A small number of men in this country, whose opinions on any subject command respect, believe that the best course will be found in leaving Cuba to work out her own difficulties without interference. The advocates of this _laissez faire_ policy point to Mexico, the Argentine, and other Latin-American republics as shining examples of peoples who have independently worked out similar problems and have brought their countries through long periods of misery and disturbance to peaceful prosperity. But there are two strong objections to this policy. In the first place, the United States is pledged to the Cubans and the world at large to maintain order in the Island. No one who is familiar with conditions can believe that the Cubans are capable of carrying on a government for a period of five years without revolutionary eruptions. Is it conceivable that the people of the United States would allow their government to step in periodically to suppress disturbances and to step out promptly as soon as peace should be restored? It is safe to say, that the next occupation of Cuba by the United States, which can not be delayed many years, will last for a considerably longer period than did either of the preceding occupations. Then again, the situation in Cuba contains a very important element which destroys the applicability to it of the examples cited. During their formative stages Mexico, Argentina, and the other Latin-American countries contemplated were undeveloped and comparatively little foreign capital was invested in them. Cuba, on the contrary, is the scene of an advanced economic development. Almost the entire country belongs to aliens, who have billions of their money sunk in it. Is it at all probable that these persons and corporations would submit to the loss or deterioration of their property that would assuredly be involved in an independent government of Cuba by the Cubans? The monied interests form at present the most determined of the classes that look for a radical change in conditions. They know that trouble is constantly in the air and may take definite form at any moment. What is the prospect of the Cubans working out an orderly and efficient government unaided? Up to the present, notwithstanding ample opportunity, there is not even the nucleus of a stable and rational political party in the country. The best men stand aloof, or find themselves hopelessly excluded from participation in public affairs. They complain, but their plaints are vague and indeterminate. All classes of Cubans, but one, are clamoring for a [Illustration: GENERAL VIEW OF JIGUANI.] change, but no class has put its hopes and wishes into definite utterance. The press is hardly more explicit in its demands and denunciations. The following quotation from the _Unión Española_, of Habana, affords a typical illustration: