The Fragile Republic 39with Cuban farmers, but believed that the problem of agri
cultural credit could be solved by a "liberal degree of reciproc
ity." Working toward this goal, he urged Congress to reduce
the sugar tariff 30 per cent and to abrogate the Foraker
Amendment, thus opening Cuba to American investors under
the sponsorship of the Military Government.
The most notable example of Wood's faith in private
capital was his relationship with the Cuba Company. From
1900 to 1902 Wood assisted railroad entrepreneurs Sir William
Van Home, of the Canadian Pacific, and General Grenville
M. Dodge, builder of the Union Pacific, to charter and con
struct a railway in eastern Cuba. In organizing the Cuba
Company Van Home and Dodge side-stepped the Foraker
Amendment, which prohibited the Military Government from
granting franchises, by accepting revokable permits. Wood
and Root cleared the way for them, convinced that improved
transportation to eastern Cuba would stimulate its economy.
Without a doubt it did, but it also indicated Wood's willing
ness to use foreign investment to further the cause of
annexation.
In a sense the entire story of the adoption of the Cuban
Constitution of 1901 and of the genesis of the Platt Amend
ment may be read as a disavowal of the goals of Wood's
reforms: Americanization and voluntary annexation. The
Cuban Constitutional Convention, which began its deliber
ations in November, 1900, was never free from Wood's
influence, but its work was largely its own.
The language of the Constitution of 1901 glowed with the
idealism of nationalism, republicanism, and political liberalism.
The Constitution provided for the personal freedoms denied
Cubans during their war for independence. The form of
government was unitary and presidential, but power was
shared with a bicameral legislature and independent judiciary.
The Constitution of 1901 worked no radical changes in the
prevailing social and economic relationship of postwar Cuba.
In the nation's political structure, specifically within the
powers of the President, there were significant allowances for