army, and, for a time, declined to produce them. These were essential in determining the service qualification. They were at last released by the dissolution of the Asamblea. They included the names of some 48,000 men, a number which many competent Cuban authorities declared to be absurdly in excess of all possible enrollment in the Cuban army. It included the names of many who could not be found, and failed to include many who, by other evidence, proved the fact of service beyond any reasonable doubt. It included the names of many who had seen no fighting and no military service, but who had acted in some official or clerical position in connection with the quasi Cuban Republic.

It

The allotment had been made on the basis of a payment of $100 per man to an estimated force of 30,000. Several months were consumed in effort to adjust the matter. was finally determined by the elimination of officers and those who had served only in civil or semi-civil capacities. (Seventy-five dollars per man was awarded to 33,930 men, and the balance, $455,250, was returned to Washington. With the exception of those who were retained as a rural police, the Army of Liberation passed into history and into organizations of Veterans of the Cuban Army. Some used the money which they thus received in the commendable fashion of home establishment. Some disposed of their share in more expeditious but less laudable manner.

CHAPTER VIII

FIRST YEAR OF OCCUPATION

Continued

ONE of the interesting features of the year was the somewhat problematic position of Gen. Maximo Gomez. He had been a notable leader in the Ten Years' War, although he was not a Cuban. It was he who effected the termination of that war by the Treaty of Zanjon. That accomplished, he returned to his home in Santo Domingo, where he remained until, on the personal solicitation of José Marti, the idealist to whose efforts, more than to those of any other, the revolution of 1895 was due, he returned to Cuba to assume the military leadership of the new insurrection. His methods of fighting were those of the guerilla rather than those of the soldier, but it was to his skill in that style of warfare, and to his tenacity of purpose, that Cuba's insurrection was brought to a practical deadlock which might have continued almost indefinitely had it not been for the intervention of the United States. While neither Gomez nor his companions, either in the field or in the government, asked for that intervention, it is not to be doubted that he looked for the time when the United States would be virtually forced to interfere in some more effective manner than that of diplomatic negotiation.

The developments of that interference left General Gomez on one side. Gen: Calixto Garcia was the commander of the department of Santiago, and it was with him that the United States transacted the necessary business which

followed the capitulation of Santiago and the destruction of the Spanish squadron. Gomez remained in the field in the northern central portion of the Island, and for many months was inactive except for a general police supervision for the preservation of law and order. He opened no official relations with the new authorities, and it is quite certain that he entertained grave doubts concerning the future course of the United States. To a man of his previous experience and mental make-up, fidelity to national pledges or to the terms of treaties was difficult of comprehension, and the voluntary giving up of that which lay in the hand of a mighty nation was a proceeding which required actual accomplishment before it could be fully believed. He remained in camp, attended by a body-guard of his old troops, watchfully awaiting the development of the plans and purposes of the United States.

In February he came to Havana, after making a triumphal procession through the Island. In spite of the many enemies he had made during the processes of two wars, it is certain that, at this time, he was the strong man of the Island, and the fact that he had remained aloof, semi-mysterious in his plans and movements, instead of plunging into the disturbed arena of the period, served only to add to his prestige. It was known that he realized the strength of the United States, and the ability of that country to seize and hold the Island, and to stamp out insurrection in a manner which was beyond the range of Spanish military methods. It was known that he had no unlimited confidence in the American Congress. Therefore he waited, and many Cubans held their own attitude in suspense pending the action of Gomez in either allying himself with or definitely opposing the inter

ventores.

Following an interview with Mr. Robert P. Porter, at

Remedios, and the arrangement for the payment of the army, he started for Havana, visiting the more prominent towns and cities on his way.))The journey was a continuous ovation, and despite the poverty and distress of the country, his arrival was signalized by triumphal arches, processions, balls, and banquets. The result of it all was a distinct unification of Cuban sentiment. Wherever he went, he urged forbearance, forgiveness, and the burial of the past, to Cuban and to Spaniard alike. He urged harmony and unity of action, not against Americans, but for the building of a distinct Cuban nation which should be recognized by the American people with whom it should live in relations of the closest amity.

In the whole history of Havana, no such reception had ever been given to any man as that given to this idol of scores of thousands of Cuban hearts. Never before in their history had the Cuban people been given so free a hand in a popular demonstration. Parades, fiestas, and decorations were sufficiently familiar, but all previous affairs had been tinged with the red and yellow of Spain. This event was distinctly Cuban, and Havana gave to Cuba's hero a royal welcome. He entered the city triumphant, though not as a conqueror, to be greeted by the plaudits of the multitude, and to stand, in the palace of Spain's many Governors, in the very room in which plan after plan had been formed for his capture, his overthrow, or his death. He came to occupy, for a time, the summer palace of the Spanish Governor-General, by the invitation of those who had made his visit to Havana a possibility. A vast parade of military organizations and civic societies wound through the narrow streets of the city, bordered throughout its way by dense masses of excited Cubans who shouted and cheered as they never had shouted in all their previous life.

Huge and elaborate floats formed a part of the procession. Some were of interesting significance. Two appeared as companions. The first pictured the Cuba of Yesterday. It represented desolation. Dried grass indicated wasted fields, and broken agricultural implements indicated agricultural idleness. A shackled maiden personified the Cuban people. This was followed by the contrasting float — the Cuba of To-morrow. Over a parquet flooring, surrounded by festoons, flowers, and banners, there presided the bright goddess of a free and happy people. This was a bit of characteristic significance. It indicated a return to pleasure on the part of a pleasure-loving people, a people to whom work was a means to an end, rather than the return to industry on the part of an industrious people. The first float was a wasted field. The second was a ball-room. In one carriage three young ladies represented Cuba, Spain, and the United States. Each carried the flag of the respective countries. Significance lay in the fact that the Spanish flag was not torn from the group by some hot-headed patriot, and that, on the contrary, the combination called out abundant applause. The union of the Cuban flag and the stars and stripes was frequent, and, in nearly every instance, those who bore them sat with linked hands.

The immediate presence of General Gomez was undoubtedly a disturbing element. It emphasized the quarrel which the Asamblea had made with him, and some friction occurred between their respective followers. Difficulty also arose from the fact of the recognition of Gomez by the American authorities, who had persistently declined any recognition of the Asamblea. Gomez essayed no interference in the process of affairs, and made himself of service in various ways. Due recognition of his place and influence was made by liberal contributions from the insular fund for