The Politics of Intervention

48 THE POLITICS OF INTERVENTION

rights of foreign citizens. It also approved of his belief that
the Cubans should be led by a responsible, educated elite
until the people learned orderliness and restraint in public
affairs. In light of Estrada Palma's values and comparing
his service to Cuba with that of Generals Maximo Gomez and
Garcia, his elevation to the presidency was comparable to
having Benjamin Franklin instead of George Washington as
the United States first president.
Estrada Palma's candidacy was supported by most of the
prominent men associated with the Constitutional Convention,
Nationalists and Federal Republicans alike. He was endorsed
by such diverse types as Maximo Gomez, Mendez Capote,
Emilio Nunez, Jose Miguel Gomez, Morua Delgado, and
Gonzalo de Quesada. His campaign was based on promises
of prosperity and national unity. General Bartolome Maso
decided to run against him as an anti-Platt Amendment
candidate, but withdrew from the race when Leonard Wood
refused to place Maso partisans on the board supervising
the elections. Duly elected under the supervision of the
Military Government, Estrada Palma returned to his native
land in May, 1902, to become president after twenty-five
years in exile.
Estrada Palma's first term was full of difficulty, but his
administration had some major successes, primarily in its
relations with the United States.^50 Between 1902 and 1905,
the Cuban government negotiated a Treaty of Reciprocity
which widened Cuba's share of the American sugar market,
reduced America's demand for naval bases to two sites, and
firmly defended Cuba's claim to the Isle of Pines. Domestically,
Estrada Palma, supported by a "non-partisan" cabinet of men
known for their conservatism and administrative ability,
worked to continue the programs in sanitation, education, and
public works begun by the Military Government. Estrada
Palma built the nation's credit by reducing the public debt
and by cautious administration. In his budgets, receipts ex­
ceeded expenditures, and the Treasury developed a surplus
estimated by the government's critics at $25 million by 1906.