f relations between Cuba
and the United States. Subsequently other modifications were made from
time to time as the need or desirability of them became apparent through
experience. But on June 15, 1900, an entirely new tariff law went into
effect, framed chiefly by American experts and following pretty closely
the general lines of the American tariff system. Naturally it was
calculated to encourage commerce between Cuba and the United States,
particularly by the admission of products of the latter country into
Cuban markets at a minimum of cost. In view of the scarcity of food in
Cuba and the devastated condition of much of the agricultural lands,
American food products, both meats and breadstuffs, thus gained easy
access to the Cuban market. This seemed anomalous, since Cuba was an
agricultural country capable of producing a large surplus of food for
export instead of needing imports of food. It was obvious, however, that
this feature of the tariff would be merely temporary, and in fact it was
materially modified by the increase of rates on such imports very soon
after the establishment of the Cuban government.

Despite the fact that during the year about three million dollars' worth
of food was imported, the total of Cuban imports was less than in the
preceding year; a circumstance due to the change in tariff rates. At the
same time there was a very considerable increase in exports. It was an
interesting circumstance, also, that there was a decrease in trade with
the United States; a pretty effective reply to the complaint which some
made that the new tariff had been improperly framed so as to give the
United States a monopoly of Cuban trade. It did give the United States
some advantages which that country had not enjoyed before, but on the
whole it was probably as fair and impartial as it could well have been
made. Commercial reports showed that Cuban imports from the United
States were $26,513,613 in 1900 and $25,964,801 in 1901; and that Cuban
exports to the United States were $31,371,704 in 1900 and $43,428,088 in
1901. Thus Cuban purchases from the United States were decreasing
slightly, while Cuban sales to the United States were greatly
increasing, and the balance of trade was growing more and more largely
in Cuba's favor.

CHAPTER XI

The supreme work of the Government of Intervention, from the political
point of view, was to prepare Cuba for complete self-government and then
to relinquish the contr