254 THE POLITICS OF INTERVENTION
to have been always negotiable. Perhaps they were selected
as possible collaborators in a future military government, for
in Army circles it was generally assumed that there would
be other interventions.^34
Lieutenant Colonel Bullard probably summed up the Army
position when he observed that Cuba was pacified but not
changed, that there could be no lasting government or peace
there. The flaws in the Cuban body politic were so deep
that the people would have to overthrow the government
again, for "with the domineering, grandee spirit of Spanish
blood, no Cuban in power can abstain from squeezing his
fellows, from making them feel his power and authority.
... The U. S. will have to go back. It is only a question
of time."^35
Cuban Elections American StylePacified, enumerated, registered and administratively re
formed, the Cubans went to the polls in August, 1908, to
begin to elect away the American occupation. Governor
Magoon cautioned them that on their behavior at the polls
rested the restoration of their own government and the future
happiness and stability of their Republic.^36 On August 1,
the Cubans elected provincial governors and councilmen
and mayors and municipal councilors.^37 The elections went
off with only minor problems as 269,132 of Cuba's 451,677
registered voters cast ballots.
The result was a stunning victory for the Conservatives
over the still split Liberal factions of Gomez and Zayas.
Conservative governors won in Pinar del Rio, Matanzas, and
Santa Clara, and the party elected twenty-eight mayors. The
potential Liberal strength was obvious, however, for the
factions elected three governors and fifty-three mayors, and
if their votes had been combined, they would have elected
all their gubernatorial candidates and sixty-one of eighty-two
mayors. Of the two factions, the Miguelistas were the