a considerable clearing out of placeholders. There
might have been, of course, what is known in America as a "clean sweep,"
and this was urged by a few of the President's friends. But General
Menocal would listen to no such proposition. A Civil Service law had
indeed been formulated by the Consulting Commission presided over by
General Crowder, and had been in force since 1907, and while an
unscrupulous executive might have evaded its provisions, General Menocal
was a believer in the merit system, and in secure tenure of office for
men who were doing their duty. He therefore refused positively to remove
a single man merely because of his political affiliations. So far as
placeholders were dismissed, they were dismissed because of incompetence
or dishonesty, or because their services were superfluous. As a result
of this enlightened policy, it is true, President Menocal was compelled
to conduct his administration through the agency of a staff, the
majority of which was composed of his political opponents. He even
appointed two Liberals to his cabinet, while nearly all the foreign
ministers and consuls and important officers of the various departments
were members of that party, holding over from the Gomez administration.
It cannot be said that this policy was in all cases appreciated by those
who personally profited from it, for some of these officeholders did not
scruple to engage in intrigues against the President whose generosity
retained them in their places.

The United States Government retained a certain supervision over some of
the acts of the Cuban Government. Thus, as hitherto stated, in March,
1913, an amnesty bill had been passed at the instance of the Gomez
administration, which would have set at liberty several hundred
political and other prisoners, but it was objected to by Mr. Bryan, the
Secretary of State of the United States, and was accordingly vetoed. It
was again posed in a modified form on April 25, and was again similarly
vetoed. In November, 1913, it was once more taken up and revised so as
to extend the pardon to those who had participated in the negro
insurrection, and to some former officeholders of the Gomez
administration who had been indicted. It was also intended that it
should extend amnesty to General Ernesto Asbert, Governor of the
Province of Havana, to Senator Vidal Morales, and to Representative
Arias, who had been indicted for the murder of the Chief of Police of
Havana, General Arma