70 THE POLITICS OF INTERVENTION
only a few bridges and culverts of the Western Railway,
a British-owned line which had been carrying government
troops to Pinar del Rio. There had been several inconsequen
tial clashes with the Rural Guard with few casualties. The
government's response, thus far, had been to raise several
thousand useless militiamen and to offer a general amnesty
to the rebels. Roosevelt had supported Estrada Palma with
munitions, but, weighing the consequences of expanding that
assistance to include troops, he had concluded that the po
litical risks were too great. Until armed intervention became
more clearly justifiable, the United States would insist only
that foreign property be respected by both sides. Nonethe
less, Cuba was faced with economic collapse if the insur
rection could not be ended before la zafra, if the sugar
and tobacco crops went up in flame, and if credit and the
government's revenues continued their downward spiral.
The Veterans, Steinhart, and the Failure of Compromise
On September 1, a third party entered the Cuban civil
war in an effort to end the crisis without the United States
intervention.^36 A committee of noted veterans of the Army
of Liberation, led by Generals Agustin Cebreco and Mario
Garcia Menocal, offered to mediate the differences between
the government and the Liberals. The committee included
veterans of all political affiliations.^37 Menocal became the
group's spokesman. He was forty, an engineering graduate
of Cornell University, an able soldier, and, in 1906, manager
of the Cuban-American Sugar Company's Chaparra estate,
the world's largest sugar property. By September 8, the Vet
erans believed that both the rebels and the government were
ready for a truce and compromise settlement to void the
1905 elections, to hold new elections on the basis of a re
formed electoral law, to provide for municipal autonomy and
an independent judiciary and civil service, and to have a
general amnesty.^38
Estrada Palma was still hoping to entice the United States
into the conflict on his side, but his government thus far