ut
later they joined the Liberals outright. All the rest of the Commission,
or Consulting Board, were Liberals who had actually taken part in the
rebellion. No appointment to office could be made without the sanction
of that Board, and the result was that the Second Government of
Intervention was packed with Liberal placeholders. Competent men, who
had served the State well under President Palma's administration, were
dismissed and replaced by incompetents whose sole recommendation was
that they were Liberals. Now the voters of Cuba are as a rule easily
impressed, and do not always appreciate the possibility, through hard
work, of transforming a minority into a majority. They delight in being
at once on the winning side, and therefore pay much attention to
determining not so much which of two rival and contending parties is
really right and deserving of support, as which side is going to win.
The fact that the Liberal leaders, who previously had had almost no
recognition, social, political or official, suddenly came to the front,
and with the apparent acquiescence of the United States, or of the
commission appointed in Washington, were exerting great influence,
seemed a pretty sure indication, or at least was so interpreted, that
the United States had changed its ideas with regard to the government in
Cuba, and was favoring, and probably would continue to favor and sustain
the Liberal party. That was one of the reasons why the Liberals won
their next election. In fact they pointed to it as evidence of America's
moral support, and frequently referred to and displayed an order, said
to have been issued through mistake, which provided that every man who
had stolen a horse, and who confessed his theft frankly, should have
full proprietary title to that horse and need not surrender it to the
owner. The order is still on the statute books, a memento of the
American intervention. That was resented by the better citizens; it
discouraged many people who had had great confidence in the United
States, and it illustrates not the general policy of the second
government of intervention, but some of the unfortunate things that took
place under that intervention, that seemed to the better class in Cuba,
as mistaken.

Mr. Magoon spent the larger part of the money found in the treasury on
public works, the building of roads, and various enterprises for the
best interests of the island. It is claimed that in some instances the
contracts