t was tactless, a statement
of what the American authorities thought those relations should be. The
Cubans, who were faithfully observing their earlier instructions, were
deeply offended by this interference, and by the way in which the
interference came. The measures known as the Platt Amendment was submitted
to the United States Senate, as an amendment to the Army Appropriation
bill, on February 25, 1901 The Senate passed the bill, and the House
concurred A storm of indignant protest swept over the island The Cubans
believed, and not without reason, that the instrument abridged the
independence of which they had been assured by those who now sought to
limit that independence. Public opinion in the United States was divided.
Some approved and some denounced the proceeding in bitter terms. The
division was not at all on party lines. The situation in Cuba was entirely
changed. Instead of formulating an opinion in accordance with their earlier
instructions, the members of the Convention were confronted by a choice of
what they then regarded as evils, acceptance of unacceptable terms or an
indefinite continuance of a military government then no less unacceptable.
A commission was sent to Washington to urge changes and modifications. It
was given dinners, lunches, and receptions, but nothing more. At last the
Cubans shrugged their shoulders. The desire for an immediate withdrawal of
American authority, and for Cuban assumption of the reins of government,
outweighed the objection to the terms imposed. A Cuban leader said: "There
is no use in objecting to the inevitable. It is either annexation or a
Republic with the Amendment. I prefer the latter." After four months of
stubborn opposition, the Cubans yielded, by a vote of sixteen to eleven,
with four absentees.

In many ways, the Cuban Government is like our own. The President and
Vice-President are elected, through an electoral college, for a term of
four years. A "third term" is specifically prohibited by the Constitution.
Senators, four from each Province, are chosen, for a term of eight years,
by an electoral board. Elections for one half of the body occur every four
years. The House is chosen, by direct vote, for terms of four years, one
half being elected every two years. The Cabinet, selected and appointed by
the President, consists of eight Secretaries of Departments as follows:
Agriculture, Commerce, and Labor; State; Government; Treasury (_Hacienda_);
Public Instruc