e first President and long the head of the Cuban junta in the
United States, showed himself disposed from the outset to continue the
beneficial reforms in administration which had been introduced under
American rule. Prudent and conciliatory in temperament, he tried to
dispel as best he could the bitter recollections of the war and to
repair its ravages. In this policy he was upheld by the conservative
class, or Moderates. Their opponents, the Liberals, dominated by men
of radical tendencies, were eager to assert the right, to which they
thought Cuba entitled as an independent sovereign nation, to make
possible mistakes and correct them without having the United States
forever holding the ferule of the schoolmaster over it. They were well
aware, however, that they were not at liberty to have their country pass
through the tempestuous experience which had been the lot of so many
Hispanic republics. They could vent a natural anger and disappointment,
nevertheless, on the President and his supporters. Rather than continue
to be governed by Cubans not to their liking, they were willing to bring
about a renewal of American rule. In this respect the wishes of the
Radicals were soon gratified. Hardly had Estrada Palma, in 1906, assumed
office for a second time, when parties of malcontents, declaring that
he had secured his reelection by fraudulent means, rose up in arms and
demanded that he annul the vote and hold a fair election. The President
accepted the challenge and waged a futile conflict, and again the United
States intervened. Upon the resignation of Estrada Palma, an American
Governor was again installed, and Cuba was told in unmistakable fashion
that the next intervention might be permanent.

Less drastic but quite as effectual a method of assuring order and
regularity in administration was the action taken by the United States
in another Caribbean island. A little country like the Dominican
Republic, in which few Presidents managed to retain their offices for
terms fixed by changeable constitutions, could not resist the temptation
to rid itself of a ruler who had held power for nearly a quarter of a
century. After he had been disposed of by assassination in 1899, the
government of his successor undertook to repudiate a depreciated paper
currency by ordering the customs duties to be paid in specie; and it
also tried to prevent the consul of an aggrieved foreign nation from
attaching certain revenues as security for th