The Politics of Intervention

176 THE POLITICS OF INTERVENTION

the visit had done to their efforts to hold the annexationists at
arms-length and pacify the politicos as the tiempo muerto
approached. Already, Magoon had word from Santa Clara
that a drought had caused considerable suffering; food prices
were going up, and only immediate public works employment
could head off the growing lawlessness.^29
At this critical time, Secretary of War Taft suggested in a
speech in St. Louis that "we may not have committed our­
selves to a policy best adapted to the welfare of the Cubans/'
Taft's speech, published by the conservative Diario de la
Marina the same day it was delivered, moved Jose de Armas
to write the Secretary that his words had heartened the
annexationists.^30 Taft might have given Magoon encourage­
ment rather than the annexationists, for at the time of the
St. Louis speech, the Governor faced banditry in Santa Clara
and Oriente, a cigar workers' strike in Havana, and a growing
yellow fever epidemic. The Provisional Government could
(and did) act decisively in these cases, but the general
political situation posed a different and potentially more
serious danger to the peace.
The split of the Liberal party into Miguelistas and Zayistas
meant that all over Cuba a reorganization of the personal
factions was necessary. Local uprisings or the threat of revolt
were an intrinsic part of this process. In Pinar del Rio, for
example, Pino Guerra, considered by Magoon to hold the
balance between Gomez and Zayas, was at odds with the Paez
brothers, his former supporters.^31 To prove their ascendency
over one another, the two groups were raising funds through
fraud (e.g., forged horse certificates), blackmail, and extor­
tion. Each faction threatened revolt to demonstrate the
strength of its popular appeal. The Paez brothers accused
Guerra of being too co-operative with the government. To
increase their own following, they encouraged anti-American­
ism with popular ditties: "The little American rooster is
crowing now but keep quiet, brothers; gather your tobacco,
and when our work is done he will crow no more."^32