onditions were unsatisfactory, and did not conduce to
cordial confidence between the Cubans and the Americans.

The National Assembly which had been called on September 1 met at Santa
Cruz on November 7, and resolved upon the disbandment of the Provisional
Government, and the appointment of a special Commission to look after
Cuban interests during the period of American occupation. This
Commission consisted of Domingo Mendez Capote, President; Ferdinand
Freyre de Andrade, Vice-President; and Manuel M. Coronado and Dr.
Porfirio Caliente, Secretaries. The army organization was to be
retained, for the present, with General Maximo Gomez as
Commander-in-Chief.

The real crux of the situation, at the moment, was the demobilization of
the Cuban army. This could not be done--Gomez would not consider
it--until the men could be paid, and there was no money with which to
pay them. Among the 36,000 men on the rosters, there were said to be
20,000 who had served two years or more, and who were entitled to pay.
Gomez issued an appeal to the army and to the Cuban people generally to
accept loyally the temporary American occupation and to cooperate with
the Americans in the reestablishment of order and the development of
governmental institutions, in order that at the earliest possible moment
Cuba might be able to assume the whole task of self government. At the
same time he urgently requested the United States government to advance
money with which to pay off the soldiers, in order that the army might
be disbanded and the men might return to their homes and their work, and
thus restore the industrial prosperity of the island. For this purpose
he suggested the sum of $60,000,000, not only for actual pay but also
for compensation for the losses which the officers and men had suffered
during the war. He was inclined to keep his men under arms until the
United States should relinquish control of Cuba to the Cubans, or should
fix a date for so doing; and toward the end of January, 1899, he
mustered all his forces in the Province of Havana, and made his staff
headquarters in the former palace of the Captain-General. Meantime the
Commission of the Cuban National Assembly recommended that the men be
granted furloughs, to enable them to go to work in response to the great
demand for labor that was arising throughout the island. This course was
pursued to a considerable extent.

Ultimately the United States government granted the sum of $3,00