There were then, however, as there are now, no such differences between the parties on matters of political economy or administrative and legislative policy, as exist in other lands. They are simply the "Ins" and the "Outs." One party is in office and wants to stay in. The other is out and wants to get in. In their methods, however, the two differ widely. The Conservatives have been consistently in favor of constitutional and lawful measures, the maintenance of peace and the safeguarding of life and property. They have always been willing to accept and abide by the result of an election, even though it were against them. The Liberals, on the other hand, as we shall more convincingly see in the course of this narrative, have been in favor of practically any means which would enable them to gain control of affairs. They have on several occasions not hesitated to involve the island in revolution, provided that they would be able to profit from it by gaining office. In this first election for municipal officers there was little partisan rivalry, and indeed that did not rise to any great pitch until the end of the first intervention and the establishment of a purely Cuban government. The chief partisanship was really personal. Each important military or political leader had his own following. Such rivalries were not yet, however, acrimonious or sufficient to have any material effect upon the progress of public affairs. Reference has been made to the reform of the taxation system which included the abolition of a number of annoying and oppressive imposts. There followed a revision of the tariff on imports, for the dual purposes of promoting commerce and industry and of providing a revenue for the insular government. In December, 1898, the United States had ordered maintenance of the old Spanish tariff, with certain modifications, chiefly dictated by the change of relations between Cuba and the United States. Subsequently other modifications were made from time to time as the need or desirability of them became apparent through experience. But on June 15, 1900, an entirely new tariff law went into effect, framed chiefly by American experts and following pretty closely the general lines of the American tariff system. Naturally it was calculated to encourage commerce between Cuba and the United States, particularly by the admission of products of the latter country into Cuban markets at a minimum of cost. In view of the scarcity of food in Cuba and the devastated condition of much of the agricultural lands, American food products, both meats and breadstuffs, thus gained easy access to the Cuban market. This seemed anomalous, since Cuba was an agricultural country capable of producing a large surplus of food for export instead of needing imports of food. It was obvious, however, that this feature of the tariff would be merely temporary, and in fact it was materially modified by the increase of rates on such imports very soon