In material prosperity the progress of the island from 1902 to 1906
was very great; but in its politics, various social and economic
elements, and political habits and examples of Spanish provenience
that ill befit a democracy, led once more to revolution.
Congress neglected to pass certain laws which were required by
the constitution, and which, as regards municipal autonomy,
independence of the judiciary, and congressional representation
of minority parties, were intended to make impossible the
abuses of centralized government that had characterized Spanish
administration. Political parties were forming without very
evident basis for differences outside questions of political
patronage and the good or ill use of power; and, in the absence
of the laws just mentioned, the Moderates, being in power, used
every instrument of government to strengthen their hold on
office. The preliminaries of the elections of December 1905 and
March 1906 being marked by frauds and injustice, the Liberals
deserted the polls at those elections, and instead of appealing
to judicial tribunals controlled by the Moderates, issued a
manifesto of revolution on the 28th of July 1906.[1] This insurrection
rapidly assumed large proportions. The government was
weak and lacked moral support in the whole island. After
repeated petitions from President Palma for intervention by
the United States, commissioners (William H. Taft, Secretary
of War, and Robert Bacon, Acting Secretary of State) were sent
from Washington to act as peace mediators.
All possible efforts to secure a compromise that would preserve the Republic failed. The president resigned (on the 28th of September), Congress dispersed without choosing a successor, and as an alternative to anarchy the United States was compelled to proclaim on the 29th of September 1906 a provisional government,—to last “long enough to restore order and peace and public confidence,” and hold new elections. The insurrectionists promptly disbanded. Government was maintained under the Cuban flag,—the diplomatic and consular relations with even the United States remaining in outward forms unchanged; and the regular forms of the constitution were scrupulously maintained so far as possible. No use was made of American military force save as a passive background to the government. The government of intervention at first directed its main effort simply to holding the country together, without undertaking much that could divide public opinion or seem of unpalatably foreign impulse; and later to the establishment of a few fundamental laws which, when intervention ceased, should give greater simplicity, strength and stability to a new native government. These laws strictly defined the powers of the president; more clearly separated the executive departments, so as to lessen friction and jealousies; reformed the courts; reformed administrative routine; and increased the strength of the provinces at the expense of the municipalities. On the 28th of January 1909 the American administration ceased, and the Republic was a second time inaugurated, with General José Miguel Gomez (b. 1856), the leader of the Miguelista faction of the Liberal party, as president, and Alfredo Zayas, the leader of the Zayista faction of the same party, as vice-president. The last American troops were withdrawn from the island on the 1st of April 1909.
Authorities.—General Description.—There is no trustworthy recent description. The best books are E. Pechardo, Geografía de la isla de Cuba (4 tom., Havana, 1854); M. Rodriguez-Ferrer, Naturaleza y civilización de ... Cuba, vol. i. (Madrid, 1876). See also United States Geological Survey, Bulletin 192 (1902), H. Gannett, “A Gazetteer of Cuba.” Of general descriptions in English, in addition to travels cited below, may be cited R. T. Hill, Cuba and Porto Rico with the other West Indies (New York, 1898).
Fauna and Flora.—A. H. R. Grisebach, Catalogus plantarum Cubensium (Leipzig, 1866), and F. A. Sauvalle, Flora Cubana: revisio catalogi Grisebachiani (Havana, 1868); and Flora Cubana: enumeratio nova plantarum Cubensium (Havana, 1873); F. Poey et al., Repertorio fisico-natural de la isla de Cuba (2 vols., Havana, 1865–1868), and F. Poey, Memorias sobre la historia natural de . . . Cuba (3 tom., Havana, 1851–1860); Ramon de la Sagra, with many collaborators, Historia física, política y natural de ... Cuba (Paris, 1842–1851, 12 vols.; issued also in French; vols. 3-12 being the “Historia Natural”); Anales of the Academia de Ciencias (Havana, 1863– , annual); M. Gomez de la Maza, Flora Habanera (Havana, 1897); S. A. de Morales, Flora arborícola de Cuba aplicada (Havana, 1887, only part published); D. H. Seguí, Ojeado sobre la flora médica y tóxica de Cuba (Havana, 1900); J. Gundlach, Contribucion à la entomología Cubana (Havana, 1881); J. M. Fernandez y Jimenez, Tratado de la arboricultura Cubana (Havana, 1867).
Geology and Minerals.—M. F. de Castro, “Pruebas paleontologicas de que la isla de Cuba ha estado unida al continento americano y breve idea de su constitucion geologica,” Bol. Com. Mapa Geol. de Esp. vol. viii. (1881), pp. 357–372; M. F. de Castro and P. Salterain y Legarra, “Croquis geologico de la isla de Cuba,” ibid. vol. viii. pl. vi. (published with vol. xi., 1884). Many articles in Anales of the Academy; also, R. T. Hill in Harvard College Museum of Comparative Zöology, Bulletin, vol. 16, pp. 243–288 (1895); United States Geological Survey, 22nd Annual Report, 1901, C. W. Hayes et al., “Geological Reconnaissance of Cuba”; Civil Report of General Leonard Wood, governor of Cuba (1902), vol. v., H. C. Brown, “Report on Mineral Resources of Cuba.”
Climate.—See the Boletin Oficial de la Secretaria de Agricultura, and publications of the observatory of Havana. Sanitation.—For conditions 1899–1902, see Civil Reports of American military governors. For conditions since 1902 consult the Informe Mensual (1903– ) of the Junta Superior de Sanidad.
Agriculture.—Consult the Boletin above mentioned, publications of the Estación Central Agronómica, and current statistical serial reports of the treasury department (Hacienda) on natural resources, live-stock interests, the sugar industry (annual), &c.
Industries, Commerce, Communications.—See the works of Sagra and Pezuela. For conditions about 1899 consult R. P. Porter (Special Commissioner of the United States government), Industrial Cuba (New York, 1899); W. J. Clark, Commercial Cuba (New York, 1898); reports of foreign consular agents in Cuba; and the statistical annuals of the Hacienda on foreign commerce and railways.
Population.—The early censuses were extremely unreliable. Illuminating discussions of them can be found in Humboldt’s Essay, Saco’s Papeles and Pezuela’s Diccionario. See United States Department of War, Report on the Census of Cuba 1899 (Washington, 1899); U.S. Bureau of the Census, Cuba: Population, History and Resources, 1907 (1909).
Education.—See Civil Reports of the American military government, 1899–1902; United States commissioner of education, Report, 1897–1898; current reports in Informe del superintendente de escuelas de Cuba ... (Havana, 1903– ). On Letters and Culture.—E. Pechardo y Tapia, Diccionario ... de voces Cubanas (Havana, 1836, 4th ed., 1875; all editions with many errors); Antonio Bachiller y Morales, Apuntes para la historia de las letras y de la instrucción pública de Cuba (3 tom., Havana, 1859–1861); J. M. Mestre, De la filosofía en la Habana (Havana, 1862); A. Mitjans, Estudio sobre el movimiento científico y literario de Cuba (Havana, 1890); biographies of Varela and Luz Caballero by Rodriguez (see below); files of La Revista de Cuba (16 vols., Havana, 1877–1884) and La Revista Cubana (21 vols., Havana, 1885–1895). The literature of Travel is rich. It suffices to mention Letters from the Havannah, by the English consul (London, 1821); E. M. Masse, L’Île de Cuba (Paris, 1825); D. Turnbull, Travels in the West (London, 1840), and R. R. Madden, The Island of Cuba (London, 1853)—two very important books regarding slavery; J. B. Rosemond de Beauvallon, L’Île de Cuba (Paris, 1844); J. G. Taylor, The United States and Cuba (London, 1851); F. Bremer, The Homes of the New World (2 vols., New York, 1853); M. M. Ballou, History of Cuba, or Notes of a Traveller (Boston, 1854); R. H. Dana, To Cuba and Back (Boston, 1859); J. von Sivers, Die Perle der Antillen (Leipzig, 1861); A. C. N. Gallenga, The Pearl of the Antilles (London, 1873); S. Hazard, Cuba with Pen and Pencil (Hartford, Conn., 1873); H. Piron, L’Île de Cuba (Paris, 1876). Of later books, F. Matthews, The New-Born Cuba (New York, 1899); R. Davey, Cuba Past and Present (London, 1898). Among the writers who have left short impressions are A. Granier de Cassagnac (1844), J. J. A. Ampère (1855), A. Trollope (1860), J. A. Froude (1888).
Administration.—Consult the literature of history and colonial reform given below. Also: Leandro Garcia y Gragitena, Guia del empleado de hacienda (Havana, 1860), with very valuable historical data; Carlos de Sedano y Cruzat, Cuba desde 1850 à 1873. Coleccion de informes, memorias, proyectos y antecedentes sobre el gobierno de la isla de Cuba (Madrid, 1875); Vicente Vasquez Queipo, Informe fiscal sobre fomento de la poblacion blanca (Madrid, 1845); Informacion sobre reformas en Cuba y Puerto Rico celebrada en Madrid en 1866 y 67 por los representantes de ambas islas (2 tom., New York, 1867; 2nd ed., New York, 1877); and the Diccionario of Pezuela. These, with the works of Saco, Sagra, Arango and Alexander von Humboldt’s work, Essai politique sur l’île de Cuba (2 vols., Paris 1826; Spanish editions, 1 vol., Paris, 1827 and 1840; English translation by J. S. Thrasher, with interpolations, New York, 1856), are indispensable. For conditions at the end of the 18th century, Fran. de Arango y Parreño, Obras (2 tom., Havana, 1888). For later conditions, E. Valdes Dominguez, Los Antiguos Diputados de Cuba (Havana, 1879); B. Huber, Aperçu statistique de l’île de Cuba (Paris, 1826); Humboldt; Sagra, vols. 1-2 of the book cited above,
- ↑ In the preliminary registration by Moderate officials a total electorate was registered of 432,313,—about 30% of the supposed population of the island.
