In April, he appointed to a place in his cabinet Senor
Morua, a negro, and the first member of that race to hold cabinet office
in Cuba. In July an insurrection occurred in Oriente near the town of El
Caney, which was suppressed by the Rural Guards with little difficulty.

The active participation of government officers in party politics led to
a disturbing incident at the beginning of August. At that time the
Secretary of the Treasury, Senor Villegas, attended a convention of the
Liberal party where he became involved in a violent quarrel. In
consequence, the president ordered that thereafter no member of the
Cabinet should be permitted to attend political meetings, or engage in
active political work; whereupon Villegas resigned his place in the
Cabinet.

In November, congressional elections were held to elect half of the
members of the House of Representatives. During the campaign the former
quarrel in the Liberal party became acute. One faction started a violent
agitation for the suppression of all religious orders in the Island, for
the abolition of trusts in business, and for the prohibition of the
holding of property in Cuba by foreign corporations. The other faction
took for the chief plank in its platform the repudiation of the Platt
Amendment. An attempt was also made by the negro members of the party to
organize a third faction, comprising exclusively the members of their
race. Because of these dissensions in the Liberal party the
Conservatives made a somewhat better showing at the election than they
had done in 1908, but the Liberals were generally successful and secured
a majority in Congress.

At the opening of the session, President Gomez urged revision of the
tariff in order to provide fuller protection for certain manufacturing
industries; the building of a new Palace of Justice; and the
establishment at state expense of public libraries in the chief cities.
During this year an attempt was made to assassinate General Pino Guerra,
but it was unsuccessful. The would-be assassin was arrested and Guerra
professed to recognize in him an officer of the police who had had some
grudge against him. Alfredo Zayas and Frank Steinhart, the former United
States Consul General, also made public complaints of attempts to
assassinate them, and reported the matter to the Supreme Court, but that
tribunal declined to investigate their charges. An attempt was made to
connect the attempted assassination of General Guerra w