CHAPTER XVI

ACCEPTANCE OF THE PLATT AMENDMENT

THE month of March, 1901, was a time of serious political confusion in the Island. The Cubans came slowly to a full realization of the position in which they had been placed. Definite terms were offered them by the Platt Amendment, and upon their acceptance of those terms depended the withdrawal of American authority. Acceptance meant to them the sacrifice of that sovereign independence for which many had given their lives and for which many others had fought and suffered. Rejection meant the indefinite postponement of even the shadow of independence, and the indefinite continuance of a government which was growing ever more and more objectionable.

"The declaration of the purposes of this Government in the resolution of April 20, 1898," said President McKinley in his inaugural address, immediately after the passage of the Platt Amendment, “must be made good." To the Cubans, that "declaration of purposes" admitted of only one meaning - Cuban independence. They were told that the offensive measure did not modify their independence. On the contrary, President McKinley, Senator Platt, and their supporters, declared that the measure was a guarantee of Cuban independence. They asserted that coaling stations were necessary to protect Cuba against possible foreign invasion. The Cubans and their American supporters declared this to be a subterfuge unworthy of a great people. They were

satisfied with the assurance of protection which rested in the Monroe Doctrine. Had the Platt Amendment asked for coaling stations on Cuba's coasts "for the protection of the southern ports and harbors of the United States," they would have been granted gladly and freely. No independence could exist where there was coercion to obtain coaling stations, or the acknowledgment of the right of intervention in Cuban affairs. Again and again, dissolution of the Convention was imminent.

Washington became uneasy. The independent press of the United States voiced its indignation. Men prominent in public life declared the measure an outrage and a blot upon the history of the country. The administration was forced into the ignoble position of seeking, through its mouthpieces, to explain into the measure a meaning which its terms denied. On April 3, the Secretary of War sent the following despatch to General Wood:

"Wood, Havana:

"You are authorized to state officially that in the view of the President the intervention described in the third clause of the Platt Amendment is not synonymous with intermeddling or interference with the affairs of the Cuban Government, but the formal action of the Government of the United States, based upon just and substantial grounds, for the preservation of Cuban independence, and the maintenance of a government adequate for the protection of life, property, and individual liberty, and adequate for discharging the obligations with respect to Cuba imposed by the treaty of Paris on the United States. ELIHU ROOT,

"Secretary of War."

But the Cubans persisted in considering only the letter of the measure, and declined to accept this explanation of its intents and purposes. Their argument was that an agreement of such moment should mean what it said and say

what it meant. This message was shown to members of the Havana press, and called out the following editorial from La Patria, a vigorous organ of the ultra-radical element in the Convention:

66 A WORTHLESS DOCUMENT.

"The Secretary of War, the Honorable Mr. Elihu Root, has addressed a communication to General Wood, in which he says in substance, that having heard of the bad impression caused by the Platt Amendment, especially the third clause of said resolution, in which the United States ask that their right to intervene in Cuba be recognized, he solicits General Wood to make it clear to the delegates that it must be understood that the American Government will avail itself of that right only in very grave cases and for very weighty and justifiable reasons.

"General Wood has attached so much importance to this declaration, that after having imparted the terms of Mr. Root's letter confidentially to several persons, he has addressed a cablegram to the Secretary of War, asking his permission to transmit the letter as an official communication, to the Constitutional Convention.

"We very much fear that all his pains will be in vain. Mr. Root's interpretation cannot have more authority than the text of the bill itself and this is unequivocal. Mr. Root can say what he pleases; the positive fact is, that to concede to the United States the right to intervene in Cuba, whenever the American Government shall so determine, is a blow aimed at Cuba's independence and sovereignty, and it would so impair the influence and authority of the Cuban Government that would exist subject to the exercise of this right, that it is inconceivable that any government could be constituted under these conditions, with any degree of decorum and efficiency. Therefore, the problem does not change in the least, with the above-mentioned declarations of President McKinley's Secretary of War.

"On the other hand, even if that declaration modifies the Platt Amendment which it does not what weight should we attach to that letter of Mr. Root, after what we have seen with regard to

Order No. 455? The latter, which includes the address of General' Wood on the inaugural occasion of the Constitutional Convention, modified Order No. 301, in the matter of the relations which should exist between the United States and Cuba. And now, when it has been discovered that it is not enough for the aims and purposes of their political plans that the Convention should express its views, with regard to said relations, it is said that Order No. 301 is the one to be regarded as valid, and that the modification contained in No. 455 is of no importance whatever.

"The same thing will occur with Mr. Root's letter. Even if it changed the terms and provisions of the third clause of the Platt Amendment and we have already said that it does not vary them in the least the day the letter is invoked in support of an interpretation which shall be favorable to Cuba's interest, it will be said, and with reason, that a letter from the Secretary of War cannot modify or change a law of Congress.

"And we must not forget that if documents are to be invoked and cited it is not possible to conceive of any one more explicit than the Joint Resolution and the memorandums of the Treaty of Paris. In spite of all their emphatic declarations, we see how little the American imperialists heed them.

"They interpret these documents in such a manner, that having declared before the world that they 'would not exercise control, dominion, or sovereignty' in Cuba, and that 'once the pacification of Cuba having been secured, they would turn over the government to its people,' now they demand, before they carry out their part of the contract, that the Isle of Pines shall be given to them; that they be given naval stations, and that the right of the United States Government to intervene in our territory, to uphold or dislodge governments, shall be recognized; and this is the most important act of sovereignty, jurisdiction, and control that any nation or people can exercise over another.

"In view of all these reasons, we believe that Mr. Root's letter will not produce any effect whatever upon the Convention. After having heard it, those who will vote in its favor are precisely those who would have voted for it anyway, even before said letter had

arrived; and there is not a single opponent to this measure, which so rudely attacks Cuba's rights, who can be induced to accept it, because of the crafty and worthless explanation of the Secretary of War, which in nothing changes its form or spirit, and leaves it as objectionable as it was before, to all who persist in defending the absolute independence and sovereignty of the Island of Cuba. "For the latter, this letter will not be considered anything else than a worthless document; and unfortunately, an attempt has been made to reduce other documents of far greater importance and authority, to the same worthless state."

During the months of March and April, various officials, among them General Miles and Senators Proctor and Cockrell, went to Cuba, ostensibly as private citizens travelling for their own pleasure or interest, but recognized by the Cubans as emissaries of the Government in Washington. Their explanations were received with the customary Cuban courtesy, but they carried no conviction to Cuban minds. All the forces and machinery of government were brought into play in support of the position taken.

The Convention went into secret session. The delegates conferred by mail, by telegraph, and in person, with their constituents. Except in the ranks of the numerically insignificant Conservative party, there was nowhere manifest any disposition to accept the terms. They were even declined by the only representative of that party in the Convention, Señor Giberga, unless, in compensation for their acceptance, concessions were made in the American tariff on Cuban products. One member, Señor Quilez, proposed acceptance as the lesser of two evils. The press of the Island denounced the bill, and public manifestations continued. Notwithstanding all this outburst of public opinion, the tourist-emissaries and the Military Governor persisted in reporting to Washington and to the American people, that