secure a stable, orderly and free government. When you have formulated the relations which, in your opinion, ought to exist between Cuba and the United States, the Government of the United States will doubtless take such action on its part as shall lead to a final and authoritative agreement between the people of the two countries to the promotion of their common good." He also reminded the Convention that it had no authority to take any part in the existing government of the island, or to do anything more than was prescribed in the order for its a.s.sembling. In thus speaking he was in fact reading to the Convention official instructions from Was.h.i.+ngton; in which the order concerning Cuban and American relations was materially modified. There was nothing in the revised version about making the agreement a part of the Const.i.tution. The Convention was merely to express its opinion on the subject, to serve as a basis for further negotiations. General Wood emphasized this point distinctly, and it was received with entire satisfaction by the Convention and by the public.

Having thus delivered to the Convention its instructions and having expressed his personal good will and wishes for its success, General Wood retired and the Convention was left to its own counsels and devices. Thereupon Pedro Llorente, the oldest of the delegates, took the chair by common consent as temporary president, and Enrique Villuendas, the youngest delegate, similarly occupied the desk of the secretary. A fitting oath of office was administered to all by the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the island; containing a formal renunciation of all other citizens.h.i.+p and allegiance than Cuban, because several delegates had become naturalized citizens of the United States and it was necessary for them thus to resume their status as Cubans. On the principle that "What was good enough for us when we were struggling in the field is good enough for us here," the rules of the Cuban Revolutionary Congress were adopted to govern the Convention. Finally Domingo Mendez Capote was elected permanent President of the Convention, and Alfredo Zayas and Enrique Villuendas permanent Secretaries.

There followed the usual experience of such bodies: Divided counsels, cross purposes, and what not; all gradually working together toward a common end. A few public sessions were held, at which there was more speechmaking than work, but after a few weeks private sessions and a great deal of committee work became the rule. There was no division on party lines, and there was a lack of dominant leaders.h.i.+p; both favorable circ.u.mstances. Much attention was given to studying and a.n.a.lyzing the const.i.tutions of all other republics in the world, in order to learn their good features and to avoid their errors and weaknesses. The const.i.tution of the United States was of course among those studied, but rather less regard was paid to it than to others, for two reasons. One was, a desire to avoid even the appearance of making Cuba a mere appanage to or imitation of its northern neighbor, and the other was the very practical thought that the const.i.tutions of Latin republics might be better suited to the Latin republic of Cuba than that of an Anglo-Saxon republic.

By January 21 the Const.i.tution was drafted in form sufficiently complete to permit it to be read to the whole convention in a public session, and thereafter there were daily discussions of its various provisions.

Differences of opinion ranged from mere verbal form to the substance of the most momentous principles. There was a characteristic pa.s.sage of verbal arms over a phrase in the preamble. That paragraph after stating the purpose of the Convention and of the Const.i.tution, closed by "invoking the favor of G.o.d." When this was read the venerable Salvador Cisneros, formerly President of the Republic, moved that the phrase be stricken out. Manuel Sanguilly made a long and dramatic speech, arguing with much pa.s.sion that it really did not matter whether the phrase were included or not, but that it would best be left in, because that might please some and could hurt n.o.body. Then the dean of the convention, Pedro Llorente, made an impa.s.sioned appeal for the retention of the words, to prove to the world that the Cubans were not a nation of infidels and atheists. In the end the phrase was retained.

Another animated debate arose over the question of religious freedom and the relations of church and state, which was ended by the adoption of an article guaranteeing freedom and equality for all forms of religion that were in accord with "Christian morality and public order," and decreeing separation of church and state and forbidding the subsidizing of any church. The question of suffrage was intensely controversial. There were those who dreaded the result of giving the ballot to tens of thousands of ignorant and illiterate men. Yet to disfranchise them would mean thus to debar thousands who had fought for Cuban independence in the late war, and it was not unreasonably feared that it would also cause dissatisfaction and resentment which would culminate in disorder and insurrection. In the end universal equal suffrage was adopted.

The most bitter debate of all, however, was over the qualifications of the President of the Republic. A strong and persistent effort was made to imitate the Const.i.tution of the United States by requiring him to be a native citizen. But that would have debarred Maximo Gomez, who was born in Santo Domingo. For that reason the proposed restriction was pa.s.sionately opposed by all the friends of Gomez, and also by many who were not his friends and who would have opposed his candidacy for the Presidency but who felt that it would be disgraceful to put such a slight upon the gallant old hero of the two wars. On the other hand, the restriction was urged chiefly for that very reason, that it would debar Gomez; for, idolized as he was by the great ma.s.s of the Cuban people, he had a number of unrelenting enemies, especially among these politicians whom he had opposed and overruled in the matter of the Cuban a.s.sembly and the payment of soldiers at the end of the war. After several days of acrimonious discussion the friends of Gomez won by a narrow margin, and the offensive proposal was rejected.

There were many other controversial points, less personal and more worthy of debate in such a gathering on bases not of personality but of principle. The governmental powers of the Provinces gave rise to debates resembling those over state rights in America. The recognition of Cuban debts was a momentous matter. The method of electing Senators was also much discussed, as was the principle which the Military Administration had adopted of having the state and not the provinces or munic.i.p.alities control public education. The right of the government to expel objectionable aliens was the theme of a long and spirited discussion.

With all the animation, sentiment and rhetoric in which Latin debaters and orators more freely indulge than do the more phlegmatic Anglo-Saxons, all of these questions were very seriously considered according to their merits, and were disposed of on that same basis.

There was no haste, and there was no undue delay; while everything was done "decently and in order." It took the Federal Convention of the United States four months of secret sessions to frame its Const.i.tution, and its career was marked with many violent scenes, including the withdrawal of the representatives of one of the chief states from the Convention. The Cuban Convention had no incidents so unpleasant as that, and it completed its work in three months and a half.

[Ill.u.s.tration: AURELIA CASTILLO DE GONZALEZ

Aurelia Castillo de Gonzalez, poet and essayist, was born in Camaguey in 1842, spent much time in European travel, and then settled in Havana.

She first attracted literary attention by her elegy on "El Lugareno" in 1866, and since that time has been an incessant contributor to Cuban literature in verse and prose. She is the author of a fine study of the Life and Works of Gertrudis Gomez de Avellaneda, of a volume of fables, and a number of satires. Her complete works (to date) were published in five volumes in 1913.]

February 21, 1901 was the crowning day. Ten days before the draft of the Const.i.tution, as yet unsigned, had been published in pamphlet form. On the date named the Convention was to give it validity by signing it. The public was admitted to view the scene, the consuls of foreign powers were in attendance as specially invited guests, and a fine military band discoursed patriotic and cla.s.sical music. The Const.i.tution, finally engrossed, was read aloud, and then one by one the delegates marched up to the President's desk and affixed their signatures. When the last name was written, all stood while the band played the national anthem of Cuba. The President of the Convention, Mendez Capote, made a graceful address of congratulation and good wishes; and the Convention adjourned, its work well ended.

We have said that at the opening session, immediately after his introductory address, the American Military Governor left the hall. He did not revisit it, and neither he nor any American officer was ever present at any meeting of the Convention; nor was any American representative present at the closing function of the signing of the Const.i.tution. The purpose of that abstention was obvious. It was to avoid so much as the appearance or the suspicion of American meddling or dictation in the work of the Convention. General Wood had told the Convention that it had nothing to do with his government of the island.

Conversely he wished to show that he and his government had nothing to do with the work of the Convention.

The Const.i.tution thus auspiciously brought into existence declares Cuba to be a sovereign republic. The powers of government are much more centralized than those in the United States. The six Provinces have no such rights as have the states of America, though they have a liberal measure of local governmental power. They are not states or provinces, however, but mere departments--fractions of the whole instead of integral units. Each has a Governor and an elected a.s.sembly. So each city and town has a mayor and a council. Munic.i.p.alities have the power to levy taxes for local needs. The control of railroads and telegraphs is a national function, and the judicial system is also national. There is freedom of speech, of press and of wors.h.i.+p. No prisoner may be held longer than twenty-four hours without judicial process. Congress consists of a Senate and a House of Representatives. There are six Senators from each department, elected by the munic.i.p.alities for six years, one third retiring every two years. Representatives are elected from districts by the people for four years, there being one member to every 25,000 inhabitants. Senators and Representatives must be twenty-five years old, and if not native citizens must have been naturalized eight years. The President and Vice-President are elected for four years by the people through electoral colleges, with a provision for minority representation, each citizen voting for only two-thirds of the number of electors to which his district is ent.i.tled.

Justices of the Supreme Court are appointed for life by the President with the ratification of the Senate. The civil law and const.i.tutional guarantees can be suspended in case of emergency only by Congress when it is in session, but by the President when Congress is not in session.

The House of Representatives may impeach the President, when the Senate may suspend him from office, try him, and upon conviction remove him permanently. Amendments of the Const.i.tution must be voted by two-thirds of both Houses and ratified by a popular convention specially called for the purpose.

There can be no question that this was a highly creditable production, and one which amply merited the qualified approval which was given to it by Elihu Root, Secretary of War of the United States, when he said: "I do not fully agree with the wisdom of some of the provisions of this Const.i.tution. But it provides for a republican form of government; it was adopted after long and patient consideration and discussion; it represents the views of the delegates elected by the people of Cuba; and it contains no features which would justify the a.s.sertion that a government organized under it will not be one to which the United States may properly transfer the obligations for the protection of life and property under international law, a.s.sumed in the Treaty of Paris."