e
northern part being broken and hilly, and the southern part low, flat, and
sandy, probably a comparatively recently reclaimed coralline plain. The
island has been, at various times, the headquarters of bands of pirates, a
military hospital, a penal institution, and a source of political trouble.
It is now a Cuban island the larger part of which is owned by Americans. It
is a part of the province of Havana, and will probably so remain as long as
Cuba is Cuba. My personal investigations of the disputed question of the
political ownership of the island began early in 1899. I then reached a
conclusion from which I have not since seen any reason to depart. The
island was then, had always been, and is now, as much a part of Cuba as
Long Island and Key West have been and are parts of the United States.

Just who it was that first raised the question of ownership, none of us who
investigated the matter at the time of its particular acuteness, was
able to determine satisfactorily, although some of us had a well-defined
suspicion. The man is now dead, and I shall not give his name. Article I,
of the Treaty of Paris, of December 10, 1898, presumably disposes of the
Cuban area; Article II refers to Porto Rico; and Article III refers to the
Philippines. The issue regarding the Isle of Pines was raised under
Article II, presumably referring only to Porto Rico. A slight but possibly
important difference appears in the Spanish and the English versions. The
English text reads that "Spain cedes ... the island of Porto Rico and other
islands now under Spanish sovereignty" etc. The Spanish text, literally
translated runs: "Spain cedes ... the island of Porto Rico and the others
that are now under its sovereignty." The obvious reference of the article
is to Mona, Viequez, and Culebra, all small islands in Porto Rican waters.
But the question was raised and was vigorously discussed. An official map
was issued showing the island as American territory. Americans jumped
in, bought up large tracts, and started a lively real estate boom. They
advertised it widely as American territory, and many put their little
collections of dollars into it. The claim of Spanish cession was afterward
denied in the very document that served to keep the issue alive for a
number of years. Article VI of the Platt Amendment, which the Cubans
accepted with marked reluctance, declared that the island was omitted from
the boundaries of Cuba, and that the title and owner