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 ownership should be left to future adjustment by treaty.  But no alternative appears between cession and no cession.  Had the island become definitely American territory by cession, its alienation, by such a step, would not have been possible.  When we left Cuba, in 1902, the official instructions from Washington were that the Isle of Pines would remain under a de facto American government.  President Palma, accepting the transfer, expressed his understanding that it would “continue de facto under the jurisdiction of the Republic of Cuba.”  In some way, the departing American authority failed to leave any agent or representative of the de facto government of the United States, and the Cubans included the island in their new administration, very properly.  When the treaty proposed by the Platt Amendment came before the United States Senate, it hung fire, and finally found lodgment in one of the many pigeon-holes generously provided for the use of that august body.  There it may probably be found today, a record and nothing more.  Why?  For the very simple reason that some of the resident claimants for American ownership sent up a consignment of cigars made on the island from tobacco grown on the island, and refused to pay duty on them.  The ground of refusal was that they were a domestic product,