The Politics of Intervention

The Provisional Government and Cuban Stability 199

Cuban reforms. Rather, he adhered to the more conserva­
tive Root-Taft position, that some minimal separation and
balancing of powers under the Cuban Constitution was about
all the reform the Provisional Government should undertake.
27
Magoon lauded Crowder personally, but he did not support
the Colonel's specific proposals for more radical legal reforms
than the four laws to be drafted by the Advisory Law Com­
mission or for post-restoration legislative guarantees.^28 The
best explanation for Magoon's ambivalent position is that he
was perfectly aware that Taft would not accept the diplo­
matic implications of Crowder's reforms. In fact, the Advisory
Law Commission did draft the proposed reform codes and
then passed them on to the Cuban congress in 1909, but they
did not become law.
In the two years of its existence, the Advisory Law Com­
mission drafted the four laws considered essential to the
restoration of the Cuban government, wrote another regulariz­
ing the organization of the executive departments, and drafted
other measures of secondary importance.^29 All were duly put
into effect by decrees of the Provisional Governor. All the
laws were acceptable compromises, some were well-thought
out, but after the American withdrawal none worked as they
were designed.
The electoral code, so devilishly complex that it took the
politicos several months to subvert it, featured permanent,
mandatory registration of all Cuban citizens, non-partisan
election boards at the three political levels, and proportional
representation in electing congressmen and provincial and
municipal councilors. Despite conservative efforts, no changes
in the franchise were adopted. The electoral machinery, while
it was organized in detail so as to be uniform and honest,
depended on the impartiality of those conducting the elec­
tions. The code clearly was designed on the assumption that
stable, coherent political parties would dominate Cuban poli­
tics : there were detailed requirements for nominating petitions
and conventions, for party representation on electoral boards,
and for minority representation.