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CHAPTER XIV

MENOCAL BEGINS, 1913-1916

THERE was great rejoicing by the best elements in Cuba when, on May 20, 1913, General Mario García Menocal, the successful candidate of the Conservative party, took over the presidency of the republic. At last, they thought, Cuba was to have the correct and efficient government of which the workers for independence had dreamed. For the Conservatives seemed to stand for the ideals of González Lanuza and Enrique José Varona, men of proven integrity and worth. Then too there was Menocal himself, rated the highest in his party. Respected as he was in Cuba, Menocal was even more admired by the foreign writers who celebrated his advent to power. He "stands . . . apart from and above the ordinary run of Cuban politicians," said Sydney Brooks, wellknown English publicist, who then went on to compare him. to Woodrow Wilson, the President of the United States. He was "the most distinguished and experienced man of affairs in the island," said Brooks, adding that of all the Cubans he was "the best man they possessed." Indeed, continued Brooks, it was unusual to find his type in Cuba, and even more so for him to have succeeded in politics. He was not a self-seeker, and not even accused of aspiring to the presidency in order to make money out of it, but was really disinterested and altruistic in his views, thinking of the welfare of the land and not of the manipulation of political jobs. and loot-yielding concessions. Once he made up his mind, however, he was tenacious of his views, for he was "endowed

with a decisive and energetic temperament." Furthermore, he chose as his ministers men of first-rate quality, with the result that a healthier atmosphere had become apparent in Cuban politics.1

This characterization was merely representative of what foreigners in general and many Cubans thought, and, despite later "variations from type," was very likely what Menocal himself intended to be. Even at the outset of his second term some foreigners were still speaking favorably of him. For example, George Marvin, an American writer, said of him that he was "more of an American than . . . a Cuban," intending the remark as praise. He was open, frank, a good listener, and absolutely honest. He had "extraordinary administrative ability," which he had displayed in war, business, and in the presidency, in which last-named office he worked "twelve hours a day." This writer pointed out, however, that Menocal had one grave defect: he was typically Cuban (and one might add Hispanic American) in being a strong family man, "which is really at the root of most Cuban political troubles.” 2

Marvin's remarks on the score of the Menocal defect are worthy of somewhat more extended comment. Cuban wives, said Marvin, were the recipients of an oft-repeated, ardent devotion from their husbands, who might tell them "twenty times a day" how much they loved them,-and then tell the same story twenty more times to some woman around the corner. Nevertheless, the affection for the former was real, and extended far beyond wife and children, taking in relatives of various degrees as members of "the family." There

Brooks, Sydney, Cuba and its president, in Living age, v. CCLXXXI, pp. 497-499, May 23, 1914; Some impressions of Cuba, in North Ameri

can review, v. CXCIX, pp. 734-745, at 745, May, 1914.

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* Marvin, George, Keeping Cuba libre, in World's work, v. XXXIV, pp. 553-567, at 564-565; Sept., 1917.

were some fifteen or twenty persons in one branch of the Menocal family who all lived in the same house, having little to do with anybody else, except others of the enlarged family group. And family loyalty makes its way into politics. An American military attaché once caught a relative of Menocal in the act of “embezzlements," but Menocal would not punish the man, though he did transfer him to another post. Thus, said Marvin, "loyalty to friends and kindred is actually a hampering influence in the public life of Cuba," and it was that sort of thing which made the Platt Amendment necessary, even in the background of such an otherwise fine man as Menocal.3

The name of Menocal has already appeared many times in these pages. He had, indeed, had a distinguished career. Born at Jagüey Grande, Matanzas, in 1866, he was taken two years later to the United States, to which country his father emigrated when forced to leave Cuba at the time of the Ten Years' War. Menocal spent much of his boyhood on a plantation in Mexico, but was educated in the United States, attending the Maryland College of Agriculture and eventually obtaining a degree in engineering at Cornell in 1888. He then went to work at his profession, at first for several years in Nicaragua in connection with the canal projects of that day, but presently he appeared in Cuba, and was there at the outbreak of the war in 1895. He enlisted forthwith as a private, but rose quickly until at length he attained to the rank of major-general. Few men saw more active service than he. He fought under Máximo Gómez, Maceo, and Calixto García, the greatest generals of the war, but his crowning glory came with the battle of Victoria de * Marvin, Op. cit., at 565.

las Tunas while at the head of a division of Calixto García's army in 1897. On this occasion

"he made such skillful disposition of men and guns that competent witnesses have said that the conduct of this battle stands out in the entire record of the Revolution as the one combat in which the Cuban forces were disposed and directed in accordance with the principles of military science. Not only did General Menocal direct the operations in pursuance of a well-considered plan but he is said to have led his soldiers in the assault with intrepid courage.'

Under the United States military government Menocal was for a time chief of police of Havana and then inspector of light-houses, but resigned in 1899 in order to accept an opening with the Cuban American Sugar Company. For that company he set up the Chaparra sugar plantation, which became under his management the largest estate of its kind in the world. His success as a business man was unquestioned. Laboring men as well as great corporations had confidence in him. As one man (who was by no means proMenocal) told the writer, he would "go right out in the fields with his workmen and share their conditions." Furthermore, as a sportsman and gentleman, in addition to being a hero of the war against Spain, he was quite popular generally among Cubans. Some were a little hesitant about him as a candidate for the presidency, however, because of his long life in the United States and his close relations with American business enterprises. In the campaign of 1908, for example, the Liberals accused him of being an annexationist." Nevertheless, few men could have been found who gave greater promise of success than Menocal did at the inception of his presidency in 1913.

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*Cubans of to-day, 4.

Brooks, Sydney, Cuba and its president, in Living age, v. CCLXXXI,

pp. 497-499, at 497; May 23, 1914. Martínez Ortiz, II, 820.

But that was in 1913. For several years following the end of his second term in 1921 no man was ever more universally condemned. Indeed, the current began to turn against him from the time he decided to run for reëlection in 1916. One of the most noteworthy characterizations of the President's conduct appeared in an open letter directed to him by Juan José de la Maza y Artola early in 1917. Maza was also a Conservative, but had opposed the reëlection of Menocal, and espoused the cause of the Liberal candidate against him. He called upon Menocal to acknowledge his defeat in the elections of 1916:

...

"Never in America," he said, "has a citizen been exalted to the first magistracy of his people with more enthusiasm on the part of his own partisans and more respect among foreigners and even his opponents than you were in being raised to the presidency of our republic. In addition to all the honors and glory which you had legitimately acquired in the brilliant course of your history as an eminent patriot and exemplary citizen, you had the merit of having been proposed by a party which had distinguished itself by its vigorous and constant campaigns in favor of morality and economy in our administration and which as a solid guarantee of its seriousness and efficiency was offering the clean reputation of the illustrious men of high station who were directing it, by whose wise and honored counsels all thought that you would always be inspired . . . Your first steps . . . manifested clearly the honesty of your intentions . . . But why did you not persevere in that line of conduct? . . . Why did you not fortify yourself with the counsels of the illustrious and honored chiefs of the Conservative party . . . instead of... abandoning yourself to the intrigues of those among your friends. <.. who, avid of advancement, ended by making you believe that you could not maintain yourself in the government without changing your course in radical fashion and compounding with what they were wont to call . . . the impurities of reality? . . . There were those who one day brought it about that you should employ bribery to assure measures that were fitting for the public good, utilizing only the collectorships, the distribution of which you could make, according to the law, at your pleasure.' And when they saw how satisfied you were with the efficacy

'For a discussion of the collector- the Cuban lottery, see infra, pp. 554ships in connection with the evils of 557.