vert the danger of further intervention by making and keeping
the Cuban government above reproach, this decree of the President's was
sharply resented and was openly disobeyed by many army officers. When on
the evening of Sunday, January 14, 1912, many officers and Rural Guards
attended a meeting of the National Council of the Veterans' Association,
and were received with much enthusiasm, the situation caused so much
disquiet that the United States government felt constrained to send a
note of warning to President Gomez, stating that it was much concerned
over the state of affairs in Cuba; that the laws must be enforced and
order maintained; and that the President of the United States looked to
the President and government of Cuba to see to it that there was no need
of a third intervention.

This note evoked from President Gomez the declaration that matters in
Cuba were not in as bad a state as had been reported, and that he had
the whole situation well in hand. General Emilio Nunez, the head of the
Veterans' Association, declared that that organization would remain firm
in its object to guarantee peace, to moralize the Administration, and to
spread patriotism in the hearts of the people; and that it protested
against that which might be a menace to the freedom and independence of
Cuba, with confidence that the people of the United States would never
regard its unselfish and patriotic campaign as an excuse for unwarranted
intervention. He added that the Association had not sought to annul the
law against participation in politics by the army, but resented the
charge in the Presidents' decree that it was "playing politics."
"Patriotically we shall make every sacrifice, but we shall never resign
ourselves to be miserable slaves dominated by irresponsible power
untrammelled by laws or principles."

The leaders of the Liberal party were by no means a unit in attitude
toward the crisis, the antagonism already mentioned between President
Gomez and Vice-President Zayas flaming up anew. The newspaper organ of
the Zayista faction openly declared: "We are on the brink of an abyss,
whither we have been brought by the stubborn stupidity of a portion of
the administration and by flagrant contempt for Congress and its
enactments. These things have brought on all our existing ills." Orestes
Ferrara, Speaker of the House of Representatives, much alarmed at the
menace of intervention which might on this occasion have been as
disastrous