ident Palma, of the Province of Santa Clara. General Gomez was an
astute, clever, farseeing, active politician, with a considerable degree
of originality and ability. Another man intimately connected with the
history of Cuba was Gomez's chief clerk when Governor of the Province of
Santa Clara, Orestes Ferrara, a gentleman of Italian birth, of somewhat
reckless tendencies, who emerged from the War of Independence as a Cuban
patriot, and was recognized as such by the Liberal party. Mr. Ferrara
was a lawyer, a writer, a finely educated diplomat and an excellent
speaker. All of these qualities succeeded in making him an important
factor in influencing the destinies of the republic in its early days.

During the first years of the Palma administration, the Moderado and
Liberal parties gradually shaped themselves into the present
Conservative and Liberal parties; organizations which differ in
political methods rather than in principles; if by principles we mean
fundamental doctrines of political economy or statecraft, such as form
the issues of division between parties in most other countries. They
also differ largely in personnel. Throughout the agricultural regions
the Conservatives prevail. That is because farmers, large and small,
care little for office holding but do care a great deal for that
tranquillity of the country which is essential to progress and
prosperity. They have a material stake in the country's welfare, which
is conserved by constitutional order rather than by revolution. On the
other hand, in the cities may be found the great strength of the Liberal
party; composed of men who own no real estate, and many of whom have no
business or steady occupation of any kind, who have nothing to lose from
economic and social disturbance but on the contrary may gain something
by getting into public employment through a change of government. Such
men are numerous in all cities of all countries, and they become the
facile followers of designing and unscrupulous politicians. In the
United States such men are described as "feeding at the public crib." In
Cuba the corresponding phrase, equally expressive, is "nursing at the
public bottle"--epitomised in the one word, "botella."

It is not to be inferred that all Cuban Liberals are of this class, or
that Conservatives are universally men of substance; but the dominant
elements of the two parties are such as we have described. The restless
and irresponsible Liberal masses hav