Rivera
KGN327
S63
1896
Spain. Ministerio de
Ultramar.
Spanish rule in Cuba
1
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EGIONALLIB
IARYFACI
1
Laws
Governing the
Island.
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SPANISH RULE IN CUBA.
LAWS GOVERNING THE ISLAND.
REVIEW PUBLISHED BY THE COLONIAL OFFICE IN MADRID, WITH
DATA AND STATISTICS COMPILED FROM
OFFICIAL RECORDS.
{AUTHORIZED TRAXSLATJOA', WITH
ADDITIONAL NOTES.)
NEW YORK:
1896.
INTR©DHeTI0N.
HEN accusations are based upon falsehood and misrepre-
■^^ sentation truth should demand its rights and enforce the
respect which is its due.
So many calumnies have been hurled at Spain by those
who are interested in the Cuban revolt, and by their sympathizers,
that their refutation has become a duty. To perform this duty
is the object of these pages.
They contain a sketch of the laws under which the island
of Cuba is governed. The dates of all the laws are given and
the text of the more important acts is given in full.
The laws of Cuba show that the legislation of the island
has kept pace with that of the most advanced nations. They
prove that the judicial institutions of Cuba are equal to those
of the most enlightened countries, and that the liberties of her
inhabitants rival those of the citizens of the most democratic
nations.
Cuba long ago ceased to be a colony. She is now an
integral part of Spain. All Spaniards, be they born in the
Peninsula or in Cuba, may say. "Where Spain has her tlag,
there is Spain. '
N D EIX
liNTRODL'CllON, .
I. Laws of thk Indiks — Thkir Changks — Unvvar
RANTKi) Revolts, .....
II. Thk Zanjon Capitulation — All Demands Con
CEDED, .......
III. Ar.oLiTioN OF Slavery — AuoLrnoN Law, .
IV. Political Organization — The Constitution oi
Spain Extended to Cuba — Ample Libertie
AND Representation Accorded, .
V. Electoral Law — Senators and Representa
TIVES TO THE CORTES, ....
VI. Pl'blic Meetings and Associations, .
VII. Thk Governor - Genkral — His Powers and
Duties Defined, .
VIII. Provincial Administration,
IX. Municipal Administration,
X. Public Peace, .
XI. Department of Justice,
XII. Civil Rights,
XIII. The Law Merchant,
XIV. Mortgages,
XV. Registry and Civil Marriage, .
XVI. Notaries, .....
XVII. Criminal Law, ....
XVIII. Public Instruction, .
XIX. Economics — Tax Reduction,
XX. Cuba's Public Debt — Its Origin
XXI. Appointments to Public Office — Cubans in
High and Minor Offices Both in Cuba and
in the Government of Spain,
XXII. Unification of State Professions in th
Peninsula and in the Colonial Provinces,
XXIII. Remarks — The Autonomist Manifesto,
XXIV. Reform Law of 1S95, for Cuba and Porto Rico
XXV. Conclusion,
Appendix — Statistics,
7
9
1 1
13
20
24
25
28
28
29
30
30
32
33
33
34
35
36
37
41
41
47
48
51
66
i-v.
L
LAWS OF THE INDIES.*
Their Changes — Unwakkax'ikd Revolts.
SPAIN lias ever proved her eagerness to favor the interests and
well-being of her transatlantic possessions. The discoverer
of a world, in the pride of her achievement she toiled with a moth-
er's tenderness to surround her children with all manner of guar-
antees of prosperity and development. The Spanish legislation
for the Indies is a monument to the rectitude and foresight with
which the metropolis sought the growth of her colonies through
the moderation and justice of her policy toward the inhabitants of
the conquered lands.
Under these wise laws the first and essential duties of a grantee
of land toward the inhabitants of his grant was to train the natives
in good morals, to teach them the Christian faith, preaching it to
them for their salvation, and to treat, aid and defend them as he
would treat, aid and defend the other Spanish subjects and vassals ;
so that by such beneficent means the natives might be drawn toward
the suzerainty of Spain. These laws were intended for the good and
for the preservation of the natives, and sought to close every chan-
nel through which injury might reach them. For the indoctrination
and protection of the natives and of the slaves, negroes and
mulattoes, priests were appointed and parishes established through-
out the Indies ; for them schools and hospitals were founded and
endowed ; their punishment with fines was prohibited ; their law-
suits were ordered to be speedily tried ; the Indians were forbidden
to sell their daughters, even in marriage ; such native usages and
customs as were subservient to good government were ordered to
be respected ; the laws intended for the benefit of the natives were
ordered to be put into immediate effect, without prejudice to the
right of appeal, while in many other provisions the law guaranteed
the personal liberty of the Indians, the possession and enjoyment
of their property, and provided remedies for damages and safe-
guards against injury.
Such was the first code of SjKiin for her dominions beyond the
seas.
The laws of the Indies, however, intended for a primitive epoch
of calm and peace, of simplicity of life, of commercial isolation and
*Tlie Spanish possessions in America were termed the Indies.
Policy of
Moderation
and Justice.
First Steps
Toward
Civilization.
Cuban Revolts
Coincident
with Liberal
Reforms.
Spain's
Promises
Fulfilled.
Reform
LcKislation.
of local exclusiveness, had to give way to reforms adequate to the
legitimate aspirations of the colonists, whose advancing education
and whose large and profitable trade imposed the necessity of con-
verting the colonies into Spanish provinces, similar in organization,
rights and duties to the other provinces of the kingdom. And that
has gradually been done since the middle of the present century.
But it is noteworthy that the outbreaks of Cuban insurrections
have coincided in time with the intentions of the metropolis to
transplant to Cuba the most radical legislative innovations, which
innovations have been deemed in Spain marks of progress. The
Cuban revolt of Yara* was almost simultaneous with the
Spanish democratic revolution of iS68.f In spite of the demo-
cratic ideas which bred that revolution in Spain the Cuban separatist
struggle lasted ten years. And although during that critical period
Spain was discouraged and ruined by the efforts required for other
civil wars at home, those ten years were insufficient to exhaust her
energy, the separatist struggle finally terminating in an absolute
pardon for the rebels and large and advantageous concessions to
Cuba. The actual revolt began also at the very moment when the
Chambers at Madrid were giving their attention in a liberal spirit to
the solution of colonial problems.
How can the singular behavior of those who rise in arms to
break every bond of union with the mother country be justified ? No
reason can explain it ; no pretext may excuse it. Spain has dis-
charged all the duties of a metropolis mindful of the interests of her
colonies, and has kept every promise of the Zanjon capitulation. J
To prove the former it is sufficient to glance at the Cuban politi-
cal and administrative situation, adapted progressively to the ad-
vances introduced into the national legislation. To believe the
latter no testimony is necessary save that of the facts themselves,
which facts are in harmony with the demands of the Cuban capitu-
lants of 1878.
Slavery has been totally abolished ; the Cubans have been
granted the same rights as other Spaniards ; they are represented in
the Cortes ; their provincial ami municipal administration is sur-
rounded by guarantees ; the civil and criminal laws of Spain, ad-
ministered by tribunals similar to those of the Peninsula, have
been established in ("uba ; public instruction has been organized
upon the same basis as in Spain ; the economic legislation for
Cuba has been regulated to facilitate tiie prosperity and wealth of
that magnificent portion of America ; and if aught were lacking in
♦ A small town in the province of Santiago de Cuba. There the revolt of 1S6S-78
began.
+ The revolution which drove Isabel 11. from the throne.
t The Cuban revolt which began in isc.s ended with the capitulation, which took
place at the Zanjon in isrs. Vide Cha])ter II., jiage 11.
10
an administration and a governnient entirely free from restrictions
and drawbacks, local or regional, the law of March 15, 1895, has
blotted away all suspicion of selfishness on the part of the mother
country.
n.
THE ZANJON CAPITULATION.
Articles of Capitui.a iion.
"The people and the armed forces of the C'entral Department,*
and armed groups from other departments, having met in conven-
tion as the only fit means of terminating, in one sense or another,
the pending negotiations, and having considered the propositions
submitted by the commander-in-chief of the Spanish army, deter-
mined on their part to propose amendments to said propositions
by presenting the following Articles of Capitulation :
Article I. The political, organic and administrative laws en- Articles of
joyed by Porto Rico shall be established in Cuba. Capitulation.
Art. II. Free pardon for all political offenses committed from
1868 to date, and freedom for those who are under indictment or
are serving sentences within or without the island. Amnesty to all
deserters from the Spanish army, regardless of nationality, this
clause being extended to include all those who have taken part
directly or indirectly in the revolutionary movement.
Art. III. Freedom for the Asiatic cooliesf and for the slaves
who may be in the insurgent ranks.
Art. IV. No individual who by virtue of this capitulation
shall submit to and remain under the authority of the Spanish
Government shall be compelled to render any military service
before peace be established over the whole territory.
Art. V. Every individual who by virtue of this capitulation
may wish to depart from the island shall be permitted to do so, and
the Spanish Government shall provide him with the means therefor,
without passing through any town or settlement, if he so desire.
Art. VI. The capitulation of each force shall take place iii
uninhabited spots, where beforehand the arms and other munitions
of war shall be deposited.
Art. VII. In order to further the acceptation, bv the insur-
gents of the other departments, of these Articles of Capitulation,
the commander-in-chief of the Spanish army shall furnish them free
transportation, by land and sea, over all the 'lines within his con-
trol, to the Central Department.
Art. VIII. This pact with the committee of the Central De-
*The Central Department was one of the three military districts of the island,
and was composed of the present provinces of Puerto Principe and Santa Clara.
The main force of the rebels was in this department.
+ These coolies were Chinese who had been imported under contract to serve
for a term of eight years, and who had broken their contracts.
11
of the
Insurgents
of the
Capitulants
partment shall be deemed to have been made with all the depart-
ments of the island which may accept its conditions.
Encampment of St. Agistin, February lo, 1878.
E. L. LuACES.
Rafael Rodriguez. Secretary.
This document includes :
Demands The political and administrative organization of Cuba.
Pardon of political offenses, freedom of persons under indict-
ment, and amnesty for deserters.
The emancipation of the coolies and the slaves within the rebel
ranks.
Free transportation for those desirous of leaving the island.
Exemption of the capitulants from military service until the whole
territory of the island was pacified.
Treatment No complaints wcrc heard of the lack of frankness, nay of cor-
diality, in the reception of the capitulants after their surrender.
All dissension between those who again became brethren ceased.
When the arms had been laid down, the commander-in chief and the
Spanish Government gladly sought to tighten those bonds of mutual
affection, esteem and sympathy which were to throw wide open
before the insurgents the doors of the nation, and make them sharers
of the national life equally with other citizens of Spain. Some of
the capitulants, men noted during the war, went to Madrid, and, far
from being received in official circles with prejudice and suspicion-
obtained government offices, and a means of subsistence derived from
the revenues of the state, or under the patronage of men eminent
in the politics of the nation took positions in banks and mercantile
firms, or practiced the arts or established industries.*
The facts will readily bear witness to the manner in which the
other articles of the capitulation were kept.
In fact, the new organization of the island of Cuba, which was
to be like that of Porto Rico, has been established in so generous
and benevolent a spirit that to-day the natives of the latter island
complain because the franchise is more restricted in Porto Rico than
in Cuba. In this respect, as in all others, the mother country has
more than kept the pledges of the Zanjon treaty.
♦ Among the Cubans who took part in the former war and who actually continue
filling, to the satisfaction of the administration, government offices in Spain are
the following ; Seilores Martinez, Freire, Fonseca, Roa, Ramirez and Figueredo.
Calixto Garcia had a position in the Manco Hipotecario. The rebel chieftain Lacret,
who, like the former, seems to have disregarded the promises he made and the
favors he received, was for a long time in business in the mother country.
12
m.
ABOLITION OF SLAVERY.
From the time of the Zanjon treaty, through the measures whicli Slavery
secured the inhabitants of the possessions of Spain in the Antilles Abolished.
in their rights as citizens, regardless of race or color, slavery disap-
peared from Spanish America.
According to Art. 3 of the Articles of Capitulation only the
coolies and slaves who were in the rebel ranks were to be freed.
Spain, however, made a more ample and generous concession. The
decree of October 15, 186S, emancipated the children born of
slave mothers after September 17 of that year. The act of July
4, 1870, emancipated the children born after that date, the slaves
who had served under the Spanish flag, those who had reached the
age of si.\ty years, and those which belonged to the state. The act
of February 13, 1880, abolished the state of slavery, and provided
that the slaves included in the census of 1871 should remain under
the apprenticeship* of their possessors for a term lasting from
five to eight years, according to the number and ages of the appren-
ticed laborers of each employer. But the term of eight years had
not expired when the Spanish Government, anticipating the law,
declared, by the royal decree of October 17, 1886, that from the
time of the proclamation of that decree in Cuba the system of ap-
prenticeship established in 1880 should cease, and obliterated for ever
all vestiges of slavery in the Spanish dominions. Thus Spain con-
ceded far more than had been demanded by the capitulants of 1878.
ABOLITION LAW.
Act of Febru.^rv 13, 18S0.
Alfonso XIL, by the grace of God Constitutional King of Spain.
To all whom these presents shall come, know ye : that the Cortes
have decreed and we sanctioned the following :
Article L Slavery in the island of Cuba shall cease, in accord-
ance with this law.
* Chap. 73 of 3 and 4 Will. IV. abolished slavery in the British West Indies by
substituting for the relation of " master and slave " the relation of '• employer and
apprenticed labourer," which was to cease at the end of a fi.xed period. The Spanish
act is similar to the English statute. The term used in the Spanish act ispatronatc,
from the Latin patronatus, the relation existing between patron and client. In Rome
emancipation did not confer, as a rule, absolute freedom. The emancipated slave,
the freedman (i. e., freed man), became the client of his former master, and was
termed libertus. This is the term applied by the Spanish statute to former slaves
emancipated under previous laws and who were not yet in full possession of their
civil rights. The " apprenticed labourers " of the English statute and the " patroci-
nados " of the Spanish act correspond rather to the " statu liberi " of Rome.
13
Employer .Tay
Alienate His
Rights
Over His
Apprenticed
Laborers,
but
riembers
of a Family
.Must Not Be
Separated.
Rights
and Duties
of
Employers.
Waifes of
Apprenticed
Laborers.
Art. II. The persons who were registered as slaves in the cen-
sus of 1S71, without violation of the act of July 4, 1870, and who
still continue in slavery at the time of proclamation of this act,
shall remain during the period herein fixed as the apprenticed la-
borers of their jiossessors.
The right of an employer to the services of his apprenticed la-
borer shall be alienable by all the means known to the law. But no
employer shall alienate his right to the services of a child under
twelve years of age without alienating his right to the services of
the child's father and mother to the new employer. If he alienate
his right to the services of a parent, he must also alienate his right
to the services of the children under twelve years of age to the
new employer. In no case shall the members of a family group be
separated.
.\rt. III. The employer shall preserve his right to utilize the
services of his apprenticed laborer, and to be his legal representative.
Art. IV. The duties of the employer are :
1. To feed his apprenticed laborers.
2. To clothe them.
3. To attend to them when ill.
4. To compensate them for their services with the stipend herein
fixed.
5. To give minors a common-school education and the training
necessary to practice some useful art or trade.
6. To feed and clothe his apprenticed laborers' children, infants,
and non-adults, born before and after the apprenticeship, and attend
to them when ill, the employer being permitted to avail himself of
the services of such children without compensation.
.\rt. V. Upon the proclamation of this act every apprenticed
laborer shall be given a written notice, in the form the regulations
shall prescribe, informing him of the substance of the rights and
duties of his new state.
Art. VI. The monthly stipend referred to in Sec. 4 of Art. I^'.
shall be from one to two dollars for those between eighteen years of
age and the age of majority,* and three dollars for those who have
attained their majority.
In case of incapacity to labor, owing to illness, or to any other
cause, the employer shall be exempt from payment of the stipend
corresponding to the time such incapacity may last.
Art. VII. The apprenticeship shall terminate :
1. V>y extinction, under a classification of the apprenticed la-
laborers according to seniority, in the manner specified by Art. VIII.,
so that the apprenticeship shall cease absolutely at the end of eight
years from the time of proclamation of this act,
2. By mutual agreement between the employer and the appren-
ticed labf)rer, without the intervention of a third party. But if the
apprenticed laborer be under twenty years of age his parents, if
known, may intervene, or, in their default, the local board may inter-
pose, the age of the aiiprenticed laborer being determined as pro-
vided in Art. XIII.
3. At the option of the (•in|)Ioycr, unless the apjirenticed la-
borer be a mincM" or a sexagenarian, or be ill or disabled.
* /. f., twenty- five years.
14
4. Uy indemnification to the master for the loss of his appren-
ticed laborer's services. 'I'he indemnification shall be of from thirty
to fifty dollars a year, according to the age, sex and condition of the
apprenticed laborer, for each year still iniserved of the first five
years, and the same amount a year for half of what part of the final
three years he may be recjuired to serve.*
5. Through any cause of emancipation provided by the civil and
penal laws, or through the failure of the employer to discharge the
duties imposed upon him by Art. IV.
Art. VIII. The extinction of the apprenticeship under theclassi-
fication, according to seniority, referred to in Sec. i of Art. VII., shall
take place by fourth parts of the number of apprenticed laborers
subject to each emjiloyer, commencing at the end of the fifth year,
and continuing at the end of each successive year, until at the end
of the eighth year the institution shall cease absolutely.
The selection of the apprenticed laborers according to seniority
shall be made before the local board a month before the end of the
fifth year and of each of the remaining years. If in any year the
number of apprenticed laborers of the same age be greater than the
number to be freed, the selection shall be by lot cast before the
board.
If the number of apprenticed laborers be greater than four, and
be not divisible by four, the excess shall be distributed among the
first three classes, beginning with the first.
If the number of apprenticed laborers be under four, the selec-
tion shall be by thirds, by halves, or singly ; but the employer shall
not be under obligation to discharge his apprenticed laborers until
the end of the sixth, the seventh, or the eighth year respectively. f
The regulations shall i\\ the method of making the registers and
taking the census necessary to the selections.
Art. IX. Those who have been discharged from their appren-
ticeship, in accordance with Art. VII., shall be granted civil rights,
but they shall continue under the protection of the state and sub-
ject to laws and regulations which shall require them to prove that
they are under contract to labor,;}; or are occupied in some trade or
useful occupation.
Orphans under twenty years of age shall be under the tutelage
of the state.
Art. X. The obligation by those who have been discharged from
apprenticeship to prove a contract to labor shall last four years.
Those who disregard this obligation shall, at the discretion of the
mayor, upon the advice of the local board, be deemed guilty of va-
grancy and may be condemned to labor for pay on public works for
a term fixed by the regulations for the particular case. At the end
of the four years referred to in this article those who have been
freed from apprenticeship shall have full civil and political rights.
* Under the classification of Art. VIII. an apprenticed laborer might not be bound
to serve the whole of the final three years.
•!•/. e., an employer of but one apprenticed laborer would not be required to
discharge him before the end of the eighth year ; an employer of two would dis-
charge one at the end of the seventh year and the other at the end of the eighth
year ; an employer of three would discharge one at the end of the sixth year, &c.
i This was to prevent vagrancy, the proof of bt-intr under contract to labor
meaning simply proof of being in employment.
15
Provisiuns tor
the
Extinction of
this
Institution.
To Prevent
Vagrancy.
Corporal
Punishment
Prohibited.
Local Boards
Created
to Enforce
this Act.
Art. XI. Those who previous to the promulgation of tliis act
have bargained for their freedom with their possessors shall retain
the rights acquired by their bargain. They may, in addition, take
advantage of Sec. 4, Art. VII., by paying their employers the differ-
ence between the sum due under the said Sec. 4, Art. VII., and the
sum already paid.
Art. XII. Those who by virtue of the act of July 4, 1870, are
free, through having been born after September 17, 1868, shall be
subject to the provisions of that act, except in so far as this law may
be more advantageous to them.
Freedmen,* emancipated under Art. XIX. of the said act of 1870,
shall continue under the tutelage of the state, and shall for four
years be obliged to prove the e.xistence of their contracts to labor
and fulfdl the other requirements as to occupation, referred to in
Arts. IX. and X. hereof.
Art. XIII. For the purposes of this act the term "minor" shall
be understood to refer to a child under seven. If the age be
unknown tlie local boards shall determine the age, taking into con-
sideration the physical appearance of the minor and the advice of an
expert.-
Art. XIV. Employers shall not, even under pretext of maintain-
ing the good order and discipline of the work on their plantations,
inflict corporal punishment on their apprenticed laborers, as pro-
hibited by Sec. 2, Art. XXIX. of the act of July 4, 1870. They shall,
however, have the coercitive and disciplinary rights provided by the
regulations, which shall contain rules both to secure the attendance of
apprenticed laborers at their work and to prevent the exaction of
excessive labor.
Employers may also reduce the monthly stipend of an appren-
ticed laborer by an amount proportionate to the absence from his
labor, in the cases and in the manner determined by the regulations.
Art. XV. A board presided over by the Provincial Governor,
and, in his absence, by the president of the Provincial Assembly,
shall be organized in each province. The board shall consist of
a provincial assemblyman, the judge of the district court, the dis-
trict attorney, the corporation counsel of the provincial capital and
two taxpayers, one of whom must be an employer of apprenticed
laborers.
Local boards, in the discretion of the respective provincial
governors and upon the previous ai)probation of the Governor-
General, shall be organized in the municipalities where convenient.
Each board shall be presided over by the mayor, and shall consist of
the corporation counsel, a principal taxpayer, and two reputable
citizens. These boards and the district attorney shall attend to
the rigid enforcement of this act, and shall have, in addition to the
powers specified herein, the powers entrusted to them by the regu-
lations.
Akt. X\'I. Apprenticed laborers shall be subject to the juris-
diction of the ordinary courts for their misdemeanors and crimes,
under the Penal Code, but for rebellion, sedition and rioting they
shall be tried by military tribunals. .
Nevertheless, wiieii apprenticed laborers disturb the good order
.iimI (lis( :ii)Iine of the work, employers, if their disciplinary powers
* For " freedman " see note page l."5.
16
be insufficient, may call upon the Governor-General for aid against Penalties for
their apprenticed laborers. At the third justifiable complaint the Refractory
apprenticed laborer may be sentenced to serve in the public works Apprenticed
for the term fixed, according to the offense, by the regulations, and Laborers,
not exceeding the amount of time remaining before his discharge
from apprenticeship. If, while serving his sentence, the apprenticed
laborer should be guilty of a serious breach of discipline or should
abandon his work, or if after serving his sentence he should again
be guilty of his previous offense, the Ciovernor-General may, upon
information with specific reasons to the Supreme Government,
order the apprenticed laborer to be transported to the Spanish
islands on the African coast, where he shall remain subject to the
supervision fixed by the regulations.
Art. XVII. The regulations to which this act refers shall be Framing of
made within a term of sixty days from the receipt of a copy of this Regulations,
act by the Governor-General, after consulting the Archbishop of
Santiago, the Bishop of Havana, the Supreme Court of Havana, and
the Council of Administration. At the end of said term, which shall
not be extensible, he shall proclaim and enforce the act and the regu-
lations. He must send to the Supreme Government by the first mail
a copy of the regulations for approval, and the Supreme Govern-
ment, after hearing the Council of State, shall signify its approval
or disapproval of the regulations within a month from the receipt
of said copy.
Art. XVIII. All laws, regulations and ordinances inconsistent
with this act, with the exception of such of their provisions as may
be modified by the foregoing articles, are hereby annulled, without
prejudice of the rights acquired by slaves and freedmen under the
act of July 4, 1870.
Therefore, we command all the courts, justices, heads of depart-
ments, governors and other authorities, civil, military and ecclesi-
astical, of whatsoever class and degree, to keep, and cause to be kept,
enforce and execute this law in all its parts.
Given in the Palace, February 13, 1880.
The Minister of the Colonies,
I, THK King.
Jose Elduayen.
Abolition of Apprenticeship to Labor.
Royal Decree of October 7, 1886.
Upon the proposition of the Minister of the Colonies and with
the concurrence of the Council of Ministers, in the name of my
august son, King Alfonso XIII., and as Queen Regent of the king-
dom, I decree as follows :
Article I. From the proclamation of this decree in the island
of Cuba the apprenticeship to labor established by the act of Feb-
ruary 13, 1880, shall cease.
Art. II. The apprenticed laborers now existing shall continue
in the state of those referred to in Art. VII. of said act,* and
subject, therefore, to the provisions of Arts. IX. and X. of the same.
.■\rt. III. The authorities shall take scrupulous care that tiie
provisions of Chapter IV. of the regulations of May 8, 1880, be
* See p. 14.
17
enforced, and that without loss of time the new freedmen be pro-
vided with the certificate referred to in Art. LXXXIII. of said reg-
ulations.
Art. IV. Apart from the duties imposed upon Government
officials bv Art. LXXIII. of the regulations of May 8, these officials
shall see that the apprenticed laborers who have been discharged
from apprenticeship, and who have not completed the term of four
years referred to in Art. X. of the aforesaid act, shall present every
three months to the mayors of the municipalities within which they
reside their freedmen's certificates and some document proving that
they are under contract to labor.
The mayors of the municipalities shall keep a register of those
who shall have presented themselves, and shall place the delinquents
at the disposal of the superior authorities of the province, who
shall comply with the provisions of Art. X.* of the act of February
13, and the corresponding articles of the regulations of May 8.
Art. V. The provincial and local boards created by Art. XV. f
of the act of February 13 are hereby suppressed, and the provisions
of that act which are contrary to the provisions of the present
decree are hereby annulled.
Given at the Palace on October 7, 1886.
Maria Christina.
The Minister of the Colonies,
German Gama;co.
IV.
POLITICAL ORGANIZATION.
The Constitution of Spain, of July 2, 1876, was proclaimed in
the island of Cuba by the royal decree of April 7, 1881. From that
The Constitu- ^i.^^- the inhabitants of Cuba have enjoved all the rights of Spanish
tion of Spain . . '
Extended Citizens.
to Cuba. Under the Constitution no inhabitant of Cuba may be arrested
except in the cases and in the manner prescribed by law. Within
twenty-four hours of the arrest the prisoner must be discharged or
surrendered to the judicial authorities ; thereupon a judge having
jurisdiction must, within seventy-two hours, either order the dis-
charge 'of the prisoner or order his commitment to jail. Within
the same limit of time the prisoner must be informed of the de-
cision in his case. (Art. IV. of the Constitution.)
No Spaniard, and consequently no Cuban, may be committed
except upon the warrant of a judge having jurisdiction. Within
seventy-two hours of the commitment the prisoner must be granted
a hearing, and the warrant of commitment either sustained or
quashed. (Art. V.)
Any person arrested or committed without the formalities re-
quired by law, unless his case fall within the exceptions made by
the Constitution and by the laws, shall be discharged ui)on his
* See J). 1.').
+ Sec p. If,.
18
own petition, or upon the petition of any Spanish subject. (Art. ^^)
No one shall enter tlie dwellinii; of a Cuban without his consent
except in the cases and in the manner prescribed by law. (Art. VI.)
His mail while in charge of the Post Office shall neither be
opened nor withheld. (Art. VII.)
He shall not be compelled to change his dwelling or residence
except upon the order of an authority competent thereto and in
the cases provided by law. (Art. IX.)
The penalty of confiscation .)f property shall never be imposed
upon him ; nor may he be deprived of his private property unless
by due process of law, and when the expropriation be for public
use, after a previous just compensation. If there be no previous just
compensation the courts shall protect his rights, and in tiie proper
case restore him to the possession of his property.
The Roman C'atholic and Apostolic religion is the religion of Freedom <>f
the state. But no Cuban shall suffer molestation on account of his ^^orship.
religious opinions, nor be disturbed in the practice of his faith,
provided he duly respect Christian morals. (.\rt. XI.)
The learned professions are open to all Spanish subjects and
they may obtain their professional instruction in any manner they
deem fit. Any Spanish subject may establish and conduct a school,
in accordance with the laws. (Art. XII.)
Every Cuban, like every Spaniard, has the right :
Freely to express his ideas and opinions, orally or in writing
using the printing press or any similar device, without censorship.
Peaceably to assemble. Freedom of
To form associations. *••*, p-""' """
of neeting.
To petition, by himself or in combination with others, the King,
the Cortes, and the authorities.
The right to petition is denied only to armed forces. (.Art. XIII.)
All Cubans are eligible to public office, according to their merit
and capacity. (.\rt. XV.)
The constitutional rights conceded to Cubans are guaranteed by Constitutional
the provisions of laws passed to enforce the Constitution. These
laws provide remedies, civil and criminal, for the infringement of
constitutional rights by judges, authorities and functionaries of all
classes. (Art. XVI.)
All these constitutional rights of the inhabitants of Cuba, which
render their citizenship as valuable a protection as the citizenship of
any other state, no matter how democratic, were secured by the
•organization of municipalities and provincial assemblies, and above
all by representation in the Cortes, as provided by the two follow-
ing articles of the Constitution :
Art. 89. The colonial provnices shall be governed by special
Jaws ; but the Government is authorized to extend to these prov-
19
Ri^chts
Guaranteed.
in the Spanish
Cortes
inces the laws proclaimed or that may be proclaimed for the Penin-
sula, with the modifications it may deem proper, informing the
Cortes thereof.
Representa- Cuba and Porto Rico shall be represented in the Cortes of the
tion of Cuba kingdom, in the manner that shall be prescribed by a special law,
f"..._"o_*'-_:'f° and this law may differ for each of the islands.
Provisiox.al Article. The (rovernment shall determine when
and in what manner the representatives of the island of Cuba to the
Cortes shall be elected.
Cubans have therefore the following constitutional rights firmly
established by the organic law : personal security against arbitrary
arrest ; inviolability of the domicile ; security of the secrecy of cor-
respondence ; security against confiscation of property ; the suf-
frage ; freedom of worship ; freedom of education, and freedom of
the study and practice of professions ; freedom of speech ; freedom
of the press ; right of peaceable assembly ; right to form associa-
tions ; right to petition ; eligibility to all public offices ; and a
municipal and provincial government.
Is it tlierefore reasonable to speak of the " despotism of the
mother country," or of the "irritating condition of the island of
Cuba " ?
V.
ELECTORAL LAW.
Senators and Representatives to the Cortes.
How Senators
Under the act of January 9, 1879, Cuba elects thirteen senators.
Are Elected. Their apportionment is as follows : The province of Havana elects
three senators ; the provinces of Matanzas, Pinar del Rio, Puerto
Principe, Santa Clara and Santiago de Cuba two each ; the arch-
bisiiopric of Santiago de Cuba one ; the University of Havana
one,* and the Economic Society one.
The act of February 8, 1877, regulates the election of senators.
Senators in each jirovince are elected by secret ballot by an electoral
college. Tliis college is composed of electors chosen by the Pro-
vincial Assembly and electors chosen by secret ballot by the boards
of aldermen and by the principal taxpayers, f
How Repre- Representatives to the CortesJ are elected under the act of
December 27, 1892. Their election is by popular vote, one repre-
sentative for every 50,000 nihabitants. .\ voter must be over
twenty-five years of age, a ta.xpayer to the ainoinit of at least five
dollars, or the possessor of a i)rofessional diploma or university
♦ Representatives of the universities of Oxford and Cambridge have seats in the
House c>f Commons.
+ Ta.xpayers whose taxes are above a certain amount.
♦ The Spanish Legislature is called the Cortes. It is composed of two
branches : One is called the Senate, the other the Congress of Deputies.
20
sentatives Are
(ilected
degree. The act prcjvicles regulation for the registration of voters;
for the formation of election boards ; and for a secret ballot.
Cuba sends thirty representatives to the Cortes, All the for-
malities of elections are similar to those of the Peninsula.
The following are the clauses concerning the election of
senators :
Ari'iclk I. In accordance with the additional clause of the act of
February 8, 1877, the provinces of Havana and Porto Rico* shall
each elect three senators, and the provinces of Matanzas, Pinar del
Rio, Puerto Principe, Santa Clara and Santiago de Cuba shall each
elect two senators.
Also, and as provided therefor by law, the Archbishopric of
Santiago, with its suffragans and chapters, shall elect one senator;
the University of Havana, with the Institutes and Special Schools
of Cuba and Porto Rico, shall elect one senator ; and the Eco-
nomic Societies of Cuba and Porto Rico one senator.f
The following are the provisions concerning the election of
representatives to the Cortes :
Article I. The representatives to the Cortes shall be elected Elections by
by popular vote. The voting shall be by sections, into which, for '**p"'"'' ^°^-
that purpose, the districts and circumscriptions* now established in
Cuba and Porto Rico, or to be established, shall be subdivided.
After their admission to the Cortes they shall, with the repre-
sentatives from the Peninsula, individually and collectively repre-
sent the nation.
Art. II. One representative at least for every 50,000 inhabitants
shall be elected, and the count shall include the whole population
without distinction of races.
Art. III. The Government is empowered to determine, in accord-
ance with the results of the census of the population of Cuba and
Porto Rico, the number of representatives. In the apportionment
the present division into circumscriptions and districts and their
subdivision into sections shall be preserved as far as possible.
Each municipality shall constitute : One section if the number
of voters does not exceed 100 ; two sections if the number of voters
does not exceed 200 ; three sections if the number of voters does
not exceed 300, and so forth.
Art. IV. Only by special legislation will it be permissible to
vary the number of representatives of Cuba and Porto Rico, or to
change the boundaries of the circumscriptions, districts and sec-
tions, and the seats of the canvassing boards.
* The island of Porto Rico constitutes one province — the province of Porto
Rico. The island of Cuba is divided into six provinces — Havana, Matanzas, Pinar
del Rio, Santa Clara, Puerto Principe and Santiago de Cuba.
■V A district elects one single representative ; a circumscription elects more than
one representative, each voter voting for all the representatives from his circum-
scription ; a section is a division of the district or circumscription for convenience
in casting the vote.
•21
Who
Are Eligible.
Registration
Essential.
To What Ex-
tent Voters
Must Be
Taxpayers.
Apportion-
Tient of Taxes
Among
Copartners.
Art. V. To be eligible as representative to the Congress it is
necessary :
First. To be a Spanish subject* : to be a laymanf ; to have
reached the age of twenty-five years before the day of election ; and
to be in the enjoyment of all civil rights. A representative-elect
who has been born a subject of Spain, and has renounced his
allegiance and again recovered, as prescribed by law, his Spanish
citizenship, shall prove, in order to obtain his seat as representative
to the Cortes, that he recovered his Spanish citizenship at least one
year before his election.
Second. To have been elected and declared elected in the Cortes
as provided by this act and by the rules of the Cortes.
Third. Not to be under disability to obtain the ofifice owing to
any personal incapacity. J
Fourth. Not to be included within any of the cases specified in
the law of incompatibilities. §
Art, XII. Only those whose names shall be contained in the
registration lists as voters on the day of election shall have the
right to vote for representatives to the Cortes.
Art. XIII. Every male Spanish subject, resident of Cuba or of
Porto Rico, shall have the right to have his name included in the
registration lists of the section within which he resides, provided
he be of the age of twenty-five years ; he be a taxpayer, to the
amount of five dollars in Cuba and ten dollars in Porto Rico, of
ta.xes on rural or urban real estate or of industrial or commercial
ta.xes ; provided he shows he pays the said amount of taxes at
the time of demanding his inscription in the registration lists. In
computing the amount of his taxes only the taxes-paid to the state
must be considered.
Art. XIV. For the purpose of computing the amount of taxes
paid by a citizen who claims the right to vote he shall be deemed
a property owner in the following cases :
First. The husband shall be deemed the owner of his wife's
property while the marriage exists.
Second. The father shall be deemed the owner of his child's
property, if he be the legal administrator of the child's estate.
Third. If the legal title lie in a son, and the mother be the
beneficiary, the son shall be deemed the owner.
.Art. XV. For electoral purposes the copartners of a mercantile
partnership shall be deemed taxpayers of the taxes paid by the
partnershij), the taxes being apjiortioned according to the interest in
the partnershi|-) of each copartner. If the respective interest of each
copartner be unknown the copartners shall be deemed to have an
equal interest. The existence of the jKirtnership, the interest of
each copartner, and the class of each copartner shall be proved
by a declaration certified by a notary and recorded in the proper
registry.
♦ This includes all persons born in Spain, Cuba, Porto Rico, the Philippine Islands
and other Spanish possessions.
+ Members of the clergy are not eligible.
X This refers to physical or mental disability, and to disability through convic-
tion of a crime, when the conviction carries with it the loss of political rights.
S The incompatibility refers to holders of certain high office, resignation being
recjuired previous to seating in the Cfjrtes.
22
Art. XVI. For the purposes of this law, when land is rented or
land is cultivated on shares, two-thirds of the taxes shall be attrib-
uted to the landowner and one-third to the tenant or cultivator on
shares. But the tenancy or the agreement to cultivate on shares
must be proved by a certificate in writing recorded in the proper
registry a year before the electit)n.
The notaries public shall furnish without charge, upon free stamped
paper,* copies of the documents to which this article and the fore-
going one refer ; and the officials of the register's office shall also,
in the proi->er case, furnish free of charge and on like paper cer-
tified copies of the records and marginal notes. 'l"he object for
which these documents are intended shall be stated therein, so
that they may not be accepted by courts, district courts and
(iovernment offices for a purpose different from that intended by
this decree.
Art. XVII. The following shall also have the right to be in-
cluded in the registration lists, provided they have attained tlie
age of twenty-five years :
1. Members of the Royal Spanish Academy and of the Royal
.Academies of History, of San Fernando, of Exact Sciences, of
Physical and Natural Sciences, of Moral and Political Sciences, and
of Medicine.
2. Members of ecclesiastical chapters, and parish priests and
their curates.
3. Officials of all the departments of the Public Administration,
of the Provincial Assemblies and of the municipalities, who shall
have had a yearly salary of $100 for at least two years previous to
registration ; officials retired on pensions, whatever be the pension,
and also retired heads of administrative departments, even if they
be pensionless.
4. General officers of the army and admirals of the navy on
furlough ; chiefsf and military and navy officers retired on pen-
sion ; soldiers, whether officers or privates, who have obtained the
Cross of St. Fernando. J
5. Persons who have obtained a professional diploma or aca-
tlemic degree, and shall have resided during the two years previous
to registration within the limits of the municipality.
6. Painters and sculptors who have obtained a prize in a
national or international exhibition.
7. Recorders and clerks of the court of the supreme courts and
of the superior courts, notaries and attorneys, clerks of the court
of district courts and members of commercial exchanges who come
within the cases specified in Sections i, 2, 3 and 4 of Art. VI.
Art. XVIII. The right to vote shall be denied to those whose
cases shall fall within the contingencies specified in Sections i, 2. 3
and 4 of Art. VI.
* Before it was made also a source of revenue the object of the stamp was to pre-
vent forgery. The stamp being numbered, a referente to the number was made in
the body of the document, and the number of the stamp recorded separately. For
some formalities, as in this case, the law dirt-cts the Government to furnish stamped
paper free.
+ In the Spanish army "jefe" (chief) is a generic term for colonel, lieutenant-
colonel and major.
t This cross is awarded only to so'.diers who have won distinction by heroic
deeds in battle.
Certified
Copies
of Records.
Pel sons
Entitled to
Registration.
Disqualifies'
tions
for Voting.
23
Public Meet-
ings only
Restricted by
Law.
Those who are referred to in the second clause of Section i.
Art. v., of this decree shall exercise the right of suffrage only upon
proof of compliance with the requirements for eligibility specified
in that clause.
Art. XIX. The registration lists shall be completed in accord-
ance with the foregoing provisions, and when so completed they
shall constitute the standing electoral census.
VI.
PUBLIC MEETINGS AND ASSOCIATIONS.
Article XIII. of the Constitution gives the people the rights peace-
ably to assemble and to form associations. Of these rights no one
may be deprived, unless the safety of the state require it, and the
deprivation must be by virtue of some law, and only of a temporary
nature. To enforce this article of the Constitution the Cortes
passed two laws for the Peninsula : one, the act of June 15, 1880,
to regulate the right of public meeting, and the other, the act of
June 30, 1887, concerning the right of association. By royal decrees
of November i, 1881, and of June 12, 1888, these laws were extended
to the island of Cuba.
The act regulating the right of peaceable assembly requires that
the governor of the province in which a public meeting is to be held
be given twenty-four hours' previous notice of the time and place
of holding the meeting; it defines the meaning of "peaceable
assembly"; it directs that a representative of the Government may
be present at the meeting ; and enumerates the cases in which the
meeting may be suppressed.
The act regulating the right of association refers to religious,
political, scientific, social, artistic and eleemosynary associations,
and to any other association not intended for purposes of profit. It
Scope of the igfers also to guilds, mutual aid societies, associations of em-
Law.
ployers for the protection of employees, and to co-operative asso-
ciations. This law does not refer to religious societies of the
Catholic Church authorized by the Concordat* with the Pope. It
does not refer to mercantile associations, these being regulated by
other sections of the Civil Code or by the Commercial Code, nor to
institutions and corporations created or governed by special legis-
lation.
This act regulates the organization of associations, governs their
relations with the state, and provides an office for their registration.
The decree extending this act to the island of Cuba made no
noteworthy change in the law except in the clause referring to relig.
ious associations under the Concordat.
Associations
w hich
Come within
the
• An agreement between the Roman See and a secular government relative to
matters that concern both.
24
vn.
THE GOVERNOR-GENERAL.
The (lovernor-General is the highest official of ilie island of
Cuba. He is tlie supreme representative of the (lovernment. His
Attributes
of
,., , , , ^ ,, the Qovernor-
povvers, except as now niodilied by tlie act of March 15, 1S95, are Oenerai.
contained in the followinij text :
Jvova/ Decree of j'unc 9, 1S7S.*
On motion of the Minister of the Colonies, and with the con-
currence of the Council of r^linisters, 1 decree as follows:
Article I. The Governor-General is the highest official repre-
senting the National Government in the island of Cuba. He is the
delegate of the Ministers of the Colonies, of State, of ^^'ar, and of
the Navy. He has, moreover, as vice-royal patron, the powers
inherent to the patronship of the Indies, agreeably with the papal
bulls and the laws of the kingdom. His authority extends over
all that conduces to the maintenance of the public peace, the preserv-
ation of the territory, the execution of the laws, and the protection
of life and property.
He is the commander-in-chief of the army and navy of the
island and controls tlie forces on land and sea, subject to the army
and navy regulations. All the other authorities of the island are
subordinate to him.
Art. II. His duties are :
First. To publish and execute, in the provinces under his charge,
the laws, decrees and orders, and the instructions of the Minister
whose delegate he is, and the treaties and international conventions.
To communicate, concerning foreign affairs, with her Majesty's
consuls and diplomatic agents in America.
Second. To supervise and inspect all the branches of the state
service in the island, and report to the Ministers he represents con-
cerning their respective departments.
Third. To grant pardons whenever the urgency and gravity of
the case and the impossibility of communication with the Peninsula*
prevent him from consulting by letter or by telegraph upon the
necessity and propriety of granting the pardon, in accordance with
the orders of May 29, 1S55, and the orders subsequent thereto.
Fourth. To apply, after previous deliberation with the Council
of Authorities,]; when extraordinary events, due to foreign or do-
mestic causes which may menace or imjiair the security and defense
of the land, occur, and when consultation with the Supreme Gov-
ernment would be dilatory, the law of April 17, 1821, or the Law of
Public Peace, the latter law not being allowed to limit his powers
under the former.
* Promulgated after the Zanjon Treaty.
+ Spain proper is termed by Spaniards •• the Peninsula," to distinguish it from
Cuba, Ported Rico and the Philippine Islands, which are also "Spain."
X For Council of Authorities see Art. XII. of this law.
His DutiM.
Fifth. When resolutions of the Madrid Government may occa-
sion material or moral perturbations or seriously endanger the
public welfare, owing to events that might occur upon such reso-
lutions becoming known in the island, or owing to reasons the Gov-
ernment may not have taken into consideration, the Governor-
General may suspend them. To decree such suspension the Council
of Authorities must be heard, and notice of the suspension given to
the Government as speedily as possible.
Sixth. To suspend for the same reasons the execution of the
decisions of inferior ofificials, although such decisions might be
within the powers of such ofificials, and would under ordinary cir-
cumstances be' enforcible, explaining to the proper Minister the
motives of the suspension, so that the matter may receive its due
solution.
Other Art. III. It is incumbent also upon the Cxovernor-General, as
Obligations, supreme chief of all the civil branches of the public administration :
First. To keep each branch of the public administration within
the limits of its powers, as fixed by law.
Second. To publish edicts and take measures for the fulfillment
of the laws and regulations and for the government of the island,
giving notice thereof to the Minister of the Colonies.
Third. To propose to the Government measures to promote the
moral and material welfare of the island, if such measures be not
within the cognizance of the provincial or municipal authorities and
corporations.
Fourth. To determine the penal institutions in which sentences
shall be served, and to order the incarceration therein of convicts ;
and to designate also the jail liberties, when the courts may order
confinement therein.
Fifth. To suspend delinquent public associations and munici-
pal corporations.
Sixth. To order provincial governors to fine public function-
aries and municipal corporations.
Seventh. To suspend, for cause justified by memorial, any public
ofificial whose appointment pertains to the Supreme Government, giv-
ing the Government immediate notice of such suspension, and to fill
tro tempore \.\\^\7s.C2iX\cy in accordance with the regulations now exist-
ing or hereafter to be provided.
Eighth. To grant or deny his permission to indict public offi-
cials, as provided by law.
Art. IV. The Governor-General shall exercise all the other
functions of government that the laws may direct or that the Supreme
Government may delegate to him.
.\rt. V. The Governor-General shall communicate directly with
the Ministers whose delegate and re|:)resentati\e he is. The tleiKirt-
mental authcjrities shall communicate through him with their
respective Ministers.
Art. \T. The (iovernor General may modify or revoke his de-
cisions or those of his predecessors, unless they have been confirmed
by the Ciovernment, or have vested rights, or have served as a basis
for a judgment in a criminal or civil trial. Of his own motion he
shall not mcnlify or revoke his decision, when he bases the decision
upon the limitation of his powers, or when the decision grants or
denies permission for an indictment.
20
Art. VII. A decision of the Goveriior-deneral of a ministerial
nature, or in a matter lying within his discretion, or when it assumes
a reglamentary character, may be revoked or modified by the
Supreme Government, whenever the latter may judge such deci-
sion contrary to the laws or general regulations, or injurious to the
government and good administration of the island. His decision
may also be revoked or modified on the appeal of a citizen deeming
himself injured in his rights, provided the citizen be not recpiired by
law to obtain his remedy by proceedings before the council, before
a municipal corporation, or before the Governor-General himself.
Art. VIII. Objection to a decision of the Governor-(ieneral
which determines the status of property must be before the mi.xed
judicial and administrative court, as provided by law.
Art. IX. The Governor-General shall be appointed by royal
decree issued by the President of the Council of Ministers, upon
the proposition of the Minister of the Colonies.
Art. X. He shall not surrender his charge nor absent himself
from the island without the express order of the Government.
Art. XI. In case of the death of the Governor-General, his
absence from the island, or inability to discharge the powers and
duties of his office, the same shall devolve upon the Military Gov-
ernor until the Government appoint -Si pro tevipore substitute.
If the absence be only from the capital of the island he shall
continue discharging his duties from whatever place he may be in,
and in matters of a ministerial nature, or matters within his exclusive
competence, he may delegate his powers over each department to
the respective heads thereof, but if the matter be within the com-
petence of the Supreme Government its transaction rfiust be through
the Military Governor.
Art. XII. The Council of Superior Authorities, whose opinion
in accordance with this decree the Governor-General must consult,
is composed : of the Bishop of Havana, or the Archbishop of San-
tiago de Cuba, if the latter be present ; the Chief of the Xaval
Station ; the Military Governor ; the heads of the departments of
Justice, of Finance, and of the Interior ; and the Attorney-General.
If, in the judgment of the (rovernor-General, the nature of the
matters before the council requires the presence of the Provincial
Governor the Governor-General may summon the Provincial Gov-
ernor and give him a vote in the council.
The nature of this council is advisory. Its resolutions shall be
drawn up in writing, signed by the members present, and certified to
by the Secretary of the General Government, and inserted in a book
provided for the purpose. A copy of each resolution shall be pro-
vided for each signatory, another for the Minister of the Colonies,
and a copy for the Minister within whose department the matter
treated of may fall. The Governor-General is free to follow or dis-
regard the advice of the council. Kut following the advice of the
council does not exempt him from the full responsibility for his acts.
Art. XIII. All decrees inconsistent with tlie present decree are
hereby revoked.
Done in the Palace, January 9, 1S78.
.\l.FONSO.
The Minister of the Colonies,
Ti/iSE ElJH AVF.N.
.Teans
of
Redress.
How
the Qovernor-
General is
Appointed.
In Case of
Death.
Absence or
Inability.
Council
of
Authorities.
The Council
i5
Advisory.
27
Divided
Into Six ProV'
vin.
PROVINCIAL ADMINISTRATION.
In 1878, the island having but recently been completely pacified,
the Spanish Government deemed the time opportune to establish in
Cuba the laws that under the Constitution of Spain gave all Spanish
subjects equal rights. The mother country bore in mind that the
growing extension and importance of the foreign trade of Cuba and
its scientific and literary advances called for means of government
different from those which had obtained. The state of revolt of the
island, however, had made reform inadvisable.
The island By a royal decree of June 9 of the same year the island, for the
purpose of administrative reorganization, was divided into six prov-
inces, inces, with a provincial governor for each province.
Another decree of June 21 of that year ordered the application,
provisipnally, in the island of Cuba of the organic provincial and
municipal laws of 1870 of the Peninsula. These laws were made
by a democratic Covernment* and slightly modified afterward.
They determine all that which pertains to the civil administration
of the Cuban provinces, to the organization, powers, and responsi-
bilities of the provincial assemblies, and of the provincial officials,
and to the estimates and accounts of the assemblies. Essentially
the administration of the Cuban provinces is the same as that of
the provinces of the Peninsula.
IX.
MUNICIPAL ADMINISTRATION.
The organization of municipalities in Cuba was regulated by the
royal decree of July 27, 1859. Each municipality was provided
with a board of aldermen for the administration of its affairs. Sub-
sequently the decree was modified in some of its clauses by several
other decrees, among these the royal decree of November 25, 1863,
which (jrganized the superior civil government of Havana, and the
regulation of January 30. 1866, concerning the exercise of the pow-
ers appertaining to the civil governor of the province of Havana,
in his double capacity of governor of the province and of president
of the board of ahk^rmen of the city, and with respect to the func-
tions of the board.
Municipal Somcwliat modified, the organic municipal law of the Peninsula
Law (extended /•/~»..i- n ii,..,, ,.
of October 2, 1877, was extended to Cuba bv the roval decree of
Cuba.
* In I'CO Spain was de fiuto a republic.
28
June 21, 1S78. These modifications refer to the number of alder-
men of each board and to the powers of the Governor-General
in appointing mayors. Each mayor is appointed by the Governor-
General from three nominees presented by the board of aldermen.
The Governor-General may disregard the nominations of the boards
and appoint as mayors persons not forming part of the municipali-
ties. He also appoints assistant mayors, upon the nominations of
the boards, the nominations being made in the same manner as m
the case of the mayors. The nominees, however, must be members
of the boards. .The salaries of mayors are municipal charges.
To recapitulate, the Governor-General exercises the functions
which pertain by the law of the Peninsula to the Supreme Govern-
ment, although with more amplitude. This amplitude is due to two
reasons : First, to the slight experience of the Cuban people in pub-
lic affairs ; and, second, to the necessity, on account of the distance
of the island from the Peninsula and the desire of avoiding expense
and delay, of insuring freedom of action to the superior authority in
the solution of local problems.
PUBLIC PEACE.
The law of public peace of the Peninsula of April 23, 1873, is in suspension of
force also in Cuba. It is applicable only after the suspension of Constitutional
constitutional rights as provided by the Constitution. With re- '^
spect to the suspension of constitutional rights the present Con-
stitution is the same as the democratic Constitution of 1809.*
This law gives the civil authorities extraordinary powers : To
arrest citizens ; to stop any publication ; to disperse crowds, using
force after the third request to disperse ; to exile citizens ; to com-
pel a citizen to change his residence ; and to enter private dwellings
without warrant.
If these extraordinary powers prove insufficient the civil authori- When
ties mav surrender their powers to the militarv authorities, and a Military Rule
' . - Can Be
state of siege may be proclaimed. Proclaimed.
Thereupon ordinary crimes are tried before the civil courts, but
crimes of a seditious nature are tried before a court martial.
But under the protocol of January 7, 1877, between Spain antl
the United States, citizens of the United States must be tried
before the civil courts, unless captured in arms.
* This Constitution was promulgated under the Je facto republic which was
estabhshed after the fall of Queen Isabel II. in I'^OS.
29
XL
DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE.
Juris= The metropolis has ever given its constant attention to this im-
prudence. ^ ^ J A.
portant department.
The early laws for the Indies contained wise and minute regula-
tions for the administration of justice. For the same purpose
numerous measures have been taken of late years. Among these
are the royal decrees of January 30, 1855 ; of April 12, 1875 ; of
May 23, 1S79; of January 15, 1884, and of May 24, 1885.
At present the Revised Statutes of January 5, 1891, obtain.
They contain, in methodical arrangement, the organic law of the
Department of Justice for the colonial provinces and possessions.
They refer to the division into judicial districts ; to the appoint-
ment and promotion of magistrates, judges, state attorneys and
clerks of the courts ; to the judicial responsibility ; to the jurisdic-
tions of the various courts ; to the inspection of the administration
of justice ; to the legal profession ; and to all matters pertaining to
the judicial organization and hierarchy.
The Departments of Justice of the Peninsula and of Cuba form
an integral whole, the functionaries thereof being assimilated.
Administra- There are in Cuba three territorial superior courts, of both civil
tiono ustice ^j^^ criminal jurisdiction, those of Havana, Santiago de Cuba, and
in Cuba. J ' t e> >
Matanzas ; three superior courts, of criminal jurisdiction only, those
of Puerto Principe, Santa Clara and Pinar de Rio ; and thirty-six
inferior courts, of both criminal and civil jurisdiction, six in the city
of Havana, two in the city of Matanzas, two in the city of Santiago
de Cuba, and one in each of the follov/ing towns : Bejucal, Guana-
bacoa, Giiines, Jaruco, Marianao, San Antonio de los Baiios, Puerto
Principe, Moron, Canerias, Alfonso XH., Colon, Pinar del Rio,
Ciuanajay, Guanes, San Cristobal, Santa Clara. Cienfuegos, Sagua la
Grande, San Juan de los Remedios, Sancti-Spiritu, Trinidad,
Baracoa, Bayamo, Guantanamo, Holguin and Manzanillo.
xn.
CIVIL RIGHTS.
Cuba Enjoyi In this branch of tiie law tlie assiniihilion between Cuba and the
kiKhu'Ts Peninsula has been constant. The same substantive law and law of
>pain. jirocedure obtains in both countries.
Shortly after its promulgation the Civil Code now in force in
the Peninsula was, by the royal decree of July 31, 1889, integrally
applied to the island of Cuba.
30
Thus Cubans were made participants in '"an evident antl extremely
beneficent advance," for the Civil Code, as is felicitously stated in
the preaml)le to the aforesaid royal decree, " reduces to one source
the numerous dissimilar and conflicting fountains of the old Spanish
civil law, modifies in a rational manner the law of inheritance, illu-
mines and improves the law of personal rights and in general, with
tradition as a basis, includes and regulates all classes of personal
rights in a form that is more rational, more systematic and scien-
tific than that effected by the laws which in so valuable and abun-
dant a series have been bequeathed to us by former centuries."
And the Minister, I). Manuel Becerra, who subscribes this docu-
ment, adds :
" Neither in the Spanish West Indies nor in the Philippine
Islands is the civil law special or different from that which has
been in force in the Peninsula, nor does the organization of the
family and of property in those remote provinces demand any spe-
cialty in legislation for an existence whose evolution is exactly the
same as that of the rest of the nation, because those peoples,
although they have a genius proper to themselves and in some
respects different from that of the people of Spain, adapted them-
selves long ago to the Spanish law, brought to them by the con-
querors and missionaries.
" There ex'sts therefore no danger of carrying to those countries
rash innovations that might prove unwholesome to those communi-
ties, or changes that may be injurious to property, the title to which
is acquired, maintained and alienated in the manner established by
the old Spanish legislation, and that does not give rise to forms
unknown among us and which it would be necessary to sanction by
the law. And so the Colonial Committee on Codes made manifest
to his Majesty's Government, when the Civil Code was discussed
in the Chambers, the propriety of extending it to the colonial prov-
inces as soon as it became law, without amendment either in the
substance or in the form. '
" And if it be indubitable that his Majesty may cherish the sat-
isfaction of considering the enrichment of the nation with a civil
code, that with so much anxiety and for so long a time it has solic-
ited, as a happy event of his reign, no less indubitable is it that this
sentiment of pure and elevating satisfaction will grow stronger and
larger by extending the code to the colonial provinces, which with
respect to this class of legislation have suffered the same inconven-
iences and will obtain the same advantages as the Peninsula.
" No constituent element of society knits a people together and
binds them in the bosom of a common culture as the unity of legis-
lation, and particularly of the civil law, which deals exclusively with
the intimate relations of the lives and liberties of men.
31
"And if Spain was ever inspired in her policy toward the nations
she ruled in another hemisphere by the lofty purposes of a pater-
nalism, which was quickly to induce them to form a component
part of this sublime and harmonious unity of the fatherland ; if
Spain never applied to them a utilitarian and selfish system of gov-
ernment ; if our history is filled with monuments that attest how the
mother country never bartered away her desire generously to uplift
and to draw to her bosom the inhabitants of the colonies, and to
educate and rule them as she educated and ruled herself ; and if, as
a happy result of this beneficent and self-sacrificing policy, the most
important advantage that may be derived from legislation, which is
identicalness in civil law, was established, it is both rational and
politic to preserve that identicalness, maintaining thus our title to
honor and securing the most priceless benefit that a nation can offer
the peoples it rules, and which consists in establishing equality
before the law and granting to all the subject nations the sum of
the rights which she herself enjoys."
The Civil Procedure Act of September 25, 1885, of the Peninsula
is also in force in Cuba. That law regulates the proceedings before
both superior and inferior courts and the appeal to the Supreme
Court at Madrid.
xm.
THE LAW MERCHANT.
Various Laws By a royal decree of February i, 1832, the Commercial Code of
ing'^and ^^"9 ^"*^ ^^^^ Code of Commercial Procedure of 1830 were extended
Kecuiating to Cuba. The law of June 30, 1878, modified some clauses of the
Commerce.
Commercial Code and suppressed others. This law was extended
to Cuba by the royal decree of November i, 1878.
The act of November, 1869, now in force in the Peninsula, con-
cerning the bankruptcy of railway and public works companies, was
extended to Cuba on August 12, 1881,
'i'he Commercial Code of August 22, 1885, of the Peninsula was
also extended to Cuba by a royal decree of January 28, 1886. Thus
was the greatest freedom for commercial transactions granted to the
island of Cuba.
On August 16, 187S, a regulation for the organization of stock
companies in the colonial j^rovinces was approved. A royal decree
of the same date ordered that banks of issue and discount be
governed by that regulation. ruder that decree a bank was
established for the island of Cuba and was given the monopoly of
the issue of l)ank notes. This bank is similar to the Bank of
Spain, ill the Peninsula, and is governed by an administrator, a
governor and two vice-governors, all appointed by the Supreme
Government.
XIV.
nORTQAQES.
By a royal decree of May i6, 1879, the Law of Mortgages Reforms
that obtains in the Peninsula was extended to Cuba. 'I'his act went Adopted,
into operation on May i, 1880. Some changes had been made in the
law, but they gave undesirable results.
To avoid these undesirable results, and to harmonize this act
with the Civil Code, which had been subsequently introduced in
1889, and with other existing laws, the act was modified by the law
of July 14, 1893.
This last act provides facilities for the registration o( land
titles, guaranteeing their ownership, and cheapening the registra-
tion of small holdings ; it gives the seller of agricultural machinery
and implements a lien for the full purchase price upon the articles
sold, and, with the consent of the buyer, a lien upon the latter's
land ; it also simplifies the foreclosure of mortgages, and so forth.
There are in Cuba twenty-five land registry offices, situated in
the following towns : Havana, Cardenas, Matanzas, Pinar del Rio,
Bejucal, Cienfuegos, Guanajay, Puerto Principe, Santa Clara,
Santiago de Cuba, Trinidad, Sagua la Grande, Alfonso XII.,
Baracoa, Bayamo, Colon, Guanabacoa, Guines, Holguin, Jaruco,
Manzanillo, San Antonio de los Baiios, San Cristobal, San Juan de
los Remedios and Sancti-Spiritu.
XV,
REGISTRY AND CIVIL HARRIAQE.
The royal decree of January 8, 1884, and the regulation of Civil Registry
November 8 of the same year extended to Cuba and to Porto Rico
the act of June 17, 1870, with some modifications due to the pecu-
liarities of those islands. This act regulates civil registry in the
Peninsula, and ordains all that which pertains to the civil status*
of citizens.
The parish records were transcribed to the register,! and provi-
sional inscriptions were made in cases in which citizens were unable
to exhibit certificates of birth.
* Civil status {esiaJo civil) is the e'taC ciz'il oi the French. It means the civil con-
dition of a citizen with respect to being of age or under age, married or unmarried,
legitimate or illegitimate.
+ This register corresponds to the American bureaus of vital statistics, which
keep a record of births, deaths and marriages.
3a
Act Extended
to Cuba.
This act became a valuable protection to the freedom of emanci-
pated slaves, and is a proof of the honesty with which the laws for
the abolition of slavery in Cuba were enforced.
Civil narriage The Civil Marriage Act of the Peninsula of June i8, 1870, and
the royal decree of February 9, 1875, modifying this act, are a de-
velopment of Art. XI. of the Constitution, which guarantees freedom
of worship.*
The Constitution having been proclaimed in Cuba and Porto
Rico on April 7, 1881, the Marriage Act and decree aforesaid were
necessarily extended to Cuba and Porto Rico. This gave all resi-
dents of these islands, Spanish subjects and foreigners alike, the
right, irrespective of their religious faith, to contract matrimony.
Spain has ever furthered the social needs of the dwellers within
her boundaries. Thus the royal order of December 16, 1792, pro-
vided a form of civil marriage and registry for the marital unions
contracted in the territories of Florida and Louisiana, at that time
Spanish possessions, between Protestants, or between Catholics and
Protestants.
The provisions of Chapter III. of the Civil Code of October 6,
1888, concerning civil marriage, which obtain in the Peninsula, were
extended to Cuba and Porto Rico by the royal decree of July 31.
1889, and now obtain in those islands.
XVI.
NOTARIES.f
From the time of the laws for the Indies notaryships in Cuba
were gifts within the grant of the C'rown, the duties thereof being
discharged by the grantee or his deputy.
Notary-ships By the Ect of Match 3, 1873, the Government was ordered to
regulate notaryships in the colonies in accordance with the law of
May 28, 1862, which obtained in the Peninsula, and which was one of
the best in Kurope. The present law of notaryships for Cuba and
Porto Rico was proclaimed on October 29, 1874. It is adapted to
the special needs of those islands, and is based upon the experience
obtained by the working of tiie law in tlie Peninsula. It has exalted
the office of notary into a profession, and divickul the territory into
notarial districts, therci)y facilitating tiie making of contracts.
♦ Formerly only canonical marriages (i. e., marriages solemni/.ed under the rites
of the Church of Rome) were recognized. The Constitution having established
religious toleration this law recognizes the validity of non-Catholic marriages.
+ In Spanish countries, as in France, tlie notary is an important official, whose
functions iDc4ude conveyancing, &c.
34
Regulated.
xvn.
Code of 5pain
Extended to
Cuba.
CRIMINAL LAW.
Until the year 1878 the old penal laws of Spain were applied m
Cuba, the courts being allowed in certain cases to mitigate the
harshness of the law.
A Spanish democratic legislature passed a Penal Code on June 17, Revised Pcnai
1870. That code, as subsequently amended at the suggestions of a
revising commission of jurists, now obtains in the Peninsula. With
its amendments it was extended to the island of Cuba by a royal
decree of May 2;^, 1879.
In establishing in Cuba the Penal Code of the mother country
no alteration was introduced in the text except such changes as
were required by the exigencies of the conditions peculiar to the
colonial provinces, and the innovations demanded by the Constitu-
tion, the proclamation of the Constitution having been subsequent
to that of the Code of the Peninsula. The chief modifications are
due to the necessity of provitling the Governor-General with powers
analogous to those of the Supreme Government of the Peninsula ;
to the absolute inapplicability of the law, as in the case of offenses
committed in the Royal Palace, or in the Houses of Parliament at
Madrid ; to the difference in climate ; and to the necessity of secur-
ing the right of masters over their slaves* and freedmen.f Cuba has
now a criminal code upon a scientific basis and in accordance, in
the matter of crimes and penalties, with the teachings of modern
schools of criminalogists.
Rules of criminal procedure were established for the application
of this code, and an appeal to the Supreme Court at Madrid pro-
vided. Thus the criminal law of the colonies was assimilated to
that of the Peninsula, and the natives of Cuba were conceded the
protection of appeal to the highest tribunal of the kingdom.
Moreover, by the royal decree of October 19, 1878, the Criminal
Procedure Act of September 14, 1882, which obtains in the Penin-
sula, with some amendments suggested by the Colonial Committee
on Codes, was extended to Cuba. This act establishes trial by in-
dictment and in open court.
The foregoing shows that the penal laws, both substantive law
and law of procedure, now in force in Cuba protect the life of the
citizen and the security of society, and are agreeable to the modern
views of this important branch of legislation.
* Slavery was totally abolished in 1886.
+ t^reedmen {lil>ertos) were emancipated slaves. Certain mutual rights and
duties of no practical importance, such as the duty of mutual assistance in case of
poverty, &c., remained.
35
Criminal
Procedure and
Right of
Appeal.
Public In-
struction
Fostered.
Havana
L'niversity
Faculties.
Representa-
tion in the
Superior
Hoard of
Public
ln5truction.
xvm.
PUBLIC INSTRUCTION.
This important deparinient, tlie foundation of a people's culture
and prosperity, has in Cuba always received the most careful atten-
tion. As far back as 1680 we find in Title 22, Book i of the Codi-
fied Laws of the Indies judicious precepts which show how great was
the interest taken by Spanish monarchs in public instruction in the
colonies.
In recent years, as formerly, the idea of unification with the
legislation of Spain has prevailed in the legislation relating to this
department. The decree of July 5, 1863, extended to Cuba the act
of September 9, 1857, which is still in force in the Peninsula, and
the greater part of the regulations prescribed for its enforcement.
Still with the intent of unification, by the decree of June 18, 1880,
important reforms were effected. By the- decree of December 7 of
the same year the plan of instruction was reorganized. Faculties of
sciences, of philosophy and the humanities, of medicine, of phar-
macy and of law, were formed in the University of Havana, thus
creating in the latter the same faculties which compose the Univer-
sity of Madrid. An Institute* like the institutes of the Peninsula,
and with the same curriculum and government, was established in
each of the six provinces of Cuba.
By the royal decree of July 7, 1883, the Havana University
District was created in the same form as the districts established in the
Peninsula, the rector of the University of Havana being the head
of all the educational establishments of the district. The decree
of July 5, 1887, regulated the process, which is the same as that of
the Peninsula, to enable the university to confer decrees for studies
conducted privately.
The (iovernor-deneral of Cuba appoints all the priniaryf school
instructors whose salaries exceed $300 a year ; the others are ap-
pointed by the rector of the University of Havana.
For the supervision of public education there is in Madrid the
Superior Board of Public Instruction, whose members are partly ap-
l^ointees of the crown and jiartly elective. Among the former is the
Under Secretary of the (."olonial 1 )cparlment and among the latter
♦ Institutes {institutos) are Government schools of second education (see note
below), in contradistinction from the private schools of second education (colegios)-
•f In Spanish countries schools are divided into schools of first (/. c, priinarj )
education and schools of second (i. e., higher) education.
The course of the schools of higher education is of five years, an A. B. being
obtained at the completion of this course. This degree is, however, only a prep-
aration to matriculation in the universities and in the professional schools.
86
five members selected by the colonial provinces. Of these five mem-
bers Cuba chooses two and has due representation in that high con-
sultive body of the kingdom, the similarity, or rather the equality,
which has on this point existed for a long time past between Cuba
and the Peninsula being patent.
XIX.
ECONOMICS.
Besides granting to Cuba, witli other political rights, the right to
representation in the national parliament — a privilege which Eng-
land has conceded to none of her colonies — Spain has kept making
concessions advantageous to the interests of her West Indian ])rov-
inces, even when such concession seemed contrary to the interests
of the Peninsula. Scarcely had peace been made with France and
Ferdinand VII. been restored to his throne when two royal decrees
were proclaimed ; one for the encouragement of white immigra-
tion and the other to open the ports of Cuba to the flags of all
nations. In a few years the economic situation of the island com-
pletely changed. Prior to the promulgation of the decrees the
Cuban treasury had required the constant aid of the treasury of the
colony of Mexico. From 1850 to i860 the Cuban treasury was in
so prosperous a state that with only a tax of 2 per cent, on the prod-
uce of rural property and of 4 per cent, on the rentals of urban
real estate, a small tax on the sale of realty, the stamp tax, and
the customs dues, which had greatly increased owing to the thriving
condition of trade, its surplus never fell below $3,000,000, while
it rose for some years to $5,000,000, although for some time the
treasury made a yearly contribution of $2,000,000 to the Crown.
The favorable state of affairs ceased after i860. The failure of
many stock companies which had abused their credit, and the facili-
ties afforded by the Government, with the intention of developing
the natural resources of the country, to mercantile and industrial
associations, caused an intense depression, the effect of which was
felt by the public treasury. Filibustering attempts against the
sovereignty of Spain previous to 1 868, and the rebellion of 1868-1878,
which broke out at the very moment of the proclamation in Spain
of a democratic constitution that was a guarantee of a liberal gov-
ernment for the Spanish West Indies,* caused a large increase in the
estimates for the army and the navy, which previously had been
very slight, and further embarrassed the treasury.
If some years later the prosperity of the island was again affected
it was partly owing to an increase in the cost of production, due to
* Universal suffrage was established in Porto Rico at the same time that it was
established in Spain, in ISTO.
Period of
Prosperity.
Increase in
Appropria-
tions Due
to the
Rebellion.
87
Convention
Called to
Discuss Finan-
cial and Other
Matters-
Taxation
Considerably
Reduced.
Rcllcl Meas-
ures (fir ^ujcar
Producers.
the abolition of slavery and to the exclusion of Cuban sugar from
several foreign markets, and partly owing to an increase in the pro-
duction of beet sugar, circumstances over which the Government
had no control.
Previous to i86S public opinion on the island had been much
occupied with the economic problems. The Government had al-
ready sought to increase the supply of field laborers, which was
growing scarce owing to the suppression of the slave trade, by per-
mitting the importation of Chinese coolies. Finally it convoked in
Madrid delegates from the Spanish West Indies for the discussion
of colonial questions from all points of view, including the political.
The delegates met in assembly, expounded their views and pre-
sented plans, which, to be sure, differed much among themselves,
upon the questions submitted to them, such as the facilitation of
immigration, the treaties of commerce it was desirable to make, and
a system of taxation more in harmony with the needs of the island.
It was to the initiative of the actual president of the Council of
Ministers, D. Antonio Canovas del Castillo, that the convocation of
the delegates was due.
When the revolt of 1868 broke out the first preparatory measures
were taken for the suppression of slavery and for the consequent
change to a new labor system, the change being accomplished with-
out the perturbations that have afflicted the colonies of other
nations. New tariffs, to the advantage both of the consumer of
imports and of the native producer, were tried, and if then, as
afterward, the exigencies of the war increased all taxation, on the
conclusion of peace the Government, with the assent of the Cuban
representative in the Cortes, hastened to lower the taxes to the nor-
mal rate, the tax on the products of rural property falling to a rate
lower than that in any country of European origin.*
At the request of the representatives of Cuba, who were desirous
of extending the Cuban market in the Peninsula, a Navigation and
Customs Act was passed in 1882. The object of the statute was to
unify gradually the commerce of Spain and Cuba, so that vessels
trading between the Peninsula and the island might have all the
privileges of a coastwise trade. A few duties, however, were to be re-
stored, for no nation is under obligation to sacrifice its exchequer in
order to increase the growili of tlie wealth of its colonies. That
has never been done by France, nor by England, who, in that re-
spect, deals with her colonies as with foreign nations. Still less by
Holland, who exploits her colonial possessions.
Since 1884, when the great depression in the sugar trade of C'uba
and Porto Rico began, owing to the exclusion of their sugars from
all markets save liiat of the LJnitctl States, ami to combinations of
♦ See Appendix.
38
American refiners to reduce the price o( that staple, no rational
measure for the relief of Cuban sugar producers has been proposed
by the Cuban deputies which has not been gladly accepted by the
Cortes and by the Government, the Prime Minister, Sr. Canovas
del Castillo, declaring it was necessary for the Peninsula to make
great sacrifices to the needs of the colonial provinces.
Vessels sailing under the United States flag were conceded the
same privileges as those sailing under the Spanish flag in exchange
for the non-npplication by the United States of extraordinary duties
on Cuban sugars, the concession proving a serious injury to the
producers of the Peninsula and to her shipping interests, both
through the decrease in home freights and later through the loss of
other carrying trade.
The estimates of expenditures of the Ciovernnient in Cuba were
steadily lowered.* They were stripped of all items that were not
of absolute necessity, although plausible reasons were not lacking
for the retention of some of the items suppressed. The army and
the navy were reduced to a size smaller than was recjuired for the
defense of the island, and for the anticipation of events that were
not slow to occur.
The export tax on sugar — a valuable source of revenue — was
abolished, with the intention of benefiting the producer.*
The import tax on Cuban and Porto Rican sugar was abolished
in the Peninsula, leaving only the town dues, the duty on foreign
sugar being considerably raised.
A treaty of commerce and navigation was negotiated with the
United States for the exclusive benefit of the producers and of the
trade of Cuba and Porto Rico. In this treaty the interests of pro-
ducers of the Peninsula were made a secondary consideration, and
the manufacturers of flour, and consequently the wheat raisers, of
the mother country were sacrificed. Owing to a change of admin-
istration in the United States the treaty was not ratified. Five
years later, however, it was again negotiated and was ratified, re-
maining in operation as long as the United States consented.
So great was the injury to producers and to the trade of the
Peninsula that one article, flour, the exportation of which to Cuba
and Porto Rico constituted for many years the wealth of a vast dis-
trict, was excluded from the Spanish West Indian market.
The interest on the Cuban debt was considerably reduced. Pre-
viously the debt had been guaranteed by the Cuban custom dues ;
now the Cuban debt is guaranteed by Spain, Thus it became pos-
sible to recall the bank notes issued during the war of 186S-1S78.
Finally, when by the termination of the commercial treaty with
the United States American products were placed at a disadvantage
Concessions
Made to the
United States
Prove
Injurious to
Home
Interests.
EHectsoftb*
Reciprocity
Treaty with
the United
5tates.
Cuban
Debt
Quuranteed
b> 5pain.
* See Appendix.
TariH Re*ortn
under
Consideration.
Cuban Taxa-
tion Lower
than in Other
Countries.
Tariff
and
Surcharge.
Good Hffects
ol Peace>
in their competition witli the products of the Peninsula, because the
Navigation Act gave the products of the latter the advantage, some
measures favorable to the products of the United States were taken
and others prepared though not voted on account of the adjourn-
ment of the Cortes.
At the present moment reforms in the tariff law of the Spanish
West Indies are under consideration.* The intent is to conciliate as
far as possible the interests of the native producer and consumer
with the requirements of a revenue derived mainly from customs
dues, by the desire, directly or indirectly expressed, of the inhabit-
ants of Cuba and Porto Rico, to whom taxes on real estate and on
manufactures are repugnant.
The taxes which constitute the estimated revenue of the island
of Cuba for 1895-6 are not heavier, and in some cases are lighter,
than taxes in other countries.
The sources of revenues, exclusive of customs, are the taxes on
the sale of realty ; on mining claims ; on urban real estate (12 per
cent, on the rentalf) ; on rural real estate (2 per cent, on the value
of the produce];); on manufactures; on licenses to sell goods ; on
licenses to practice the learned professions ; on licenses to practice
trades ; on consumption of liquors and on licenses to sell liquors ;
on the sale of railway tickets (i per cent.); on tobacco ; on the con-
sumption of petroleum ; on the salaries of employees of the state,
and on certain payments by the state (i per cent.) ; and a capita-
tion tax.
The import duties consist of the imposts fixed by a schedule and
a surcharge. §
The law of June 30, 1892, made the surcharge 10 per cent, on all
articles except articles of food and a few other articles. The law
of June 28, 1895, increased the surcharge to 15 per cent, and
extended the list of exempt articles.
Various other indirect taxes, amounting to 20 per cent, of the
estimated revenue, complete the list of taxes.
From the time of the pacification of the island in 1S78 to the
outbreak of the present insurrection production, trade, navigation,
railways and population considerably increased. §
* A committee of the Chambers of Commerce of Havana, Santiago de Cuba and
Cienfuegos was summoned to Madrid to present the views of the merchants of the
island on tariff matters.
+ On the ttiC rental after deduction of all expenses.
} This is also on the tut produce. Thus f(jr some years tiO per cent, of the market
price of coffee was allowed for expenses of production.
S See Appendix.
40
XX.
CUBA'S PUBLIC DEBT.
Until 1868 the finances of the island of Cuba were in an exceed-
ingly prosperous condition. For many years there was an excess of
revenue over expenditure, although, as has been said before, the
Cuban treasury made large contributions to the national treasury.
In spite of the fact that the cost of the military expeditions to
Mexico and San Domiiii^o was defrayed by the Treasury, the deficit
at the outbreak of the Cuban revolt in 1868 was only $7,630,000, an
insignificant sum in view of the resources of the island. That these
burdens were thrown upon the Cuban treasury is not surprising, inas-
much as for many years the Crown of Spain had in Cuba a very
costly colony, wliose expenses had to be met by subsidies from the
colonies of Mexico and Peru.
It was but reasonable to suppose that in the following year, if
the whole deficit could not be paid, at least the great excess of
revenue over expenditures of the previous years would not fail, but
from the outbreak of the revolt such hopes were vain.
The revenues, in consequence of the revolt, were much reduced,
while the expenses rose to huge proportions. Extraordinary taxes
were levied, but they proved insufficient. Loans were obtained
first from the Banco Espaiiol of Havana and subsequently from
other banks. Treasury notes and bank notes guaranteed by the
Treasury, the latter through the Banco Espafiol of Havana, were
issued. The Treasury issued bonds guaranteed by the customs
dues, and a floating debt for the liquidation of previous expendi-
tures was formed. All these debts were consolidated by the issues
of bonds guaranteed by the Cuban treasury to the amount of
620,000,000 pesetas ($124,000,000) in 1886, and to the amount of
222,500,000 pesetas ($44,500,000) in 1890, making a total debt at
the outbreak of the present revolt of $168,500,000.
The sources of the Culx'in dei)t being shown, ail coiniiientarv is
Financial
5trait.s
Caused by
the Insurrec*
tion.
Consolida-
tion of the
Debt.
unnecessary.
Porto Kico has never risen in revolt.
It has no debt.
XXI.
APPOINTHENTS TO PUBLIC OFFICE.
Rich rs of CL■n.^^•s.
No law deprives Cubans of the ri<;ht, in common with other
Spanish citizens, to hold public office.
They hold office, on equal terms with the natives of the Penin-
sula, in tile civil administration, the juiliciary. the army, llie navy
41
Cubans
Mold i'ublic
Offices.
Fifth Offi-
cers Mostly
Cubans.
Qualifications
Required.
and the church.* If there be any inequality it is to their advan-
tage.
This may be easily proved by the preamble of the royal decree of
October 13, 1890, for the reorganization of the administrative per-
sonnel appointed by the Minister of the Colonies, and by other
resolutions. The decree very properly recites that " from the time
of the old laws of the Indies Spanish legislation has tended to oblit-
erate the differences of origin between the natives of the colonial
provinces and of the Peninsula, equalizing their rights and granting
the former direct participation in state offices.
"The development of this policy," it adds, "has produced the
result that public offices are filled indiscriminately by Spaniards of
the Peninsula and by Spaniards of the colonial provinces. With
that end in view, the present laws afford means, sure in some grades
of the administration and easy in others, that place within the reach
of all officials the offices which form the graduated scale of the
administrative bodies."
That decree gives the Governor-General the power to appoint
all officials whose salaries are above 1,500 pesetas ($300), that is to
say inclusive of fifth officers. f The great majority of these fifth
officers are natives of the colonial provinces, owing to the require-
ment, among others, for appointment of a residence in the territory
during at least the two years previous to entrance upon the discharge
of the duties. Thus all fifth officers in Cuba must have resided on
the island during at least the two years previous to entering office.
The following is the text :
Art. XVII. The appointments of fifth officers in the colonial
provinces shall be made by the respective Governor-Generals, giving
immediate notice to the Minister of the Colonies for confirmation,
by royal order, of the appointments.
The appointment shall state the appointee's qualifications, and
verify them by documentary proof thereof.
Said cjualificatians are :
1. Residence in the respective territories for the two years pre-
vious to appointment.
2. To be eighteen years of age.
3. To have filled an office of the same grade, | without rei')rinKuui.
in the central or provincial administration ; or to have held a clerk-
* The Archdeacon of the Cathedral of Porto Rico, D. Baldomero Hernandez,
is a native of the Spanish West Indies. So are several priests wrho occupy high
offices, among them the Prebendary of the Cathedral of Havana, D. Mariano
Rodriguez Armenteros.
+ Employment in the public administration is in Spain, as in France, a profes-
sion organized in ranks. The lowest rank, which corresponds to second lieutenant
in the army, is the fifth officer ; the fourth officer, third officer, &c., being above
him. An official, if discharged, is still in the profession, and is in a situation
analogous to that of an army officer placed on furlough.
X I. e., if a fifth officer, he must have held a fifth officer's position.
43
ship, with the same qualification as to reprimand, and to have had
for four years a yearly salary of $300 in Porto Rico and in the Phil-
ippine Islands, and of $600 in Cuba ; or to have obtained the degree
of bachelor of arts or a professional diploma of some kind.
With regard to offices of greater importance the natives of the
colonial provinces are truly privileged. Another article of the same
decree says :
.\ki. XIII. Residents of the islands of Cuha, Porto Rico and tlw Cubans a.*
Philippines who have been provincial deputies, or have been Heads of
mayors or aldermen of a provincial capital, or have been members '*ep«'^'"'^nts.
of administrative councils or members of the present consultive or
au.xiliary administrative boards in the capitals of provinces, may be
appointed as heads of administrative departments, excepting the
customs, in their respective jirovinces ; and those who have been
members of provincial and local boards, or been mayors or alder-
men of municipalities, excepting the provincial capitals, may be
ap[)ointed as heads of departmental sections, providetl they have
the following cjualifications :
1. Residence in their respective territories during the eight years pre-
ceding the appointment.
2. To have held for four years, without having resigned, one of
the offices enumerated in this article.
If the office be that of provincial assemblyman, mayor or alder-
man, it must have been obtained through a popular election.*
The proportion of offices in each branch of the national admin-
istration held by natives of the colonial provinces is the best evidence
of the liberality with which their merits and abilities have been
rewarded.
The present Minister of 'War, Lieutenant-Cieneral I). Marcelo de
Azcarraga y Palmero, is a native of the Philippine Islands.
The ex-Minister of the Colonies, D. lUienaventura de Abarzuza, Cubans in
is a Cuban. The Under Secretary of the Colonial Department, H'tfh ofiice
•' ' in Spain.
D. Guillermo de Osma, is also a Cuban. So are I). Wenceslao
Ramirez de Villaurrutia, the late Assistant Secretary of State, and
D. Francisco Cassa, the present Secretary of the Province of Madrid.
D. Francisco Lastres, Vice-President of the Chamber of Deputies
in the last legislature, and D. Santos Guzman, another ex-Vice-
President of the Chambers, are Cubans.
In the diplomafic service there are a number of Cubans.
I). Lorenzo de Castellanos was the .Minister that represented Spain
in Mexico.
The long list of employees of the colonial civil service contains,
together with the names of Cubans who took part in the former
revolt, and who held office either in the metropolis or on the island,
the names of many natives of Cuba, among them : Acosta. Montalvo,
Azcarate, Vinent, Kindelan, Freire, Ilisastegui, Echevarria. Justiz,
Saladrigas, O'Farril, Bolivar, Rosillo. \'aldc'S, .Malli, .\rmas, Betan-
* This would exclude appointees to fill vacancies.
43
Department of
Education in
the Hands of
Cubans.
The
Department
of Justice
nostly
Intrusted to
Cuban
Magistrates.
court, Bernal, Balboa, Cadaval, Diago, Chacon, Beltran, Insua,
Kohaly, Varona. and scores of others.
In the Post Office Department alone there are more than loo
Cubans, that is to say, one-half of the total number of officials.
The Department of Education may be said to be in the hands of
Cubans. The Rector of the University of Havana, D. Joaquin F.
Lastres. is a Cuban. Cubans also are the Vice-Rector, D. Jose Ma-
ria Carbonell, the Secretary-General. D. Juan Gomez de la Maza y
Tejada, and the deans of all the faculties : D. Jose Castellanos y
Arango. dean of the faculty of philosophy and the humanities ;
D. Manuel J. Caiiizales Benegas, dean of the faculty of sciences;
D. Leopold© Berrier y Fernandez, dean of the faculty of law ; D.
Federico Hortsman y Cantos, dean of the faculty of medicine ; D.
Carlos Donoso y Lardier, dean of the faculty of pharmacy ; and the
director of* the botanic gardens, D. Manuel Gomez. Of the eighty
professors of the university sixty are Cubans.
The director, D. Bruno Garcia Ayllon, and the eight other pro-
fessors of the School of Technology are Cubans. Of the three
instructors of the School of Painting and Sculpture only one is a
native of the Peninsula, the director being a Cuban. The institutes
of Matanzas, Santa Clara and Puerto Principe are under the direc-
tion of Cubans, D. Eduardo Diaz y Martinez, D. Alejandro Muxo y
Pablos and 1). Agustin Betancourt y Ronquillo respectively.
The total number of professors of all the institutes of the
island is fifty-eight. Of that number thirty-five are Cubans.
In the Department of Justice of the island nearly all the offices
of lower rank* are held by natives. With extremely rare excep-
tions the municipal judges and district attorneys are Cubans.
Even in the higher ranks of the magistracy the natives have a large
share of the offices. The justices of the Supreme Court of Havana,
I). Manuel Vias Ochoteco, D. Francisco Noval y Marti and D. Juan
Valdes Pages, are natives of the Spanish West Indies. So are D.
Jose Maria Larrazabal, presiding justice of the Supreme Court of
Matanzas ; D. Francisco Ramos y Moya, presiding justice of the
Supreme Court of Santiago de Cuba, and 1). Belisario Alvarez Ces-
pedes, assistant district attorney of Havana.
Of forty-one justices of the Supreme Courts ten are Cubans;
of twenty-four judges of the Courts of Criminal Appeal seven are
Cubans ; of thirty-six district court judgesf {de tcrvniio) twelve are
• See note below.
+ The judiciary in Spain, as in France, is a profession organized in ranks, tlie
lowest rank being tlie district court judge of entry i^jitez de cntraUa), and the high-
est the presidency of the .Supreme Court (presidetttc dc la audiencia). The profes-
sion is open only to members of the bar, entrance being by competitive examina-
tion and promotion by seniority. Above the district court judge U/e entrada) ranks
the judge {de asccttso), and above the latter the judges {dc t^rmino).
44
Cubans; of forty-f(jur district court judges {df asieiiso) thirteen are
Cubans; of sixty-two district court judges {df cntraila) twenty-
three are Cubans, and in the Philippine Islands seven Cubans hold
judicial offices. 'I'here are therefore in the judicial prtjfession in
the colonial provnices seventy-eight natives of those provinces ;
that is to say, thirty per cent, of the total. And this ratio will
increase in favor of the natives of the colonial i)rovinces, for the
facilities for the admission of natives to the judiciary have much
increased in recent years, and many who are now in the lower ranks
of the judiciary will in time rise through promotion by seniority.
Of the seventy-five notary districts fifty are in charge of Cubans.
Of twenty-five land registry offices thirteen are in charge of
Cubans.
(]uba has a large and brilliant representation in the Spanish
army. Major-Ceneral 1). Jose Arderius, who but a few months ago
was military governor of Havana, is a Cuban. So are Major-
Geherals D. Andres Gonzales Munoz and D. Francisco Lono, who
are serving now in Cuba, and MajorGeneral D. Adolfo Rodriguez
Kruzon, who is stationed in the Peninsula. Brigadier-Generals D.
thiiiliano Loiio, D. Miguel Bosch, D. Jorge Garrich, I). Juan
Godoy, and others are also natives of the Spanish West Indies.
The Spanish army has had many famous commanders of colonial
origin. Captain-Generals D. Jose Manuel Gutierrez de la Concha
and L). Manuel Gutierrez de la Concha were natives of Buenos
Ayres ; Captain-General D. Juan Zavala was a native of Peru;
Captain-General Juan de la Pezuela, who still lives, is a native of
Peru ; Lieutenant-General D. Felipe Rivero was a native of Bolivia ;
D. Antonio Ros de Olano was a native of Caracas ; D. Fernando
Fernandez de Cordova was a native of Buenos Ayres ; Lieutenant-
Generals D. Ramon Zarco del Valle, D. Vicente Genaro de (^uesada
and D. Joaquin de Ezpeleta were natives of Havana ; Major-Gen-
erals D. Juan Ampudia, D. Feli.x Ferrer and D. Francisco Acosta
were natives of Cuba.
In the infantry, chiefs* and officers who are natives of the colo-
nial provinces are numerous. Among them are Ciarcia Delgado,
Aguilera, Padilla, Romaguera, Sanchez Echevarria, Gaston. Rubio
Masot, Salas Marzal, Lopez Rozabal, Marti, Casiilla Mirmol. Alva-
rado, Villalon, Amoedo, Infante, Cevallos Aviles, Luque, Loperena,
Garriga, Mahy, &€.
In the cavalry, although the personnel is smaller, the number of
chiefs and officers who are natives of the Spanish West Indies is
nearly one hundred. Among them are Girond. Zapirain. Figueroa,
Yrio, Urgelles, Andriani, Palanca, Serrano Dominguez, Pezuela^
Vinent, Moreno, Fromista, Gonzalez Anleo, Roviralia, Gamboa,
Distinifuishcd
Cuban
Officers
in the
Spanish
Army.
Infantry
Officers.
Cav dlr>
Officers.
* See note page SH.
4")
Cuban
Officers
in Other
Corps.
Cubans
Take Part
in National
Legislation.
Gregorich, Betancourt, Perez Pedroso, Obregon Fedriani, Kirpat-
rich, O'Farril and others.*
In the artillery the number of chiefs and officers natives of the
colonial provinces is fifty-five. Among them are Flores, Segarra,
Tapia Ruano, Ceballos, Planell, Velay Silva, Garcia del Valle,
Vicario y Delfin, Osma y Scull, Marchesi, De Miguel, Valdivia,
Irizar, Vega y Zayas and others.
In the engineers the number of officers natives of the colonial
provinces is thirty-six. Among them are Otero Cossio, Gayoso y
O'Xagthen, Portillo, Navarro y Muzquiz, Kindelan, Manzano, Do-
minicis, Casamitjana, Tuero, Gonzalez Estefani and others.
In the general staff there are nineteen natives of the colonial
provinces. Among them are Castanera, Domingo, Kindelan,
Vivanco, Casariego, Incenga, Morales, Ortiz and others.
In the constabulary the number of natives of the colonial prov-
inces is thirty-five ; in the custom house the number is nine ; in the
military sanitary corps thirteen ; in the military administration seven-
teen ; in the judge advocate's office two ; in the veterinary corps, two.
The navy list also includes colonial born admirals and officers.
The natives of Cuba and Porto Rico have free access to all the
official careers. They have their share, without restriction, in the
national life in all its aspects. Cubans and Porto Ricans, as repre-
sentatives of their provinces in the Senate and in the Chamber of
Deputies, take part in the legislation for the whole Spanish nation. f
* In the infantry and cavalry alone now serving in the war in Cuba there are 146
officers of all ranks, from major-general to second lieutenant, who are natives of
Cuba. If to that number be added the officers serving in the artillery and the
engineers and in the ordnance, medical and commissary departments, it would be
a sober statement to say that 500 Cuban officers are now in the Spanish army
fighting against the rebellion. All these officers have passed through the Spanish
military academies, and not a single one of them has deserted the Spanish flag.
+ A famous man of letters, D. Juan Valera, ex-Minister of Spain to the United
States, has very properly said in an article recently published in Madrid :
" I maintain that we have at all times, from the remote past, given Spanish
Americans every proof of our esteem and affection. * * * The fact that they
were Spanish Americans did not in the slightest degree militate against Gorostiza,
Ventura de la Vega, Rafael Maria Baralt, and Jose Heriberto Garcia de Quevedo ;
on the contrary, they received the highest encomiums in Spain ; we applauded
them and honored them with important posts and offices. Many other illustrious
men, likewise born in Spanish America, have become Spanish statesmen and gen-
erals. Among these may be cited the Marquis del Duero. All those who have
distinguished themselves in Spanish America by their learning, their genius and
their exploits, since the time when Spanish America became independent, have
been as famous and have been praised and admired as much in Spain as in the
republics which gave them birth. Take as instances Don Andr6s Bello, whom we
all admire as a philologist and as the author of ' International Law,' and whose
beautiful and polished verses we know from memory ; Don Rufino Cuervo, whose
dictionary we regard as a marvel of industry. And how greatly do we admire
the poems of the two Caros, and those of Marmol, Andrade, Obligado, Restrepo,
Oyuela, Ruben Dario and many others I "
46
xxn.
GOVERNHENT PROFESSIONS.*
On September 20, 1878, at tlie suggestion of the President of ilie Lnidc.tion
Council of Ministers, at that time I). Antonio Canovas del Castillo^ Profession*
a royal decree was proclaimed ordering that the personnels of the
courts of justice, universities, institutes, special schools, normal
schools, and primary schools should eacii constitute (me profession
whose members would serve without discrimination in the Peninsula
and m the colonial provinces.
That was at the time of the Zanjon capitulation. As was then
said by the president of the council : " Since the pacification of
Cuba, your Majesty's Government has not ceased its efforts to
afford the colonial provinces the benefits of a normal situation, by
establishing in each of them the provincial and municipal organiza-
tion best fitted to its needs, and by encouraging immigration and
insuring the stability of the credit of the island, an indispensable
element to the growth of a nation's wealth.
" In the task of reconstruction and assimilation there is lacking
an important reform, a reform which will contribute effectually to
tighten the bonds between the various parts of the Spanish territory
and will further the establishment of recent legislation. This re-
form is the unification of the civil professions in the Peninsula and
in tlie colonial provinces. Formerly they were unifietl, but a narrow
interpretation of the law has separated them, to the injury both of the
officials and of the administration of the government. All the ser-
vices are not disconnected in so singular a manner. The army, the
navy, the civil engineers of roads and canals, of mines and forest.^,
and the telegraphists serve, without discrimination, in Spain, in the
Spanish West Indies, in the Philippine Islands and in the posses-
sions of the Gulf of Guinea. Only the personnels of the courts of
justice, of public instruction, and of the civil and financial adminis-
tration are disconnected, their length of services and ranks in the
colonial provinces receiving, as a rule, no recognition in the Penin-
sula.
" When these unjustifiable barriers within the same professions
are leveled, the functionaries, both of the Peninsula and of the
colonial provinces, will have within their reach a greater number of
offices, the disqualifications due to incompatibility being removed,
* In Spain, as in France, Government services are professions, organised in
ranks. Entrance into the service is by competitive e.xammation ; promotion, as a
rule, by seniority. An officer if suspended retains his rank. There is a pension for
long service.
47
and the Government will be able to select with greater freedom the
employees that may be best fitted to fill the offices.
" Althougli the attainment of these objects will prove of very
great advantage, it is surpassed in importance by a consideration
which has primarily influenced your Majesty's Government ; and
that consideration is, that to establish the same reform in all the
territory of Spain, to render its legislation uniform, to conciliate the
conflicting interests of the various sections of the country, to as-
similate its provinces, is to secure and strengthen the unity of the
nation."
Article I. of this decree is as follows : " The personnels of
the courts of justice, of the universities, institutes, special schools,
normal schools and primary schools shall each constitute one pro-
fession, which shall be under similar regulations and shall serve
without discrimination in the Peninsula and m the colonial provinces."
XXIII.
REriARKS.
The Autonomist Party.
Cuba Enjoys As has been shown, the present )('i::;iinc of the Spanish West
rivi eges |,^(jies jg the result of the tendencv that has for a long time prevailed
Denied to ' .
Other Spanish of assimilating them with Spain, turning them into Spanish prov-
Provinces. jp.ces, with the institutions, rights and privileges of other provinces
of Spain ; and the legislation for them, which untier the Constitution
must either be special or must be the legislation of the Peninsula,
with or without modification, far from lessening their privileges and
l(;cal liberties, tends, on the contrary, to give them solid guarantees
of prosperity, and e.xempts them from burdens imposed on all the
other parts of the Spanish territory.
'i'hus the Cubans are e.\em|)t from military service, while the
natives of the Peninsula serve for twelve* \ears in the army.
The Cuban exchecpier is not liable for the debts of the national
exchequer, whereas the latter guarantees the payment of the Cuban
debt.
All the revenue collecled from taxation in ('uba is used to
satisfy the expenses of the adininistralion of the island.
The Cuban treasury does not contribute to the expense of the
Cortes, of the Appellate ('ourts, nor of the Superior Administrative
* Three years with the colors, the rest in the reserves.
48
Council and advisory boards, nor to the salaries of the diplomatic
and consular representatives, all of which discharge their functions
for the benefit of Cuba as well as for that of the rest of the nation.
The organization of the Cuban government may therefore Ije similarity
said to resemble the system of government of the iiritish colonies Hrju'^h
rather than that of other European colonies. Colonies.
All this has been stated by no one more eloquently tiian by the
central committee of the Autonomist party in its address to the
l)eople of Cuba at the outbreak of the present rev(jlt. 'I'he address
bears the date April 4, 1895, and is subscribed with tlie names of
the most eminent men of the party — men such as Josd Maria Cialvez,
Carlos Saladrigas, Juan Bautista Armenteros, Luis Armenteros
Labrador, Manuel Rafael Angulo, Cionzalo Arostegui, Jose Huzon,
]as6 Maria Carbonell, Jose de Cardenas y Gassie, Kaimundo Ca- ^^
•' The Autono-
brera y Leopoldo Cansio, Jose A. de Cueto, Marques de Ksteban, mist party.
Rafael Fernandez de Castro, Carlos Fons y Sterling, Jose Fernan-
dez Pellon, Antonio Gobin y Torres, Eliseo Giberga, Joaquin Ciuell
y Rente, Jose Maria Garcia Montes, Manuel Francisco Lamar, Her-
minio C. Leiva, Ricardo del Monte, Federico Martinez Quintana,
Rafael Montoro, Jose Rafael Montalvo, Antonio Mesa y Dominguez,
Ramon Perez Trujillo, Pedro A. Perez, Leopoldo Sola, Emilio
Terry, Diego Tamayo, Miguel Francisco Viondi, Francisco Zayas
and Carlos de Zaldo.
The address states that but for the outbreak of the revolt "the Address of
central committee would have performed the duty of addressing the omist"""
country on the eve of the inauguration of a new regime in the adop-
tion of which the representatives of the country had co-operated in
an atmosphere of benevolence and concord they never before had
felt in the metropolis, and to which they wished to bear true witness
before their fellow citizens."
Such was the moment selected by the rebels to raise the standard ^^'-' *^»^^^<'"
Condemned
of revolt against the mother country, which was nitent upon the by the
work of colonial reform. But the Autonomist party proved itself Auj^onomist
as firm in its principles as it was energetic in its protest against that
which it described as " an anonymous and iniquitous raid, with a
hurrah for every cause and a flag for every seditious act." /Vnd it
adds :
" The new regime, voted by the Cortes — which, if inaugurated in
a time of peace and in the midst of the powerful current that had
set in in favor of concord and progress through liberty, would have
been prolific in immediate benefits and would have been a prepara-
tion to further advance — can never give such results if established
amid the an.xieties, the wrath, the resentments and tiie indignations
of a civil war."
Party.
49
Progress And further on, summing up " the important conquests made in
sTrnish rJic. ^^^^ direction of colonial decentralization," it specifies the fol-
lowing :
"Abolition of slavery and of the apprenticeship to labor.
" Proclamation of the organic law of the state.*
" Freedom of the press, of peaceful assembly, of association, of
education and of worship, to the same extent and with the same
guarantees as in the mother country.
" Trial in open court.
" Civil marriage and registration thereof.
" All the modern civil and penal laws of the mother country.
*' The abolition of differential duties and of export taxes.
" Expenditures reduced by 35 per cent, since the former war."
And it ends with these words :
" The liberal party of iSyS, which has seen ifi what manner the
promises of the Zanjon Treaty have been performed and are being
performed, will not strike its flag, nor will it retreat before those
who come to destroy the harvest of our toils, to turn us back from
the path of peaceful progress, to lay waste the land, and to cloud
the perspective of our future with the horrible spectres of misery,
anarchy and barbarism ! "
TheAutono- Such is the Opinion of the Autonomist party of Cuba upon the
"mains* Loya^ true meaning of the revolt against Spanish domination. And what
to Spain. men can speak in this matter more authoritatively than the Cuban
Autonomists ?
The form of government provided in the reform law proclaimed
on March 23, 1895, is the limit of independence that can be granted
to a province without absolutely breaking the bonds of union with
the nation.
Reform Law That act provides for a council of administration consisting of
o "Sqs- thirty councillors, fifteen appointed by the Crown, the other fifteen
elected by voters having the qualifications requisite to vote for pro-
vincial assemblymen. This council has the control of public works,
posts and telegraphs, railways and navigation, agriculture, manufac-
tures, trade, immigration and colonization, public instruction, chari-
ties, and the health department, and prepares and votes the appro-
priations for all these departments. It has a hearing upon the esti-
mates of general taxation and expenditures of the island. These
estimates, whether modified or not by the Supreme Government,
shall always be laid before the Cortes. It has also a hearing upon
the yearly general accounts of the exchequer ; upon the matters
pertaining to the patronage of the Indies ; upon the decisions of the
provincial governors that are appealed to the (lOvernor-General ;
and upon the suspension and removal of mayors and aldermen. The
*The Constitution was proclaimed in Cuba in 1878.
50
laws of municipalities and of provinces are amended Uj harmonize
with the new act.
It is this law, so thorouyhiy in accord with the decentralization
demanded by the Autonomist parly, that has been greeted with bul-
lets by the seditious element, wiio feared the effect of the liberal
policy of the mother country upon their separatist plans.
XXIV.
REFORH LAW OF 1895.
L.-VW FOR THE ReOK(;ANIZATI()N ok IHK (icJVlCRNMKNT AND (llVIL
Administration ok thk Islands of Cuba and Porto Rico.
Alfonso XIII., by the grace of God and the Constitution, King of
Spain, and, in his name and during his minority, the Queen Regent
of the kingdom : To all whom these presents shall come, know ye
that the Cortes have decreed and we sanctioned the following :
Article I. The system of government and the civil administra-
tion of the island of Cuba shall be readjusted on the following
.bases :
Basis i.
The laws of municijialities and of provinces, now in ffjrce in the
island, are hereby amended to the extent necessary for the follow- Provincia
ing ends : Assemblies
The council of administration shall, upon the report of the pro-
A'incial assemblies, decide all questions relating to the formation
of municipalities, and to the determination of their boundaries.
The law of provinces is hereby amended as to the matters placed
■by these bases within the powers of the council of administration.
The provincial assembly shall decide all questions pertaining to
the organization of boards of aldermen, to their election, to the
qualifications of the members and other similar questions.
Each board of aldermen shall elect one of its members as
mayor. The Governor-General may remove a mayor and apj)oint
a new mayor, but the new mayor must be a member of the board.
In addition to their functions as e.xecutive officers of the boards of
aldermen, the mayors shall be the re]-)resentatives and delegates of
the Governor-General.
Whenever the Governor-Cieneral shall stay the resolutions of a
municipal corporation* the matter shall be laid before the criminal
courts, if the slay be due to a misdemeanor committed by the
corporation in connection with the resolutions, or laid before the
provincial governor, upon the report of the provincial assembly, if
the resolutions were stayed because they e.xceeded the powers of the
board, or because they infringed the law.
The provincial governors may stay the resolutions of the munici-
pal corporation, and censure, warn, fine or suspend the membi-rs of
the corporations when they e.vceed the limits of their powers.
* See note page W>.
51
and
.lunlclpalities.
Taxation.
Previous to removing mayors or aldermen, in the cases provided
by law, the Governor-General must give the council of adminis-
tration a hearing upon the removal.
Every member of a municipal corporation who sliall have pre-
sented, or voted in favor of, a resolution injurious to the rights of a
citizen shall be under a liability, enforcible before the court having
jurisdiction, to indemnify, or make restitution to, the injured party,
the liability ceasing according to the rules of the Statute of Limita-
tions.
Hunicipai Each board of aldermen shall, in matters defined as within the
exclusive municipal powers, have full freedom of action, agreeably
with the observance of the law, and with the respect due to the
rights of citizens. In order that the boards of aldermen and the
guilds* may fix the amount of the taxes to cover the expenses of
the municipality and may determine their nature and their distri-
bution, in accordance with the preferences of each municipality, the
boards of aldermen and the guilds shall have all the powers neces-
sary thereto, compatibly with the system of taxation of the state.
The provincial assemblies may review the resolutions of munici-
pal corporations relating to the preparation or alteration of their
estimates of revenues and expenditures, and, while respecting their
discretionary powers, shall see that no appropriation which exceeds
the assets be allowed, and that arrears of previous years and pay-
ments ordered by courts having jurisdiction have the preference.
The Governor-General and the provincial governors shall in these
matters have only the intervention necessary to insure the observ-
ance of the law and to prevent municipal taxation from impairing
the sources of revenue of the state.
The annual accounts of each mayor, inclusive of revenues and ex-
penditures, ordinary and extraordinary, shall be published in the
municipality and audited and corrected by the provincial assembly,
after hearing protests, and approved by the provincial governor if
they do not exceed loo.ooo pesetas, f and by the council of admin-
istration if they exceed that sum. The provincial assemblies and the
council of administration shall determine what officials have incurred
liabilities, except in the cases that come within the jurisdiction of
the ordinary courts.
Appeals to the council of administration may be taken from the
decisions of the provincial assemblies.
The Council.
]>ASIS 2.
The council of administration shall be organized as follows :
The Governor-General, ov the acting Governor-General, shall be
president of the council.
The Supreme Government shall appoint ])y royal decree fifteen
of the councillors.
The council shall have a staff of secretaries, with tne personnel
necessary for the transaction of its affaws.
The office of councill(jr shall ])c hon()rar\' and '>ratuitous.
* For purposes of taxalion the various trades are formed into guilds. Taxes on
trades are apportioned among tlie guilds, whose ofiRcers fix the ta.x to be paid by
each member according to the valuation of his business.
52
For appoinlmeiit as councillor, the appoiiilee nuist have residtd Councillors
in the island durine the four years luevious to aopointment, and Appointed by
the CruVkD
must have one of the following (|ualifications :
To be, or to have been, president of a chamber of commerce, of
the Economic Society of Friends of tiie Country, or of the Sugar
Planters' Association.
To be or to have been rector of the university, or dean of the
corporation of lawyers of a provincial capital, for two years.
To have been for the four years previous to appointment one of
the fifty principal taxpayers* of the island, paying taxes on real
estate, on manufactures, on trade or on licenses to practice a pro-
fession
To have been a senator of the kingdom or a representative to
the Cortes, in two or more legislatures.
To have been two or more times president of a provincial assem-
bly of the island ; to have served for two or more terms of two
years as member of the provincial executive committee ;] or U) have
been a provincial assemblyman eight years.
To have been for two or more terms of two years mayor of a
provincial capital.
To have been, until the proclamation of this act, member of the
administrative council for two or more years.
The council may, whenever it shall deem it expedient, summon
to its deliberations, through the Governor-General, any chief of de-
partment, but the latter shall not vote with the council.
To form the council fifteen additional councillors shall be elected Councillors
by voters having the (jualifications requisite to vote for provincial
assemblymen.
The term of office shall be four years. The elections to fill va-
cated seats shall take place every two years, the provinces of Ha-
vana, Pinar del Rio and Puerto Principe voting at one election, and
the provinces of IMatanzas, Santa Clara and Santiago de Cuba voting
at another.
The province of Havana shall elect four councillors ; the prov-
ince of Santiago de Cuba shall elect three ; and each of the other
provinces shall elect two.
All the councillors shall be elected at the same time : upon the
establishment of this act, and after a total removal of the council.
Two years after the establishment of this act, or after a total re-
moval of the council the councillors from the first group of prov-
inces above named shall vacate their seats, and their successors
shall be elected. J
In ordinary cases the election shall take place at the same time
as the elections for provincial assemblymen, the votes for coun-
cillor and for assemblyman being cast together.
The council shall'be the judge of the elections, returns and
qualifications of the councillors-elect and of the qualifications of the
Elected by the
People.
* See note p. 20.
+ Each of the si.x provinces of Cuba— like every other Spanish province— has a
provincial assembly. The assembly meets twice a year in sessions «( about two
weeks, and appoints from its members a provincial executive committee uomisuhi
provincial) to act during the intervals between the sessions.
X At the next election the councillors elected of the second yroup of provinces
would vacate their seats.
53
councillors appointed by the Crown, and shall decide all questions
concernine its own organization under the law.
Powers of the
Council.
Revenues.
Suspension of
Hembers
of Council.
Basis 3.
The council of administration shall resolve whatever it may deem
proper for the management in the whole island : of public works,
posts and telegraphs, railways and navigation, agriculture, manufac-
tures, trade, immigration and colonization, public instruction, chari-
ties and the health department, without prejudice of the supervision
and of the powers inherent to the sovereignty of the nation, which
are reserved by law to the Supreme Government.
Each year it shall prepare and approve the estimates with suffi-
cient appropriations for all those departments. It shall exercise the
functions that the laws of provinces and of municipalities and other
special laws shall attribute to it. It shall correct, and in the proper
cases approve, the accounts of its revenues and expenditures, which
accounts shall be rendered every year by the general management
of the local administration,* and shall determine the liabilities
therein incurred by officials.
The local revenuesf shall consist of :
1. The proceeds of Crown lands and rents, and of the institutions
whose financial management pertains to the council.
2. The surcharges which, within the limits fixed by law, the
council may add to the taxes imposed by the state.
It shall be the duty of the Governor- General, as superior chief
of the authorities of the island, to carry out the resolutions of the
council.
For that purpose the general management of the local adminis-
tration, as delegate of the Governor-General, shall attend to the de-
partments included in the local estimates and shall keep the books
thereof and shall be responsible for the non-fulfillment of the laws
and of the legitimate resolutions of the council of administration.
Whenever the Governor-General may deem any resolution of the
council contrary to the law or to the general interests of the nation,
he shall stay its execution, and shall of his own motion take such
measures as the public needs — which would otherwise be neglected —
may require, immediately submitting the matter to the Minister of
the Colonies.
If any resolution of the council unduly injures the rights of a
citizen the councillors who shall have contributed with their votes
to the passage of the resolution shall be liable, before the courts
having jurisdiction, to indemnify or make restitution to the injured
party.
The Governor-General, after hearing the council of authorities,^
may suspend the council of administration, or, without hearing the
council of authorities, may suspend individual members of the coun-
* An office in charge of a superior official that under the Governor-General acts
as the executive of the council of administration.
+ Revenues of which the council of administration may dispose.
t See p. 5'i.
54
cil of administration, as long as a number of councillors sufticieiu to
form a quorum remains :
1. When the council or any one of its meniljers transjjresses the
limits of its legitimate powers, and impairs the authority of the (Jov-
ernor-General, or the judicial authority, or threatens to disturb the
public peace.
2. For a misdemeanor.
In the first case the Governor-General shall immediately inform
the Supreme Government of the suspension, so that the latter may
either set it aside or, through a resolution adopted by the Council
of Ministers within two months, decree the removal. If at the expira-
tion of the two months the suspension has not been acted upon, it
shall, as a matter of right, be deemed set aside.
In the second case, the matter shall come before the court having
jurisdiction, which shall be the Supreme Court of Havana /// banc,
and its decision therein shall be final. In other cases the accused
may appeal.
The council shall have a hearing : Advisory
1. Upon the general estimates of expenditures and revenues of Powers of
the island, which estimates, prepared by the finance department Council,
of the island, shall be submitted yearly, t( gether with the changes
suggested by the council, during the month of March, or earlier, to
the Minister of the Colonies.
Although the Supreme Government may have varied the esti-
mates before submitting them to the Cortes for appropriations to
meet the expenses of the departments and the general obligations
of the state, it shall always submit with them, for purposes of infor-
mation, the changes suggested by the council.
2. Upon the general accounts, which the finance department of
the island must without fail submit annually within the six months
following the end of the fiscal year, and which shall include the
revenues collected and the expenditures liquidated.
3. Upon the matters pertaining to the patronage* of the Indies.
4. Upon the decisions of provincial governors which shall come
on appeal before the Governor-General.
5. Upon the removals or suspensions of mayors and aldermen.
6. Upon other matters of a general nature.
The Governor-General may demand of the council the reports
he may desire.
The council shall meet in ordinary sessions at stated intervals,
and in extraordinary session whenever the (iovernor-Cieneral may
summon it.
Basis 4.
The Governor-General shall be the representative of the National Powers and
Government in the island of Cuba. He sliall as vice-roval iiatron ""t"^*"'
, .. , rix'i-ir the (jovernor-
exercise the powers mnerent to the patronage of the Indies. He oenerai.
* In England when lords of manors first built and endowed churches on their
lands they had the right of nominating clergymen (provided they were canonically
qualified) to officiate in them. This right is the " patronage " (jus patrciuilus).
The Bulls of Alexander VI. in 1493 and of Julius II. in l.")08 granted the Crown of
Spain the patronage of the Indies (new world). It includes not only the right of
presentation to the churches and monasteries built and endowed by the Crown, but
other rights so extensive that the author speaks of- the kings of Spain as the " bom
delegates of the Holy See and apostolic vicar-generals in the Indies. '
Council of
Authorities.
shall be the commander-in-chief of the army and the navy stationed
on the island. He shall be the delegate of the Ministers of the
Colonies, of State, of War and of the Navy. All the other authori-
ties of the island shall be his subordinates. He shall be appointed
and removed by the President of the Council of Ministers, with the
assent of the council.
In addition to the other functions which pertain to him by law
or by special delegation of the Government it shall be his duty :
To proclaim, execute and cause to be executed, on the island,
the laws, decrees, treaties, international conventions and other
mandates that emanate from the legislature.
To proclaim, execute and cause to be executed the decrees,
royal orders, and other mandates that emanate from the executive
and which the Ministers, w-hose delegate he is, may communicate to
him.
To suspend the proclamation and execution of resolutions of his
Majesty's Government when, in his judgment, such resolutions
might prove injurious to the general interests of the nation or to
the special interests of the island, informing the Minister concerned
of the suspension, and of the reasons therefor, in the speediest man-
ner possible.
To superintend and inspect all the departments of the public
service.
To communicate directly upon foreign affairs with the represent-
atives, diplomatic agents and consuls of Spain in the Americas.
To suspend, after consultation with the council of authorities, the
execution of a sentence of death, whenever the gravity of the cir-
cumstances may require it, and the urgency of the case be such that
there is no opportunity to apply to his Majesty for pardon.
'l"o suspend, after consultation with the same council, and on his
own responsibility, whenever extraordinary circumstances prevent
previous communication with the Supreme Government, the consti-
tutional rights expressed in Articles IV., V., VI. and IX., and Sec-
tions I, 2 and 3 of Article XIII. of the Constitution of the State,
and to apply the Riot Act.
It shall also be the duty of the Governor-General as head of the
civil administration :
To keep each department of the administration within the limits
of its powers.
To devise the general rules necessary for the execution of the
laws and regulations, submitting them to the Minister of the Colonies.
To conform strictly to the regulations and orders devised by the
Supreme Government for the due execution of the laws.
To determine the penal institutions in which sentences are to be
served, to order the incarceration therein of convicts, and to desig-
nate the jail liberties when the courts order confinement therein.
To suspend any public official whose appointment pertains to the
Supreme Government, giving the Government immediate notice of
the suspension, with the reasons therefor, and to fill pro tempore the
vacancy in accordance with the regulations now in force.
To act as intermediary between the Ministers whose delegate he
is and all the authorities of the island.
The council of authorities shall consist of the following members :
the liishop of Havana, or the Reverend the Archbishop of Santiago
56
de Cuba, if the latter Ije present ; the cuiuiuaiider of the naval
station ; the military governor ; the presiding justice of the Supreme
Court of Havana ; the attorney-general ; the head of the depart-
ment of finances, and the director of local administration.
The resolutiro
tempore governor-general.
The crimanal part of the Supreme Court at Madrid shall have the
sole jurisdiction over the Governor-General for infractions of the
Penal Code. Charges of maladministration against the (rovernor-
General shall be brought before the Council of Ministers.
The Crovernor-General shall not amend nor revoke his own de-
cisions when they : have been confirmed by the Supreme Govern-
ment ; or have vested rights ; or have served as the basis of a
judgment of a court, or of the adjudication of a mixed juridical-
administrative tribunal ; or when he bases his decision upon the
limitations of his powers.
K.\sis 5.
The civil and financial administration of the island, under the CivUand
supervision of the Governor-General, shall be organized in accord-
ance with the following rules :
Tlie Governor-General, with his staff of secretaries, which shall
be under the direction of a chief of department, shall attend directly
to matters of government, the patronage of the Indies, conflicts of
jurisdiction, public peace, foreign aftairs, jails, penitentiaries, statis-
tics, personnel of the departments, communication between all the
authorities of the island and the Supreme Government, and all the
other matters that are unassigned.
The finance department, which shall be under the charge of a
superior chief of department, shall attend to the whole management
of the finances ; it shall keep the books, and audit and submit the
accounts of the estimates of the state on the island.
The provincial administrative sections shall be under the direct
control of the finance department, without prejudice of the suj^er-
vision that the Governor-General may delegate in fixed cases to the
provincial governor.
The general management of local administration, under the
charge of a superior chief of administration, shall attend to the de-
partments that shall be supported with the appropriations made by
the council of administration ; it shall keep the books, and audit
and submit the annual accounts of the estimates of the council
and of the municipalities, and shall enforce the resolutions of the
council of administration.
The personnel of the offices and the methods for the transaction
of affairs shall be adapted to the object of obtaining the greatest
Financial Ad>
ministratioa.
simplicity in tlie transaction of affairs and in fixing official respon-
sibility.
The rules of law shall determine the cases in which a right is
vested through the decision of a superior official in a matter that,
in accordance with this basis, falls within his jurisdiction, so that an
action before the mixed juridical-administrative tribunal may lie.
Nevertheless the injured party may at any time bring a com-
plaint before the Governor-General in matters which concern the
finance department and the general management of local adminis-
tration, and also before the Minister of the Colonies in any matter
that concerns the administration or the government of the island ;
but the complaint shall not interrupt the administrative process, nor
the legal procedure, nor the course of the action before the mixed
juridical-administrative tribunal.
The Governor-General and the Minister of the Colonies, when
using their powers of supervision, either on their own initiative or
owing to a complaint, shall refrain from interrupting the ordinary
course of affairs, as long as there be no necessity of taking measures
to remedy or prevent irreparable damage, before the final decision
of the competent authority.
Reforms
for the
Island of
Porto Rico.
Art. II.* The system of government and the civil administration
of the island of Porto Rico shall be readjusted upon the following
bases :
Basis i.
The law of municipalities, now in force in the island, is hereby
amended to the extent necessary for the following ends :
Questions relating to the formation of municipalities and of
municipal corporations, combinations of several municipalities into
one, determination of the boundaries of municipalities, elections,
qualifications of voters, and other analogous questions shall be set-
tled, without appeal, by the provincial assembly.
Each board of aldermen shall elect one of its members as mayor.
The Governor-General may remove the mayor and appoint a new
mayor, but the new mayor must be a member of the board.
Whenever the Governor-General shall stay the resolutions of
municipal corporations the matter shall be laid before the criminal
courts, if the stay be due to a misdemeanor committed by the corpo-
ration in connection with the resolutions, or laid before the provincial
governor, upon the report of the provincial assembly, if the resolu-
tions were stayed because they infringed the law.
The delegates of the (iovernor-General may stay the resolutions
of municipal corporations, and censure, warn, fine or suspend the
members of the corporations when they exceed the limits of their
powers.
Previous to removing, in the cases provided by law, mayors or
aldermen, the Governor-General must give the council of adminis-
tration a hearing upon the removal.
Every member of a municipal corporation who shall have pre-
sented, or voted in favc^r of, a resolution injurious to the rights of a
citizen shall be under a !ial)ility, enforcible before the court having
♦Art. II. of this act refers exclusively to Porto Rico. Art. III. refers both to
Cuba and to Porto Rico.
58
jurisdiction, to indemnify, or make restitution to, the injured party,
the liability ceasing according to the rules of the Statute of Limita-
tions.
Each board of aldermen shall, in matters defined as within the
exclusive municipal powers, have full freedom of action, agreeably
with the observance of the law and with the respect due to the
rights of citizens.
In order that the boards of aldermen and the guilds may fix the nunicipai
amount of the taxes to cover the expenses of the municipalities and Taxation.
may determine their nature and their distribution, in accordance
with the preferences of each municipality, the boards of aldermen
and the guilds shall have all the powers necessary thereto, compati-
bly with the system of taxation of the state.*
The provincial assembly may review the resolutions of municipal
corporations relating to the preparation or alteration of their esti-
mates of revenues and exjienditures, and, while respecting their dis-
cretionary powers, shall see that no appropriation which exceeds
the assets be allowed, and that arrears of previous years and pay-
ments ordered by courts having jurisdiction have the preference.
The Governor-General and the provincial governors shall, in those
matters, have only the intervention necessary to insure the observ-
ance of the law and to prevent municipal taxation from impairing
the sources of revenue of the state.
The annual accounts of each mayor, inclusive of revenues and
expenditures, ordinary and extraordinary, shall be published in the
municipality and audited and corrected by the provincial committee,
after hearing the proper officials upon the corrections, and shall be
allowed or disallowed, without appeal, by the provincial assembly,
which shall determine, also without appeal, what officials have in-
curred liabilities, except in the cases that come within the jurisdic-
tion of the ordinary courts.
Art. CXVIII. of the present law of municipalities of Porto Rico
is hereby amended.
Basis 2.
The law of provinces now ni force in the island of Porto Rico
shall be amended to the following ends :
For the purposes of Articles LXXXII. and LXXXIV., and in
accordance with Article LXXXIX. of the Constitution, the whole
island shall continue to form one province, divided into two regions.
The provincial assembly shall consist of twelve assemblymen, ^ . , .
/•I »-rM r rr- i ii i f 'I'l Provincial
Six from each region. The term of orifice shall be four years. 1 he Assembly.
election to fill vacated seats shall take place every two years, the ,p. r.,
region of San Juan voting at one election and the region of Ponce
at another. All the assemblymen shall be elected together : upon
the establishment of this law: and after a total dissolution of the
assembly. Two years after the establishment of this law, or after
a total dissolution of the assembly, the assemblymen of the first
named region shall vacate their seats, and their successors shall be
elected. A majority of the members of the assembly shall con-
stitute a quorum.
The provincial assembly shall elect its president ; it shall be the
judge of the elections, returns and qualifications of the assembly-
* See note page 51.
59
Powers of
the Provincial
Assembly.
(P. R.i
Revenues.
(P.R.J
men-elect, and shall decide all questions referring to its own organi-
zation under the law. The Supreme Court of the island shall have
exclusive jurisdiction over appeals from the decision of the provin-
cial assembly in these questions.
The Governor-General, after hearing the council of authorities,
may suspend the provincial assembly, or without hearing the coun-
cil of authorities may of his own motion decree the suspension of
individual members, as long as a number of assemblymen sufficient
to form a quorum remains :
1. When the provincial assembly or one of its members trans-
gresses the limits of its legitimate powers, and impairs the authority
of the Governor-General, or of the judicial authority, or threatens
to disturb the public peace.
2. For a misdemeanor.
In the first case the Governor-Cxeneral shall immediately inform
the Supreme Government of the suspension, so that the latter may
either set it aside or, through a resolution adopted by the Council of
Ministers within two months, counted from the date of departure of
the first direct mail for the Peninsula, decree the removal. If at
the expiration of the two months the suspension has not been acted
upon, it shall, as a matter of right, be deemed set aside. In the
second case the matter shall come before the courts havmg jurisdic-
tion and their decision shall be final, both as to the suspension and
as to liabilities incurred by officials.
The provincial assembly shall resolve, in accordance with the laws
and regulations, whatever it may deem proper for the management
in the whole island, of public works, posts and telegraphs, railways
and navigation, agriculture, manufactures, trade, immigration and
colonization, public instruction, charities and the health department,
without prejudice of the supervision and of the powers inherent to
the sovereignty of the nation, which the laws reserve to the Supreme
Government. Each year it shall prepare and approve the estimates,
with sufficient appropriations for those departments, and shall exer-
cise the functions that the law of municipalities and other special
laws shall attribute to it. It shall audit and, in the proper cases,
approve the accounts of the provincial revenues and expenditures,
which accounts shall be rendered every year by the section of local
administration, and shall determine the liabilities therein incurred
by officials.
The revenues for its appropriations shall consist : first, of the
proceeds of the lands and rents that are the property of the prov-
ince or of the institutions whose management pertains to the pro-
vincial assembly ; second, of the surcharges which the law may
authorize upon the taxes of the state, which are collected by the
finance department of the island ; and third, of the contributions
it may demand from the municipalities, the contributions being ap-
portioned among the municipalities in proportion to their revenues.
It shall be the duty of the Governor-General, as supreme chief
of the authorities of the island, to carry out the resolutions of the
council. For that purpose, as delegate of the Governor-General,
the section of local administration of the general gf)vernment of the
island shall attend tf) all the departments inchided in the jirovincial
estimates, the accounts of which it shall keep, and shall be respon-
60
tratlon.
sible for non-observance of the law and (jf the resolutions of the
assembly.
Whenever the Ciovern(jr-(ieneral nia\- deem any resolution of the
provincial assembly contrary to the laws or to the "feneral interests
of the nation, he shall stay its execution, and shall of his own mo-
tion take such temporary measures as the public needs*— which would
otherwise be neglected — may require, immediately submitting, to-
gether with the report of the council of administration therein, the
matter to the Minister of the Colonies.
If any resolution of the provincial assembly unduly injures the
rights of a citizen, the assemblymen who shall have contributed
with their votes to the passage of the resolution shall be liable,
before the court having jurisdiction, to indemnify, or to make resti-
tution to, the injured party.
There shall be in the regions of San Juan and of Ponce delegates
of the Governor-General, with the rank, pay and powers proper to
further the transaction of administrative affairs and the discharge
of the duties of the Governor-General.
Basis 3.
The council of administration of the island of Porto Rico The council
shall be organized and shall discharge its functions in the manner oi Adminis-
hereinafter expressed.
The following shall be president and councillors ex officio:
The Governor-General.
The Reverend the Bishop of Porto Rico.
The military governor.
The commander of the naval station.
The presiding justice of the Supreme Court.
The district attorney.
The lieutenant-colonel of the volunteers of the capital.
The provincial assemblymen of the region in which the next
biennial election shall take place.
The Supreme Government shall appoint by royal decree si.x more
councillors, two of whom shall have the legal qualifications, the rank
and the salary of chief of department of the first class,* and shall
prepare the reports necessary for the deliberations of the council.
The council shall have a staff of secretaries, with the personnel
necessary for the transaction of its affairs.
The office of all the councillors, except the reporters,! shall be
honorary and gratuitous.
Previous service on the island for one year shall be an indis-
pensable qualification for appointment as reporter in the council of
administration.
For appointment as councillor, with the exception of the report-
ers, the appointee must have one of the following ijualiilcations :
To be or to have been president of a chamber of commerce, of
the Economic Society of Friends of the Country, or of the Associa-
tion of Agriculturists.
* See note below.
\Po>ientes, the two councillors mentioned above, who must be chiefs of depart-
ment.
61
Advisory
Powers of
Council.
(P. R.)
To be or to have been director of the Institute of San Juan, or
dean of the corporation of lawyers of San Juan de Puerto Rico, for
two years.
To have been for the four years previous to appointment one of
the fifty principal taxpayers of the island, paying taxes on real
estate, or one of the fifty principal taxpayers paying taxes on a
license to practice a profession, on manufactures, or on trade.
To have been a senator or representative to the Cortes in two or
more legislatures.
To have been elected two or more times president of the pro-
vincial assembly, or two years mayor of San Juan de Puerto Rico.
The council may, whenever it may deem it expedient, summon
to its deliberations, through the Governor-General, the chiefs of
department, to hear them, without giving them a vote.
The functions of the council shall be purely advisory. A ma-
jority shall constitute a quorum. It may appoint committees from
among its members to inquire into the matters upon which it may
have to report.
It shall have a hearing :
1. Upon the general estimates of expenditures and revenues of
the island, which estimates, prepared by the finance department of
the island, shall be submitted annually, together with the changes
suggested by the council, within the month of March or earlier, to
the Minister of the Colonies. Although the Supreme Government
may have varied the estimates before submitting them to the Cortes
for appropriations to meet the expenses of the departments and the
general expenses of the state, it shall always submit with them, for
purooses of information, the changes suggested by the council of
administration.
2. Upon the general accounts, which the finance department of
the island must, wathout fail, present annually within the six months
following the end of the fiscal year and which shall include the
revenues collected and expenditures liquidated.
3. Upon the matters pertaining to the patronage of the Indies.
4. Upon the resolutions of the provincial assembly which occa-
sion the intervention of the Governor-General, as provided in
Basis 2.
5. Upon the petitions for legislative reforms that emanate from
the provincial assembly before their submission to the Supreme
Government.
6. Upon the removals and suspensions of mayors or aldermen.
" 7. Upon all other matters that the laws may determine.
The Governor-General may demand of the council all the reports
he mav desire.
Basis 4.
Powers and
Duties of
the Governor"
General.
(P. R.)
The Governor-General shall be the representative of the National
Government in the island of Porto Rico. He shall, as vice-royal
patron, exercise the powers inherent to the patronage of the Indies.
He shall be the commander-ui-chief of the army and the navy
stationed on the island. He shall be the delegate of the Ministers
of the Colonics, of State, of War and of the Navy. All the other
authorities of the island shall be his subordinates. He shall be ap-
pointed and removed by the President of the Council of Ministers
62
wilh the assent of the council and upon the proposition of the
Minister of the Colonies.
In addition to the other functions which pertain to him by law or
by special delegation of the Government, it shall be his duty :
To proclaim, execute, and cause to be executed, on the island,
the laws, decreets, treaties, international conventions and other man-
dates that emanate from the legislative power.
To proclaim, execute and cause to be executed the decrees,
royal orders and other mandates that emanate from the executive,
and which the Ministers, whose delegate he is, may communicate to
him.
To suspend the proclamation and execution of resolutions of
his Majesty's Government when, in his judgment, such resolutions
might prove injurious to the general interests of the nation or to
the special interests of the island, informing the Minister concerned
of the suspension and of the reasons therefor in the speediest man-
ner possible.
To superintend and inspect all the departments of the public
service.
To communicate directly upon foreign affairs with the repre-
sentatives, diplomatic agents and consuls of Spain in the Americas.
To suspend, after consulting with the council of authorities, the
execution of a sentence of death, whenever the gravity of the cir-
cumstances may require it, and the urgency of the case be such that
there is no opportunity to apply to his Majesty for pardon.
To suspend, after consultation with the same council, and on his
own responsibility, whenever extraordinary circumstances prevent
previous communication with the Supreme Government, the consti-
tutional rights expressed in Articles 1., V., VI. and IX., and Sections
I, 2 and 3, Art. XIII., of the Constitution of the state, and to apply
the Riot Act.
It shall also be the duty of the Governor-General, as head of the other
civil administration : Executive
• f 1 Duties.
To devise the general rules necessary for the execution of the ,p. j^.j
laws and regulations, submitting them to the Minister of the
Colonies.
To conform strictly to the regulations and orders devised by the
Supreme Government for the due execution of the laws.
To determine the penal institutions in which sentences are to be
served, to order the incarceration therein of convicts and to desig-
nate the jail liberties when the courts order confinement therein.
To suspend any public official whose appointment pertains to
the Supreme Government, giving the Supreme Government imme-
diate notice of the suspension, with the reasons therefor, and to
fill pro tempore the vacancy, in accordance with the regulations now
in force.
To act as intermediary between the Ministers, whose delegate he
is, and all the authorities of the island.
The council of authorities shall consist of the following mem- Council of
bers : The Reverend the Bishop of San Juan de Porto Rico, the
military governor, the commander of the naval station, the j)resid-
ing justice of the Supreme Court of San Juan, the attorney-general,
the head of the Department of Finance, and the chief of the section
of local administration.
63
Authorities.
^P. R.)
The resolutions of this council shall be drawn up in duplicate
and one of the copies shall be sent to the Minister of the Colonies.
They are not binding upon the Governor-General. All his acts
must be upon his own responsibility.
The Governor-General shall not surrender his office, nor absent
himself from the island, without the express order of the Supreme
Government. In case of vacancy, absence or inability, the military
governor shall be his substitute, and in default of the latter the
commander of the naval station, until the Supreme Government
appoints a/;' v i si o n s.
1. The councillors of administration elected in the island of
Cuba upon the proclamation of this act shall stay in office until the
first election for provincial assemblymen that happens after two years
have passed since the first election of the council.
2. The rectification, according to the methods that shall be estab-
lished under .\rt. Ill of this act, of the registration lists for the elec-
tion of aldermen and of provincial assemblymen in both Cuba and
Porto Rico, and of councillors of administration in Cuba, shall com-
mence from the time of the proclamation of this act.
The Minister of the Colonies shall ordain, by royal decree, the
necessary measures, and shall fix the time for the various operations
of the rectification, so that it may be finished before any election
take place to establish the council of administration in Cuba or to
65
Provincial
Elections.
fill the seats of members of munici]-)al corporations whose terms have
expired.
The election for the latter purpose shall under no circumstances
be postponed, except in the case of the boards of aldermen,* which,
in this present year, and if the Supreme Government deem it neces-
sary, may be postponed until the first fortnight of next June.
In subsequent years the rectification shall take place in the man-
ner provided by the royal decree of December 27, 1892, referred to
in Art. III. of this act.
Therefore :
• We order all the courts, justices, chiefs, governors and other
authorities, civil, military and ecclesiastical, of whatsoever class or
dignity, to keep, and cause to be kept, fulfill and execute this act in
all its parts.
Given in the Palace, March 15, 1S95.
1, JHE Queen Re(;ent.
The Minister of the Colonies,
1j LENA VENTURA AhAK/UZA.
XXV.
CONCLUSION.
Rebels Cannot At the termination of the former rebellion the only condition im-
Speci y loosed upon the capitulants was the acknowledgment of the sover-
Grievances. * 1 i ^
eignty of Spain.
The best evidence of the faithfulness with which the successive
Spanish Ministers have i)erformed the promises of the Zanjon ca-
pitulation, and given Cuba a stable and progressive government dur-
ing the seventeen years of unbroken peace in the island, is the fact
that the very men who to-day are breaking their solemn treaty
pledges have confined themselves to generalities, being unable to
state specific grievances.
S[>ain has granted Cubans political rights to the same extent as
they are possessed by the other Spanish citizens, without impedi-
ment or restriction whatsoever ; it has conceded to them civil
liberties, guaranteed by the Constitution ; antl has given them eco-
nomic liberties under the j)rotection of which the wealth and the
commerce of the island, privileged by the fertility of its soil, have
enormcnisly increased.
Spain has made concessions that are more than legitimate.
She has smrendered tlie h)cal government of the Spanish West In-
dies to the iiulialivc of their sons, and given them admission to all
the ranks of the adnnnistration of the state.
To Cuba the Spanish llag means security to life and property,
and a steady advance in civilization and jjrosperity. Spain cannot
* Municipal corporations in Cuba, as in the Peninsula, liave a board of aldermen
(ayuntamicnto) and a municipal council (Junta intmicipal).
66
deprive her loyal Cuban children of the benefits of her rule ami
abandon them into the hands of a turbulent minority, untrained in
the art of government. Xo, Spain cannot grudge, nor will she
grudge, the sacrifices of men and money that may be rendered nec-
essary by the unjustifiable revolt of the reckless men who are m
arms against their mother country, " confining themselves to an ir-
regular system of hostilities, carried on by small and illy armed Oen. oranfs
bands of men, roaming, without concentration, through the woods j""'"" " < "
' ^ ' ~ Insur^ent.s.
and the sparsely populated regions of the island, attacking from am-
bush convoys and small bands of troops, burning plantations and
the estates of those not sympathizing with them." *
No wonder that at the repetition of so lamentable a spectacle
the Prime Minister of Spain uses the following unanswerable
argument :
" We cannot admit that the slightest ground exists for the recog-
nition of the belligerency of the Cuban insurgents, whose so-called
President and the members of his executive council are nomads,
like the rebel bands, ever on the move."
April, 1S96.
* President Grant's message of June, 1S70.
^PPBNDIX.
In 1850 the foreign trade of Cuba amounted to $50,000,000, and
in 1878 was nearly double that amount, the exports alone reaching
over $60,000,000, while for the year 1892 we have the following
figures :
Importations, |69,444,287
Exportations 101,014,266
Total, $170,458,553
'J'his carrying trade may be divided as follows :
In Spanish vessels, .feS.TO'J,.").")?
In foreign vessels 106,755,996
Total |17(),4.")8,553
'I'he total value of trade between C'uba and the l^niled States
for 1892 was as follows :
Exports to the United States, .... $89,327,000
Imports from the United States 20,185,000
Total, $109,512,000
In 1894 the value of merchandise imi)orled from the L'nited
States into Cuba was !*;,3_:5,6i 7,000.
i
Taking the hulk of the foreign trade in connection with the pop-
ulation of C'uha, reducing it to a projiortion per capita and comjiar-
ing it with the similar rale obtained for the Spanish-American
republics in 1X92, we have the following diagram :
CUHA.
Population, 1 ,()()(),0()().
Population, 700,000.
Population, 248,000.
Population, 2,800,000.
Population, 14,000,000.
Population, 572,000.
Population, 800,000.
Population, 2,300,000.
Population, 4,000,000.
$100 per inliabitant.
Foreign trade. $170,000,000.
URUGUAY.
$8:5 per inliabitant.
COSTA RICA.
Foreign trade, ^61,000,000.
f4.'> per inliabitant.
CHILE.
Foreign trade, ^18.000,000.
!f;42 per inhabitant.
Foreign trade, .fl;?0, 000,000.
BRAZIL.
|40 per inhabitant.
Foreign trade, contos de reis 587,000,000.
HAYTI.
!j;35 per inhabitant.
PORTO RICO.
$27 per inliabitant.
VENEZUELA.
Foreign trade, $-20,000,000.
Foreign trade, *:58,000,000.
$19.50 per inhabitant.
ARGENTINA.
$15 per inhabitant.
Foreign trade, $36,000,000.
Foreign trade, $242,000,000.
(Paper money )
As for the other Siianish-American republics, such as Me.xico,
Guatemala, Nicaragua, Salvador, Colombia, Peru, Bolivia, iVc, the
proportion of the foreign trade to the population does not amount
to $10 per capita.
No better proof can be adduced of the activity and prosperity
attained by the island of Cuba under Spanish rule than the above
comparison.
The following official statistics show the increase in crops, com-
merce, railroads and population :
Years.
1878,
1879,
1880,
1881,
1882,
1883,
1884,
1885,
1886
1887,
1888,
1889,
1890,
1891,
1892,
1893,
1894,
SiGAR Crop
Tons.
530,598
680,700
547,089
483,945
500,357
484,976
560,934
630,414
705,403
610,171
630,311
526,439
645,894
819,760
976,789
815,894
1,018,028
Years.
1879,
1894.
Tobacco Crop.
Value.
117,560,000
20,829,000
Shippinc, 1894.
Ships arrived,
Ships sailed. .
Totals, .
Ships.
3,748
3,713
7.461
Tons.
4,358,555
4,050,488
8,409,044
Railroads.
Concessions from 1834 to 1879-
Public
Private, ....
Concessions from 1879 to 1896 —
Public, ....
Private
Total miles.
Miles.
1,002
61
1,063
179
273
452
1.515
White,
Colorefl,
Totals,
PoPl
I.ATION.
iHsr.
1870.
579,490
984,632
444.510
482,211
1.024.000
1,466,843
1887.
1,102,889
528,798
1,631,6H7
'r^xE:s.
TAXES ON AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS.
Rate of Taxation.*
1867,
1868-1878, .
1880-1881, .
1882-1883, .
1883-1884 to date.
Ten per cent, (on net profit).
Rose to 35 per cent.
^ On sugar and tobacco, 10 per cent.
( Other products, 16 per cent.
( On sugar and tobacco, 2 per tent
( Other products, 8 per cent.
All I'KODucTs, 2 i>er cent.
EXPORT TAXES.
Until 1880-18S1 a tax 011 all agricultural products of i per cent.
and a surchargef of 10 per cent.
1881 — The act of June 5, iSSo, reduced the ta.x by 15 per cent.
1883 — The surcharge reduced to 5 per cent.
1886 — The act of August 5, 1886, increased the reduction of 15 per
cent, (of 1 881) to 20 per cent.
TAX ON SUGAR PRODUCTION.
1892 — The act of June 30, 1S92, imposes a ta.\ of 10 cents upon
every 100 kilograms (220 pounds) of centrifugal sugar, and
of 5 cents upon every 100 kilograms of muscovado and
molasses.
1893 — The act of August 6, 1893, reduced the tax on sugars by 50
per cent, and abolishetl the tax on molasses.
1895 — The act of February 20, 1895, abolished the tax.
* This is on the tttrt profits of cultivation. A certain per cent, of the market
price of the crop is deducted for expenses. For some years 60 per cent, of the
market price (estimated) was the deduction for the expenses of tlie cultivation of
coffee. Thus in 188;}, when the tax was 2 per cent., if the value of the crop were
$l,0(Vi the cultivator would pay a tax of 2 per cent, on $400 ; that is to say, $S.
+ The surcharge is on the amount of the tax. Thus, if the value of the article be
$1,IKX) the tax would be $iO and the surcharge $1, making a total tax of SU.
e:xf>e:nditure:s.
From l,**7M to 1,S«S.
Estimate of Expenditure Subsequent to the Zanjon Treaty.
1878-79,
1880-81,
1882-83,
1883-84,
1885-86,
1886-87,
1888-89,
1890-91,
1891-92,
1892-93,
1893-94,
1894-95,
$46,594,688
44,035,850
35,860,349
34,170,880
31,169,653
25,959,734
25,596,441
24,446,810
25,214,645
23,074,594
26,037,394
The same
COMPARATIVE TAXATION.
During the last seven years the revenue of Cuba has l)een esti-
mated at $25,000,000, which gives a per capita taxation among the
1,600,000 inhabitants of $15.30. Here is a comparative table of the
taxation per capita, embracing several Spanish-American (-ountries :
Countries.
Chile,
Brazil,
Uruguay, .
Costa Rica,
Argentina,
Hayti,
Cuba,
J'drtf) Rico,
rotal Revenue.
Rate per Capita
$65, 000, 00(1
$23
208,000,000
22
14,000,000
20
4, 000, 000
19
(17,000,000
16
!),0()0,000
16
25,000,000
15
5,000.000
8
3 121
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