All the other members of that body did their duty. But Colonel Crowder was its soul,-its driving will.""

Crowder was not only president of the Commission. As supervisor of the Department of State and Justice he was also virtual head of this important branch, and he was the legal adviser of the other departments, besides having the management of the successful elections of 1908. Magoon's reports several times singled him out for special and enthusiastic praise. And, indeed, Crowder failed-if he failed at all-only in that he may have placed too high a rating on Cuban political capacity. His legislation, with ordinarily honest administration, should have been waterproof, but later experience was to show that it wasn't. The basis is still there for good government, however, when, or if, it comes, and Crowder's manifold other services to Cuba, both in the Magoon era and since 1919, entitle him to the respect and the gratitude (which he may not get) of the Cuban people.

Martínez Ortiz, who made no such thoroughgoing study of this period as he did of the Wood and Estrada Palma years, aims as usual to be fair in his estimate of the Magoon régime, praising it for its taking the census, the legislation of the Advisory Law Commission, its maintenance of order, the correct handling of the elections, and its achievements in the realm of public works. He condemns it for extravagance and the job-giving and pardon evils. Sydney Brooks, writing from the standpoint of an observer, but not an investigator, says of the Magoon rule: "Its sole merit as a Government was that it kept the peace."25 That is a bit ungenerous, but undoubtedly it is the really greatest thing that can be said of it from the standpoint of history. "Martínez Ortiz, II, 849. nightly review, v. XCIV, pp. 796-806, Brooks, Sydney, Cuba, in Fort- at 802; Nov., 1910.

It tried to do more, and succeeded for the time being, but it could not make its Cuban successors maintain its roads and bridges or give effect to its laws. It kept the peace, and turned back the government to the Cuban people on a working basis. That is perhaps its epitaph. And for that much. at least, it deserves credit.26

By all odds the most important source for the period of the provisional government are the two Report volumes of Governor Magoon, of 1907 and 1908. They contain a wealth of data on all phases of the intervention. Martínez Ortiz (v. II) is less noteworthy for this period than for the earlier years of his work. He seems to be hurrying to a finish, and is interested only in the Cuban political succession. Subject to that limitation his treatment has the same high qualities of judicial-minded fairness.

that is so conspicuous of it elsewhere. The Taft and Bacon Report, used so extensively in chapter IX, has a direct bearing on the beginnings of the intervention, and is an always important factor in the background. This is a favorite period for treatment in periodical articles, some of which have interesting material, though few or none embody any real investigation. A good monograph might well be written on the provisional government.

CHAPTER XII

THE MOST TYPICALLY CUBAN PRESIDENT: GÓMEZ,

1909-1913

IF THERE might be an honest vote in Cuba to determine who had been the most popular President, José Miguel Gómez would assuredly get first place. This would not be because of any particularly great achievements of his administration, and most certainly it would not be on account of its integrity, a characteristic that very few of the Gómez supporters themselves would claim for it. Gómez is popular though his improprieties are well known and quite generally admitted. One explanation of this is that he more nearly resembled the typically likeable Cuban than any of the other men who have attained to the presidency. And, furthermore, though his faults would have made him an impossible figure in the higher political ranks of the United States, he had virtues, too. Whatever may be said against him, there is also much that is in his favor.

Born in the important and thoroughly Cuban old town of Sancti Spíritus on July 6, 1858, and member of an old Cuban family, Gómez received the equivalent of a high school education, and then, in 1875, joined the insurrectionists in the Ten Years' War. He also went out in the minor uprising of 1879, and became a lieutenant-colonel. From 1879 to 1895 he remained in Sancti Spíritus, occupied with the affairs of his father's estate. On the outbreak of war in 1895 he put himself at the head of the Sancti Spíritus brigade in the patriot army and rose rapidly until he be

came a major-general. It does not appear that he played an outstandingly prominent part in the conflict. At any rate, his services were confined to his native province of Santa Clara, in which he became a virtual political chief, as well as a military leader of some renown. He surrounded himself with a number of brilliant young men, who were later to be among the most prominent backers of his aspirations for the presidency and to become leaders in the Liberal party,—men like Orestes Ferrara, Gerardo Machado, Carlos Mendieta, and José Monteagudo. After the war Gómez was a prominent-but not too prominent-member of the Cuban Assembly, and presently became civil governor of Santa Clara under the United States military administration. He was also a member-somewhat in the background-of the Constitutional Convention, and was elected governor of Santa Clara under the republic. There he built up his political fences to such effect that almost the entire province was in the Republican party he founded there. Hints are not lacking as to some departure from "the proprieties" while Gómez held this post. One well-known Cuban publicist accuses him of organizing a gang of bullies to win elections for him by force, and hints that people mysteriously disappeared if they stood in Gómez's way and that cattle also were appropriated to repair the Gómez fortunes.1 He was quite often looked upon as a provincial cacique of the familiar Hispanic American type, and the favorite epithet applied to him in the presidential elections of 1908 was that of "tyrant," based on the record imputed to him as ruler of Santa Clara. His connection with Cuban affairs from the time of his entry into the lists for the presidency in Estrada Palma's time has already been told. Opinions differ as to his manifestation of merit, or lack of it, 1 Vasconcelos, 11.

1

2

in those years. One of his later political sayings was that "to provoke revolutions is to commit the worst crime and the greatest infamy," but he seems to have had different views in 1906. To be sure, his own part in that affair was not very spectacular, and at least one writer says he "let himself be caught," though "later gathering in the fruits of victory" for himself.3

All accounts seem to agree that Gómez was an extraordinarily likeable person,-a simpático in the fullest sense of that delightful Spanish word. Martínez Ortiz, a Gómez supporter, describes him as follows, having reference to his Santa Clara days:

"General Gómez had the complexion of a robust man, attractive features, a friendly manner in conversation, and a character that was affectionate at the same time that it was energetic. Whoever had dealings with him found it difficult to resist him, for he possessed in the highest degree the gift of winning good-will. Just a few words from him gained what the long arguments of others would not have attained. Without conspicuous knowledge, he was endowed with a most sagacious talent and an exact perception with which to measure the intelligence and understanding of others. He assimilated what he heard, with marvellous facility, and was accustomed to follow the opinion of the majority, but not without imposing his own in many cases, though always by indirect and gentle means. Of simple habits and likes, he kept his house open at all hours, and was accustomed to pass the hours of rest in familiar conversation or in games for pleasure and recreation, amidst the discussions of those who were playing cards and the jokes of the spectators, who never failed to be there, back of the table."

Much to the same effect was the pronouncement of another friend, Gualberto Hernández:

"General Gómez . . . is neither a tribune nor a publicist, nor can he be said to have a clear comprehension of the great social problems that stir the world. But on the other hand he possesses an enormous force:

2

* Quoted in Pardo Suárez, 124.

'Martínez Ortiz, II, 410.

* Pérez, 7.