CHAPTER XXI

THE CONSTITUTION AND CONGRESS

THE Constitution of Cuba has many excellences. Some features have, indeed, proved to be bad in the way they have worked out, but the evil is not apparent at first reading, and is due rather to the way they have been interpreted than to anything inherently wrong in them. A Constitution such as Cuba has might have been equally satisfactory to the people of the United States as the one they possess, while the Cubans would have had no better fortune with the fundamental document of the northern republic than they have had with their own. The difference in the degree of success the two Constitutions have had is due wholly to the difference in the two peoples. The Cubans, handicapped by evil political traditions which put the personal advantage of office-holders far above any consideration of public service, have debauched their own Constitution, so that it appears to be seriously defective in many particulars. No document could have been devised, however, that would have been able to avoid the evils in Cuban political life, for it could not possibly rise superior to the level of the people.

In general, the Constitution resembles that of the United States, with a number of improvements in the light of American experience and in accord with Cuban conditions. It is a much longer and far more detailed document, with a total of 115 "articles," distributed through fourteen "titles."

In addition, there is a preamble, some transitory provisions in unnumbered paragraphs (no longer important), the Platt Amendment "appendix," and the Permanent Treaty with the United States in the same terms as the appendix. The two last-named features belong rather to the field of relations with the United States than to the subject under discussion here, and so may be omitted from consideration. The following is a brief summary of the fourteen titles:

Title I proclaims an independent republic for Cuba and adjacent islands, and divides the territory into the six already existing provinces.

Title II defines who are Cubans, including the native-born and naturalized foreigners.

Title III provides that foreigners are entitled to the same protection and civil rights and subject to the same civil obligations as Cubans.

Title IV is the Cuban "Bill of Rights." It is more complete than that of the United States. One article announces freedom of worship and the separation of church and state. Another makes primary education compulsory and free. Universal man-suffrage is provided for, and a paragraph is included "to assure the intervention of minorities in the preparation of the census of voters and other electoral matters and in their representation in the House of Representatives, the Provincial Councils, and Municipal Boards." In all, there are thirty-two articles in this title.

Title V vests sovereignty in the Cuban people.

Title VI, in twenty-one articles, deals with the legislative power. In the main this follows the Constitution of the United States. Congress is made up of two chambers, the Senate, and the House of Representatives. There are four senators from each of the six provinces, elected for eight

years, with the body renewable by half, every four years. Thirty-five years is the minimum age for senators. They are elected indirectly, with the selection to some extent influenced by wealth; the choice is made by the members of the Provincial Councils and twice their number of additional electors, who are chosen by the voters of the provinces, except that half of them are to be among the largest tax-payers. The Senate has the exclusive right to try impeachments, confirm nominations, and approve treaties, like the Senate of the United States. The minimum age for a representative is twenty-five years, with one representative for every twenty-five thousand inhabitants, chosen by direct election every four years. The House is renewable by half, every two years. This branch alone has the power to impeach government officers. Each chamber is judge of elections to its own body, and neither may expel a member, except by two-thirds vote. Congress as a whole has much the same sort of powers as the Congress of the United States, such as the right to participate in all legislation, which includes the passing of an annual budget. A presidential veto may be overcome by a two-thirds vote. Notable in the light of later events is this provision: "Senators and representatives shall be arrested or indicted only upon permission of the body to which they belong . . . except in case they are caught in the act in the commission of some crime." Another important paragraph requires that they shall not "commence their sessions without two-thirds of the total number of their members being present, or continue them. without an absolute majority of them."

Title VII concerns the executive branch. To be President one must be at least forty years old, and Cuban-born. The method of election is by presidential electors, as in the United States, and the term of office is four years. The

powers of the President are virtually the same as those of a President of the United States.

Title VIII provides for a Vice-President.

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Title IX makes provision for Cabinet officers, that was not done directly in the Constitution of the United States. One noteworthy paragraph calls for the appropriate secretaries to countersign all presidential documents. In effect, this has meant no more than that a President must control his Cabinet.

Title X concerns the judiciary. The Supreme Court alone is specifically provided for.

Title XI has to do with provincial government. Here a departure is made from the system of the United States, in that the provinces are distinctly subordinate to the national government. Instead of leaving it to the provinces to set up their own government, the Constitution settles it that there shall be a governor and a single-chamber legislative body, the Provincial Council. Either the national or the provincial government may take the initiative in impeachments, but in any event the Senate is the court of trial.

Title XII, concerning municipalities, is a section that has no counterpart in the United States Constitution, and like the preceding title emphasizes the centralized character of the Cuban state. Government by a mayor (alcalde) and Board of Aldermen (ayuntamiento) is provided for, and in other respects the superior position of the national authorities is asserted.

Title XIII declares that all lands in Cuban territory not belonging to a province, a municipality, or private individuals is part of the national estate.

Title XIV sets forth the method of amending the Constitution, making it so difficult that no amendments have so far been adopted. Two-thirds of the members of each

house must concur in proposing an amendment, after which a constitutional convention is to be called which may accept or reject it, but not do anything else.

But "What is the Constitution among friends?" A pessimist might be pardoned for holding that the Cuban Constitution has been used primarily to promote evil rather than check it. Government everywhere, in the United States as well as in Cuba, is to a great extent incompetent and bad. There are degrees of difference, however. As one Cuban writer recently remarked, after a visit to the United States, there were grafters in the northern republic, but there were also good roads and excellent schools; the politicians had to accomplish some good for the community they served, not merely provide sinecures for themselves and their friends.1 There is, indeed, some service rendered by the government in the United States. If, for example, a road is built, it will be a good road. In Cuba, however, it will be paid for at a generous rate, but not built, or at best only half built, so that in a few years it will be worth nothing. The typical Cuban politician is a grafter, if not a criminal; in the elections of 1922, as already stated, more than onefifth of the candidates had penal antecedents.2 Not only do they accept graft; they solicit it. As one man expressed it (and the present writer has ample evidence to the same effect):

"Taxpayers are not permitted to be honest if they want to. Inspectors invariably suggest a false return and a division with them of the saving thus effected. To refuse is to invite endless interference, petty annoyance, and an excessive levy. The courts afford no adequate protection. The Supreme Court has recently held that the courts cannot take jurisdiction of a criminal charge against an official unless he has first been

1

Impressions, in Diario de la marina, translated in Havana Post, May 16, 1924.

"Trelles, El progreso (1902 a 1905) y el retroceso (1906 a 1922) de la república de Cuba, 25.