eral Cuban mind until some
time after the United States entered the war. It first began to arise in
considerable strength when the United States government forbade the
granting of any franchises or concessions during the American
occupation. That certainly looked as though the Americans expected to
get out of the island at an early date. As the administration of General
Wood went on, constantly increasing the participation of Cubans in the
government, the confidence in American good faith increased, and of
course the organization of parties became more complete.

There were then, however, as there are now, no such differences between
the parties on matters of political economy or administrative and
legislative policy, as exist in other lands. They are simply the "Ins"
and the "Outs." One party is in office and wants to stay in. The other
is out and wants to get in. In their methods, however, the two differ
widely. The Conservatives have been consistently in favor of
constitutional and lawful measures, the maintenance of peace and the
safeguarding of life and property. They have always been willing to
accept and abide by the result of an election, even though it were
against them. The Liberals, on the other hand, as we shall more
convincingly see in the course of this narrative, have been in favor of
practically any means which would enable them to gain control of
affairs. They have on several occasions not hesitated to involve the
island in revolution, provided that they would be able to profit from it
by gaining office.

In this first election for municipal officers there was little partisan
rivalry, and indeed that did not rise to any great pitch until the end
of the first intervention and the establishment of a purely Cuban
government. The chief partisanship was really personal. Each important
military or political leader had his own following. Such rivalries were
not yet, however, acrimonious or sufficient to have any material effect
upon the progress of public affairs.

Reference has been made to the reform of the taxation system which
included the abolition of a number of annoying and oppressive imposts.
There followed a revision of the tariff on imports, for the dual
purposes of promoting commerce and industry and of providing a revenue
for the insular government. In December, 1898, the United States had
ordered maintenance of the old Spanish tariff, with certain
modifications, chiefly dictated by the change o