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Title: Industrial Cuba
Author: Robert P. Porter
Release Date: November 23, 2012 [EBook #41463]
Language: English
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[Illustration: _Frontispiece._ ENTRANCE TO HAVANA HARBOUR.]
INDUSTRIAL CUBA
BEING A STUDY OF PRESENT COMMERCIAL AND
INDUSTRIAL CONDITIONS, WITH SUGGESTIONS
AS TO THE OPPORTUNITIES PRESENTED IN THE
ISLAND FOR AMERICAN CAPITAL, ENTERPRISE,
AND LABOUR.
BY
ROBERT P. PORTER
SPECIAL COMMISSIONER FOR THE UNITED STATES TO CUBA
AND PORTO RICO
WITH MAPS AND 62 ILLUSTRATIONS
G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS
NEW YORK AND LONDON
The Knickerbocker Press
1899
COPYRIGHT, 1899
BY
ROBERT P. PORTER
Entered at Stationers' Hall, London
The Knickerbocker Press, New York
TO
WILLIAM McKINLEY
PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES
THIS BOOK IS RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED BY
THE AUTHOR
INTRODUCTION
This volume deals with the living questions of Cuba--the questions which
confront the United States in the reconstruction of the Island. It aims
to give a description of Cuba as it appeared to the author when, as
Special Commissioner of the United States, he was sent by President
McKinley to report on its industrial, commercial, and financial
condition, soon after the signing of the protocol of peace, August 12,
1898. It is the result of nearly seven months' inquiry and hard work, in
which the Island has been visited three times, over five hundred
witnesses have been examined, and innumerable statements have been
studied and analysed. In the course of this inquiry the author has
visited all the provinces and nearly all the principal cities and towns.
The merit of the book lies in the freshness and originality of the
material brought together, and the demerit in the fact that it has been
written by one who was obliged to snatch a few hours at a time to map
out or write a chapter. The author realises the defects and asks the
indulgence of the reader on the ground that it is the first attempt to
discuss the economic and political future of Cuba under its new form of
government.
Whatever the future may have in store for this wonderful and unfortunate
Island, the author can truly say that the task allotted him by the
President has, so far as Cuba and the Cuban people are concerned, been
conscientiously and faithfully performed. The measures inaugurated for
the government of the Island, which were based upon the author's
reports, have been scrupulously framed in the interest of Cuba and not
with a view of benefiting by discrimination the United States. The
machinery of the new government has been set running in Cuba, and though
some time may elapse before it is working as smoothly as we would wish,
it has been inaugurated with the sole desire of doing the best possible
by Cuba. Of the rest, the reader must judge for himself. The subject at
least is interesting, even though its treatment here may be a little
statistical. The account of the visit to General Gomez was deemed
sufficiently interesting and important to give it in full, exactly as
the report was made through the Honourable Secretary of the Treasury,
Lyman J. Gage, to the President.
Recognition is due to Mr. W. J. Lampton for his assistance to the
writer.
R. P. P.
36 EAST SIXTY-FIFTH STREET,
NEW YORK.
_February 9, 1899._
CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
I.--CUBA--POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC 1
II.--CONDITIONS WHICH CONFRONT US 14
III.--POLITICAL FUTURE OF CUBA 32
IV.--THE ENGLISH IN JAMAICA 47
V.--THE AMERICANS IN SANTIAGO 62
VI.--OUTLOOK IN CUBA FOR LABOUR 73
VII.--THE POPULATION OF CUBA 90
VIII.--SANITARY WORK IN CUBA 108
IX.--CITIES AND TOWNS OF CUBA 122
X.--HAVANA 139
XI.--COLONEL WARING'S SANITARY REPORT 154
XII.--MUNICIPAL PROBLEMS IN HAVANA 172
XIII.--BANKS AND CURRENCY 190
XIV.--PAYMENT OF INSURGENT SOLDIERS 204
XV.--THE REVENUE OF CUBA--CUSTOMS TARIFFS 211
XVI.--THE AMENDED TARIFF--OFFICIAL 221
XVII.--THE REVENUE OF CUBA--INTERNAL TAXES 248
XVIII.--HOW THE REVENUE WAS SPENT 256
XIX.--COMMERCE 267
XX.--SUGAR 281
XXI.--TOBACCO 302
XXII.--MINES AND MINING 318
XXIII.--AGRICULTURE AND STOCK 329
XXIV.--TIMBER AND FRUIT 338
XXV.--TRANSPORTATION 351
XXVI.--NAVIGATION 362
XXVII.--EDUCATION AND RELIGION 376
XXVIII.--A MEETING WITH GENERAL GOMEZ 390
XXIX.--CONCLUSION--THE OUTLOOK FOR THE FUTURE 408
[Illustration: _Frontispiece._ ENTRANCE TO HAVANA HARBOUR.]
Illustrations
PAGE
ENTRANCE TO HAVANA HARBOUR Frontispiece
SKETCH-MAP OF THE PROVINCE OF PINAR DEL RIO 8
SKETCH-MAP OF THE PROVINCES OF HAVANA AND MATANZAS 16
BATEY OF SANTA CATALINA 22
SKETCH-MAP OF THE PROVINCE OF SANTA CLARA 28
SKETCH-MAP OF THE PROVINCE OF PUERTO PRINCIPE 38
SKETCH-MAP OF THE PROVINCE OF SANTIAGO DE CUBA 44
ON THE ROAD TO CASTLETON, JAMAICA 50
CATHEDRAL STREET, SANTIAGO DE CUBA 66
From a photograph by J. F. Coonley, Nassau, N. P.
CANE CUTTERS 76
A COUNTRY VILLA 92
CUBAN "GUARACHERO" (MINSTREL) 96
A NATIVE HUT 100
From a photograph by J. F. Coonley, Nassau, N. P.
STREET VIEW, SANTIAGO DE CUBA 108
From a photograph by J. F. Coonley, Nassau, N. P.
WATERMAN IN THE COUNTRY 112
MARIANAO WATER VENDOR 116
SQUARE IN FRONT OF GOVERNOR'S PALACE AT SANTIAGO DE CUBA 122
A MULE TRAIN, SANTIAGO DE CUBA 124
From a photograph by J. F. Coonley, Nassau, N. P.
MATANZAS YUMURI RIVER AND ENTRANCE TO THE VALLEY 128
PANORAMA FROM THE ROAD TO THE CAVES, MATANZAS 132
THE PLAZA, CIENFUEGOS 136
HAVANA, FROM ACROSS THE BAY 146
THE PRADO, HAVANA 150
YARD OF AMERICAN CLUB, HAVANA 156
THE PRADO AND INDIAN STATUE, HAVANA 166
HOUSE OF PARLIAMENT, HAVANA 180
TACON MARKET, HAVANA 186
FIRE DEPARTMENT, SANTIAGO DE CUBA 196
MORRO CASTLE, SANTIAGO DE CUBA 206
PALM TREE BRIDGE 220
AVENUE OF PALM TREES, PALATINO 238
ROAD IN A PINE GROVE OF YUELTA ABAJO 252
A COCOANUT GROVE 262
A SUGAR-CANE TRAIN 272
SUGAR-CANE SCALES 276
CANE FIELDS 282
CUTTING SUGAR-CANE 286
UNLOADING CANE AT A BATEY 290
CYLINDERS FOR GRINDING SUGAR-CANE 294
APPARATUS FOR PACKING SUGAR AT THE SAN JOSE CENTRAL 298
PLANTING TOBACCO 302
TOBACCO FARM AND DWELLING 304
WETTING THE TOBACCO LEAF 308
TOBACCO-DRYING HOUSE 310
BALING TOBACCO 314
OLD COPPER MINES AT LA COPERA 318
MINING CAMP AT FIRENEZA 322
ORE BANK OF JURAGUA MINES 326
OX CART 332
A FOWL VENDOR 334
ROYAL PALMS, YUMURI VALLEY 336
SAGO PALM 338
MAHOGANY CARRIED BY OXEN 340
CUBAN FRUITS 344
COFFEE MILL, SANTIAGO DE CUBA 348
A CONVOY IN THE HILLS 352
A CUBAN VOLANTE 354
CUBAN MULE CART 358
A CURVE ON THE YAGUAJAY RAILROAD 360
THE HAVANA FLOATING DOCK 364
A CUBAN FERRY 368
PIER OF THE JURAGUA IRON CO., LTD. 372
OLD ARCH OF THE JESUIT COLLEGE, HAVANA 378
OLD CATHOLIC CHURCH AT LA COPERA 380
THE CATHEDRAL, HAVANA 384
THE CATHEDRAL, SANTIAGO DE CUBA 388
SPANISH FORT ON RAILROAD TO JURAGUA MINES 396
MAP OF CUBA 416
INDUSTRIAL CUBA
CHAPTER I
CUBA--POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC
A nation, like an individual, must be gauged by its endowments, its
environment, its opportunities, and the various causes which from time
to time accelerate or retard its progress.
Cuba is richly endowed with natural resources, it is within a short
distance of the best and most profitable market in the world, and its
opportunities, under favourable conditions of trade, should have made
its population contented and prosperous. Had it not been for the
numerous causes which have retarded all progress in this Island, what
would have been its industrial, commercial, and social conditions at the
close of the present century?
Numbering over a million population fifty years ago, the Island of Cuba,
at the rate of growth common to the more prosperous countries of the
western hemisphere, ought to number at the present time between four and
a half and five millions of inhabitants. With this population, and a
government giving everyone the right to the fruits of his own labour,
Cuba's sugar crop alone would have been more than double the high-water
mark of the last prosperous year, exceeding two millions of tons, with a
value of one hundred millions of dollars.
Tobacco, coffee, tropical fruits, iron ore, other minerals of various
kinds, lumber, cattle, and innumerable other products which form the
commercial wealth of this marvellous Island, would have increased the
annual value of its products to figures ranging between two hundred and
two hundred and fifty millions of dollars, and thus more than doubled,
perhaps trebled, its commercial importance. Laws favourable to trade,
and a government interested in development of home industry would have
retained for Cuba a large proportion of this wealth, and there would
have sprung up an industrial system giving actual employment to as many
people in the gainful occupations as will be found in all Cuba when the
last Spanish soldier departs from the desolate and prostrate Island.
Cuba should have developed some diversified industries, if only those
branches of manufacture which are necessary to supply the requirements
of its own population. In its mineral resources it has the basis for the
manufacture of iron and steel and for the establishment of machine-shops
to supply home demands. In its untouched forests of excellent hardwood,
Cuba possesses the chief raw material for the manufacture of furniture
and other articles for which the Spanish race are justly famous. With
steel and wood for the first quality in abundance, and a water tonnage
of considerable magnitude, there should have sprung up, in many of the
unequalled harbours of the coast of Cuba, shipyards of no mean
dimensions. Without becoming a manufacturing country, except in sugar
and tobacco and a few other products in which Cuba excels, it might,
under favourable conditions, at this period of its industrial history
have been producing many articles of home consumption which, by reason
of the unhappy management of its affairs, it has been compelled to
purchase abroad. Not abroad in the open markets of the world, for that
is another story; but of Spain, because the most infamous discriminating
duties have shut Cuba out of the cheaper markets; and while thus gagged
and bound, the Island has been plundered and despoiled by the mother
country. In this manner have resources and revenue alike been drained
away and nothing left, either for home enterprise or improvement, nor
for reserve capital with which to do business.
Cuba should have established a central railway system running the length
of the Island from east to west, with branches extending on all sides,
like its rivers, to the many good towns and harbours on both north and
south coasts. Instead of this it has a little less than a thousand miles
of line, operated by seven timid companies, extending in various
directions, but leaving the two ends of the Island farther apart in
actual days of travel than are New York and San Francisco. The capital
city of Cuba, Havana, has within it the possibilities of a great and
beautiful city; the commercial and industrial city of a prosperous
country of five millions of people, and the winter health-resort for the
rich and fashionable families of all North America. Its public buildings
should have been of the best, its tropical parks and gardens the most
fascinating in the world, its streets and pavements the most
substantial, its healthfulness unquestioned, and its harbours and docks
thronged with shipping and resonant with commercial activity. The
merchants of Havana should rank among the richest and most prosperous in
the world, and the business, manufacturing, and social interests of the
place be equal to those of Boston or Baltimore or San Francisco. What
applies to Havana applies only in a lesser degree to the other cities of
Cuba, many of which are excellently located and should be important
industrial and commercial centres, with numerous fields for the modern
municipal enterprise which has done so much to improve the condition of
the urban population of Europe and of the United States. Last, though
not least, the Island should have been dotted over with the trinity of
civilisation--the home, the schoolhouse, and the church. It is the lack
of these three great elements of national strength and progress,
underlying Cuba's ills, that is the cause of much of its misfortune.
The building of the home, the establishment of the school, and the
tolerance of religious worship in half a century changed Texas from a
wilderness to a great and prosperous State, with the possibilities of an
empire. These same forces, had full play been given them in Cuba during
the same period, would have transformed that Island into all that has
herein been depicted. Its resources are abundant to maintain five and
even ten millions of persons, for only a small proportion of its area is
populated. The climate is healthful and the dangers to those
unacclimated which lurk in its seaport towns may all be controlled by
sanitary and engineering science. That these possibilities have not been
realised does not lie with Cuba itself, but is due to the numerous
causes which have retarded and stopped its development, and which have
finally, after years of strife and war, left the Island with population
depleted, agriculture prostrate, industry destroyed, and commerce
devastated.
It may be necessary for a clear view of the subject in hand to review
briefly the causes which have led to this unhappy end; but, happily, a
work dealing with the rehabilitation or industrial reconstruction of
Cuba does not require the author either to dwell long upon nor to
emphasise the gloomy side of the picture. The results of Spanish robbery
and misrule speak too plainly. The reader has seen what Cuba might have
been under an honest, stable government, or under the protecting ægis of
the United States. The picture presented is not exaggerated, but is
coloured by a moderate brush. What Cuba is, alas! is too well known to
American and English readers to call for more than a brief summary of
conditions as they existed when the author was requested by the
President of the United States to visit the Island, report upon its
industrial condition, and suggest plans for the relief of the population
and for the commercial and industrial reconstruction of the country.
Visiting the Island immediately after the signing of the protocol of the
cessation of hostilities between the United States and Spain, August 12,
1898, and again returning to Santiago in December after that province
had been in charge of the United States military authorities for nearly
six months, he had ample and satisfactory opportunity for the study of
conditions and future needs of the people. Surely the horrors and the
desolating hand of war were never laid more heavily upon a once
prosperous country. Nearly a third of the population wiped out by
battle, wholesale slaughter, starvation, exposure, or disease, and a
large proportion of those left enfeebled by deprivation and too weak to
take up their occupations; the cane-fields and tobacco plantations,
which formed the basis of prosperity, burned, and whole sections of
country swept of every vestige of civilisation; sugar-centrals, houses,
and structures of all kinds destroyed, and inhabitants either dead or
huddled half starved in miserable huts near the towns and cities; not a
living creature to be seen where once browsed innumerable cattle, and
death, destruction, and desolation spread throughout this land that
should, and under ordinary circumstances would, be as full of life and
prosperity as the richest agricultural section of our own country.
Nor were the cities and towns exempted. Trade and commerce at a
standstill; the few sickly manufacturing industries which at the best
struggled under the most adverse conditions closed, the ruined buildings
emphasising the scene of desolation. In Havana, the wharves and numerous
large warehouses were empty, or converted into rendezvous and hospitals
for Spanish troops. Hungry and discouraged, the native population stood
listlessly on the streets and in the public places. At each station the
railroad trains were boarded by half-starving women or children begging
for bread or coppers. The principal signs of life were exhibited by the
Spanish soldiers, who, with their blue cotton uniforms and Mauser
rifles, seemed to form the greater part of the population of the cities
and towns, while at the small country railroad stations the squads of
woe-begone soldiers alongside the blockhouses comprised the only living
relief to miles of waste. The Cuban railways, like all other implements
of industry in the unfortunate Island, show evidences of the conflict.
Stations burned, bridges destroyed, tracks torn up, freight-cars made
into portable blockhouses, locomotives blown to pieces, and
passenger-cars dilapidated and dingy. In short, a country more
systematically pillaged, more infamously deprived of its resources, more
wantonly plundered of its revenues, and a population more completely
deprived of its rights by those who had every reason to foster and
protect a valuable possession cannot be found recorded in ancient or
modern history. Cuba, as it was left at the close of this year by the
Spanish, who to the last moment seemed loth to leave the emaciated body
which their inordinate greed had thus reduced, presents a picture so sad
and sorrowful that, for the sake of our common humanity, it is better to
draw a curtain over the past and direct attention to the happier omens
which point to the possibilities of the future.
The work of industrial, commercial, and social reconstruction of Cuba
must date from the eventful day when the Stars and Stripes were unfurled
above Morro Castle. It is with this work that the present volume deals.
Whatever form the government of Cuba may take, the responsibility of the
commercial and industrial rehabilitation of the Island must rest with
the United States. The power that forced the Spanish to evacuate the
Island is the power which the world will hold responsible for the future
welfare of its people. The timid, the weak, and the craven-hearted who
contend that the United States has no responsibility, after it has
assumed all responsibility, are entitled to no voice in the disposition
of Cuba. The cost to the United States cannot be put in the balance
against the duty of the United States. The moral obligation, therefore,
toward Cuba and humanity must come first. The war was a war of humanity
and not of conquest. The same principle must guide those upon whose
shoulders will fall the more difficult task of restoring peace, forming
a stable government, and reviving commerce and industry. For the United
States to desert Cuba in its hour of greatest need would be more
inhuman than it would have been to have left it to Weyler and his policy
of extermination. The plain duty of the hour, so far as the United
States is concerned, and the best means of solving all political
questions which may arise in connection with the Island, is to begin at
once the work of economic or industrial reconstruction, postponing for
future discussion all political questions. To this end the mission
already referred to was projected. To this end a firm military
government, capable of keeping law and order, will be established. To
this end the attention of the people of Cuba should be at once directed
toward the economic questions upon which depend the progress and
prosperity of the population.
The destruction and disorganisation brought about by the war will make
the work of placing the Island in a favourable economic condition costly
and protracted, and many years must elapse before Cuba will take its
rightful place in the economies of the world. By this is meant the
position to which its resources and location entitle it. If it is true,
and I doubt it not, that the causes which have led to war, both in 1868
and in 1895, were more economic than political (and the greater
importance of economic over political questions in such a colony of
small and mixed population as Cuba is easy to understand), then Cuba
to-day is free. The Spanish Government would have more willingly granted
political freedom to Cuba had it not been for the well-grounded fear
that economic concessions would have necessarily followed. Those United
States officials who have been in Cuba since the signing of the protocol
of peace understand this fully. The United States Military
Commissioners, in their daily intercourse with Spanish officials, have
found no sentiment of resentment toward the United States. The regrets
have all been of a sordid character and may be summed up in loss of
revenue and commerce for Spain.
The war which has just been brought to an end really began in 1868.
Although between 1878 and 1895 there was some appearance of peace, the
real situation in Cuba during these seventeen years was one of silent
economic struggle with Spain. The meaning of the peace of Zanjon (1878)
was that Spaniards and Cubans were to be treated alike. The fact has
been, however, that the Cuban native population has been kept in a
condition similar to slavery. The means employed have been skilful and
full of cunning. Leaving to the Cubans complete liberty of discussion by
means of the press, the Government has felt itself powerful enough to
despise them, and when warned of the danger of a new revolution, always
considered impossible this last extremity. This feeling of absolute
confidence and reliance on the military power of Spain has constantly
been expressed in Madrid, both officially and privately, and also by the
Spanish party in Cuba. During the years 1878-1895, a political
organisation (the Autonomist party) was formed in opposition to the
obstinate Spanish party. It would be too tedious to go now into the
details of contemporary Cuban politics; it is enough to say that the
Spanish Government has been to the last moment strenuously opposed to
any plan of real autonomy, that is, to an autonomy that would grant
industrial freedom to Cuba. Even the laws of autonomy actually conceded
in 1897-1898, as a last and desperate resource against the revolution,
were not granted in good faith, as is well known to those who have
carefully watched the course of Cuban-Spanish politics. Therefore,
although the Cubans knew very well how superior to their own strength
was the Spanish power, and understood equally well how great and
numerous were the dangers of a new insurrection, nevertheless the
sufferings of the entire native population were such that the popular
sentiment became irresistible, and after a few fruitless outbreaks the
war was renewed in 1895.
[Illustration: SKETCH MAP OF THE PROVINCE OF PINAR DEL RIO.]
The long contest between Spain and Cuba has been finally decided by
American intervention, without which the war must have been protracted
until the Island was completely devastated and ruined; and even then
Spain would never have given it up. Not from patriotic motives, but
simply and solely because it yielded revenue to Spain's depleted
treasury, and gave her sons an opportunity for pillage and plunder. The
tenacity with which these officials have clung to the offices, and the
difficulty which the United States Commissioners encountered in
obtaining a relinquishment of the custom-houses, all point to the
cupidity of the Spanish, and show that they were in Cuba for revenue
exclusively.
Considering now the political aspect of Cuban affairs after the protocol
of August 12, 1898, it will be found that no well-defined scheme of
political organisation exists in Cuba, and that the only really popular
and, it may be said, unanimous feeling is that liberty, in all the
legitimate meanings of this word, is necessary. The actual situation may
be compared to an anarchy, for there is really no supreme authority. How
to discuss and establish any political laws in the midst of this
existing legal anarchy and complete lack of political experience, is the
question confronting the United States Government. This situation and
many other conditions that are the natural consequences of the last
events point out the necessity of forming provisionally a strong
government in Cuba, under the guidance and protection of the United
States. Under such protection the work of rebuilding the industries
destroyed, and of once more making productive the fields burned and the
plantations dismantled and devastated, can be carried on, and in no
other way.
With these general conditions in mind, it may be well to ascertain if
there exist any facts of a promising nature, which will contribute to
make easier the work the United States has undertaken. It is undoubtedly
true that the people of Cuba can be brought together on economic
questions, if not on those of a political character. The United States
has specifically disclaimed "any disposition or intention to exercise
sovereignty, jurisdiction, or control over said Island," except for "the
pacification thereof." If, therefore, the pacification can be more
easily and surely accomplished by giving Cuba industrial freedom,--the
right to buy in the most advantageous markets in the world, and sell
where the natural demands for its products exist,--the United States has
the right before all the world to carry out that programme. Spain never
granted this right to Cuba, not even in the alleged Autonomist
Government wrung from Madrid when war with the United States seemed
imminent and Spanish diplomacy was in the last ditch.
The signs and omens for crystallising public sentiment in the Island of
Cuba on all industrial questions are far more hopeful at the present
moment than are those which indicate the possibility of establishing a
stable government, and thus leaving the management and control of the
Island to its people. There is now no opposition nor rivalry of
different interests among the Cubans, as the strong and important
industries in Cuba, most of them agricultural, are of such a nature that
they may all thrive at the same time. Until now the condition has been
different, because the prosperity of all Cuban industries has been
thwarted and impeded by the protection and privileges which the Spanish
Government had to grant to the Peninsular industries, whose interests
(always in opposition to the legitimate wants of Cuba) have ever been
systematically preferred to those most vital in the Island. Another fact
is that the productive energy of Cuba and the fertility of its soil are
so great, and the real needs of the population so very small, that the
process of accumulating capital will become very rapid, after the worst
results of the late war are over and a settled and stable government has
been established. How far the natural resources of the country will
contribute to this result will soon be understood and appreciated.
Heretofore, the yearly increase of public wealth has been a very
doubtful quantity, and it has never been possible to build any hope on
that ground, because all industrial profits have been absorbed by Spain,
without leaving any surplus to provide for the accumulation of capital
and the material progress of the Island. The consequences of the
Spanish colonial system have been such that even before the present war
Cuba was already ruined. The 1895-1898 war has completed and aggravated
to the utmost degree the material ruin of the Island. The ultimate
result of this industrial thraldom has been the never-ending removal of
Cuban wealth to Spain, without any return. The means employed for
securing that object were numberless.
The irresponsible methods of governing Cuba converted the Island into a
powerful means of political influence in the hands of the Ministers. The
most difficult political questions, either personal or otherwise, were
usually decided at the expense of Cuba. Very often the single signature
of a Minister of the Colonies was sufficient to make the fortune of a
man for his whole life; and it is easy to understand that every
political party in Spain would be opposed to any reform that should
deprive it of such efficient means of influence and power. With very few
exceptions, all the Spanish officials in Cuba, from the lowest to the
highest, came from Spain. Their number was extraordinarily large, and
their work, as a general rule, pitifully bad; their constant aim being
to do as little work as possible, and to enrich themselves, at the cost
of Cuba, as quickly as they could. The fleet of the Spanish
transatlantic steamers was constantly employed in transferring
impecunious officials from Spain to Cuba, and taking them back again
with more or less wealth acquired during their residence in the Island,
and sometimes with pensions during their lives and the lives of their
widows and daughters. Even a share of the passage money of these
officials "both ways" was paid by Cuba.
Besides this salaried staff of officials, backed by the army and navy
(which were wholly paid by Cuba), Spain depended for the support of its
rule in Cuba on the so-called Spanish political party, known since 1878
as the "Union Constitutional." This party comprises the whole of the
Spanish population in Cuba, which is very numerous; and the blind and
unconditional support it gave to every measure of government, or of
misgovernment, whether the ruling party in Spain was liberal or
conservative, was paid for by the Government in many different ways, and
in such a degree that whatever might be the economic situation of Cuba,
the men belonging to the Spanish party had always the means of enriching
themselves. To these causes of impoverishment must be added the results
of the commercial policy of Spain; a subject which will receive
attention later in this volume. In vain the productive classes of Cuba
protested, during many years, against this deadly regime. It is no
wonder, therefore, that the insatiable ambition of Spain should have led
to such an antagonism of interests as to render a Cuban insurrection
necessary, there being no peaceful means of convincing Spain of its
folly. In the same measure as Cuba was reduced to utter bankruptcy and
poverty, the importation of Cuban wealth into Spain, without any return,
increased year after year. More particularly after the price of sugar
fell permanently (in 1884) to about one-half of its former value, and
after the complete abolition of slavery took place (in 1885), was the
contrast strikingly manifested between the gradual exhaustion of Cuba
and the ever-increasing exactions of the mother country. It may with
accuracy be said that after the slavery of the negroes came to an end,
Spain possessed the power of reducing to real slavery the whole native
Cuban population, both white and black.
For this systematic process of thorough draining, Prime Minister Canovas
invented the name or appellation of _realidad nacional_ (national
reality), meaning thereby that the necessity of maintaining the old
colonial system could not be avoided, as it had become interwoven with
the Spanish economics in such a degree as to make it impossible for any
Government, either conservative or liberal, to interfere with it. The
Cubans could not accept, without repeatedly protesting against it, the
oppressive system of the "national reality," for which name they
substituted, very properly and accurately, the denomination of
"economical slavery." It is now useless to explain in how many forms,
and how often, the Cubans have appealed to the Madrid Government,
especially since 1890. But all their efforts failed, and the necessary
outcome of those failures was war. Cuba, no more a European colony, will
henceforth be an entirely American country. It is now completely ruined
and devastated, and many years of peaceful industry will be necessary in
order to convert its unhappy people into a prosperous nation. How that
can best be accomplished is of far more importance to the people of Cuba
at this time than the question of who shall administer the government.
For the present, at least, if its people are wise, the Island will be
content with the industrial freedom which has been accorded to it, and
rejoice in the fact that it is an American country, and not a Spanish
dependency.
CHAPTER II
CONDITIONS WHICH CONFRONT US
To treat of Cuba as an American country is the purpose of this volume.
If the people of the Island, regardless of nationality, will only
postpone the question of the particular form of government for the
present, and give all their attention to the new economic questions
which confront them, the future will be full of promise. Cuba is no
longer a European colony, but an American country, under the protection
of the United States. So long as the Island is occupied and governed by
the military forces of the United States, law and order will be
maintained and equal rights will be granted to all the people. From an
industrial point of view Cuba will have practically obtained what she
has been fighting for for nearly a generation: namely, industrial and
commercial freedom. The United States will administer the laws for the
Cubans in the interest of Cuba. The United States asks nothing in return
but the same opportunity for trade and commerce as is accorded to the
other countries of the world. The Republic will levy no tribute, nor
will it exact a dollar of taxation over and above the revenue necessary
for protecting life and property, and the cost of inaugurating such
works for the improvement of sanitation, or the carrying on of
industries, as may become necessary.
Many Cubans, and a very large number of Spaniards, who appeared before
the author when in Cuba, for the purpose of giving testimony on
industrial and commercial matters, took it for granted that the United
States would, in making up the new fiscal laws for the Island, exact
discriminating duties in favour of the United States and against
European countries. When told nothing of the sort was contemplated, the
Cubans were surprised and the Spaniards incredulous. Indeed, the latter
were astounded, and seemed to wonder what the United States was in Cuba
for. Even American citizens interested in pushing their Cuban trade have
expressed surprise at the absolute freedom which has been allowed all
fiscal legislation, and the scrupulous care exercised by our Government
not to exact any right itself which is not accorded to other nations. In
such matters we are of course bound by our international treaties, and
so long as Cuba remains under the protection of the Republic, and not
part of it, she must be treated, so far as customs regulations and
navigation laws are concerned, as a free country. In the preliminary
work of economic reconstruction these sound principles have been kept in
mind and adhered to. In fact, the fullest and broadest plan was chosen
by the Administration to secure information in Cuba; and the refrain of
the instructions, both from President McKinley and his able and
broad-minded Secretary of the Treasury, was, to spare neither time nor
money to secure the views of all the people of Cuba; for whatever the
United States Government finds necessary to do in the Island must be
done, as far as possible, by the people of Cuba, for Cubans, and in the
interests of Cuba. By this it must not be inferred that those of Spanish
birth were to be excluded, but, on the contrary, that the views of all
who proposed to remain in Cuba and help by their labour and thrift to
build up the industry and commerce of the Island should be sought and
considered.
In following out the spirit of these statesmanlike instructions, the
author invited, through the newspapers, all persons interested in the
industry, trade, foreign commerce, and currency and banking system of
Cuba to express their views on these and kindred topics. Many responded,
and as may be imagined the information gathered took a wide range, and
will, it is hoped, be of practical value in adjusting the questions with
which the Government of the United States will have to deal during the
military occupation of the Island. In the prosecution of this work,
public hearings were given in Havana, Cienfuegos, and Santiago; and to
committees of persons representing interests at Trinidad, Caibarien,
Sagua la Grande, and other parts of the Island an opportunity was given
to express their views as to the industrial necessities of their
respective communities. In New York and Washington opportunity was given
to those interested in Cuban commerce and such American citizens as
represent large sugar estates, iron mines, and tobacco and fruit
interests in the Island of Cuba, to present a full and free expression
of their views on all topics included in the scope of the investigation.
A large amount of information was thus obtained, and no inconsiderable
assistance rendered by these gentlemen. With hardly an exception, such
assistance has been rendered freely and disinterestedly, and the author
takes this occasion to thank a large number of business men who have
been found ready and willing to drop their business at any moment and
devote much valuable time in an endeavour to elucidate the somewhat
complicated conditions which surround the commerce and industry of Cuba.
In Cuba every possible consideration was shown to the writer and no
pains nor trouble were spared on the part of the Spanish officials and
business men to give all required information and to aid in the inquiry
undertaken. In this work neither political prejudice nor nationality
took any part. The Spanish bankers and merchants, whose influence a few
weeks previously had been arrayed against the United States, came
forward and placed such information as they had at the disposal of the
United States Government. The Cubans engaged in business, and the
military commanders in the field, from Generals Gomez and Rodriguez
down, have alike assured me of their sympathy in the work thus
instituted by the United States, and proffered their services in its
prosecution. The following expression from the veteran warrior, General
Gomez, dated Boffill Plantation, October 3, 1898, will be read in this
connection with interest:
"I must congratulate you cordially for the high mission which you
have had entrusted to you. I am completely identified in all and
with all concerning it; I reserve for a better opportunity giving
you my personal views on the matter.... On my side I am working in
the same sense; I am doing all I can for the immediate
reconstruction of the country; its wounds will heal with the rapid
promotion of the work. This is the battle we are now fighting, and
all men of good will should join us in our struggle. I avail myself
of this opportunity to tender my services."
The business men and merchants of Havana and other large cities,
regardless of nationality, have rendered services of incalculable value
to this inquiry, on the ground that the one thing that Cuba wants more
than all else is, as General Gomez truly says, that its people should
lay down their arms and take up the implements of peace. The Presidents
of the Chambers of Commerce of Havana, Cienfuegos, and Santiago have all
taken an interest in this work and elaborate reports were prepared by
committees appointed especially to aid in gauging the industrial
necessities of the Island. A similar report has been prepared for
Matanzas.
Whatever may be the shortcomings of this volume on _Industrial Cuba_,
they must not be attributed either to lack of interest on the part of
the people of Cuba, or to any failure on their part to give information,
especially on all matters relating to foreign commerce. There is, of
course, a dearth of statistical information, in consequence of which it
has been difficult to work out certain fiscal statements and estimates
with the degree of exactitude easily attainable on the same lines at
home. The information which has been obtained, however, would seem to
leave no room for doubt as to the wisest course for the United States
Government to pursue in adjusting Cuban customs duties, in establishing
a sound currency, in protecting the savings of the people, in preventing
usury, in abolishing onerous and iniquitous taxation, in establishing
free schools, in starting new and reviving the old industries of Cuba,
in increasing commerce, in improving the sanitary condition of the
cities, in distributing labour, and in the general industrial and moral
upbuilding of the people.
The present volume touches on all these topics, and endeavours to give
the reader a clear and practical idea of the present industrial
condition of Cuba. The present chapter aims to present in a concise form
a few of the more important problems which the United States Government
was called upon to face January 1, 1899, and with which it may have to
grapple during the first years of the new century. No attempt is made to
forecast the manner of their settlement. It is not, as a rule, wise to
worry about how we are to cross a bridge until we get to it. Many Cuban
economic problems which at a distance seem to be complicated, will
simplify as we come within close range. Once the United States military
authorities are in possession, ways and means will suggest themselves to
overcome obstacles which now seem almost insurmountable. The most urgent
needs of the Island, when it was turned over to our Government, were
those briefly discussed in this review of the economic conditions of
Cuba.
First among these needs of the Island was a tariff that should bear
lightest in directions where the people could least afford the burden of
taxation, and heaviest on commodities which the well-to-do and those
engaged in large enterprises required. The Spanish tariff was made by
Spaniards, for Spain, in the interests of the Spanish. That seems to be
the actuating principle of it. On any other theory it was inexplicable.
In adopting, July, 1898, for an exigency measure, the rates of duty
which Spain levied for her own commodities, the United States acted
wisely. These rates, however, were full of inequalities, and were not
levied on any sound principle, but on the "heads, Spain wins; tails,
Cuba loses" idea which prevailed in the whole fiscal fabric. It was
found that the only way to remedy these inequalities, equalise the rates
of duties, improve the administration, and reduce the rates of duties on
all articles of general consumption, was to frame a practically new
tariff. This was done, and the new tariff now in force will undoubtedly
do its share in the industrial reconstruction of Cuba. In this tariff it
was not thought advisable to make radical changes in the administrative
branches, nor to change weights and measures into United States
equivalents, because the people of Cuba are accustomed to the metric
system. As a rule, all duties in Cuba are levied by the kilo and hundred
kilos. United States currency, however, was substituted for the Spanish
_pesos_. This will simplify collection of taxes, as customs duties were
collected by Spain in three different classes of currency: gold, silver,
and bank notes, all (for the gold coins used in Cuba have fictitious
values) fluctuating in value.
The tariff adopted by the United States, when the military forces took
charge of the custom-houses, reduced all duties about sixty per cent. on
the old Spanish rate, and averages fully two-thirds less than the rates
exacted by Spain in Cuban ports during the last five months of its
occupancy of the Island. The reasons for these reductions, together with
the reasons which led up to the decision of the President to admit
cattle and agricultural implements free into Cuban ports in possession
of the United States, are fully given in another chapter. Still another
chapter will be devoted to an analysis and discussion of the Cuban
Budget, in which the effect of the new tariff on the revenue of the
country, together with the other sources of revenue, are explained and
discussed. It will naturally be asked: With such a large reduction of
duties, how does the United States expect to secure revenue for the
purpose of administering the government of the Island? There are several
answers to this question, and the facts bearing on the subject are given
in full in the chapter on the Cuban Budget. The general answer is that
by reason of fraudulent classification and smuggling, much of the
revenue collected from the people of Cuba never found its way into the
treasury of that Island, nor of Spain. The cupidity and rapacity of the
Spanish officials in Cuba are beyond conception, and, if one may judge
by the reports of the United States customs officials at Santiago, as
much revenue will be received from a tariff whose duties are from a half
to two thirds less than the Spanish tariff as was received under the
iniquitous and exasperating law which has been abolished by the advent
of the American forces. As the officials recommending the measure
believed, the reduction to a reasonable rate of duty in certain
schedules--such, for example, as those relating to machinery and railway
supplies--would increase importation, and certainly the revenue would be
greater than during the period of prohibitory duties. A railway company
naturally hesitated to import a locomotive when the duty was equivalent
to the value of the engine. With a revised tariff of twenty-five per
cent. ad valorem, it may import two, or four, or even six. In adjusting
such schedules, the revenue features alone need be considered, because
Cuba has no locomotive works, or any iron or steel industry. The same is
true of a variety of other articles.
In all cases where there are home industries in Cuba capable of
supplying a manufactured product made by home labour, care was exercised
by those who framed this tariff (either by making free the raw material,
or by not making a too radical reduction of duty) not to injure their
prospects. In so doing, the Administration is only carrying out the
policy which has been fruitful in developing the industries of the
United States and in securing diversified employment for its labour. If
honestly enforced, the new tariff established in Cuba by the United
States will yield sufficient revenue, enable Cuba to buy in the cheapest
markets of the world, and not compel her to purchase from Spain inferior
commodities at a high price. In every section it is a Cuban measure, and
in no single case can there be found a section that discriminates in
favour of the United States as against any other market. The United
States purposes to take its chances for the Cuban trade with the rest of
the world. If Cuba can purchase cheaper and better articles on more
favourable terms of the United States than of Europe, we shall secure
the trade. If not, the Cuban consumer is free to purchase in the markets
of the world. In this one act alone, conservative, thoughtful Cubans
must realise that they have attained to the commercial freedom which
some, not without reason, contend was the real object of the two
insurrections. However that may be, Cuba has secured a right which
England would never concede to Ireland, namely, a separate revenue
system. In granting this economic freedom to her other colonies, England
has strengthened their ties to the mother country. With industrial
freedom assured, a colonial country may be indifferent to the form of
its political government.
Next in importance to the fiscal laws for the revenue of the Island
comes the currency question. No country can be permanently prosperous
unless its currency is sound and its credit good. Bad financial
management of state affairs begets bad credit, and impaired credit is
the forerunner of depreciated currency. Although Cuba is afflicted with
many kinds of depreciated currency, the established basis is strictly
gold, and in any commercial engagement the value is understood to be in
Spanish gold, unless there is a specification to the contrary. Indeed,
there is something almost pathetic in the manner in which Cuba, though
plundered and depleted of her resources and wealth, has never wavered
from the gold standard. The business interests of the Island are, as the
author found, unanimously in favour of a continued gold basis; for the
Cubans have suffered so much from Spain's various attempts to force upon
the people a depreciated currency, both in the form of silver and bank
bills, that they want no further experiments with the currency. The
Spanish silver money current in the Island is taken at the daily value
only, which is fixed, partly by the larger or smaller demand for wages
and necessities of the Government to pay troops, but principally by the
continually fluctuating value of the Spanish money in the European
markets. As this Spanish silver is legal tender in Spain for its face
value, it is able to maintain a fictitious value for purposes of
shipment to that country. This silver dollar, therefore, fluctuates in
value with the fitful changes in Spain's credit, and it is probable,
should the United States establish American currency as sole legal
tender for the Island of Cuba, that all the Spanish silver dollars will
be shipped to Spain. There was in Cuba during the last months of Spanish
control a margin of thirty per cent. on the silver dollars. It is not
probable that these dollars will go down to a point where it will not
pay to ship the Spanish silver to Spain and utilise the American dollar
in Cuba. In this event the United States Government will, of course,
ship its own silver dollars to Cuba; which, with the subsidiary coins,
will be required for small payments. At Santiago the immediate
disappearance of Spanish dollars and minor coins has made small
transactions extremely difficult. Some think that the present stock of
Spanish silver in the Island exceeds the necessities; but however this
may be in the western part of the Island, it was evidently not the case
in Santiago.
[Illustration: BATEY OF SANTA CATALINA.]
Besides the silver, there is a bank-note circulation, but that has no
actual bearing on the question of currency, as the trade and business of
the Island has refused to accept it, and the present quoted value is
less than ten cents on the dollar. The greater part of this emission,
which was a war issue made by the Spanish Government at Madrid through
the _Banco Espanol de la Isla de Cuba_ (not _by_ that bank), is largely
in the hands of speculators and government contractors. The only public
application is for the payment in the custom-house of the so-called ten
per cent. ad valorem duty assessed on the official value of imported
merchandise in addition to the regular specific rate of duty exacted.
The abolition of this duty, under the new tariff, ends the life of
these bank bills. There still remains a question as to whether the
Spanish Bank of Cuba was in any way responsible for these bills, and the
question will come up for future adjustment. The Bank will probably deny
responsibility and refer those who hold this depreciated currency to the
Spanish Government at Madrid. It is an interesting fact in this
connection that the credit of the Spanish Bank of Cuba is of a higher
standard than the credit of the Spanish Government, for the Bank has
never failed to redeem its own paper during nearly half a century of its
existence, first as the Bank of Spain of Havana and subsequently under
its present name. It has at times suffered embarrassment, but ultimately
the bills of the Spanish Bank of the Island of Cuba have always been
redeemed.
The gold coins current in Cuba are the Spanish and French coins, the
bulk of which consists of Spanish twenty-five-_peseta_ pieces, so-called
Alfonsinos, which for many years have been inflated by royal decree to
$5.30, and the French twenty-franc piece, so-called Napoleons, which
have also been given a legal value of $4.24 and decreed since the end of
1893 as legal money.[1] When the necessity for adopting and inflating
another gold coin besides the Spanish Alfonsino was under discussion,
the suggestion was made that the United States gold eagle would make an
excellent coin for this purpose, as it would figure out almost exactly
eleven dollars Spanish gold.[2] The idea was not entertained, because of
the general distrust of Americans, and the fear lest the relations
between the United States and Cuba should become too intimately
interwoven.
STATEMENT SHOWING VALUE OF UNITED STATES GOLD IN COMPARISON WITH
SPANISH AND FRENCH GOLD ON THE BASIS OF PAR VALUE
Spanish Alfonsino $5.
French Napoleon 4.
Spanish Alfonsino, value in Havana $5.
Value in United States mint ($4.80 less shipping
expenses, .024) 4.776
------
$0.224.
Exchange 4-11/16%
French Napoleon, value in Havana $4.
Value in United States mint ($3.84 less shipping
expenses, .0192) 3.8208
-------
$0.1792
Exchange 4-11/16%
Value of $5, less 1/2% shipping expenses $4.975. At 4-11/16%
Quotations: £ Stlg., Spain, $39.40 currency in Havana, 10% £ in U. S.
4.84
STATEMENT SHOWING ACTUAL VALUE OF $1. SPANISH SILVER
100,000 dollars Spanish silver can be bought to-day here with $66,000
Spanish gold, equal to $60,000 U. S. currency.
100,000 silver dollars shipped to Spain after deducting 1% shipping
expenses would produce $99,000.
99,000 dollars Spanish silver on Spain will buy at rate of £1, which is
$7.88, £12,563. £12,563 would produce in the U. S. at $4.84, $60,804.92.
Cost $60,000
Proceeds 60,804.92
----------
$ 804.92, from which deduct
commission, revenue
stamp, interest,
and profit.
While the principal banking concerns are unanimous as to the gold
standard, there is a difference of opinion in relation to the
advisability of squeezing the inflation out of these gold coins. Some of
the Cuban bankers and financiers contend that the United States
Government should add another gold coin to the currency, namely, the
American eagle; and, by maintaining the fictitious value given to the
other two gold coins, leave it equivalent to eleven dollars in Cuba.
This, it is claimed, will be a very easy way of leaving matters _in
statu quo_, as it were, until such time as permanent government and laws
shall be provided for the Island. They fear that to make the United
States currency legal tender would work an injury to the creditor class,
whose contracts would then be payable in gold worth six per cent. less
than the gold specified in such contracts. There are others, whose
opinions are equally worthy of consideration, who recommend as the only
logical remedy for this situation the substitution of the American
currency as sole legal tender. Such action on the part of the United
States Government it is believed would not seriously interfere with
present contracts, which are invariably expressed as payable in Spanish
gold, and which might be arranged for accordingly.
The premium on Spanish gold was never agreed to by the business people.
Having thus arbitrarily put a premium on Spanish gold, the same
authorities later put a premium on French gold, and to make the matter
more complicated, the United States Government is now requested, by some
of the Cuban financiers, to introduce another gold coin, which,
practically, will be worth ten per cent. more in Cuba than in the United
States; that is, a man owing $1,100 gold in Cuba may pay that debt with
$1,000 gold in United States currency. As a temporary measure, and in
view of the fact that this inflation so far as Spanish coin goes has
been in force for over half a century, this may be justifiable. The
process, however, is entirely artificial, and to continue it would
certainly result in many complications. Some Cuban financiers think it
inadvisable to introduce American money at this time, while certain
planters are fearful lest their labourers should refuse to take one
American silver dollar instead of two Spanish silver dollars. The latter
looks larger in amount, it must be granted; but if the purchasing power
of the American dollar, by reason of the sound credit of the United
States, is double that of the depreciated dollar, with only Spain's
guaranty between it and its intrinsic value of fifty cents, there will
be no difficulty in the end. A country which is just now going through
an operation involving its very existence will hardly be seriously
affected by taking this fictitious value out of the gold coin and
establishing once and for all a sound currency that will be good for a
hundred cents on the dollar--no more, no less--the world over.
Cuba has no banks in the national sense. There are some excellent
private banks, and since its establishment, nearly half a century ago,
the Spanish Bank of Cuba has cut an important figure in the finance of
the Island.
In another chapter, a brief history of banking in the Island from the
earliest period to the present time will be given. For the present, the
banking facilities are adequate to the business, because it would be
extremely hazardous to loan money in Cuba on any kind of collateral or
property. Upon the revival of business, however, the agricultural
interests will require facilities for obtaining money in advance of the
crops at reasonable rates of interest, and protection from the
abominable usury which heretofore has blighted the strongest industries
of the Island and added materially to the burdens of the Cuban planters.
There are so many forms of obnoxious taxes in Cuba that even a brief
description of them would occupy considerable space and convert this
volume into a treatise on the evils of Spanish taxation. Foremost among
the taxes which the United States will abolish is the "consumption tax,"
on the killing of cattle, which is an exaction that greatly increases
the price of food to the people. This tax, like many others, was simply
farmed out to private firms or corporations, whose emissaries in its
collection became a constant menace to thrift and industry in their
respective districts. Another tax, which will fall of its own weight,
now that the United States forces control the Island, is the "cedula,"
or head tax, which varied in amount from a few cents to one hundred
dollars, according to the rank and importance of the individual.
Curiously enough, this tax, when not collected, became under Spanish
rule a greater source of injustice and annoyance than when collected. It
was generally allowed to run until some occasion came for the unhappy
victim of Spanish rapacity to require a public document, a permit to
bury a child or relative, a licence to marry, a transfer of real estate,
or a notarial acknowledgment. Then it was that the petty rascals in
charge of public business came down heavily, and unless the fines and
back "cedula" and a handsome "gratification" to the official was
forthcoming, the body must await interment, the marriage must be
postponed, or the transaction be delayed.
The United States Government will not continue taxes that yield nothing
in revenue and were simply the means by which unprincipled officials
whose cupidity seemed to know no bounds were enabled to plunder and
distress the weak and the unfortunate. The "consumption tax," the
"cedula," and the revenue from "lotteries," must necessarily disappear
with the advent of United States administration of affairs.
Until the tax laws of Cuba can be thoroughly revised, the revenue from
customs, from the various forms of internal revenue (and there are
many), and from the receipts from taxes upon municipal real estate will,
if the strictest economy prevail, suffice for immediate wants, without
resorting to measures of taxation which are alike debasing and
tyrannical. It is impossible to make specific suggestions at this time
in relation to a subject so hopelessly complicated. After the
administration of affairs of the Island has been longer in the hands of
United States officials, these matters may be carefully studied and
adjusted on a basis of equality and justice to all concerned. The true
inwardness of Spanish taxation, as developed in the Island of Cuba, can
be studied and remedied only after time has elapsed and all the facts
are in possession of those who have assumed the responsibility of
control.
The question of education is one that will receive early attention, and
in which the President of the United States has personally evinced
considerable interest. Free public schools exist, but the teachers have
the right to take pay scholars, and naturally those who do not pay get
little or no attention. In the cities from which data are available it
was found that only a small portion of the school population attend
school. There were 888 schools for boys and girls in 1893 and the amount
paid for their support was $775,646. It is impossible even to
approximate the situation at the present moment. In a general way, it
may be described as simply deplorable. A free public-school system must
be immediately established, for much of the misfortune and suffering
Cuba has undergone may be traceable to the neglect of education. The
number of people who are illiterate is very great. Some statistics show
only one in forty of the labouring classes able to read and write. There
can be no stable government in Cuba until this has been remedied.
The reader familiar with Cuban history will remember that the first
movement toward the emancipation of the slaves was the practical freeing
of all children born subsequent to 1868, the year the revolution started
which ended in the abolition of slavery. In the same way, the first act
looking toward political emancipation should be the establishment of a
free public-school system, which shall have for its aim the preparation
of the young Cubans for self-government, whether exercised as part of a
Cuban republic or part of the greater republic the basis of which is
industrial freedom and the common school.
[Illustration: SKETCH MAP OF THE PROVINCE OF SANTA CLARA.]
Manufacturing in Cuba is limited to a few industries in Havana, to the
manufacture of sugar and tobacco, and to machine-shops and small
foundries scattered over the Island for the convenience of the railway
companies, sugar-centrals, and harbours. The author visited all the
manufacturing plants in Havana, some of which were located in quarters
of the city reeking of filth and teeming with disease germs. There is
little hope for industrial enterprise in the broader sense until the
sanitary conditions have been improved in all the industrial centres of
the Island. The fear of that deadly enemy to all enterprise and thrift,
yellow fever, which lurks in the vicinity of the most flourishing
industries of Havana, makes it dangerous for those unacclimatised to
enter these occupations. The initiatory success of manufacturing in Cuba
must depend upon the importation of skilled labour from the United
States or Europe. With this invisible and deadly foe in the background,
ready to strike when least expected, and against which, as a Confederate
officer now in the United States Army at Havana said, "You cannot even
raise an old-fashioned rebel yell," the outlook is far from attractive.
Not only the commercial prosperity of Cuba, but to a considerable extent
that of the southern portion of the United States depends upon the
possibility of destroying the foci of yellow fever which exist in the
larger cities and towns--especially in Havana and Matanzas--and which
have been the cause of the epidemics of this disease which have occurred
in the United States during the present century. It is believed that to
destroy these germs is possible, and from a mere industrial and
commercial point of view it would be a paying investment to spend
several millions of dollars, if necessary, to effect it. Until this has
been accomplished, and the centres of industrial activity of Cuba made
safe for the influx of skilled artisans, whose advent alone will make it
possible for Cuba to diversify its industries and elevate the condition
of its labour, it will be vain to hope for the establishment of new
manufactures. The importance of sanitation is so great and the subject
of so much general interest to all those looking towards Cuba with the
idea of residence or investment there, that considerable space in this
volume will hereafter be devoted to a consideration of the subject.
The railway system of Cuba, consisting of seven companies, the aggregate
length of whose lines is only 1,467 kilometres, or 917 miles, is
entirely inadequate in bringing the extreme ends of the Island together;
Santiago and Havana in point of time being as far apart as San Francisco
and New York, though only separated by a distance of a few hundred
miles. The facts gathered on this subject and the maps presented
elsewhere point to the advisability of immediately constructing a trunk
railway from end to end of the Island, with branches extending north and
south to the important cities and ports. From whatever standpoint it may
be viewed, no one enterprise could do so much to improve the situation
on the Island. No revolution could have existed in Cuba if such a
railroad had been completed by the former Government, and nothing will
so rapidly tend to the revival of commercial and general business as the
facility for quick passage from one end of the Island to the other, and
from the trunk line over branches to the seaboard cities. All political
turbulence will be quieted thereby and prevented in the future. The
entire country will be open to commerce; lands now of practically no
value, and unproductive, will be worked; the seaport towns will become
active and commerce between the Island and the United States will soon
be restored to the former figures of approximately one hundred millions
of dollars per annum. Business enterprise, ever alert to conditions such
as herein described, has already surveyed the route, and there are
several projects on foot looking toward prompt action in this direction.
After a careful study of the situation, it would seem extremely doubtful
if such an enterprise could be made a commercial success for many years
to come, without material assistance from those responsible for the
industrial future of Cuba.
The questions arising in relation to navigation between Cuba and the
United States are delicate, and involve, as does the question of
discriminating duties in favour of the United States, in a greater or
less degree our international relations with other countries. Those
interested in American shipping suggest discrimination in favour of
American vessels between Cuba and the United States, and some go so far
as to indicate that a joint arrangement of the American and Cuban flags
would be a solution of the problem. Much of this is mere speculation. We
cannot discriminate in favour of American vessels in the trade between
Cuba and foreign countries, just as we cannot do so in the case of
American vessels in trade between New York and foreign countries, on
account of our commercial treaties. The chapter on this subject has been
submitted to Mr. Eugene T. Chamberlain, Chief of the Bureau of
Navigation of the Treasury Department, and this experienced and
efficient official has thrown considerable light on the subject which,
it is believed, will be of value to the commercial interests of both
Cuba and the United States.
These are some of the most important economic questions with which the
United States will be called upon to deal during its military occupancy
of Cuba. That we are capable of dealing with them intelligently and
satisfactorily can hardly be doubted. Questions of far greater magnitude
are continually presenting themselves at home, and as a rule the people
of the United States have been found equal to the task of adjustment. To
doubt our capacity as a nation to bring about complete pacification of
the Island, industrially and politically, is to throw a doubt on our
most cherished institutions and to cast a shadow on the Republic
itself.
CHAPTER III
POLITICAL FUTURE OF CUBA
The political future of Cuba is a matter of much speculation and
interest. Considerable will hereafter be said in this volume on the
economic and industrial future of this wonderfully productive Island,
and little doubt can be entertained that with an honest effort and
stable government the commercial future of Cuba will be full of promise.
What of the political future? The industrial independence of the Island
attained, what, if any, steps are likely to be taken for the political
independence? At the present moment, it is difficult to discern any
nucleus around which is likely to crystallise sentiment strong enough to
form, with any degree of unanimity, a cohesive, independent government.
The strongest and uppermost sentiment in the Island, as I have found it
since the close of the war, is for peace and reconstruction under the
guidance of the United States. Those who have made the greatest
sacrifice for independence are apparently willing to rest for a while
and enjoy the glorious results of industrial and commercial independence
and a release for ever from Spanish misrule. Let the future shape its
own political policy, is the desire of all intelligent Cubans. In
commercial and business circles (and it must be remembered that the
author has, in the course of his inquiries, been very largely thrown in
contact with business people), the desire for ultimate absorption or
annexation by the United States is almost unanimous. Those who have
property, those engaged in industrial pursuits, those carrying on
commerce, those interested in affairs, regardless of nationality, see
the greatest future for Cuba in ultimate annexation to the United
States, and openly advocate that policy. There are others who advocate
annexation on grounds of sentiment, and who take the stand that the
degree of real freedom enjoyed by a State of the Republic is greater,
and the advantages far in excess of those likely to accrue to the mixed
population of Cuba by the establishment of any sort of independent
government. This is not a matter for surprise when it is recalled that a
large proportion of the most enlightened Cubans have been educated in
the United States, while no inconsiderable number of the most active
participants in the war for Cuban freedom carried individually, alike
into battle and into conference, the grandest badge of freedom so far
vouchsafed to mankind--United States citizenship.
These ideas are admirably set forth in a pamphlet just written by Fran
Figueras, who makes an eloquent plea for the annexation of Cuba to the
United States. The title of the little book--for it is more than a
pamphlet--suggests the line of argument: _Cuba Libre--Independence or
Annexation_. Exactly! Cuba is free to-day! Liberty came when Spanish
sovereignty ended. Adapting the lines of Kipling, the Cubans may
truthfully say:
"If blood be the price of liberty,
Lord God, we ha' bought it fair."
Liberty, therefore, has been won and paid for. By the very nature of
things there can be no forcible annexation to the nation representing
the absolute liberties of the people. If Cuba becomes part of the United
States, it will be because the Cubans, having won their liberty, shall
so decree. Intelligent Cubans understand this perfectly well and none
better than the author referred to above.
After reviewing the state of public opinion in Spain late in 1896 and
the sentiments predominating in Cuba among the native population in
regard to the mutual relations with the mother country, Mr. Figueras
analyses the present situation, and considers that public opinion in
Cuba is divided into three classes. Those wanting:
1. Immediate and absolute independence.
2. Independence under American protectorate.
3. Annexation, more or less immediate.
He allows independence to be the ideal of all peoples, but considers
Cuban independence to be still in embryo, and compares the sudden
liberation of the island from Spanish dominion to a premature birth,
brought on by American intervention and subject to the dangers attending
its early advent at an unexpected time. The author contends that to form
a nation it is important that the inhabitants shall have some common
interests, usually apparent in countries where one element predominates.
He finds that in Cuba there are three races equally strong: the
autochthonic or white Cuban (pure white), the Cuban with unmistakable
and acknowledged signs of black descent, and the white Spaniard; the
first of which by its number, the second by its greater acclimation, and
the third by its wealth preserve the balance. The fact that these people
do not live in different provinces but in the same places makes this
adjustment all the more noticeable. Sometimes in one house you will see
a patriarchal Spanish father with conservative ideas in the same room
with his son of high-flown, Robespierre-like ideas, convinced that a
country progresses more in a year of revolution than in a century of
peaceful campaigning; while in a dark corner the negro servant, a slave
only yesterday, to-day free and taking an interest by no means meagre in
the revolutionary legend, curses his colour but does not fail to realise
how better fitted he is for rough work than his white neighbours.
"And in the present situation which, pray, of these elements," the
author asks, "is victorious? Which has conquered and is ready to
take under its protecting ægis the other two? Is it perchance the
revolutionary party that has had its work crowned with success and
that can therefore force its criterion of independence on all the
inhabitants? Facts answer this question negatively and it would be
sheer madness to constitute one nation out of such heterogeneous
elements."
The author establishes comparisons with the other southern republics,
contends that Cuba will be in a chronic state of revolution if left to
herself, calls attention to the handicap to Cuban sugar, tobacco, and
coffee industries by the annexation of Puerto Rico and the Philippines,
and asks if it is to be expected that the United States understands that
her interest in Cuba's welfare is to justify damaging that of the new
colonies for Cuba's exclusive benefit.
Arguing against a protectorate, the author calls attention to the fact
that Cuba has nothing to fear from foreign nations. Her dangers are at
home; it is _pronunciamentos_ and the like that threaten, and a
protectorate will not avoid this; it is only absolute annexation that
will.
"If before 1895," continues the author of _Cuba Libre_, "all Cubans were
satisfied with a Canadian autonomy system given by Spain, why should the
United States be refused a trust given to a nation like Spain, which has
treated Cuba with injustice, bad government, and extortion, against the
tested 'cash' good faith of the other?"
Refuting arguments upon the offensiveness of annexation to Cuban
dignity, the author calls attention to the fact that dignity does not
always accompany independence, as, for example, it is often seen how an
English, German, or Italian schoolship silences the dignity of some
independent states by firing a few shots.
In conclusion he says:
"We Cubans have been tyrannised by an unscrupulous mother country
and the proceeding has dishonoured the nation which did so, and we
victims have withstood the humiliation with dignity. We stood with
dignity when we were burdened with a system of colonial servitude,
it was with dignity that we rebelled, staining the chains that
bound us with our own and foreign blood; we have kept our dignity
whilst the Americans have cut them for us; when to-morrow comes,
and we ask for annexation to the United States, we shall do so with
the same dignity."
There is sentiment, force, and good hard business sense in this
attitude. A flag, after all, is nothing in itself, but all in what it
represents. The Stars and Stripes have for a century or more represented
human liberty and have taken into their folds millions of the people of
the old world. The historic flags of all nations have been fully and
freely and joyously repudiated by them, in search of broader liberties,
for that fascinating emblem of the people's rights; and under it scarred
and impoverished Cuba may in truth rest with dignity and content.
Adolfo Muñoz, one of the ablest and most thoughtful Cubans it has been
my pleasure to meet, gave utterance to similar views in relation to the
future of Cuba, though he approached the subject more from a commercial
than a sentimental point of view.
"A new community," said Mr. Muñoz to the author, "particularly a
small one, after a long and destructive war, is always surrounded
by many dangers, both internal and external; and the only safety
Cuba may find against them is a close connection with the United
States which will afford the immediate protection of the American
Government. Cuba left alone could not enjoy a high credit, either
public or private; neither could she build a respectable navy,
which her geographical position renders necessary. In these, and in
many other respects, Cuba has to depend exclusively on the United
States. The political connection between both countries becomes
consequently a matter of extreme importance, which cannot be
discussed, and much less decided upon, in haste."
Continuing, Mr. Muñoz said:
"The liberty which, by the aid of the United States, Cuba has now
conquered, will enable her to frame an entirely new tariff. This
work, which must be done in accordance with other financial laws,
will prove to be a rather easy task, because the commercial
relations between Cuba and the United States are naturally
beneficial to both countries. Perhaps the best arrangement, both on
commercial and political grounds, would be to convert these
relations into a coastwise trade, so that the productions of
either country should be admitted free of duty in the other;
provided that the question of the United States sugar industry
could be settled by means of some compensation or otherwise. Cuba
expects to be placed, in what respects custom duties, on the same
footing as Puerto Rico; as it is necessary to save her sugar
industry from its present depression and ruin."
Here is annexation clearly marked out though not actually advocated. A
country without credit cannot start up the machinery of government. To
make the trade coastwise for Cuba, as we have already done in the case
of Puerto Rico, means ultimate annexation. If, therefore, as Mr. Muñoz
says, Cuba "expects to be placed on the same footing as Puerto Rico,"
she expects annexation--nothing more, nothing less.
Attention is next directed to another, though not less interesting view
of the future of Cuba. When in Cienfuegos the author had the honour and
pleasure of meeting the Marquis de Apezteguia, President of the
Conservative party, and, although a Cuban born, a strong sympathiser
with Spain. There are few abler men in Cuba than the Marquis de
Apezteguia. Educated in London, Paris, and Madrid, and at home in the
best circles of New York, the Marquis is, in a sense, a cosmopolitan.
His interests, however, are all bound up in Cuba. If Cuba once more
flourishes the Marquis will become rich again; if it does not his large
fortune will have gone, and he himself have been reduced to penury.
Asked to give his opinion of the present and future condition of the
Island of Cuba, the Marquis de Apezteguia did so without hesitation,
clothing his thoughts in English so pointed and vigorous that it would
be an injustice to the reader to abridge or change it, and it is
therefore made part of this chapter.
"In regard to the disposition of Cuba," said the Marquis de
Apezteguia to the author, "you have first of all to consider the
population of the Island, then you have its geographical position,
which makes it of importance to the United States; nay, if there is
anything in geographical position, which makes it dependent upon
the United States. Key West is not an offensive position, it is
simply a defensive position for the United States, because it
commands the defence of the American coasts. The defence of your
coast, with the Island of Cuba, is trebled with the same number of
vessels, as its 750 miles practically makes the Gulf an inland sea,
outside of the possibility of incursions from foreigners. Up to
Cape Hatteras, Cuba defends your eastern coast. Therefore, to you
as a military nation and as a naval power, Cuba is a necessity;
without Cuba, you have simply Key West, and Cuba is an excellent
substitute for Key West. Having this naval defence, which makes the
United States non-attackable from Cape Hatteras to the Rio Grande,
with how much more efficacy, and without danger, you can move your
armies! Cuba is of immense value to the United States, and
therefore from that point of view we will develop the others. Under
the naval and military aspect in regard to the concentration of the
army, we command the Gulf of Mexico as an inland sea of the United
States, and we are the principal factor in the trans-oceanic
traffic.
"The Cuban question is not a difficult one, because there is an
imposed issue. In commercial development, to all evidence, you have
been a long time a borrowing country, but to-day you have great
banking centres: New York, Philadelphia, and Boston constituting an
eastern centre; Chicago, St. Louis, and Cincinnati constituting
another; with a smaller one at New Orleans, and a western one at
San Francisco. Certain centres, such as the New York one, which has
an excess of capital, will act in this annexation of Cuba as a
multiple in the matter of capital. The capital will in preference
come to Cuba, instead of going west.
"In the political problem, the condition of the population of Cuba
must be considered. It is not a new country, but four hundred years
old,--a totally different nation, with different habits, ways, and
languages. Then how can you profitably absorb that population as a
State? You cannot afford to sacrifice the United States for Cuba,
but must lend Cuba both moral and material riches without
forgetting yourself. Is it profitable for the United States to
absorb Cuba as a State? If I were an American, I would oppose it. I
do not think the Cuban people have sufficient adaptation; in fact
they will not Americanise for quite a while, and therefore you must
create an empire and a public right that is not within the federal
bounds. Your territorial laws pursue colonisation towards the end
of absorption, and have placed in your Constitution a limit of
population, which we initially possess. Were I an American, I would
not be for annexation of Cuba as one of the units of the Union. I
think there is a condition of injustice which would be felt by both
parties, if you held Cuba in an inferior political state so close
to Florida. I say that this is inevitably American, from the
material defence which it procures to the United States, and it is
a military necessity. It cannot, however, be absorbed and governed
rapidly, and for a time you will have to create a new political
right, for it is inevitable. You cannot absorb it without creating
a different political right.
"Now I have said that, in my belief, the issue is imposed and
inevitable; Cuba has to be American territory, and cannot be
anything else, with restringent or lax ties uniting it; but in the
exterior life it will have to be American. You have no laws so far
that can be established here; the new political right will have to
be created because of the way in which you acquired the Island. You
cannot govern it until you give it those things which have been
assured it. You have acquired responsibilities which you are not at
liberty to throw away and go back on; that is your position towards
Cuba and towards the world, and therefore towards yourself. The
American people must not feel that they are making of Cuba a
business, but a necessity, to be maintained by force if necessary
until evolution can be accomplished.
"Since we see the problem is one with an imposed ultimate solution,
the easiest way is to continue the same action that brought the
Island. You need, as a guaranty to yourself, and to the Cubans not
in arms (which are the majority), a material force here that cannot
be disputed with any chance of success. After Spain has abandoned
her sovereignty here you are under the responsibility of keeping a
force here which will make it a crazy enterprise to dispute. This
is a moral duty which you are obliged to fulfil; you cannot have
the excuse of want of power that Spain had. The first element of
success is the destruction beforehand of all insurgent or
insurrection element. All minor things should be put aside and the
American mind have a national policy toward the colonisation and
final prosperity of Cuba. You do not want the Cuban question to
become one of those burning questions of American politics; but it
will, unless you have strength to determine it in the way it should
go. If it is disputed now in the transient state, you will convert
it into an interior American question, which would make things
worse than if you had never come into the thing at all. It is the
duty of your Administration to mark out these lines and tell the
American people that it is a duty outside of small political lines.
"What is the duty of the Cuban people? Your trouble comes from
having to handle an unknown land. The business of the President is,
not to show business people how they can make money, but to show
the people their duty, and leave the rest to American ingenuity.
The Cubans are a good people. The population is divided about
equally between whites and blacks, and has decreased about one
third during the war. I do not wish to discuss the inferiority of
the black race, but, so far as I can see in this country from
whatever cause, they do not meet worry. The act of force is the
determining one with them, and in it they are of great value. In
all other social determinations they count very little indeed. From
this you derive two lines of conduct: you must try to satisfy the
whites as far as possible, and you must content the black so that
he will not lend his brutal force to the discontent of the white.
The insurrection caused a great fraternity, that is to say, the
distinction of race which existed before the war does not exist
now. This is not, however, one of the elements that is going to
cause trouble, if you do not let them conflict. The insurgents have
fought many years for independence, making great sacrifices for the
sake of it, and therefore they will not be satisfied with anything
short of independence. If you leave them in the future to their own
inferior force, I do not think there will be a strong fight towards
acquiring total independence in the exterior world, because they
recognise the fact that their country is comparatively small and
the United States is large, but if these people see that this
independence at any moment is not given to them, they will rise in
arms--to what extent I do not know. A man who has lost family,
suffered sickness, and has no interest now in the home where he was
born, is a very reduced moral being. He has not the energies of a
total being. The Island of Cuba has been debased by a war of
extermination, brought about by its own manner of warfare, and by
the Spanish warfare. The Island of Cuba is now totally inert and
totally incapable of any governing faculties, not only because of
the dead, but by making the rich poor, by making the poor indigent,
and the indigent dying. You have in the Island of Cuba a reduced
specimen both of material and moral wealth, and these individuals
are not capable of determinations of value and worth towards the
natural end of civilisation. You then see how much you can depend
on the help of the individual. If you attempt to govern by
carpet-bag legislation, you will bring on an insurrection. If you
help the indigent, and bring them to a condition like they were
before the war, you will do them no good. Therefore, you must have
a force to establish an indisputable power, and then you must have
a policy in which each one finds a solution to his own interest and
welfare, under the idea that the Cuban people are unable to take
care of themselves to-day, and that none of them have definite
ideas or definite plans for their welfare. These plans must come
through a strange guidance and not from the Cubans. I have on the
Constancia in my care about five thousand people to-day, whom I
have helped all I could. I shall have to employ means of coercion
to throw these people outside of my house, so little is the sense
of dignity in them to-day, and shall have to give them lands, and
help them, in order to get them to find their own way in life. This
is the real condition of things. The more energetic element is the
one in the insurrection, but these on my estate are such as
constitute the element which took no sides but suffered the
distress of both.
"The size of property was one of the causes of the war, together
with the total neglect of the lower orders of population.
"Of the element in arms, you have to distinguish between those who
made the war and those who are wittily called the 'Veterans of
1898'--about one half are Veterans of 1898. These people have
energy, and these people have accustomed themselves to that life of
civil warfare, but their condition is very bad to-day, and because
of this they would like to come into order, although they have
great inclination to continue. This is about the only energy left
here, but it will be of no use to you except by getting these
people out of the way. They have gone to war and acquired honours
and salary to the extent of probably $10,000,000. The only way you
can do is to offer them the security of what they have acquired so
far as material welfare is concerned,--that is, their salaries. It
would be an error not to give it all to them. If you give them work
in the face of that inert mass I have shown you, and let them see
their superiority, giving them certain annuities or monthly
payments, you can bridge over the troublesome part of this
population, but you cannot do it through their moral nature. You
will have to bridge over several months by a strong occupation, by
destroying the insurgent energy, by helping the other people, and
by drawing general lines which all parties in the United States
will accept. You must outline a distinct American policy which must
be followed by both parties, and which no party can differ from.
With these conditions you will have no trouble in the Island of
Cuba.
"If you name your high officials Cubans, this will run off into
Cuban solution, and not American. If the occupation is made by
sufficient force, and you name only a few high officials who have
the confidence of the Administration and have a general plan to
carry through, and these appoint lower officials, taking the best
class of Cubans and insurgents, the problem is solved. As a
Spaniard born in Cuba and wishing this country all the good I can,
I think it would be absurd to hope for the peace of the Island
without a strong military force. The place must be occupied on
strategic lines and not as Spain occupied it, and with good means
of communication. This is the solution of the question. If this is
not done, guerrilla warfare will have the advantage and it will be
the same as when the Island was occupied by the Spanish forces;
there were no enemies and no battles and it was like making a
cavalry charge on a cloud or a mist."
The above is a vigorous statement of the situation from the standpoint
of one who has lost his all, not in fighting for independence, but in a
contest for what he believed was a strong government. The Marquis wastes
no sentiment. He tells some hard truths which all who know Cuba will
recognise as such. Few foreigners know the United States better than the
Marquis de Apezteguia and few have his ability of touching the weak
spots in our armour. He tells us we cannot absorb Cuba, and as an
American he would oppose annexation. These observations, as well as some
others, will delight Mr. Andrew Carnegie, Mr. Edward Atkinson, Mr.
Charles Francis Adams, and other opponents of annexation. The talk of
strategic necessity, the exertion of power, and the material force
necessary to make Cuba American territory will give these gentlemen who
have raised the anti-Imperialist cry sentences which will greatly
increase their stock of phrases, but in no way solve the question of
what shall be done with our new possessions. Indeed, the Marquis,
consoling the so-called anti-Imperialists with his well turned
sentences, offers them medicine more stringent and a remedy more drastic
than annexation. The word "Empire" has no terror for this Cuban-born
Spaniard. You must create an Imperialistic policy, or right, not granted
in the Federal Constitution, you must maintain American ascendency at
any cost, and do your duty toward the people of Cuba and the people of
the world. Cuba must, for all time to come, be American territory. It is
only by a policy of this sort the Marquis thinks we shall succeed. In
carrying out this plan, we are warned not to allow the Cuban question to
become a burning question of American policy, but we are enjoined to
hold up President McKinley's hands in establishing a stable government
in Cuba. It must not be made into a business, but a necessity.
Carpet-bag legislation, he thinks, would bring on an insurrection. In
this the Marquis is undoubtedly right. Lastly, he offers the good advice
that something must be done and done quickly for the insurgents in arms,
whose deplorable condition he vividly portrays. That these soldiers
should be speedily paid off there can be no doubt, for until that is
done, the rural districts of Cuba can never become productive.
Presumptuous as it may be to pass judgment on the utterances of a man of
such wide range of experience in Cuba as the Marquis de Apezteguia, I
believe the President of the late Conservative party of Cuba
underestimates the Cuban capacity, both for self-government and for
annexation to the United States. The work of final absorption may take a
generation, but it will surely come. Once annexed, Cuba would become an
English-speaking country, and the alert Cuban mind would grasp those
great principles of fundamental liberty with far greater alacrity than
the Spanish. Let the word go forth to teach English in every schoolhouse
in Cuba, and the work of amalgamation would be half done. The more the
Cubans know of the United States and of our institutions, the better
they will like us. As confidence takes the place of distrust in the
minds of the population of Cuba,--native or foreign-born, black or
white,--the sooner all will reach the conclusion that the most promising
future for Cuba can only be attained by complete union with the greater
Republic.
In support of this opinion as to the political future of Cuba it is only
necessary to quote the utterance of one whose opportunity for making
such a forecast has been exceptional. Major-General Matthew C. Butler,
of South Carolina, combines in his make-up and experience both soldier
and statesman. The Confederate cause can point to no more brave and
capable officer than General Butler. For sixteen years he represented
his State in the United States Senate, and during that period grappled
with all the important questions of the day. No man on the Cuban
Evacuation Commission was so well equipped to study the political and
economic side of the Cuban question as General Butler; and no man took
so much pains to ascertain the facts in relation to the condition and
sentiment of the people of Cuba. For a month last autumn the author was
daily and closely associated with General Butler at the Vedado, near
Havana, where the Military Commission had its headquarters. Between
acquaintances of many years, in Washington, it is not strange that
conversation during those long evenings at the Hotel Trotcha turned on
the future of Cuba and that the exchange of thought was both free and
frank. Summed up, the opinion of General Butler on the future of Cuba
is as follows:
"You ask an expression of my opinion before leaving Cuba as to the
character of the people of the Island and their future prospects.
If they will be patient, following the dictates of prudence, and
trust the Government of the United States, a very prosperous and
happy future awaits them. The process of rehabilitation may be
slow, but by cordial co-operation of all classes it will be more
certain and permanent.
"The army of the United States is here to guarantee public order
and enforce obedience to law. Its use will be controlled very
largely by the conduct of the people themselves. If they uphold the
law and insure public tranquillity, if each will respect the rights
and persons of the other, there will be no occasion for
interference by American troops. And you may take my word for it
they will not interfere with the people in their peaceful
vocations, if the conditions I have suggested prevail.
"The officers and soldiers on duty in the Island of Cuba are
American citizens as well as American soldiers, accustomed to
rendering loyal obedience to law; and they will not abandon on this
Island their devotion to the principles of American liberty
regulated by law. I therefore repeat that the people of Cuba may
safely trust the officers and soldiers of the United States to
establish and maintain the principles of government as set forth in
our Constitution and laws, which mean freedom, not licentiousness,
and equality before the law for all.
"We have no such thing as 'one man power' in the United States, and
cannot so far depart from our devotion to popular liberty as to
tolerate it here. So I say, if the people of Cuba (I include in the
word 'people' all classes and conditions) will await with patience
and resolution the establishment of good government, honestly and
impartially administered, a brilliant future is in store for them.
If, on the contrary, bickerings among themselves, unreasonable
complaints, and demands in disregard of the rights of persons and
property should lead to bloodshed and breaches of the peace and the
disturbance of public order and tranquillity, as they most surely
will, the day of their deliverance will be indefinitely deferred.
"You ask me whether I think the people of the Island of Cuba
capable of self-government. This is a very difficult question to
answer. I may, however, say that I have no sympathy with the harsh
and unjust judgments of those who condemn them without a hearing
and settle in advance a problem which requires time for solution.
"Officially I have no opinion to express as to the status of such a
commonwealth, for that is a question to be settled by the people
themselves in their aggregate capacity, but personally I should
like to see Cuba a State in the American Union, enjoying all the
rights of local autonomy and self-government on terms of equality
with the other commonwealths of the United States. She would then
have liberty, regulated by a written constitution, where the
military is subordinate to the civil power, and where each of the
three great co-ordinate branches of the government, legislative,
executive, and judicial, execute the will of the people."
The above statement, which, with General Butler's consent, is made part
of this chapter, was prepared with great precision and care and only
after long deliberation. Moreover, it was submitted to some of his
colleagues, and the subject-matter fully discussed with the author, who
is in full and hearty accord with the views expressed. Officially the
author has no opinion to express as to the status of such a
commonwealth, for the work committed to him was purely of an economic
and fiscal and not of a political character. Personally, however, the
author, with General Butler, looks forward to the day when Cuba will be
a State of the Union, in the enjoyment of that full degree of liberty
and self-government which is accorded the other commonwealths of the
United States.
CHAPTER IV
THE ENGLISH IN JAMAICA
Having sought light and information in relation to the future political
government of Cuba from both Cuban and Spanish sources, for the Marquis
de Apezteguia is more Spanish than Cuban, it may be well to ascertain if
any useful lesson may be found in British colonial administration. With
this thought in view, the author, after completing the work in Cuba,
made a brief visit to the island of Jamaica. Through the courtesy of the
American Mail Steamship Company, the S.S. _Admiral Sampson_ stopped at
Santiago and thus enabled me to reach Port Antonio, Jamaica, in seven
hours. At this point I met Captain L. D. Baker, the head of the vast
American fruit interests of Jamaica, and with him visited Kingston and
had an interview with the Governor-General of Jamaica, and with the
heads of nearly all the Departments of Government. In this connection it
affords me pleasure to mention the name of Dr. James Johnston, member of
the Jamaica Council for St. Ann's Parish and member of the Commission
now revising the revenue law of Jamaica. Dr. Johnston was a
fellow-passenger on the S.S. _Sampson_, on its return voyage to the
United States, and furnished much valuable explanatory information in
relation to the government of Jamaica, for which this opportunity is
taken to express thanks.
The information thus obtained and the data gathered from the various
blue books and the reports of the Royal Commission on the British West
India Islands, all have a special bearing on the problem the United
States is now confronting in Cuba, and hence on the political future of
the Island. Better to appreciate the present aims of British
administration in Jamaica, one should read the following extract from an
article in the December number of _Scribner's Magazine_, by the Right
Honourable Joseph Chamberlain, British Colonial Secretary:
"In the first period of this eventful history the territories
acquired by conquest or discovery were treated as possessions to be
exploited entirely for the advantage of the occupying nation, and
little or no thought was given to the rights or the interests
either of the original inhabitants or of the colonists who had
dispossessed them. This view of the relations between a state and
its outlying territories continued more or less throughout the
eighteenth century, although the War of Independence in America did
much to modify and dispel it. The success of the Revolution not
only destroyed the hope that colonies could be made tributary to
the mother country, but led ultimately to the conclusion that,
since they would never be a source of direct revenue, we should be
better without colonies at all. Assuming that an entirely
independent and separate existence was the ultimate destiny of all
our possessions abroad, and believing that this consummation would
relieve us of burdensome obligations, we readily conceded
self-government to the colonies in the temperate zones, in the
hopes that this would hasten the inevitable and desirable result.
We found, not without surprise, that in spite of hints to this
effect, our kinsfolk and fellow-subjects resented the idea of
separation and, fortunately for us, preferred to remain, each
'daughter in her mother's house and mistress in her own.'
Influenced by the same idea, we elaborated constitutions by the
score for every kind of tropical dependency, in the vain
expectation that the native population would appreciate forms of
government evolved in our own civilisation, and would learn quickly
to be self-supporting and to develop for themselves the territories
in which we began to think we had only a temporary interest. We
were disappointed, and we have had to recognise the fact that, for
an indefinite period of time, the ideas and standards of our
political and social order cannot be intelligently accepted or
applied by races which are centuries behind us in the process of
national evolution. The experience of Hayti and Liberia under
independent native government, of many of the South American
republics, of Egypt and of India, and the stagnation of all
tropical countries, in regard to matters dependent on local effort,
make it evident that wherever the white man cannot be permanently
or advantageously acclimatised and wherever, therefore, the great
majority of the population must always be natives, the only
security for good government and for the effective development of
the resources of the country consists in providing this native
population with white superintendence, and with rulers and
administrators who will bring to their task the knowledge derived
from the experience of a higher civilisation; and, constantly
changing, will be always under the influence of the standards and
ideals which they have been brought up to respect.
"This is the root idea of British administration in the tropics. At
the same time we have abandoned forever any desire to secure
tribute from these possessions, and we no longer seek any direct or
exclusive advantage.
"We find our profit in the increased prosperity of the people for
whose interests we have made ourselves responsible, and in the
development of, and access to, markets which we open at the same
time to the rest of the world. Our primary obligation is to
maintain peace, and safety of life and property, and equal justice
for all irrespective of race or class. Subject to these conditions,
we interfere as little as possible with native religions, customs,
or laws; and under this system we are successfully administering
the affairs of hundreds of millions of people of almost every race
under the sun, with trifling cost to the British taxpayer, and with
the smallest army of white soldiers of any of the powers of Europe.
In India, where three hundred millions of people acknowledge the
Queen as Empress, the total white garrison is only seventy thousand
men; in Egypt, with a population of nine millions, the normal white
garrison is thirty-five hundred men; while in Ceylon, the Straits
Settlements and protected States, the West Indies, and West Africa
not a single white regiment is stationed for the maintenance of our
rule, which is secured entirely by coloured soldiers and police
under British officers. Our experience should at least go far to
satisfy the objections of those Americans who anticipate that the
occupation of tropical countries would involve the retention of
vast numbers of American soldiers in an unhealthy climate, and
would lay an intolerable burden on the American treasury."
The Spanish idea in its government of Cuba was purely and absolutely the
idea of possession, and the facts pointing to this will be abundantly
set forth in the several chapters in this volume relating to the fiscal,
commercial, and industrial condition of the Island of Cuba. The work of
reconstruction already so auspiciously begun by the United States
Government in Santiago, and described in a subsequent chapter, is
absolutely in line with what Mr. Chamberlain aptly terms the root idea
of British administration in the tropics. The primary obligation of the
United States in Cuba is to maintain peace, the safety of life and
property, and equal justice for all, irrespective of race or class. The
final instructions given by the President of the United States, last
August, to the author, leaving for Cuba, were to the effect that the
United States desired to secure no tribute from Cuba, that the work of
reconstruction must be performed in the interests of the people of Cuba,
only, and that the profit to the United States must come in the
increased prosperity of the people of Cuba, and in the benefits accruing
from a peaceful, instead of a constantly warring neighbour. According to
Mr. Chamberlain, this is the fundamental principle underlying England's
operation in her tropical colonies.
[Illustration: ON THE ROAD TO CASTLETON, JAMAICA.]
In comparing British administration in Jamaica with any possible
operations of the United States Government in Cuba, the fact of the
great difference in the population must be considered. In Jamaica not
over 15,000 of the 700,000 population are white. When England began to
treat this island as a trust, and not as a possession,--say about
1834,--the population was made up of 311,070 slaves, 15,000 whites,
40,000 coloured, or brown people, as they are called in Jamaica, and
5000 free blacks. In Cuba a majority of the population are white--the
census of 1887 showing 1,102,889 white and 528,798 coloured--in all
provinces; Matanzas, with forty-five per cent. coloured, and Santiago,
with forty-two per cent. coloured, representing the strongest coloured
sections of the Island. That half a century of British rule in Jamaica
has improved the population of Jamaica, nearly all of whom were slaves
when the work was begun, is self-evident, though it is equally true that
similar government in Cuba would have resulted, by reason of the
preponderance of white population, in more far-reaching results. That
is, Cuba, under such a government as England has given Jamaica, would,
in all reasonable probability, have numbered at this time a population
of from four to five millions, with a greatly increased commerce,
diversified industries, magnificent main and parochial roads, an
adequate railway system, many prosperous and well-built cities, and a
degree of prosperity and civilisation far in excess of that which the
United States officials found when they took possession of the Island.
With the disadvantages of race, with the scars of slavery, and, until
recently, with the single industry of sugar and its allied product, rum,
the policy set forth so clearly by Mr. Chamberlain has been successful
in making habitable and law-abiding and measurably prosperous a tropical
island which might have been in a condition little better than that of
savagery.
To be sure, England has not made Anglo-Saxons of these people, but it
has made of them peaceful, law-abiding, and, in the main,
self-respecting citizens. There is little doubt that the bulk of the
inhabitants of Jamaica are in a position which compares not unfavourably
with that of the peasants of most countries in the world. The facts
given farther along show that the condition of the labouring classes of
Jamaica is infinitely better than that of the labouring
classes--especially the coloured population--of Cuba, who are in a
deplorable state, even on plantations where work is abundant. The number
of holdings in Jamaica is 92,979, of which 81,924 are under ten acres
each. In 1882 there were only 52,608 holdings, of which 43,707 were
under ten acres each. Even allowing for the fact that some persons may
hold two or more plots of land, it is clear that the island already
contains a very large and increasing number of peasant proprietors. The
Crown Land Regulations offer facilities for the settlement of the
labouring population on the land, and as sugar estates are abandoned
some of them will probably fall into the hands of small cultivators. In
the last ten years the number of savings-bank accounts of the amount of
twenty-five dollars and under has nearly doubled. The census returns of
1891 show that in the ten years, 1881 to 1891, there had been an
increase of thirty per cent. in the number of persons able to read and
write. The acreage of provision grounds has increased more than thirty
per cent. in ten years. There are 70,000 holdings of less than five
acres. The area in coffee, usually in small lots, increased in ten years
from 17,000 to 23,000 acres. More than 6,000 small sugar-mills are owned
by the peasantry. The number of enrolled scholars was 100,400 in 1896,
as against 49,000 in 1881; while the actual average daily attendance at
schools had increased from 26,600 to 59,600. These facts indicate
considerable advance, though no doubt in certain districts the people
are poor. The Royal Commission appointed to investigate and report on
the agricultural, commercial, and industrial condition of the West
Indies came to the conclusion that the depression in Jamaica was the
result of the almost entire dependence of the island on a single
industry. Here is what they say:
"The general statement regarding the danger of depending on a
single industry applies with very special force to the dependence
of the West Indian Colonies upon the sugar industry, for the
cultivation of sugar collects together a larger number of people
upon the land than can be employed or supported in the same area by
any other form of cultivation. In addition to this it also unfits
the people, or at any rate gives them no training, for the
management or cultivation of the soil for any other purpose than
that of growing sugar-cane. The failure, therefore, of a sugar
estate not only leaves destitute a larger number of labourers than
can be supported upon the land in other ways, but leaves them also
without either the knowledge, skill, or habits requisite for making
a good use of the land. In those colonies where the sugar industry
cannot be carried on without imported coolie labour the position of
dependence upon this one industry is still more dangerous. In these
cases not only is there a yearly charge upon the public revenue to
meet the cost of immigration, but a liability for back passages is
incurred, which a failure of the industry would leave the colony
without funds to meet. Whilst, therefore, the vital importance of
the sugar industry to the present prosperity of nearly all the
colonies is beyond dispute, we wish to observe that so long as they
remain dependent upon sugar their position can never be sound or
secure. It has become a commonplace of criticism to remark upon the
perpetual recurrence of crises in the West Indian Colonies, and we
submit that the repeated recurrence of such crises, as well as the
fact that the present crisis is more ominous than any of the
previous ones, illustrates the danger to which we have referred,
and adds much force to our recommendations for the adoption of
special measures to facilitate the introduction of other
industries."
The special remedies recommended were as follows:
"1. The settlement of the labouring population on small plots of
land as peasant proprietors.
"2. The establishment of minor agricultural industries, and the
improvement of the system of cultivation, especially in the case of
small proprietors.
"3. The improvement of the means of communication between the
different islands.
"4. The encouragement of a trade in fruit with New York, and,
possibly, at a future time, with London.
"5. The grant of a loan from the Imperial Exchequer for the
establishment of central factories in Barbadoes.
"The subject of emigration from the distressed tracts also requires
the careful attention of the various governments, though we do not
find ourselves at the present time in a position to make
recommendations in detail."
The fact is, Captain L. D. Baker, of the Boston Fruit Company, and the
other companies engaged in the banana and orange business of Jamaica,
have pointed a way out of the present difficulties, and that industry,
in the course of a short time, bids fair to be as important as the sugar
industry was in former times. Last year this single company shipped five
million bunches of bananas to New York. There are now over one hundred
thousand orange trees planted in Jamaica, which in a few years will be
bearing finely and give additional prosperity to the country. With the
American fruit market inadequately supplied, and the English market
practically untouched, there is hope both in Jamaica and
Cuba--especially Santiago province--for diversified industries created
by rapid transportation. The recent establishment of a fleet of fast
steamships between New York, Philadelphia, Boston, and Baltimore, and
the various ports of Jamaica, and the probability that these or similar
lines will be established between the United States and Cuban ports, are
all factors of promise for the industrial future of both the British and
the American West Indies.
While Jamaica is a well-governed country, and its revenue is all
honestly expended for the public good of the people, it is far from an
economically administered government. Order is thoroughly established,
laws are obeyed, justice for the humblest is easily obtainable,
education is general, sanitary matters admirably administered, roads
maintained, the rights of all conserved, and the revenue honestly
collected and expended. In these particulars the government of Jamaica
differs widely from that which the author found in Cuba. In that unhappy
Island all is absolutely the reverse of this. The cost of governing
Jamaica, however, is nearly twenty-five per cent. of the value of its
commerce, whereas the cost of governing Cuba--if gauged by the actual
revenue raised--under Spanish rule ranged from 12-1/2 to 15 per cent. of
the value of its commerce. The comparison, however, is of little value,
because Cuba got nothing for the money exacted by taxation, while
Jamaica not only gets all, but also the taxpayers are informed in
advance of the purposes for which much of the money is wanted, and the
sums thus raised are rigidly applied to the purposes for which they are
appropriated. The most useful lessons for those responsible for
administering the affairs of Cuba can be learned by a study of the
Jamaica Budgets. The methods of raising the needed revenue are
intelligent and simple, and the method of expenditure not only enables
the authorities to get as much as possible for the money, but also makes
possible the strictest accountability. The Legislative Council of
Jamaica discusses every item of the budget as closely as the Town
Council of Glasgow or the County Council of London, both model public
bodies, so far as honesty of purpose goes, even if some of their
legislative experiments fail. The humblest Jamaica negro, if he can read
and write, may at least know the purposes for which the revenue he pays
in taxes is expended. He may even have the pleasure of deciding which of
these items of expenditure he regards the least important. At the
present moment the annual cost of education, $350,000, is regarded as
too high, and a proposition to reduce it to $250,000 is pending. The
total expenditures of Jamaica have reached nearly $4,000,000 and
additional revenue is necessary to meet these expenses. The customs
tariff is in course of revision, with a view of increasing the revenue,
and many articles formerly on the free list will have to be put upon the
dutiable list, while the general ad valorem rates of duty must be raised
from 12-1/2 to 16-2/3 per cent. Before going into the future sources of
revenue, it may be well to look at the present sources, and for that
purpose the subjoined table has been compiled from official sources:
COMPARATIVE TABLE OF REVENUE OF JAMAICA, 1896-97
REVENUE. Pounds. Dollars.
Customs 321,780 1,608,900
Excise 122,735 613,675
Licences 732 3,660
Stamps 23,947 119,735
Post-Office 24,072 120,360
Telegraph 5,364 26,820
Tax on Stock[3]
Court Fees 8,284 41,420
Tax in lieu of Education Fees 11,243 56,215
Fines, etc. 4,412 22,060
Jamaica Railway 208 1,040
Reimbursements 35,969 179,845
Miscellaneous 13,992 69,960
Revenues now appropriated 181,663 908,315
Interest on Sinking Funds 14,199 70,995
Savings Bank 3,927 19,635
------- ---------
Total 773,527 3,867,635
IMMIGRATION REVENUE.
Capitation Tax, etc., Laws 7 of 1878 and 14 of 1891, 1,476 7,380
Miscellaneous 205 1,025
----- -----
Total 1,681 8,405
APPROPRIATED REVENUE.
Poor Rates 39,339 196,695
Kingston Streets 4,354 21,770
Market Dues
Pounds
Main Road Revenue, Law 17 of 1890 28,091 140,455
Parochial Roads 45,538 227,690
Sanitary 7,862 39,310
Fire Rates, Kingston 1,561 7,805
Trade, Metal, Hawker, and Gunpowder Licences,
Surplus Fund[4] 13,271 66,355
Gas Rates, etc. 3,793 18,965
Parochial General Purposes 4,503 22,515
Agricultural Produce Licences Law, 37 of 1896 3,685 18,425
Miscellaneous 8,544 42,720
Advances from General Revenue in aid of Funds 21,122 105,610
------- -------
Total 181,663 908,315
Customs, excise, and appropriated revenue, as will be seen above, are
the principal sources of income, while the expenditures for the same
period are divided under the following heads:
COMPARATIVE TABLE OF EXPENDITURE OF JAMAICA, 1896-97
EXPENDITURE. Pounds. Dollars.
Charges of Debt ................................ 82,417 412,085
Governor and Staff ............................. 7,368 36,840
Privy Council .................................. 62 310
Legislative Council ............................ 2,469 12,345
Colonial Secretariat ........................... 5,612 28,060
Director of Public Works ....................... 17,979 89,895
Audit Office ................................... 3,629 18,145
Treasury ....................................... 4,634 23,170
Savings Bank ................................... 3,275 16,375
Stamp Office ................................... 1,106 5,530
Post-Office and Telegraphs ..................... 35,910 179,550
Revenue Departments ............................ 39,969 199,845
Judicial ....................................... 45,611 228,055
Ecclesiastical ................................. 2,927 14,635
Medical ........................................ 59,307 296,535
Police ......................................... 60,889 304,445
Prisons and Reformatories ...................... 27,836 139,180
Education ...................................... 67,540 337,700
Harbour-Masters and Harbours and Pilotage ...... 2,741 13,705
Colonial Allowances and Military Expenditure ... 12,814 64,070
Miscellaneous .................................. 29,571 147,855
Census .........................................
Steam Communication ............................ 1,800 9,000
Stationery and Printing ........................ 7,989 39,945
Library and Museum ............................. 2,404 12,020
Plantations and Gardens ........................ 6,484 32,420
Railway[5] .......................................
Main Roads and Buildings ....................... 80,467 402,335
Pensions, etc. 16,962 84,810
Purposes now supplied by Appropriated Revenue .. 135,842 679,210
-------- ---------
Total Expenditure from Income ............ 765,607 3,828,035
Sinking-Funds, etc. ............................ 14,199 70,995
-------- ---------
Total Payments from Income ............... 779,806 3,899,030
Less Debt Payments as above .................... 14,199 70,995
-------- ---------
765,607 3,828,035
Add Expenditures from Moneys raised by Loans ... 8,125 40,625
-------- ---------
Total .......................................... 773,732 3,868,660
-------- ---------
Immigration .................................... 979 4,895
A glance at the above tables and then a glance at the budget of Cuba,
which will be found in a subsequent chapter, is all that is necessary to
show the vast difference between the British and the Spanish methods of
dealing with the fiscal interests of their colonies. The business-like
methods of the one, and the blind, slip-shod methods of the other, are
in sharp contrast. In dealing with Cuba, it may be difficult to follow
entirely these English methods of accounting at once. The sooner,
however, the United States inaugurates its own clear methods of national
bookkeeping and official accountability, the quicker the people of Cuba
will appreciate sound business principles in the conduct of their own
affairs. It makes no difference whether Cuba is annexed to the United
States or established as an independent government; these lessons must
be learned in either event, or the Island will come to grief. It is
hardly necessary to do more than call attention to the principal items
of expenditure.
First of all come roads. England has discovered that good roads are not
only an important factor in mountainous countries in keeping order, but
also the basis of industrial development and prosperity. In the budget
given above the following items must be added together in order to
ascertain the amount expended in 1897 for roads:
Main Roads and Buildings $402,335
Parochial Roads 227,690
--------
$630,025
Here may be found a good illustration of England's policy which is a
great contrast to the policy of Spain in Cuba. No money has been spent
on the roads of Cuba, all of which are in a deplorable condition.
Attention should at once be given to this important question and a
liberal sum out of both local and general revenues of the Island set
apart for this purpose. The debt of Jamaica is not excessive; it is in
the neighbourhood of $10,000,000, with an annual charge of about
$400,000. Police and medical charges are about the same, averaging about
$300,000 each, or in all $600,000.
In this connection attention is called to the annual expenditure on
roads in Jamaica for fourteen years:
EXPENDITURE FOR MAIN AND PAROCHIAL ROADS IN
JAMAICA, FROM 1883-84 TO 1896-97, INCLUSIVE
-----------+------------+-----------+------------------
Year. |Appropriated|Expenditure|
|revenue for |for Main | Total.
| Parochial | Roads and |
| Roads. |Buildings. |
-----------+------------+-----------+---------+--------
| Pounds | Pounds | Pounds |Dollars.
|sterling. |sterling. |sterling.|
1883-84 .. |39,514 | 48,156 | 87,670 |438,350
1884-85 .. |40,496 | 47,614 | 88,110 |440,550
1885-86 .. |38,246 | 52,285 | 90,531 |452,655
1886-87 .. |39,670 | 48,080 | 87,750 |438,750
1887-88 .. |42,935 | 52,318 | 95,253 |476,265
1888-89 .. |42,146 | 57,632 | 99,778 |498,890
1889-90[6] |20,740 | 32,210 | 52,950 |264,750
1890-91 .. |50,317 | 91,659 |141,976 |709,880
1891-92 .. |44,845 | 91,659 |136,504 |682,520
1892-93 .. |48,520 | 83,718 |132,238 |661,190
1893-94 .. |50,169 | 58,460 |108,629 |543,145
1894-95 .. |47,111 | 65,647 |112,758 |563,790
1895-96 .. |48,398 | 68,654 |117,052 |585,260
1896-97 .. |45,538 | 80,467 |126,005 |630,025
-----------+------------+-----------+---------+--------
Total for | | |1,477,204|7,386,020
14 years | | | |
Average | | | |
per year | | | | 527,573
-----------+------------+-----------+---------+---------
The necessity of liberal expenditure for maintaining the health of the
community is of first importance. A study of this budget may be found a
preparation for the subsequent study of the Cuban budget, to which the
reader's attention will be invited presently.
The present Jamaica tariff was evidently framed with the two ideas of
revenue for the island and a market for British goods. Food products,
for example, such as bacon, beef, beans, bread, butter, cheese, corn,
meats, oats, oil, pork, rice, salt, sausages, wheat, sugar, tea, coffee,
and many other staple articles are all on the dutiable list, some paying
a fairly stiff rate of duty. On the other hand, many articles of
merchandise, bricks, bridges, carts and waggons, clocks, diamonds,
machinery, locomotives, and a host of other things, which England
supplies the island, are all exempted from duty. Under a general ad
valorem clause, 12-1/2 per cent. is collected on all articles not
enumerated. The enumerated list of the Jamaica tariff is not large, so a
large amount of merchandise has been actually imported under this
clause. The proposed new tariff, which will probably go into effect next
year, takes many articles off the free list and puts them on the
dutiable list. It also increases the ad valorem rate to 16-2/3 per cent.
This has been found necessary because there has been a deficit in the
revenue. The new tariff is expected to yield £400,000, or about
$2,000,000, and from internal revenue or excise £150,000, or $750,000,
and £250,000, or $1,250,000, from appropriated revenue which will really
come from the land and householders. Here it is summarised:
Revenue from Customs ......................... $2,000,000
" " Excise .......................... 750,000
" " Appropriated Revenue (land and
household taxes, etc.) ........ 1,250,000
----------
$4,000,000
If this amount can be secured, the revenue of Jamaica will be a trifle
more than expenditure, and the result will be happiness. If not,
expenses must be reduced. Some members of the Legislative Council favour
this latter plan. The Commission has the whole fiscal question now in
hand, and within a short time will probably reach conclusions.
There is much more of interest that might be said about the present
economic condition of Jamaica, but the points herein brought out appear
to be the only ones that bear especially on the problem continually
facing the reader in a volume dealing with the industrial and commercial
reconstruction of Cuba. It will also be interesting to compare the
British method of colonial administration with the idea set forth in the
previous chapter by the Marquis de Apezteguia, whose point of view in
such matters is wholly Spanish. That is, the idea of possession is
paramount. The Marquis evidently has no faith in the ability of the
United States to administer the affairs of Cuba as a trust.
CHAPTER V
THE AMERICANS IN SANTIAGO
A visit to Santiago should give relief to those suffering from "the
craven fear of being great," for there may be found much that is
encouraging. In this province of Cuba may be seen in full operation the
work which the Government of the United States has been impelled to
undertake, and here may be studied the character of the forces upon
which the people of the United States must rely in the work of
reconstruction now in progress. The machinery of government is running
with a fair degree of smoothness, and the men responsible for it, from
the humblest official to the capable commander of the province,
understand their business and are masters of the situation. It is a
striking illustration of the marvellous adaptability of the American
character. Every department of the public service is carrying on its
work; the only difference apparent to one so recently in parts of Cuba
still in possession of Spain being the absence of Spanish soldiers and
the more businesslike methods of the officials. The disagreeable smells
of the typical Cuban city are less pronounced in Santiago, and
whitewash, limewash, fresh paint, and all sorts of disinfectants have
deodorised the surrounding atmosphere and made the old town really
habitable. The streets are no longer used as sewers, and the unhappy
person who violates the law and escapes the lash of the Sanitary
Commissioner's whip is compelled to work on the streets for thirty days.
This official, Major George M. Barbour, with one hundred and twenty-five
men, dressed in spotless white, and thirty-two good United States
mule-teams and carts, having dug out from the streets of Santiago the
filth of ages, is now able to keep them absolutely clean. Every day by
the aid of that great disinfectant, petroleum, the garbage of the city
is burned. The work of sanitation is not confined to the streets, but
extends to the dwelling-houses, shops, and buildings of all kinds.
Indeed, the campaign against dirt and disease has been as sharp and hot
as the charge of San Juan Hill, and as productive of beneficial results.
The resistance on the part of the native population was even more
stubborn than that of the Spanish soldiers to our forces around
Santiago. The doors of houses had to be smashed in; people making sewers
of the thoroughfares were publicly horsewhipped in the streets of
Santiago; eminently respectable citizens were forcibly brought before
the commanding general and sentenced to aid in cleaning the streets they
were in the habit of defiling. The campaign has ended in the complete
surrender to the sanitary authorities, and the inhabitants of Santiago,
regardless of class, have had their first object-lesson in the new order
of things inaugurated by the war. Looking backward five months and
picturing Santiago in July, and comparing it with the more hopeful
condition existing on all sides at the present moment, it is easy to
discern the omens which point to the coming prosperity of the whole
Island under intelligent and honest government.
Besides the improved sanitary conditions, there are many other
indications of the good work of Major-General Leonard Wood and his
capable corps of assistants. Several important thoroughfares have been
repaved. All the public buildings have been thoroughly cleaned and put
in good order, the work even extending to the large opera house, which
is now ready for the opening performance under American auspices; for
General Wood believes in furnishing decent amusements for the soldiers
of his command. The law courts abolished when General Shafter took the
city have been re-organised, and it was the privilege of the author to
take part in the brief, simple ceremonies on December 1st, when in a
modest speech the American commander turned over the legal business of
the province to the judiciary and inaugurated the Supreme Court. This
Court was composed of carefully selected Cuban judges, the appointees
nominated wholly on account of legal attainments; the Bar Association of
the province having been consulted as to the character and
qualifications of the new judges. As the occasion of turning over the
judiciary of the province to the people was one of considerable moment,
a brief description may not be out of place. A committee selected by the
Court called at the palace on the morning of December 1st, and after
being presented to General Wood, escorted him to the Supreme Court
Building. The room in which the Supreme Court of Santiago holds its
sessions is one story up a rather rickety-looking stairway. It looks
more like a long, narrow store than a court-room. At the far end is the
bench where the Court sits. It was draped with scarlet cloth and the
chairs are of dark oak. The courtroom was filled by interested
spectators. General Wood appeared in a fatigue uniform, taking a
position in the centre of the group of jurists, under the canopy over
the seat of the Chief-Justice, and in a businesslike manner proceeded to
state the object of the gathering. He told those assembled they had met
for the purpose of starting up the judicial machinery of the province.
While the military authorities still retained the power to revise all
cases involving life and death, there was no disposition to interfere
with civil matters. Innumerable cases had been piling up during the five
months of military occupation, and it was time they were adjusted. He
hoped the gentlemen appointed to this, the highest Court in the
province, would prove equal to the trust.
"Your enemies who say the Cubans cannot govern themselves," said
General Wood, turning toward the Court, "will watch you critically,
and your friends hopefully. Above and beyond all, be honest in
your decisions, for absolute integrity must ever be the foundation
of a fair and impartial judiciary. I pray you do not follow the
example of those who have made the courts of Cuba a byword for
corruption. With sincere hope for your success in dealing with
these matters, and with assurance of all the assistance in my
power, I hereby reinstate the Judiciary of the Province of Santiago
de Cuba."
Then the Chief-Justice, a man of fifty-five or sixty, attired in a rich
black silk gown, with handsome white lace cuffs, arose, and in a few
graceful words accepted the responsibility in the spirit in which it was
tendered, and assuring General Wood of his fealty to the United States
Government during the military occupancy, made a profound bow, and the
ceremony was over. Two members of the Court then escorted General Wood
and the author, who was invited to represent the civil authorities of
the United States, to the top of the staircase, and with a cordial adieu
the Military went out and the Judiciary came in and was reinstated. In a
few moments the Court was in session.
"Let me walk back," said General Wood, and the waiting carriage was
dismissed.
Passing the city jail, General Wood exclaimed to the author, "Take a
look at the jail, and see the good work we are doing there." There were
no prisoners, and it was evident the building was being renovated for
some new and more inspiring purpose. There is no more practical man in
the military service of the United States to-day than Major-General
Leonard Wood. He is just the man to build up the city and the province
of Santiago.
Not only has the judiciary been reinstated, but also, in the same
manner, local government has been restored, and native mayors and
officials have been appointed; the only requirement being that persons
accepting such offices shall take the oath recognising the military
occupancy of the Island by the United States. They are in no way
committed to any future form of government. The wisdom of this action
cannot be doubted, and the moral effect upon the people of Cuba will be
far-reaching.[7]
In constant meetings between General Wood and the author, during the
former's recent brief visit to the United States, he informed me that
all arrangements have been completed for the spring elections of
Santiago. Thus the next movement is towards a system of local
self-government which the Cubans heretofore have never enjoyed.
The Spanish, when in possession of Cuba, assumed absolute control not
only of the judiciary, but also of the municipal government, the larger
portion of the taxes raised for municipal purposes being diverted, with
the other revenues, into channels which either led to Spain or into
Spanish pockets. It will be even a greater stroke of wisdom if these
taxes are hereafter used exclusively for local purposes, and, as far as
may be deemed practicable, collected and disbursed by properly
constituted local authorities.
[Illustration: CATHEDRAL STREET, SANTIAGO DE CUBA.
FROM A PHOTOGRAPH BY J. F. COONLEY, NASSAU, N. P.]
There could be no wiser expenditure of local revenue for several years
than upon the streets and sewers of the cities and towns of Cuba. For
years the money which should have been used for these purposes has been
drained away to Spain, and all local improvements shamefully neglected.
The rural districts of Santiago de Cuba have been so depleted that it
will be impossible to collect taxes over and above those needed for the
bare necessities of schools, for the poor, and possibly, in small sums,
for the improvement of sanitary conditions. The dawn of prosperity
should, however, be the signal for inaugurating systematic work on the
country roads. The province of Santiago de Cuba is similar in
geographical and geological structure to the island of Jamaica, where,
as is shown elsewhere in this volume, the good main and parochial roads
have been the principal stay of the population. In another chapter will
be found a brief history of the nearly two thousand miles of good roads
in Jamaica, together with an account of the expenditure thereon and cost
of keeping them in repair. The British Administration spends on an
average annually for roads in Jamaica about $500,000. Without
underestimating the strategical importance of a central railway from
east to west in Cuba the immediate returns to the population from good
roads would be far in excess of the more pretentious enterprise. The
money thus expended, whether from the general funds of the Island, or
from the local budgets, would come back a hundredfold, and make Santiago
one of the richest sugar-, coffee-, and fruit-growing districts of the
West Indies.
Santiago Province should be a profitable producing country for bananas.
It is good for the poorer classes to undertake the cultivation of this
fruit. The banana takes only fourteen months to grow and therefore,
unlike coffee and oranges, the cultivator does not have to wait several
years for the crop. All the capital in this business can be turned
quickly, and the banana can be planted near the hut of the small planter
and attended easily. Banes, Sigua, and Baracoa are good ports to export
them from. The Dumois family invested considerably in the business and
used to ship to the United States. This business is soon to be revived
on a much larger scale. The extension of good roads would largely
increase the possibilities of this industry in many parts of Santiago
Province. With quick transportation the market for bananas is rapidly
extending to Europe, while the United States market is only partially
supplied with this fruit and with oranges.
The internal, industrial, professional, licensing, and other
miscellaneous taxes have so far been remitted in this part of Cuba, but
the military authorities are now preparing to enforce them. In this
connection the author suggests that, now the customs tariff has been
disposed of,[8] an immediate scheme be prepared for levying and
collecting internal revenue taxes for the entire Island. The question of
separating these taxes from purely municipal taxes should also be
considered at the earliest possible moment, in order that no revenue
shall be lost.
Methods of local administration differ so greatly in different provinces
in Cuba that the wisdom of appointing a governor or commander for each
province is unquestioned. As much latitude as possible should be given
to these officials. The provincial governors should have power to decide
all questions appertaining to local matters, for the fewer the
references to Havana the sooner the people of Cuba will realise the
difference between Spanish possession and United States occupancy. For
military purposes, the government of the Island may be easily vested in
one central authority at Havana. For civil purposes, each province
should be made as absolutely independent as is possible, with general
supervision by the commander of the United States forces. The secret of
General Wood's success in Santiago is entirely due to the fact that he
has good judgment, the courage to use it, and full power in Santiago
Province to exercise both. The supervising power over the civil
department-commander should be made, as far as possible, advisory on
such matters as relate to the general welfare of all the people of the
Island, but all department questions should be scrupulously relegated to
the provincial governors. There will of course have to be some general
scheme inaugurated as to the collection and the expenditure of the
general revenue, but before this can be intelligently arranged it will
be necessary to designate what revenue shall be considered local, what,
if any, for the exclusive use of the department, and what may fairly be
regarded as revenue applicable for the general purpose of the whole
Island. In thus distributing the revenue, the greatest care should be
exercised not to hamper the provincial governor by an arbitrary division
of the purposes for which the money must be expended, until he has been
given ample opportunity to ascertain the needs of his department. A
country undergoing such changes as Cuba is, cannot be judged by ordinary
circumstances, and the most successful results will certainly be
obtained by giving the generals in command of the several provinces the
rein, and with the excellent example of the commander of Santiago before
them tell them to go and do likewise. Apportionments and divisions of
revenue will come later. The present emergency demands large sums for
sanitary purposes, for cleaning up cities, for fighting disease, for
renovating public buildings, for maintaining order, and for establishing
a decent, efficient administration of public affairs. These operations
must be done quickly and be planned chiefly by the judgment of the man
on the spot, acquainted with local conditions. The results of a free
hand are plainly visible in Santiago. The same policy must be followed
elsewhere, or summer will bring dangers from which the unacclimatised
population may well seek to escape.
As this is being written, the first difficulty has arisen at Santiago in
relation to the distribution of the customs revenue. The order of
General Brooke to send the customs receipts to Havana has met with
opposition. This is a natural result of the peculiar conditions existing
there, and no one can be blamed for it. For nearly five months no
municipal, internal, or local taxes have been collected; and with the
exception of about ten thousand dollars collected by Mr. Donaldson as
cemetery and meat taxes, the entire revenue of Santiago Province was
derived from customs dues. This money has been expended, as above shown,
by General Wood in cleaning up the city, in making new streets, in
renovating public buildings, in fighting disease, and in many other
ways, all with a view of benefiting the community. All this and much
more was justifiable in the emergency with which he was confronted.
Meanwhile the machinery for collecting local and other public dues was,
for various reasons, not put in motion until a few weeks ago. The taxes
from these sources rightfully belong to the municipality, and hereafter
will be expended thereon. The Spanish authorities collected all the
taxes, local and general, returning of the local taxes but a small
percentage to the municipalities. There is no intention on the part of
the military authorities of the United States in Cuba to use these local
taxes for other than local purposes, but it stands to reason that the
customs taxes must be collected by one central authority, equalised and
expended for the general welfare of the whole community. The ports of
Santiago Province, being practically the only ports in possession of the
United States, naturally used all moneys collected. January 1, 1899, all
other Cuban ports came into possession of the United States, and
Santiago becomes again part of the Island of Cuba, and as such is
entitled to equal, but not special consideration.
The people of Santiago have had over one hundred thousand dollars of
local taxes remitted, in consequence of the delay in getting the
tax-levying and tax-collecting machinery at work. This has been saved to
the community. All these taxes, being local, would have probably been
spent on local works or would at this time have been available for such
purposes. It is not the intention of the Government to have these sent
to Havana, nor does the order include them. New York might as well
demand that she be allowed to keep all the customs dues collected at
that port, or, more to the point, Havana. Over sixty per cent. of all
Cuba's customs dues are collected at Havana, but Havana will have to
pool her receipts, just as New York does, and take back such portion as
appropriations for public works as may hereafter be decided to be
rightfully her share. There is really no need for the people of
Santiago to get excited over the order, which is reasonable, just, and
in the line of fair government. On the contrary, the people should
rejoice to think they have had so much of the money expended in
improving the city, and that for several months they have practically
been relieved of local taxes.
The Custom-House at Santiago the author found to be under very capable
management. Mr. Walter A. Donaldson, who has had charge of the office,
has performed the rather difficult initiatory duties devolving upon him
with enthusiasm and ability. His knowledge of Spanish and his long
training in the customs service of the United States have enabled him to
recast the old Spanish methods and inaugurate the more businesslike
methods of our own custom-house without much friction; and as a result
we find to-day a complete organisation at Santiago, with branches at all
the other ports in the province, working efficiently and collecting the
revenue. While Mr. Donaldson has been able to dispense with about twenty
of the seventy employees, he has retained fifty of the Cuban and Spanish
already in the service, and with five United States officers is able to
collect the revenues expeditiously and administer the affairs of the
port with general satisfaction to the merchants and shippers of
Santiago.
Mr. Donaldson estimated, that at the end of December, the total
custom-house receipts in his entire district would aggregate in the
neighbourhood of four hundred thousand dollars. It is safe to say that
the collections in this port for the twelve months under American
administration will be twice the amount collected during the last twelve
months of Spanish control. As the rates of the tariff have been reduced
two-thirds this fact would seem to be a good sign alike for the interest
of American administration and the possibilities of a low tariff for
producing sufficient revenue. As is stated elsewhere in this volume, the
hope of sufficient revenue to manage the affairs of the Island is
largely--under greatly reduced taxation--based upon honest and
efficient collections. If it were otherwise, the natural consequence of
reducing the rates of duty by two-thirds (a measure which the President
of the United States has authorised) in a tariff capable of producing a
revenue of fifteen million dollars per annum, would mean a revenue of
five million dollars per annum. To accomplish this feat and still have
fifteen or even ten millions of revenue the future management of the
custom-houses in Cuba must be more businesslike and more honest. The
industrial importance of Santiago will be treated in the chapter on
Mines and Mining, the idea of this chapter being to give a glimpse of
some of the changes in this old city already brought about by American
military occupancy.
CHAPTER VI
OUTLOOK IN CUBA FOR LABOUR
That the wounds of Cuba will soon heal with the rapid promotion of work,
is undoubtedly true. This is the struggle the United States is now
entering upon, and the employment of the people should be the first aim
of those responsible for the management of affairs. There will naturally
be many disappointments, some disillusioning. The condition of labour in
the Island requires the most serious attention of our Government. A
brief history of it during the present century may elucidate the
existing situation.
In 1815, after the Napoleonic wars, the principal nations of Europe came
together and agreed upon the Treaty of Vienna. An important provision of
this Treaty was that henceforth slavery should be abolished. Spain, in
common with other nations, signed this agreement, but, as is her habit,
kept it not. The horrors of slavery were continued in her colonies, and
in the middle of the present century almost reached the depths of
inhumanity. At this time the population of Cuba was nearly a million
people, and the traffic in human flesh and blood was a prosperous and
profitable business. How long it would have continued is impossible to
say, had not England interfered. After painful delays, much threatening,
and innumerable broken promises on the part of Spain to observe the
Treaty of Vienna, England agreed to give that country two millions of
dollars to compensate those who owned "slave factories" in Havana,
provided the nefarious business was stopped. Spain simply pocketed the
money, told her noble sons engaged in the slave business in Cuba to
look out for British cruisers when bringing slaves, assured them that no
harm beyond the loss of cargo should come to them if caught--and the
plantations of Cuba continued to be supplied as usual with slaves.
Interesting facts in relation to conditions in Cuba during this period,
when British cruisers kept watch of Spanish slave-ships, have been
recently given in a series of articles in the _Century Magazine_,
written in 1859.
According to this chronicle, the Spaniards in Cuba were in open sympathy
with the slave-dealers, and a story is told of a slaver chased by a
cruiser into the harbour of Havana, the shores being lined with people
cheering the slaver. The cruiser would have effected a capture, but the
slaver, dodging into a corner of the harbour, came to anchor, and her
officers told the slaves on board to jump overboard and swim ashore, as
the British were cannibals and would eat them all if captured. The
slaves escaped to the shore, where the Spaniards picked them up and
laughed at the British and the trick.
The same writer notes that by law the British must sell captured slaves
by a mixed commission at fifty dollars each for a seven years' term of
labour. These slaves were known as _emancipados_ and each wore a tin tag
on his neck, showing the date of his sale and the date of the expiration
of his slave service; but _emancipados_, strangely, seldom reached the
end of their terms; the Spaniards prevented that, by taking the tag from
an _emancipado_ whenever one of their slaves died and putting it on the
corpse. This was sufficient evidence that the _emancipado_ was dead, and
the Spanish owner had a new slave. As for the general condition of the
_emancipado_, it was much worse than that of the real slave, for his
master, knowing he must soon lose him, treated him cruelly, by overwork
and starving, and when at last the poor _emancipado_ had his freedom, he
had neither strength nor health to enjoy it.
A Cuban gentleman, now over threescore years and ten, told the author,
in Cuba, that nothing in ancient or modern history exceeded in horror
the slave-trade of Cuba during this period. In spite of England's
watchfulness, it could be made profitable, even if occasional mishaps
sent a shipful of unhappy Africans, chained together below decks, to the
bottom of the sea, or a catastrophe set fire to the load of writhing
humanity, fettered to prevent escape. Naturally a large percentage died
on the voyage, and the condition of those landed was so awful that a
description would be impossible in these pages. It will suffice to say
that upon one occasion a young Cuban, who had been sent down by his
employer to land some of these unfortunate creatures, was so impressed
by the awful spectacle that he shot himself through the brain with a
revolver and died on the spot.
So long as this traffic continued, and the plantations of the Island
were supplied by the unhappy African victims of man's inhumanity to man,
there was no labour trouble in Cuba. Under such conditions sugar-growing
was a comparatively simple process, and those engaged in it became
wealthy. The day of reckoning, however, was at hand. After repeated
disappointments, England succeeded in absolutely stopping further
importations of slaves into Cuba. Up to the time of the breaking out of
the insurrection of 1868, black labour had been almost exclusively used
on the sugar estates of Cuba. Bad as slavery is at the best, there was
in Cuba probably the worst system ever known. The work was of the
hardest, the climatic conditions severe, and the unhappy victims of
cupidity were ill-treated and brutalised. With such a beginning,
continuing in one form and another until 1885, how could such conditions
produce aught but dissatisfaction and misery at the present time?
The same causes demoralised the Cubans. They were reared in luxury and
idleness and looked upon work as fit only for slaves. The owners of
plantations were rich men, their children were educated abroad, and, as
a rule, spent most of their time in foreign travel. A large proportion
of them were simply alien landlords. Unskilled in business, when the
change took place and the slaves were freed, these people were not
prepared to meet the new conditions which confronted them and to adjust
themselves to a new form of life. Here the Spaniard, who is always
anxious for gain, took advantage of the situation, and at the end of the
rebellion of 1868-1878 the Cuban planters, who were formerly rich, found
themselves impoverished. Their slave labour had been taken from them,
their opportunities for further employment of contract coolies had been
lost, and they found themselves in need of outside assistance. The
Spaniards and some others responded by advancing money to them at the
current rate of interest (twelve per cent.), but the planters,
unaccustomed to economise, could not pay expenses and interest, and year
by year their debts grew heavier. Some managed to continue operations,
but many broke down under their burdens and their plantations went to
satisfy their creditors, chiefly Spaniards. Short of labour, the crops
declined; and to add to their troubles, beet-sugar made its advent. The
European beet-growers, with a clear knowledge of conditions in the
Island, were quick to take advantage of them and push their product
forward to supply the Cuban cane-sugar deficit, and so successful were
they that at the end of the insurrection of 1868, say in 1878, Cuba was
practically bankrupt. Competition with the European beet-growers was
difficult, and it was impossible to induce capital from the United
States to restore the sugar industry of Cuba, owing to a lack of
confidence in the stability of the government of the Island.
[Illustration: CANE CUTTERS.]
During the ten years of rebellion, the planters were able to protect
their property by paying regular taxes to the Spanish Government, and at
the same time allowing a certain amount to the insurgents, who agreed
for this not to destroy the plantations. During this period they
employed slave and coolie labour; but they were then subject to the
Moret law, which was, in effect, that each planter should liberate a
certain number of his slaves each year, and this was to continue until
slavery had disappeared. Before this occurred, however, the treaty of
Zanjon was made, whereby all slaves were liberated. By the Moret law,
numbers were given to the slaves by the municipality, the name and
number of the slave written on a slip, which was put in a box and each
year ten per cent. of the names were drawn out. The owners were then
officially notified that certain slaves, giving their numbers, were
free, and this was published in a local paper. Most of these slaves
remained with the planters. This law had a very good effect.
Returning for a moment to the outbreak of the rebellion of 1868, it is
necessary to refer to another sad page in the history of labour in Cuba;
namely, the introduction of coolie labour from China. In 1869 the
importation of slaves into Cuba was stopped, and then commenced the
traffic in coolies, who were shipped from China, cargoes of them being
landed at Havana. They were brought over under a contract for eight
years by a company in Havana which had its own line of steamers. The
contracts were sold to anyone who wished to buy them, at from four
hundred to five hundred dollars per contract. The conditions of a
contract were that the Chinaman was to serve for eight years. He was to
be paid at the rate of four dollars per month, with rations, and was to
receive two suits of clothes and a blanket. If ill for fifteen days, his
wages were to be deducted and his time lost.
One of the conditions of the contract was that at the end of eight years
he was to be considered a citizen of Cuba with such privileges as were
extended to Spanish subjects. Before the expiration of the eight years,
however, those holding these Chinese contracts were notified by the
Spanish authorities that at the expiration of the contract of any coolie
in their employ they were to deliver said coolie to the authorities of
the locality where they were at work. Here, the authorities placed the
coolie on public land, obliging him to work for the municipality, and
held him there until someone offered to take him under a new contract.
This was entirely by force and not optional on the part of the coolie.
The conditions of the new contract were for four years more at
seventeen dollars per month, twelve dollars of which were to be retained
by the municipality, and five dollars were to be given to the coolie. At
the expiration of the four years, if the coolie's conduct had been
satisfactory to his employer, then the municipality was to return to the
Chinaman the money it had retained. The treatment of these coolies was
quite as severe as was ever meted out to an African, and when this
condition of affairs was learned by the Chinese Government, a commission
was sent to Cuba to investigate. A report was made to the Chinese
Government, which resulted in the prohibition of further coolie
emigration from China to Cuba.
Confronted by the loss of his slaves and by the prohibition of further
contracts for coolie labour, the Cuban was at a loss whither to turn for
help. His only hope lay with the Spanish peasants and the Canary
Islanders, and these, in as large numbers as could be secured, were
imported. They were much more valuable than the slaves or the coolies,
but jealousies arose among the Cuban labourers, and the newcomers, being
less numerous, were unable to protect themselves and in many instances
were forced into the towns for protection, thus leaving the planters
quite as short of labour as before, and at the same time increasing the
complications of the labour problem.
In this condition we find Cuba to-day. The great problem will be how to
obtain labour for the plantations, for the mines, and for agricultural
purposes, in order to carry on the work of industrial reconstruction.
All sorts of schemes have been suggested, but upon examination of the
conditions in Cuba, it is feared they will prove impracticable. The life
of the labourer, in consequence of the lack of diversified employment,
and the fact that labour in Cuba is the severest kind of toil, has few
attractions. If the Spanish soldiers are willing to remain and take up
peaceful pursuits, it will aid in the solution of the problem. Possibly
Italians may be induced to emigrate to Cuba, if assured of a stable
government and plenty of work. The opportunity (small allotments and
homes) is limited, and the drudgery on large plantations, without family
life, is not likely to attract those from Europe who are ever eager to
seek homes and broader opportunities in the United States.
When in Cuba, the author visited many plantations and talked with many
planters and overseers on the labour question. The extracts from notes
taken on the spot will be found instructive on this point. The following
excellent explanatory account of farm labour was prepared by an American
who has spent the best part of his life on Cuban plantations and is now
working a prosperous colona, or cane farm:
* * * * *
"From the 1st of December to the 1st of June an average of about 350
people were employed; of these ten per cent. were Canary Islanders or
Spaniards, ten per cent. negro women and boys (white women do no field
work), twenty per cent. native whites, and about sixty per cent. negroes
and mulattos. From the 1st of June to the 1st of December an average of
about 150 were employed. Women do no field work during this period.
"During harvest I give the negro women preference and pay them the same
salaries as the best male labour; they are more constant, their work is
usually well done, and each one keeps her man straight, which is an
appreciable item.
"Next I prefer the negro, because he is, as a rule, a more faithful
worker than either the native white or mulatto, the most of whom are
addicted to gambling, and they cannot be depended on from one day to
another.
"For stowing cane on the cars, ploughing, ditching, road repairing, and
railroad work, Canary Islanders and Spaniards are preferable; they are
more used to this kind of work, more constant, and have fewer vices.
"For cane cutting, carting, planting, and cultivating, native labour, in
particular negro labour, is preferable; because the natives, being
experts, work more rapidly, the cane plant suffers less injury, bringing
in more remunerative returns, and its life is prolonged, which is a big
item to the farmer; the natives are also much less addicted to smoking
in the field, and danger from this source is materially reduced. But as
a rule they are dishonest, and untruthful in the extreme, and this is
general and applies both to whites and blacks, the latter being the
champions. Canary Islanders and Spaniards are cigarette smokers and they
are dangerous in the cane fields.
"At the present time labour is very poor and very much demoralised. Many
of the abler men are in the insurrection, a great number of those
remaining have seen mothers, wives, and children dying a lingering death
from hunger; some could obtain work for their food, while others earned
a salary of from six to eight dollars per month in depreciated Spanish
silver. Provisions were high, and the Government increased taxes on
meats and other necessaries, until these poor ignorant people, bent down
by great sorrow and seeing no help for themselves, gave up in despair
and became indifferent.
"During the past crop, as well as at the present time, I employ a
considerable number of Asiatics, but many of these are opium smokers and
much debilitated, and we calculate on sixty per cent. only being at
work, while forty per cent. are resting in their barracon.[9]
SALARIES
"The average salaries paid by this colona during normal times, that is,
previous to the insurrection, were about as follows:
ALL THE YEAR
Administration.........per month, $166.66 gold, and maintenance.
Servant................ " " 30.00 " " "
Overseer............... " " 85.00 " " "
Second overseer........ " " 35.00 " " "
Steward and bookkeeper. " " 50.00 " " "
Assistant.............. " " 25.00 " " "
Carpenter.............. " " 35.00 " " "
Montero................ " " 25.00 " " "
Assistant.............. " " 20.00 " " "
Hostler................ " " 20.00 " " "
Assistant.............. " " 15.00 " " "
Pumping water.......... " " 6.00 " " "
Cook................... " " 30.00 " " "
Assistant.............. " " 25.00 " " "
Night watchman......... " " 20.00 " " "
Mounted field-guard.... " " 30.00 " " "
" " " .... " " 25.00 " " "
DURING CROP TIME
Mounted field guard............. per month, $25.00 gold, and maintenance.
" " " ............. " " 25.00 " " "
Time-keeper..................... " " 20.00 " " "
Waiter for operatives' table.... " " 15.00 " " "
Vegetable gardener.............. " " 20.00 " " "
Bueyero......................... " " 22.00 " " "
Assistant....................... " " 16.00 " " "
" ....................... " " 12.00 " " "
Foreman with cartmen............ " " 30.00 " " "
Assistant....................... " " 23.00 " " "
Foreman with stevedores......... " " 28.00 " " "
Cartmen......................... " " 23.00 " " "
Ploughmen....................... " " 23.00 " " "
Cane cutters.................... " " 21.00 " " "
Cane lifters.................... " " 15.00 " " "
Cane loaders (stevedores)....... " " 21.00 " " "
"During the summer months wages for field labour averaged about $17 per
month. Cost for maintaining labour averaged about $7.50 per month in
gold; cost for maintaining overseers, foremen, carpenters, cooks,
stewards, guards, etc., amounted to about $12 per month.
"Rations for each man per day were as follows:
"Clear beef, one pound, or its equivalent in tasajo or salt fish.
"Rice, one pound, or its equivalent in beans, peas, macaroni, etc.
"Lard, two ounces.
"Coffee, one ounce.
"Sugar, two ounces.
"Bread, six ounces, or instead of bread, sweet potatoes, plantains, or
melanga.
"Sweet-oil, bacon, salt, and spices sufficient to season the food.
"During the winter months, cabbage, tomatoes, and turnips are served
every day without regard to rations.
RULES AND REGULATIONS
"When a labourer enters his name on the pay-roll he receives his machete
or hoe, tin plate, tin dipper, and spoon, the same being charged to him
and credited when returned.
"Time-keeper makes his rounds twice every day.
"Away from the batey[10] smoking is absolutely prohibited, and the
penalty is immediate dimissal.
"Salaries are paid any day between 11 A.M. and 1 P.M., Sundays excepted,
to those who desire the money.
"Except in case of sickness, meals are charged to those who are not at
work.
"To the sick such medicines as we have are given free; the most
prominent of these is quinine.
"If a man remains in the barracon sick for more than two days he is sent
to his home, or to a hospital. If it is an injury received in the
service of the colona, he is cared for until able to work again.
"The bell tolls at 4 A.M. for the people to get up; at break of day,
after having drunk a cup of coffee, they go to the field; at 11 o'clock
they return to breakfast; at 1 o'clock they again go to the field; at 6
o'clock they come in to dinner, and at 8 o'clock the bell sounds
silence, after which absolute quiet is enforced. The negro is fond of
his music and dancing, and this is permitted at seasonable hours, and
sometimes the overseer gives special permission to prolong their
amusements beyond the usual hour.
"Gambling is prohibited, but the rule cannot be successfully enforced.
"In the dry season (at mid-day) when the people are in the batey,
sentinels are stationed on the hills to give timely warning of cane
fires.
"Armed guards patrol the fields by day, and guard the cattle at
night--this applies to times of peace.
ADVANTAGES OF LARGE COLONAS OVER SMALL ONES
"During my experience in this vicinity I have never known a single
instance where a small colona prospered or was able to extricate itself
from debt, and this condition is owing to various causes. A colona
employing from three hundred to four hundred men can be carried on more
economically than one employing from one hundred to two hundred men. The
high-salaried men in the one are very nearly the same as in the other,
but the small farmers with fifty or two hundred acres fare much worse.
These purchase everything they require at retail, often paying from
fifteen to thirty per cent. more than the large farmers, who purchase at
wholesale and receive rebate for prompt payment. A small farmer
employing ten men requires a cook; the larger, employing three hundred
men, requires but two cooks. The small farmer is always cramped for
money, has but a limited credit with the central, and outside of that
none, except with an occasional country storekeeper, who may consider
the risk and accommodate him by charging exorbitant interest. The money
which ought to be expended on the cane fields goes to pay this interest,
his fields get to such low ebb that the cane no longer pays the expense
for harvesting, he can obtain no money for replanting, fails to pay his
rent, and the owner of the land takes possession of what remains,
resulting in some other poor fellow stepping in only to repeat his
predecessor's experience.
"The cost for preparing, breaking up, cross-ploughing, making,
furrowing, seed cane, planting, cultivating, wear and tear to
implements, and weeding one caballeria[11] of cane to maturity, and
doing it well, is from $1400 to $1600, according to conditions of soil,
salaries, etc., and under normal conditions will here require from three
to four years before the farmer can see any profits, and then only by
intelligent management and good soil; soil which requires planting every
three to five years will ruin any man.
"The average yield of cane per caballeria in Guabairo for 1895 was about
71,500 arrobas,[12] and the cost per one hundred arrobas for weeding,
cutting, carting, and delivering to the central amounted to about $1.84.
"During the crop time we employed from one hundred and fifty to two
hundred Chinamen; of the balance of the labourers, probably there were
more negroes than Spanish, with the white Cubans in a distinct minority.
The Chinamen we have here now make very steady workmen, but they are
weak, and not able to do as much work per day as either a negro or a
Spaniard can do in the field. The best workmen we have, if we can get
enough of them, are the negroes. One negro in cutting cane, can do as
much as two of any other class; but I do not think this country is
adapted for the American negro, from what I have heard of him, as he
would have to put up with hardships here, and a style of eating and
living which, I imagine, is not as good as he has in the southern part
of the United States. The immigration of Chinese is prohibited, although
a few manage to get in at a time. I do not know of any other
restrictions on immigration. I do not believe the Jamaica negro would
make a good workman; for, from what I have heard of him, he is very
lazy, and would not be at all a desirable labourer. Thus our only hope
for labour is to retain here the Canary Islanders, because they are
harder working and can stand the climate better than others. They are
men who can save money here, and that in itself is proof that they must
be steady workmen, because they earn so little. Galicians are also good
workers, but so far as I know of the men working here, the Canary
Islanders are the best. The white men are mainly employed as stevedores
in the batey, though they are also good labourers in the field.
"As a rule the labourers are not married. The families of the married
labourers live in the villages in the neighbourhood. The men must sleep
in the batey at night. Sunday they work half a day, and get paid for a
full day, provided they have worked five full days during the week;
otherwise they only get half a day's pay. The men sleep in large rooms
called barracones; sleeping in hammocks, and not taking their clothes
off. Many of them possess but one suit, and on Sundays, after breakfast,
they go to a stream, wash their clothes, lie around until they are dry,
and then put them on again. For the better class of workmen, employed in
the factory, the machinery helpers, etc., we have bath-houses. These men
have rooms, and as a rule they are unmarried. Most of the labouring men,
if they have families, when they are paid off, go away for a day, or a
day and a half, and take their money to their families, and then come
back to work. Those who are not married, keep on working or stay off a
few days. It is quite uncommon to find a labouring man who can read and
write. Their chief vice is gambling, the Cuban and Spaniard being
similar about this, though we try on this estate to prevent gambling as
much as possible. The Chinese gamble and smoke opium. The bell rings at
8 P.M., at which time the men are supposed to be in their barracones,
and are not supposed to walk around the batey, this rule not being
enforced except during the last two years.
"The price of labour, in 1895, for cutting cane, etc., before the
insurrection commenced, varied from fourteen dollars to twenty dollars
per month, Spanish gold. This has fallen off to from twelve dollars to
fifteen dollars, Spanish silver, paid during the past crop for the same
labour--in American gold about fifty-five per cent. of this. The
maintenance per month per man is nine dollars, Spanish gold. This fall
in wages was necessitated by the fall in the price of sugar, and by the
fact that but few plantations in the neighbourhood were able to continue
working."
* * * * *
Labour seeking employment in Cuba must face these conditions. That the
field will prove sufficiently attractive to tempt immigration in large
numbers, even from the poorer sections of Europe, is doubtful. Still,
with more prosperous times, the Canary Islanders may try their fortunes
in the future as they have tried them successfully in the past; and so
with Italians, Spaniards, South and Central Americans, and even the
Southern negro of the United States, despite the fact, as stated above,
that the American negro will not come to Cuba because the work is too
hard and the food and accommodations too poor. But the American negro
will, unwittingly, no doubt be the pioneer of a new labour era in Cuba.
With the coming of the new order and new people, will come higher ideas
of labour, and that which has ennobled labour in the United States will
have its elevating influence among the labouring people of Cuba. Herding
labourers in barracones like so many cattle, sleeping them, feeding
them, bathing them, with less care than is shown to fine cattle, ruling
them with whip and spur, making no provision or allowing no time for
their mental or moral improvement, regarding them merely as so much live
stock, but of less value than cattle, because when too old to work they
cannot be slaughtered and eaten, it is small wonder that the crying need
of the sugar-planter for two centuries has been sufficient and efficient
labour. When the planter, under the newer influences which shall soon
prevail, learns that by education, by the adoption and enforcement of
sanitary regulations, by the establishment of homes, by the observance
of the decent amenities of life, by the liberalising of religious
belief, by the recognition of human rights, and by the general uplifting
of the sentiment of work, a sufficiency of labour may be easily secured,
and its efficiency guaranteed, the problem so long unsolved will be made
as clear as day, and Cuba will enter an era of prosperity for all
classes that will astonish and attract the world.
There is at this time a steady increase in the demand for labour on
plantations and, in Santiago Province, for the mines. While in Cuba the
author received one cable despatch calling for fifteen hundred labourers
for the mines, while three large planters stood ready, among them, to
employ a thousand men to work in the sugar fields. In the neighbourhood
of the sugar plantations all the able-bodied men had either been killed
in battle, died of disease and starvation, or were still in a state of
practical destitution, hidden away in the insurgent camps. Those who
offered themselves for employment were, as a rule, too weak to endure
the hard labour. Three years of privations and lack of food had
destroyed their stamina. To be sure, there is surplus labour in
Havana,--able-bodied labour,--but those who applied there had no means
of transportation to the localities where they could obtain work.
Through a suggestion made by the writer to an enterprising American
concern, four hundred of these Havana labourers were sent to Santiago.
It is estimated that at least three thousand additional labourers could
be well employed in these mines at once, if it were possible to send
them from the spots where starvation stares them in the face to the
localities where work can be obtained for those able to endure, as
already indicated, the hardest toil under trying climatic conditions.
Many Spanish soldiers desire to remain in the Island. They have formed
alliances in Cuba; some of them have married and have families there.
These men have come before American officials and entreated them to aid
in finding them employment of some kind, either as Civil Guards, in the
mines, or on the plantations. As a rule they make industrious and
faithful labourers. Attention is called to an extract from a letter
written by a prominent business man of Havana,--the man, in fact, who in
October was employed to send the four hundred labourers from that city
to Santiago:
"I advertised for labourers in the Santiago mines in our principal
newspapers, and, in consequence, have had for the last three days
at least one hundred and twenty men calling at my office for
situations. They are willing to accept the price offered, but not
one of them can pay the passage from this port to Santiago.
"Lots of soldiers, lots of labourers, many of whom have already
worked in the Santiago mines and know all about the work, living,
and everything else, but were taken away from there as guerrillas,
volunteers, and soldiers of some kind, are willing to go; but, as
you will understand, the people here have been without work and the
soldiers without any pay, and therefore nobody can pay the passage.
"While I have been writing these lines several men have called on
me, but it is the same thing over and over again; they need work,
and are willing to work, but they have not got one cent to save
their souls."
It is believed this indicates clearly and without exaggeration the
present conditions in Havana as regards would-be labourers and their
suffering for want of work. During fifteen years' experience in
operating iron mines in Cuba, those who know say, the labour question
there has always been the unsolved problem, as never during that time
have they been able fully to supply their wants in this direction. If
the number of labourers has not in normal times been sufficient to
satisfy the requirements of all industries in Cuba, how much will it
fall short under the new conditions? The only hope for the renewal of
prosperity in the Island is, first, the rehabilitation of the sugar
industry; second, a revival of work on the tobacco plantations; and
third, a full complement of men in the mining districts. These
industries are the basis of the prosperity of the Island. A better
distribution of labour will aid somewhat, and if this is accomplished
intelligently by the United States Government, employment can be found
for thousands whose presence in Havana without work is a menace to the
city. It should be borne in mind that the Cuban harvest is in the winter
months, and therefore plans should at once be inaugurated by which those
who want work can be immediately brought to those anxious to give them
employment. A small expenditure of money in this direction now will save
a large expenditure in the future in some other and less desirable ways.
It is useless to try to create new industries until the old and strong
industries of the Island are re-established. If it is difficult, after
the Spanish soldiers leave, to secure the necessary labour for the
plantations, producing, as they will this year, a maximum of 400,000
tons of sugar for export, where are the labourers coming from to produce
the high-water mark of 1,100,000 tons of sugar? The process of
industrial reconstruction will necessarily be slow and depend in a large
degree upon the stability of the Government and the rapidity with which
the people settle down to work. There is no possibility, however, of a
surplus labour supply. Work can be found for all capable and willing to
perform hard labour now that the affairs of the Island have passed into
the hands of the United States military authorities and the new customs
tariff has gone into force. From this time the work of repairing the
dismantled sugar plantations should go forward and thousands of
labourers will be required. Whatever may be the future of Cuba, the
present must be provided for and life and property and the right to
labour be protected.
The disposal of the insurgent troops is so intimately interwoven with
the labour problem that it is difficult to separate the two. Some of
the insurgent troops should be, and probably will be, utilised as Civil
Guards, supplementing the United States forces; but those who are not
needed for this purpose should be systematically aided as far as
possible in any endeavours they may make to secure work. Men with hardly
clothes to cover their nakedness, who have existed for three years on a
diet that would kill the ordinary American labourer in three weeks, and
who have practically foraged for their daily existence, must be helped a
little before they can stand alone--helped at least to the extent of
food and raiment and transportation to the locality where there is work
in abundance.
Lastly, in this connection, the need of homes in Cuba is one of the most
pressing. The condition of those who labour on the plantations is truly
deplorable. They literally have none of the necessities of civilisation.
A complete state of savagery would be preferable to the condition of
those employed on the sugar estates, who toil from early sunrise to
sunset on rations of the plainest sort, and live in huts built of the
bark of palm trees and thatched with the palm leaf.
CHAPTER VII
THE POPULATION OF CUBA
The number and the characteristics of the people of Cuba are matters of
doubt. If not of doubt exactly, at least there seem to be many
discrepancies in relation to the numerical side of the problem, and
great variation in opinion as to the qualities and peculiarities of the
several classes of inhabitants which constitute the people of the
Island. Before attempting to discuss the traits of the people, it may be
advisable to ascertain, as far as practicable, the component parts of
the population, and for that purpose recourse must be had to such
statistical data as may be found available. The census report of Cuba
can be obtained, but it is not issued, like our own, in book form, or
even as printed reports. The results, moreover, are not worked out with
any degree of detail as to age, sex, race, marital condition,
occupation, and such other data as make an analysis of the population of
the United States a comparatively easy task. The first census of Cuba
was taken as far back as 1774, and since then the population has been
enumerated at various periods, apparently when it suited the convenience
or desire of the authorities at Madrid. The last count of the people was
in December, 1897, but the returns from this enumeration have not been
tabulated. The authorities admit they are imperfect in the four
provinces of Pinar del Rio, Havana, Matanzas, and Santa Clara, and that
they lack entirely the population of Puerto Principe and Santiago de
Cuba. It may, therefore, be expedient that this work should be abandoned
and that the United States authorities should take a complete and
satisfactory census of the Island in December (for it cannot be taken
in the month of June), 1899, or December, 1900, either of which dates
will be near enough to the date of our own Twelfth Census, which will be
June 1, 1900--the earlier date will probably be better for Cuba and
nearer our own census. Such an enumeration should elicit information in
relation to occupations and such social topics as will aid in
constructing a suitable government for the people of Cuba. The method of
taking the Cuban census has been crude and the returns not very
reliable. The organisation for the work has always been made in Spain
and delegated to a Central Board in Cuba, which board is presided over
by a Cabinet Minister--the last by Mr. Montoro, Secretary of State. The
Secretary to this Board is the Director of Census. The schedules are
then forwarded to the municipalities, who thus control their own
enumerations. Fortunately for Cuba, there are no "boom towns," so the
returns are not unduly padded. The schedules for the rural districts are
handled from the capital of the province. When the schedules are filled,
they are sent to Havana, where the work of tabulation is performed. The
completed work is sent to Spain for approval and promulgation. The
method seems roundabout and cumbersome and must result in a large
percentage of errors. The official who had charge of the last census
admitted it was not exact--excepting possibly for some places where the
municipal authorities took pride in the work. This was the case in
Matanzas, where a census was taken in 1893, which seems on the face to
be careful statistical work. A study of the census columns of
unfortunate Cuba reveals the story of that Island in unmistakable terms.
(See table on page 92.)
Disease and war have performed their fatal work and from time to time
decimated the inhabitants. The cheerful side of the picture is the
constant increase of population from 1852 to 1867. These few years were
called the Golden Age of Cuba. The cholera visited Cuba at the end of
the year 1868, and the Ten Years' War began October 10, 1868, at which
time many Cubans emigrated. This will explain the decrease of the year
1869. From 1870 to 1877 Spanish soldiers poured into the country, and
not less than 200,000 Spaniards were sent there to crush the
insurrection of 1868 to 1878 (Ten Years' War).
POPULATION OF CUBA AT THE SEVERAL ENUMERATIONS OF THE POPULATION OF THE
ISLAND
----------------+-----------+-----------+----------
| | Increase | Decrease
YEARS. | TOTALS. | Per cent. | Per cent.
----------------+-----------+-----------+----------
1774 | 171,620 | .... | ....
1787 | 176,167 | 2.64 | ....
1792 | 273,939 | 55.49 | ....
1804 | 432,000 | 57.69 | ....
1810 | 600,000 | 38.88 | ....
1817 | 635,604 | 5.93 | ....
1819 | 553,033 | .... | 12.99
1825 | 715,000 | 29.28 | ....
1827 | 704,487 | .... | 1.47
1830 | 755,695 | 7.26 | ....
1841 | 1,007,625 | 33.33 | ....
1846 | 898,754 | .... | 10.80
1849 | 945,440 | 5.19 | ....
1850 | 973,742 | 2.99 | ....
1852 | 984,042 | 1.05 | ....
1855 | 1,044,185 | 6.11 | ....
1857 | 1,110,095 | 6.31 | ....
1859 | 1,129,304 | 1.72 | ....
1860 | 1,199,429 | 6.20 | ....
1862 | 1,396,470 | 16.42 | ....
1867 | 1,426,475 | 2.14 | ....
1869 | 1,399,811 | .... | 1.86
1874 | 1,446,372 | 3.32 | ....
1877 | 1,521,684 | 5.20 | ....
1887 | 1,631,687 | 7.23 | ....
1899 (est.) | 1,200,000 | .... | 2.65
----------------+-----------+-----------+----------
[Illustration: A COUNTRY VILLA.]
Then came the last war, which has been even more disastrous, and many
competent authorities put the loss by disease, starvation, and slain at
400,000. It is impossible to verify these figures until we shall have an
accurate enumeration of the population, so it must remain guesswork
until then. Whatever the result of the next census may show, the fact
remains apparent that the population of Cuba, by reason of its
misfortunes, is far behind the natural increment; that is, the growth by
excess of births over deaths. This is shown by the following table,
giving the estimated population of the Island of Cuba from 1774 to 1894,
by decades, taking the average rate of increase of the _native_
population in the United States by census decades:
-------------------------+-------+------------|-------------------
|YEAR. | Estimated |
| |Population. |
-------------------------+-------+------------|-------------------
|1774 | 171,620 |As by Mr. Bonnet's
|1784 | 216,928 |table as increased
|1794 | 274,197 |by United States
|1804 | 346,585 |census rates,
|1814 | 438,083 |estimated averages.
|1824 | 554,537 |
|1834 | 700,934 |
|1844 | 885,981 |
From 1850 to 1890 native |1854 | 1,119,880 |
and foreign were given |1864 | 1,459,204 |
separately by census |1874 | 1,772,718 |
takers; previously no |1884 | 2,336,442 |
such count was made. |1894 | 2,869,150 |
-------------------------+-------+------------+-------------------
In the opening chapter of this volume the point was made that Cuba, had
it been permitted to remain in peace and enjoy its advantages, should
have had a population ranging from 4,500,000 to 5,000,000. That this
statement is borne out may be noted in the subjoined table, which gives
the estimated population of the Island of Cuba from 1774 to 1894, taking
the average rate of increase of the _total_ population in the United
States, by census decades:
--------------------------+-------------|----------------------------------
YEAR. | Estimated |
| Population. |
--------------------------+-------------|----------------------------------
1774......................| 171,620 | As per Mr. Bonnet's table.
1784......................| 231,687 } |
1794......................| 312,777 } |
1804......................| 378,460 } |
1814......................| 516,144 } |
1824......................| 686,832 } | Increased at United States census
1834......................| 917,264 } | rates for decades, estimated
1844......................| 1,216,934 } | averages.
1854......................| 1,653,448 } |
1864......................| 2,241,745 } |
1874......................| 2,749,051 } |
1884......................| 3,575,965 } |
1894......................| 4,464,950 } |
--------------------------+-------------|----------------------------------
The rate of growth of the Western Hemisphere, had Cuba been allowed to
enjoy her natural advantages, would have found her at the close of 1900
with close upon 5,000,000 population and a country as flourishing as
that pictured in the early part of this volume.
The population of the Island of Cuba, as enumerated on the 31st of
December, 1887, was 1,631,687. This population was scattered over an
area of about 122,606 square kilometres. These figures give an average
density of population of 13.31 inhabitants to the square kilometre, the
maximum of which appeared to be in the province of Havana (52.49), and
the minimum in the province of Puerto Principe (2.10).
CENSUS OF DECEMBER 31, 1887
----------------------+-------------+-------------+-------------
| | | Density per
PROVINCE. | Number | Square | Square
|Inhabitants. | Kilometres. | Kilometre.
----------------------+-------------+-------------+-------------
Havana | 451,928 | 8,610 | 52.49
Matanzas | 259,578 | 8,486 | 30.59
Pinar del Rio | 225,891 | 14,967 | 15.09
Puerto Principe | 67,789 | 32,341 | 2.10
Santa Clara | 354,122 | 23,083 | 15.34
Santiago de Cuba | 272,379 | 35,119 | 7.76
|-------------+-------------+-------------
| 1,631,687 | 122,606 | 13.31
----------------------+-------------+-------------+-------------
Distributed as white population and coloured people, the latter
comprising negroes and half-breeds and Asiatics, the proportions were as
follows:
CENSUS OF DECEMBER 31, 1887
-----------------+-------------------+------------------+------------------
| NUMBER | DENSITY PER |
| INHABITANTS. |SQUARE KILOMETRE. | PERCENTAGE.
+---------+---------+--------+---------+--------+---------
PROVINCE. | Whites. |Coloured.| Whites.|Coloured.| Whites.|Coloured.
-----------------+---------+---------+--------+---------+--------+---------
Havana | 335,782| 116,146 | 39.00 | 13.49 | 74.30 | 25.70
Matanzas | 142,040| 117,538 | 16.74 | 13.85 | 54.72 | 45.28
Pinar del Rio | 166,678| 59,213 | 11.14 | 3.95 | 73.79 | 26.21
Puerto Principe | 54,581| 13,208 | 1.69 | 0.41 | 80.52 | 19.48
Santa Clara | 245,097| 109,025 | 10.62 | 4.72 | 69.27 | 30.73
Santiago de Cuba | 158,711| 113,668 | 4.52 | 3.24 | 58.27 | 41.73
+---------+---------+--------+---------+--------+---------
|1,102,889| 528,798 | 9.00 | 4.31 | 67.59 | 32.41
+---------+---------+--------+---------+--------+---------
| 1,631,687 13.31 100.
-----------------+---------------------------------------------------------
It will be observed that the number of whites is greatest in the
province of Havana, but the highest percentage of whites is found in the
province of Puerto Principe (80.52). The province of Matanzas shows the
greatest number of the coloured race, which is explained by the fact
that slavery prevailed more extensively in that province than elsewhere.
The proportion of males and females was as follows:
CENSUS OF DECEMBER 31, 1887
-------------------------+------------------------+------------------------
| NUMBER OF INHABITANTS. | PERCENTAGE.
PROVINCE. +------------------------+------------------------
| Males. | Females. | Males. Females.
+-----------+------------+-----------+------------
Havana...................| 243,966 | 207,962 | 53.98 | 46.02
Matanzas.................| 148,876 | 110,702 | 57.35 | 42.65
Pinar del Rio............| 122,829 | 103,062 | 54.38 | 45.62
Puerto Principe..........| 35,843 | 31,946 | 52.87 | 47.13
Santa Clara..............| 193,496 | 160,626 | 54.64 | 45.36
Santiago de Cuba.........| 137,590 | 134,789 | 50.51 | 49.49
+-----------+------------+-----------+------------
| 882,600 | 749,087 | 54.09 | 45.91
-------------------------+-----------+------------+-----------+------------
Notice that in each province, males are in excess of females. The
immigration of women into Cuba has always been small. The proportion of
males and females of the white and coloured races is as follows:
CENSUS OF DECEMBER 31, 1887
-------------------------+-------------------------------------------------
| WHITES.
+------------------------+------------------------
| NUMBER OF INHABITANTS. | PERCENTAGE.
PROVINCE. +-----------+------------+-----------+------------
| Males. | Females. | Males. | Females.
+-----------+------------+-----------+------------
Havana...................| 188,269 | 147,513 | 56.07 | 43.93
Matanzas.................| 79,362 | 62,678 | 55.87 | 44.13
Pinar del Rio............| 91,627 | 75,051 | 54.97 | 45.03
Puerto Principe..........| 29,473 | 25,108 | 53.99 | 46.01
Santa Clara..............| 134,412 | 110,685 | 54.84 | 45.16
Santiago de Cuba.........| 84,044 | 74,667 | 52.95 | 47.05
+-----------+------------+-----------+------------
| 607,187 | 495,702 | 55.05 | 44.95
-------------------------+-----------+------------+-----------+------------
-------------------------+-------------------------------------------------
| COLOURED.
+------------------------+------------------------
| NUMBER OF INHABITANTS. | PERCENTAGE.
PROVINCE. +-----------+------------+-----------+------------
| Males. | Females. | Males. | Females.
+-----------+------------+-----------+------------
Havana...................| 55,697 | 60,449 | 47.95 | 52.05
Matanzas.................| 69,514 | 48,024 | 59.14 | 40.86
Pinar del Rio............| 31,202 | 28,011 | 52.69 | 47.31
Puerto Principe..........| 6,370 | 6,838 | 48.23 | 51.77
Santa Clara..............| 59,084 | 49,941 | 54.12 | 45.88
Santiago de Cuba.........| 53,546 | 60,122 | 47.20 | 52.80
+-----------+------------+-----------+------------
| 275,413 | 253,385 | 52.46 | 47.54
-------------------------+-----------+------------+-----------+------------
Notice that the proportion of males is larger in the white race than in
the coloured. The enumeration of the population of Cuba in 1877 resulted
as follows:
CENSUS OF YEAR 1877
----------------+-------------------+-----------------+------------------
| Number of | |
| Inhabitants. | DENSITY. | PERCENTAGE.
PROVINCE +---------+---------+-------+---------+--------+---------
| Whites.|Coloured.|Whites.|Coloured.|Whites. |Coloured.
----------------+---------+---------+-------+---------+--------+---------
Havana..........| 321,951| 113,945 |37.59 | 13.24 | 73.86 | 26.14
Matanzas........| 160,806| 122,315 |19.11 | 14.41 | 56.80 | 43.20
Pinar del Rio...| 128,986| 53,218 | 8.62 | 3.55 | 70.79 | 29.21
Puerto Principe.| 57,692| 11,553 | 1.78 | 0.36 | 83.32 | 16.68
Santa Clara.....| 219,294| 102,103 | 9.50 | 4.42 | 68.23 | 31.77
Santiago de Cuba| 143,706| 86,115 | 4.09 | 2.45 | 62.53 | 37.47
+---------+---------+-------+---------+--------+---------
|1,032,435| 489,249 | 8.42 | 3.99 | 67.85 | 32.15
+---------+---------+-------+---------+--------+---------
| 1,521,684 12.41 100
----------------+--------------------------------------------------------
The increase in population from 1877 to 1887 was 110,003 individuals, or
7.23 per cent. The number of whites increased 70,454; the number of
coloured people increased 39,549. Asiatics in this census, numbering
43,811, were included with the whites.
[Illustration: CUBAN "GUARACHERO" (MINSTREL).]
There are four classes of Cuban residents: the whites, the coloured, the
blacks, and the Chinese.
The whites comprise native Cubans, Spaniards, and foreigners; a certain
proportion in the interior being Canary Islanders, who are fitted by
constitution, habits, and tastes for farm work.
The native Cuban is usually bright, and is gifted particularly with a
remarkable memory. Children are very precocious, and, when given
educational advantages, they develop into men of no mean ability. In
addition to the intelligent Cubans residing in the Island, whose
reputation in different branches of learning extends abroad, there are
many who have attained honourable distinction in foreign countries, in
competition with others whose advantages were conspicuously greater. Dr.
Albarran, the well-known Paris physician, and Albertini, the violinist,
are two of the many Cubans who have struggled and succeeded in Europe by
dint of their individual exertions and natural talents. In America, a
most distinguished professor of civil engineering, two leading civil
engineers in the navy, and the most eminent authority on yellow fever in
the country are native Cubans.
Havana is the only city in Cuba where any instruction is obtainable, and
it is noticeable there that even the boys of the poorer classes are
anxious to follow the university courses after leaving school.
In former days the sons of wealthy Cubans led the typical life of
gentlemen of leisure. It was customary among them to take a profession,
if that could be accomplished with little or no exertion. The remainder
of their lives was usually spent in travelling through Europe. The
present generation, however, is very different. It is composed of the
sons of men who have been on the verge of bankruptcy for many years,
owing to their thoughtless extravagance. They have had to work for their
living from the moment they have left college, and, owing to the
increasing poverty of the Island, they have never been able to
reconstruct the fortunes ill spent by their forbears. The consequence
is that one finds in Cuba the younger generation to be, as a class,
vastly superior to the older men in principles, education, and working
capacity.
The Cuban is more analytical than inventive. His mind easily grasps
subjects on which he has received very little information; but he is
decidedly lacking in inventive and constructive power.
The Cuban mother is very affectionate, but her maternal fondness often
leads her into indulgence of the many failings of childhood, that, in
later life, are impossible to overcome. Prevarication and pilfering are
no uncommon failings of child-life in Cuba. Despite these weaknesses,
children are so generous that their parents find it hard to prevent them
from sharing their pocket-money with their young friends. Their
politeness and affability are striking.
Cuban hospitality is proverbial. In the old and prosperous days of
wealth it was a common thing for whole families to constitute themselves
guests at the country-house of some friendly sugar-planter, and spend
Christmas or Holy Week there without having given the host a word of
warning. The planter, far from resenting this proceeding, invariably
provided entertainment for his self-invited guests in the shape of
riding parties, picnics, and dancing, considering himself highly
honoured by the unforeseen advent of his friends. Like most Southerners,
the Cubans are musically inclined. They dance well, and prolonged
dancing parties are a favourite form of amusement.
There was an old Spanish law, in force up to some years ago, which
entitled all suitors in marriage, whose proposals had been opposed, to
demand that the lady's parents state before the courts the reasons of
their objections. There are interesting cases recorded of proud young
Cubans who, animated by a high sense of honour, have availed themselves
of this harsh expedient, in preference to breaking their vows to their
lady-loves. The opposition in most cases was due to the fact that the
father of the young lady was Spanish and the suitor Cuban. There is an
instance of a man prominent in Havana circles who, taking advantage of
this privilege, married a lady, and refused to accept his wife's
patrimony, and the father-in-law brought suit to compel him to do so. It
was only after many years, when the allowance, handed periodically to
the court, had accumulated to a considerable sum, that a compromise was
reached and a reconciliation took place between the father and the
married couple.
Cubans are very much attached to family life. Deep affection usually
exists among the members of families, and they follow each other's
affairs with great interest, even after the families break up.
In Cuban houses, the first morning meal, or "coffee" as it is called,
consists of coffee and rolls; breakfast then follows at ten or eleven
o'clock, consisting, usually, of fried eggs, hash, fried plantains,
sweet potatoes, meat, and _café au lait_. Dinner takes place at six or
seven o'clock. Occasionally fruit is served at two or three o'clock.
Visits are exchanged in the evening; but ladies follow the European
custom of calling in the afternoon. Most families have an "at home" one
evening every week to receive their friends. Married ladies may go out
shopping alone early in the day. Among intimate friends young men
occasionally call on their young lady friends alone, but this is not
general, European customs prevailing.
The Cubans are very fond of fencing, and it is remarkable that the good
fencers scarcely ever have duels, or seek quarrels. Duelling is
practised _ad libitum_ in all Cuba among the upper class. Just before
the war it had become an everyday occurrence; in fact, in one week as
many as five duels took place between men well known in Havana society
and clubs. As a rule the seconds manage to stop the fight after the
first wound, even catching at the pretext of a flesh wound on the
forearm; appealing to the attending surgeon to state whether he
considers the wound will impair the free use of the arm, and also if
there is any chance of nervous twitches setting in from the pain. It is
unnecessary to add that the surgeon invariably finds that it is very
likely that all of these contingencies may occur--thereby stopping the
duel, and "honour is satisfied."
Baseball, bull-fights, and cock-fights were the most popular
entertainments until recently; cock-fights have waned now in popularity
considerably, whilst bull-fights are patronised by the Spanish element
exclusively. Baseball continues to hold public favour, and since its
introduction some twenty years ago a taste for athletics has developed
among the Cubans, which was lacking before. Horse-racing was in vogue
while there was capital to import foreign half-breeds, but it has now
completely died out.
The foreign population of the Island is comparatively limited. A large
number of German merchants are engaged in all branches of the tobacco
business, which they practically control. It will be found that the
knowledge and experience of the Germans in this respect have given them
preferment in the direction and management of the largest syndicates and
tobacco firms. A sprinkling of English, Americans, and French are to be
found throughout the country.
The coloured inhabitants of Cuba (mulattoes) are usually the children of
black women and white fathers--the cases of a white woman having
children with a black father being so rare as to be nearly unknown. In
the cities the mulattoes are servants,--not hotel waiters, for they are
all Spaniards,--barbers, and occasionally musicians. Mulatto women,
though usually very statuesque in appearance, are unprincipled and
insolent.
[Illustration: A NATIVE HUT.
FROM A PHOTOGRAPH BY J. F. COONLEY, NASSAU, N. P.]
The Cuban negro inherits from his forefathers, the African slaves, a
physique and a character strengthened and tempered by the toil of
generations. During the sugar season he works steadily, from four in the
morning until sunset every day, taking only two hours of rest with his
meals. The coloured population shows no inclination to be on terms of
equality with the white, and though under General Calleja's
administration negroes and mulattoes were all granted the handle of
"Don" (Mr.) to their names, and though the right to be recognised in
hotels, theatres, street-cars, etc., on equal terms with the whites has
been extended to them, they have not availed themselves of the privilege
to any extent.
The savagery of the African negro has, unfortunately, shown itself among
his descendants in the Island. Some years ago a secret society called
"Ñañigos" was introduced in Havana. These Ñañigos are divided into
bands, whose object is to fight and kill each other. They commit all
sorts of depredations and crimes. It has often been shown that the
police have been in their pay. Some four hundred were banished some time
ago to Spanish penitentiaries, together with political suspects, with
whom they were chained in couples and marched through the streets of
Havana prior to embarking. This is one of the many acts of refined
cruelty that the Spaniards committed during the late insurrection; most
respectable and honourable men, accused of sympathising in the cause of
the rebellion, were chained arm to arm with negroes of the lowest caste,
who, besides being convicted for crime, defiled the very atmosphere
around them from the filth of their attire. The Ñañigos have lately been
returned to Havana and set free, where they have lost no time in
renewing their criminal work.
The Chinese element was brought over by contract for working on sugar
plantations. They were virtually slaves until the Chinese Government
intervened in their behalf.
The following extract from the comprehensive report of Mr. Robert T.
Hill, of the United States Geological Survey on the Island of Cuba, may
be considered as authority on the subject of population:
THE CUBANS
"Seventy-five percent. of the native population of the Island is
found outside of the Spanish capital of Habana, which, being the
seat of an unwelcome foreign despotism, is no more representative
of Cuban life or character than is the English city of Hong Kong of
the rural Chinese. While the Habanese have had the freest
communication with the United States during the last three years of
the revolution, Americans have had little opportunity to hear from
the true white Cuban population. The Cubans are mostly found in the
provinces and provincial cities, especially in Pinar del Rio and
the eastern provinces of Santa Clara, Puerto Principe, and
Santiago. Although of Spanish blood, the Cubans, through adaptation
to environment, have become a different class from the people of
the mother country, just as the American stock has differentiated
from the English. Under the influence of their surroundings, they
have developed into a gentle, industrious, and normally peaceable
race, not to be judged by the combativeness which they have
developed under a tyranny such as has never been imposed upon any
other people. The better class of Camagueynos, as the natives are
fond of calling themselves, are certainly the finest, the most
valiant, and the most independent men of the Island, while the
women have the highest type of beauty. It is their boast that no
Cuban woman has ever become a prostitute, and crime is certainly
almost unknown among them.
"While these people may not possess our local customs and habits,
they have strong traits of civilised character, including honesty,
family attachment, hospitality, politeness of address, and a
respect for the golden rule. While numerically inferior to the
annual migration of Poles, Jews, and Italians into the eastern
United States, against which no official voice is raised, they are
too far superior to these people to justify the abuse that has been
heaped upon them by those who have allowed their judgment to be
prejudiced by fears that they might by some means be absorbed into
our future population.
"Notwithstanding the disadvantages under which the Cubans have
laboured, they have contributed many members to the learned
professions. To educate their sons and daughters in the
institutions of the United States, England, and France has always
been the highest ambition of the creoles of Cuba and Porto Rico.
The influence of their educated men is felt in many countries, the
most distinguished professor of civil engineering, two leading
civil engineers of our navy, and the most eminent authority on
yellow fever in our country belonging to this class. Thousands of
these people, driven from their beloved Island, have settled in
Paris, London, New York, Mexico, and the West Indies, where they
hold honourable positions in society, and even the exiles of the
lower classes, with their superior agricultural arts, have been
eagerly welcomed in countries like Jamaica, Mexico, and Florida,
which hope to share with Cuba the benefits of its tobacco culture.
"THE NEGROES
"In addition to the white creole population, thirty-two per cent.
are black or coloured--using the latter word in its correct
signification, of a mixture of the black and white. This black
population of Cuba has been as little understood in this country as
has been the creole, especially by those who have alleged that in
case Cuba should gain her freedom the Island would become a second
Haiti. The black and coloured people of the Island as a class are
more independent and manly in their bearing than their brethren of
the United States, having possessed even before slavery was
abolished on the Island the four rights of free marriage, of
seeking a new master at their option, of purchasing their freedom
by labour, and of acquiring property. While the negro shares with
the creole the few local rights possessed by any of the
inhabitants, their social privileges are greater than here,
although a strong caste feeling exists. Miscegenation has also
produced many mulattoes, but race mixture is no more common than in
this country.
"The coloured people of Cuba belong to several distinct classes.
The majority of them are descendants of slaves imported during the
present century, but a large number, like the negroes of Colombia
and the maroons of Jamaica, come from a stock which accompanied the
earliest Spanish settlers, like Estevan, the negro, who, with the
two white companions of Cabeza de Vaca, first crossed the United
States from the Gulf of Mexico to California in 1528-36. The
amalgamation of this class in the past century with the Spanish
stock produced a superior class of free mulattoes of the Antonio
Maceo type, unlike any people in this country with which they can
be compared.
"The current expressions of fear concerning the future relations of
this race in Cuba seem inexplicable. The slaves of the South were
never subjected to a more abject servitude than have been the
free-born whites of Cuba, for they at least were protected from
arbitrary capital punishment, imprisonment, and deportation without
form of trial, such as that to which all Cubans are still
subjected, and the white race of this or any other country has
furnished few more exalted examples of patriotism than the
mulattoes Toussaint L'Ouverture or Antonio Maceo.
"The experiences of the past have shown that there is no
possibility of Cuba becoming Africanised without constant renewal
by immigration. The 520,000 coloured people, one-half of whom are
mulattoes, represent the diminished survival of over 1,000,000
African slaves that have been imported. The Spaniards had the
utmost difficulty in acclimatising and establishing this race upon
the Island. While Jamaica and other West India islands are a most
prolific negro-breeding ground, the race could not be made to
thrive in Cuba.
"Those persons who undertake to say what the social conditions of
Cuba would be under independence should look elsewhere than to
Haiti for a comparison. Even were the population of Cuba black, as
it is not, the island of Jamaica would afford a much better
contrast. This island, only about one-tenth the size of Cuba, is
composed of mountainous lands like the least fertile portion of
Cuba; has a population wherein the blacks outnumber the whites
forty-four to one; yet, under the beneficent influence of the
English colonial system, its civilisation is one of which any land
might be proud, possessing highways, sanitation, and other public
improvements even superior to those of our own country, and such as
have never been permitted by Spain in Cuba. Even though Cuba should
become a second Haiti, which it could not, there is some
satisfaction in knowing, in the light of historic events, that
Haiti free, although still grovelling in the savagery which it
inherited, is better off than it would have been had Napoleon
succeeded in forcing its people back into slavery, as he
endeavoured to do.
"Another fact which will stand against the Africanising of Cuba is
that it is highly probable that nearly one-half of these five
hundred thousand coloured people have been destroyed during the
present insurrection. A large number of them had but recently been
released from the bonds of slavery, and were naturally the poorer
class of the Island, upon which the hardships have mostly fallen,
being generally the field hands in the sugar districts of Habana,
Matanzas, and Santa Clara, where the death-rate of the terrible
Weyler reconcentramiento has been greatest. Three hundred thousand
of the five hundred thousand blacks belonged to these provinces,
and of this number fully one-half have been starved to death. The
population of Cuba has undergone great modification since the
collection of the statistics given. What changes the deplorable
conflict has wrought can only be surmised. Beyond doubt, however,
the population has at least been reduced to a million inhabitants
by emigration of non-combatants, destruction in battle, official
deportation of suspects and political prisoners, and by the
reconcentration.
"The rural population of the four western provinces of Pinar del
Rio, Habana, Matanzas, and Santa Clara has been totally
obliterated. Estimates of this extermination are all more or less
conjectural, but the Bishop of Habana is authority for the
statement that more than four hundred thousand people have been
buried in the consecrated cemetery."
Mr. Charles M. Pepper, in one of his newspaper letters, speaking of the
negroes in Cuba, cites instances of their industry and thrift, and says:
"These notes are perhaps not conclusive, yet they have established
in my own mind that the negro in Cuba is not an idler or a clog on
industrial progress. He will do his part in rebuilding the
industries of the Island, and no capitalist need fear to engage in
enterprises because of an indefinite fear regarding negro labour.
In the country, for a time, the black labourers may be in the
majority. That is one of the results of the reconcentration. The
blacks stood it better than the whites, and relatively a larger
number of them are left for the work in the fields. When the
present conditions are improved the question will arise over the
immigration of labour. No need for discussing it has yet arisen.
The leading blacks are opposed to the wholesale negro immigration
to Cuba, and the mass of their people apparently agree with them.
"On its political side the black population of Cuba has a definite
status. Social equality does not exist, but social toleration
prevails. There is no colour line. Visitors to the Island
invariably remark this fact. In places in the interior I have seen
the coloured serving-woman occupying a box at the theatre with the
family, and no one seemed to be the worse for it. The custom is not
general, yet the toleration of the white and black races is strong
enough for an incident of this kind to pass without notice. I have
heard Americans say it won't do at all after the Island is
Americanised. One ambitious young fellow from a Southern State said
to me that he was going back because the coloured race occupied too
prominent a place in Cuba. He did not speak with bitterness or
intolerance. He had been brought up under different conditions and
felt that he would not be in harmony with such surroundings. Those
who feel as he does had better stay away.
"The part taken in the insurrection by the blacks has
unquestionably strengthened their future influence. In order to
depreciate the white Cubans the Spaniards were in the habit of
giving all the credit for the warfare of the bush to the black
insurgents. Some Americans have thereby been led into error. When
the insurrection began the population of the Island was about
two-thirds white and one-third black. That proportion was
maintained among the insurgent troops. In some of the regiments
more than one-half were black, but in others they did not amount to
twenty per cent. In the beginning Maceo drew a large following in
the eastern provinces, and this was almost entirely of blacks.
"When the insurrection spread over the entire Island the
disproportion between the two races was removed. Many of the
officers among the insurgents to-day are blacks. They have few
officers of the higher rank, because most of these were killed. Of
all the insurgent generals who are seen in Havana--and there is a
legion of them--the one who attracts the most attention from
Americans is General Ducasse. He is a mulatto, and was educated, I
think, at the French military school of St. Cyr. A brother, more
famous than he, was killed during the last year of the insurrection
in Pinar del Rio Province. This General Ducasse is of polished
manners and undeniable force of character. A few weeks ago I read
an address of his to the black insurgents, in which he counselled
them with moderation, and impressed on them the duty of preparing
for their new responsibilities.
"These coloured Cubans have at no time been clamorous for
recognition. They seem disposed to ask less than is due them. At
least they are not forward in their demands. Back of all this is a
consciousness of their own strength. In the States a jovial piece
of advice used to be given the negroes--'Don't hit the white man,
but if you do hit him, hit hard.' Such advice would be unnecessary
in Cuba. It is not probable that a temporary influx of Americans
with inherited race prejudices will ever succeed in creating a
colour line in political affairs. If that should happen the black
Cuban would not need to be advised about hitting the white man
hard. He would hit both hard and quick, and it would be a long time
before Anglo-Saxon civilisation recovered from the blow and proved
its superiority. Fortunately, this is never likely to happen. The
black man will share the future of Cuba with the white man.
"The race has far more than its proportion of criminals. Some
tendencies toward retrogression have to be watched. But in the
midst of many discouraging circumstances the unprejudiced student
must recognise the great advance that has been made. When Cuba has
a system of common schools the advance will be greater. What is
significant in the present is that the black man has been doing
very well. He will continue to do well, and even better, if too
many people do not stay up nights worrying other people with their
fears of the future."
CHAPTER VIII
SANITARY WORK IN CUBA
Underlying the prosperity and happiness of the people of any country is
health, for without it there can be no strength, no energy, no success,
even if all other conditions be favourable. This is true of every
section of the world, and is notably true of Cuba, which with almost
every advantage that nature could bestow has ever been feared for its
malarious diseases, the fatal typhus, and the dreaded "yellow jack,"
which acknowledges no master save the frost. For years the world has
quarantined against Havana, and other cities have drawn away from this
sister in the tropics as from one plague-stricken. Yet this condition is
not of nature's making, but of man's, and by man shall it be changed
into something better. Spain in herself was a tyrant contagion and
everything she touched became diseased and rotten to its vitals. And
this terrible condition was not only physical, but moral, for moral
uncleanness is sure always to follow physical uncleanness. This truth
constitutes a corollary out of which has grown the maxim, "Cleanliness
is next to Godliness."
The first consideration, then, with the American authorities who have
undertaken to clean Spain's Augean Stables in Cuba is sanitation; and
already the best thought and knowledge and experience we have are being
brought to bear upon the stupendous task before us.
[Illustration: STREET VIEW, SANTIAGO DE CUBA.
FROM A PHOTOGRAPH BY J. F. COONLEY, NASSAU, N. P.]
As has been stated, Cuba is not naturally unhealthful for a hot, wet
country; and among the mountains in its interior and in many places
along the coasts, removed from the filthiness of aggregated
population, the average mortality is not higher than it is in lands of
better repute for healthfulness, and the general health is quite as
good. As might be expected, there is not that strength and robustness of
physique characterising the people of the higher latitudes, nor is the
climate conducive to the pink-and-white health of northerners; but
though the people are less rugged of constitution and frame and lungs,
and lack the outward signs of northern health, they are by no means
constant subjects for physicians' care and they are anything but chronic
candidates for the cemetery. Even in the nasty cities they are not all
so, for there are many who are able to have their own houses well
located, and to adopt modern methods of sanitation for their own private
use. But the public health is not considered of importance, and there is
not a city in Cuba which is not wofully lacking in good water, good
drainage, and good health. One or two towns, which in America would have
a contagion flag run up over them, are so much cleaner than the average
that in every description of them by any writer appears the statement
that they are said to be the cleanest towns in Cuba. It may be said in
this connection that the towns are not large.
Beginning with Havana, the capital of the country and the largest city
in it, the stories of its great filthiness can scarcely be believed by
those who have seen the place upon the surface and moved about in
beautiful parks, in brilliant cafés, on the lovely drives, and
elsewhere, among pleasure-loving people, all clothed in their clean
white suits and smoking their dainty cigarettes. Yet Havana is viler
than words can express; and the vileness has slopped over until her
harbour is a veritable cesspool, whose waters are deadly, and whose
bottom is so covered with filth that ships will not drop their anchors
in it, because it is necessary to clean and disinfect them before they
can be taken on board. Havana has been in Spain's possession for four
hundred years, and that harbour is a typical result of Spain's good
government. In the city itself the poor people are huddled in ill-built
houses--there are only about eighteen thousand houses in the entire
place--more densely than in any city of the world, on narrow streets
without sewerage, upon the surface of which garbage and all kinds of
refuse are thrown. No attention is paid to ventilation. The houses are
built so low that the floors rest upon the soft, damp--in many places
swampy--ground; the material is a porous conglomerate which absorbs
moisture as a sponge does. Sinks are totally inadequate or absent. Water
is not sufficiently supplied, and there is scarcely any effort by the
authorities to exercise that care and provision for the public
well-being which is characteristic of every properly governed city in
the world. As an indication of what might be expected from such a
condition of affairs the following table, prepared for American
officials by the Havana Department of Sanitation showing the number of
deaths for the first eleven months of 1898, is cited:
January ................................ 1,081
February ............................... 1,518
March .................................. 1,500
April .................................. 1,411
May .................................... 1,298
June ................................... 1,129
July ................................... 1,381
August ................................. 1,975
September .............................. 2,390
October ................................ 2,249
November ............................... 1,828
------
Total ............................ 17,760
And this out of a population of about 200,000, in which there were only
a few, if any, _reconcentrados_ to starve to death. During this period
there were only 2,224 births, showing a net loss of 14,336, or about
seven per cent. of the population; a condition of health which would
produce a panic in a northern city as soon as the figures were known.
Speaking of these figures, Captain Davis, who has been inspecting
hospitals, prisons, and public buildings under General Greene, says:
"Vienna, with its million and a half of population, has been called
the pest-hole of Europe, because of its death-rate of more than
twenty-five to the thousand; yet Havana, with less than one-sixth
of its population, has more deaths in one month than Vienna in
twelve. The deaths this year in Havana will outnumber those in
Chicago by probably five thousand, and will exceed the totals of
Boston, St. Louis, Baltimore, and San Francisco combined."
New York City at this rate would have a death-roll of 270,000 a year and
London 450,000, and the deaths in the United States, which are now about
1,000,000 a year, would be about 7,000,000. Of course the figures for
1898 are greatly in excess of other years, owing to the war and the
generally disturbed condition of affairs, but even in the healthiest
years the death-rate was two or three times greater than the average of
other cities.
The leading diseases are consumption, a common disease in hot, wet
countries; diarrhoea, dysentery, cholera infantum, and fevers, worst
of which is the yellow fever, which is present in Havana every month of
the year, although much worse at certain times than at others. It is
said that portions of Havana are permanently infected by yellow-fever
germs, but Surgeon-General Sternberg, Dr. Wyman, Supervising
Surgeon-General of the Marine Hospital Service, and other authorities
say that by proper sanitary regulations and careful quarantining, the
city may be made free of the disease and kept so, as is the case in
Jamaica, where the English have had control for years. The work of
sanitation will be difficult and expensive, and years will be required
to accomplish it, but it must be done before Havana's future is assured.
Sewers are few and far between, and those which exist are filled with
refuse from the streets and are never cleaned, as the odours that rise
from them constantly most disagreeably testify. They empty into the bay.
Most of the drainage is surface, and as the city lies so low that a
heavy wind across the waters of the bay will inundate many of the
streets, it will be understood that the drainage is sluggish, and that
what should be carried off by water is usually left to be rotted and
dried by the sun--except in the rainy season, when it rots without
drying. Much of the lower part of the city is built on swamp and
"made-land," and what this means for the health of those who live upon
it needs no elucidation.
The following statement, made by José M. Yzquierdo, civil engineer, of
Havana, under date of September 28, 1898, will throw some light upon
street-sweeping contracts in Havana, show why the work cannot be
properly done, and also indicate the part that the city authorities have
always taken in the good cause:
"I now have the contract for cleaning the streets and have been
connected with the city government a long time. The present system
of cleaning the streets is a combination of old and new. When I
took up the work about five years ago, I ascertained that the
system was very deficient, so I went to New York and studied up the
matter. To begin with, the pavements were very bad. The automatic
street-sweepers cannot be used to advantage, though I have two
sweeping-machines. At night time my people go out with the
sweeping-machines and a sprinkler and clean the streets, and from
there the dirt is taken to the railroad cars and from the station
about nine miles from here, and there I do some business with it;
that is, I make a kind of fertilizer. I employ 230 men. We have no
furnace to burn up the garbage. I am now going to make a
proposition to the city council to clean the cities for the same
price and use crematories, doing it on the American plan. For
cleaning the city I am to be paid $2350.50 weekly, but I do not get
the money; they owe me $180,000. A year or two ago, by giving ten
per cent. to the city mayors, etc., I collected $20,000 in one
week. Immediately after I got the contract the aldermen called upon
me and directed my attention to certain articles in it, so that I
finally had to take these aldermen into partnership in order to
collect the money.
[Illustration: WATERMAN IN THE COUNTRY.]
"I have also had the slaughter-house privilege. I paid the city
council $800,000 per year for the privilege of collecting the
slaughter-house taxes, and one year I collected nearly $880,000,
out of which, of course, I had to pay my men. This has fallen off
a great deal. To slaughter cattle, you have to pay 4-1/2 cents per
kilo, $1 per head for the corral, $1.25 to kill and dress it, and
then 50 cents to take it to the market. The present slaughter-house
is a new one, and not very efficient at present, but it could be
made into a good one. All the refuse from the slaughter-house now
goes into the bay."
What is true of Havana is true in lesser degree of the other cities and
towns of the Island, the degree being governed chiefly by the difference
in size; the larger the town, the nastier it is.
Cienfuegos, which, by the way, is the most promising town in the Island,
in the commercial sense, is notoriously ill policed, and is a
sprouting-ground for all manner of diseases. A report dated November 21,
1898, made by D. E. Dudley, Sanitary Inspector, U.S.M.H.S., notes the
fact that its elevation above sea-level is only about eight feet and it
is surrounded by a belt of lowlands from eight to ten miles wide. The
streets are seventy feet wide, unclean, and out of repair, and in the
wet season are fields of nasty mud. There are three sewers, one from the
Hotel Union, and another from buildings in the same block, and the third
and only public sewer is from the Civil Hospital. The first two of these
sewers empty into the bay at the steamer wharf, about two feet above the
water-line, and when the wind is in the right direction the gases and
vile odours are blown back into the buildings, filling them with
stenches. The Hotel Union, the Charity Hospital, and a few private
dwellings have modern water-closets, but elsewhere over the city the
houses have shallow privy sinks, which are emptied at night and the
contents dumped against the cemetery walls. Around the cemetery is also
the dumping-ground for garbage, dead animals, and all the refuse of the
city, the disposal of which is not under any especial authority. This
dumping-ground is a mile and a half from the Hotel Union. Dr. Dudley
says:
"Here in this garbage reservation can be seen large numbers of
buzzards, feasting on dead horses or dogs, or perched on the
cemetery walls, waiting for fresh consignments. Extensive lagoons
and lakes of foecal matter taken from privy vaults lie spread
upon the ground. A small section of this reservation faces the bay,
and here the collector of the garbage has his living-quarters, in
an old tumble-down hut.
"The only cemetery is situated a mile and a half from the heart of
the city. It is surrounded by a wall twelve feet high, which
furnishes vault room. The cemetery is very small and the section
reserved for paupers is more than overcrowded. During my visit ten
graves were being dug. By actual measurement I found these graves
three feet in depth. Coffins are loaned by the municipalities to
paupers, and the bodies alone are buried. In these pauper graves
three bodies are buried, one over the other; and then, in less than
one year's time, they are reopened and made ready for new bodies.
Portions of skeletons were thrown out of each of the ten graves I
saw. In consideration of a dollar, a grave was opened for me, and I
counted four skulls. In closing up the graves, these bones are
packed around the new bodies. As a rule the topmost corpse is so
near the surface that the earth has to be banked up a foot in order
completely to cover it.
"_Water._--This is one of the most serious problems which confront
the municipal authorities of this city, and one of much concern to
us, if American troops are to be quartered there. The supply is
absolutely inadequate to the demands of the city. The hotels and a
few residences have cement cisterns built in the ground and use
rain-water; but the chief supply comes from a small (and said to be
badly polluted) stream, the Jicotea River, a small branch of the
Cannau. The water is pumped into two aqueducts; the principal one,
which is called after the Jicotea River, holds four hundred
thousand litres; a smaller one, the Bouffartique, holds three
hundred thousand litres. Pipes from these two aqueducts run through
a few of the streets, above ground, alongside the curbing. The
gates are open only two hours daily. The hospitals use this water,
after boiling. As a remedy for this condition, I am told, there was
a project to bring water from a point twenty miles distant, from
the falls of the Hanabanilla River, 1200 feet above the sea.
Absolute freedom from pollution was claimed. It was abandoned on
account of the war. The estimated cost for this work was
$1,000,000. The Jicotea aqueduct is simply a large open cistern,
built of rock and cement, attached to a brick building in which the
Spanish quartermaster has his stores. There are about two hundred
wells in the city, but infected, the privy sinks being within a few
feet.
"_Quarantine._--At a point nine miles from the city, on the western
shore, I found, in my opinion, an ideal location for a quarantine
station. The place, the Concha, owned by the Marquis de Apezteguia
as a winter resort, can be purchased. The palace, built on a
terrace near the water's edge, was burned by the insurgent forces.
A pier thirty to fifty feet can be built so that steamers can have
eight fathoms of water. An island about one-half a mile distant
could be used, and a hospital for infectious and contagious
diseases built.
"In concluding this report I wish to call your attention to the
probability of an extensive spread of smallpox in the interior. At
a town eight hours' ride from Habana to Colon, I saw beggars
convalescent from smallpox."
During the first ten months in 1898 the total number of deaths in
Cienfuegos was 3626, out of a population which before the war was
21,500; adding soldiers and _reconcentrados_, it might be said to be
25,000, and at these figures a monthly death-rate of 362 is something
fearful to contemplate. Estimating the deaths for a year at 4144, we
have a rate of 166 per 1000. In the ten years ending December 31, 1889,
reported by Dr. Luis Perna, over fifty per cent. of the deaths were from
infectious and contagious diseases due almost entirely to bad or no
sanitation. During the same year the births exceeded the deaths by 1982,
a much better showing than in Havana, the difference there being 12,433
against the population in four years, and in Matanzas, 2397 lost in
eight years.
Of the effect of proper sanitary regulations and personal attention on
tuberculosis, Dr. Perna says:
"There can be no doubt that the ravages of tuberculosis could be
materially arrested by compliance with the laws of hygiene.
Infractions of civil law may or may not be punished, but
infractions of the laws of hygiene are inevitably paid for sooner
or later. In combating tuberculosis we must consider the air we
breathe, the food we eat, the roof that covers us, and the clothes
we wear. The disease should be recognised as contagious. Phthisical
patients should be kept in well-ventilated apartments; sputa should
be disinfected, and clothing and utensils used by such patients
should be disinfected."
Matanzas is situated on high ground, with the rivers San Juan and Yumuri
running through it, and the natural facilities for drainage are
excellent; but only two streets have sewers, and these drains have few
or no connections with buildings. The water supply is of excellent
quality, from springs seven miles away; but only two thousand of the
five thousand houses take it, and the majority of the people prefer to
buy water from street vendors, who are quite as likely to get it from
fever-infected wells as elsewhere. There are public fountains, but those
who need Cuban water most are too lazy to carry it home. Privies and
sinks are more numerous than modern closets, and are handled as
elsewhere, with the usual results. The streets are narrow (thirty feet
wide), dirty, and unpaved; in the wet season they are vile. The houses
are built of porous stone, which absorbs the dampness; the floors, laid
on the ground, are overflowed by the rains, and their smell at all times
is difficult to describe and dangerous to health. The deaths per year
for 1895 were 1465, with a nominal population of 50,000, although it was
cut to 35,000 by the insurrection; in 1896, 2399; in 1897, 6795; and in
1898, to September, 3901--which fearful figures may be accounted for by
the fact that Matanzas was the centre for _reconcentrados_, and they
died like sheep--eighty per cent. of them from starvation. The only
disinfection that could reach this condition was applied to Spain by the
United States, and there will never be any more epidemics of starvation
in Cuba, or any more _reconcentrados_, for that matter. But even without
her _reconcentrado_ population, Matanzas is no health resort, and the
cleansing hand must be applied to her early and rigorously.
[Illustration: MARIANAO WATER VENDOR]
Cardenas, a city of twenty thousand people, more or less, is set down in
the midst of a swamp, rarely more than ten feet above sea-level, and
oftener only three or four. Its narrow streets are lacking in pavements
or sewers. Lying contiguous to the south-east side of the city are more
than thirty thousand acres of swamp, a fecund breeding-ground for
typhus-and yellow-fever germs. Twenty years ago a commission was
appointed to inquire into the construction of a canal to drain this
swamp into the Anton River, but at this present date no canal is in
sight, and the fever germs go merrily on in their work of supplying the
cemeteries with subjects. The water supply is good, but many of the
people prefer to buy dangerous well-water from street vendors, because
of its cheapness. At Cape Hicacos, near Cardenas, are extensive
salt-pits, the chlorides of which are supposed to act as a disinfectant,
and that immediate locality is said to be the most healthful along the
coast.
Puerto Principe, a town of forty thousand inhabitants, the largest of
the inland cities, is situated on high ground, well watered and well
drained, and though antiquated and utterly lacking in modern
conveniences or sanitary regulations, as they are known among northern
people, is so much more healthful than other Cuban towns as to warrant a
milder animadversion than in the case of others. Yellow fever is only
known sporadically, if at all, and contagion and infection are so much
less flourishing than in the coast towns that Puerto Principe seems
positively healthful in comparison, albeit in an American community the
condition of the city would warrant the impeachment of any board of
health having control of its sanitation.
Santiago de Cuba, with a population of, say forty thousand, is next to
Havana in importance among the cities of Cuba, and has been accumulating
filth since 1514, when the first Spaniards settled there. Just what
nearly four hundred years of Spanish sanitation means is better imagined
than experienced. Moreover, its location is down among hills which shut
off the breeze, and in summer the city becomes intolerably hot and
dangerous to health. It is situated on a hillside, with a landlocked bay
before it, removed from all sea or coast currents, and for 384 years the
drainage of the town--not by sewers, for they do not exist--has gone
into this bay, until its bottom and waters are vile beyond expression.
In the city itself filth everywhere prevails--or did prevail until the
United States authorities took charge, since which time Governor Wood
and his assistants have done an amount of cleaning up that is as
wholesome as it is difficult to accomplish. This work has been so
vigorously prosecuted and the results so beneficial that a chapter has
been devoted to the subject. It is said that in time man may become
accustomed to any condition of life, and the dozen generations of
Santiagoans seem to have got used to their town, for its ordinary
death-rate was but 29.8 per 1000, with an increase to 33 to 35 when
yellow fever or smallpox became more violent than usual. In 1895 the
death-rate went up to 51.2 per 1000, and in 1896 to 82.77. Four thousand
people died in that year, and this is the last record known. This large
increase was due to the presence of unacclimated troops from Spain, and
though it may explain the high death-rate, it scarcely can excuse a
sanitary condition which is so fatal to Spanish soldiers, who have had
experience with Spanish sanitary regulations in their own country until
they ought to be almost used to it. In 1896 there were 372 deaths from
yellow fever and 509 from smallpox. Santiago has one inventive
sanitarian in the person of Dr. Garcia, who, five years ago, devised a
"cold box" for the case of yellow-fever patients. As is known, the frost
will kill the germs of yellow fever; and as natural frost is impossible
in Cuba Dr. Garcia hit upon the idea of producing artificial cold. His
device is simple enough. The main feature is a small house, say five
feet by seven, and six feet high, which is practically a refrigerator,
with double roof and walls for packing the ice. A window is put in for
light, and the patient is laid in his bed in a temperature of about
freezing. He has no attendants inside, except when needed, and he is
watched through the window. This method usually kills or cures the
patient in from twelve to thirty-six hours. At first the box was not
successful, for condensation practically drowned the patient out; but
that was remedied by draining the water off. There is a great difference
of opinion in relation to the efficacy of this treatment; some
physicians entirely disapproving it, while others as strongly recommend
it.
What may be done for the proper sanitary regulation of Santiago is a
serious problem, as, owing to the distance from the sea and the
landlocked character of the bay, the sewage, which may be easily drained
down the sloping streets of the town, is bound to remain near the shore.
For the present, Major Barbour, Superintendent of the Santiago Street
Department, disposes of the sewage by sprinkling it with petroleum and
burning it.
Manzanillo, population nine thousand, with a large and beautiful
military plaza, has filthy streets and no public improvements of any
kind looking to the health or comfort of the people; and the people seem
to like it. The streets are unpaved, and Manzanillo mud is an
alliterative term which has become a household word for the nastiest mud
on the Island. The town is twenty feet above the bay, with hills to the
rear, and near it are great swamps filled with mosquitoes and malaria,
which spread themselves abroad in every direction.
Guantanamo, population nine thousand, seven miles inland, one hundred
and fifteen feet above the bay of the same name, is situated on the
river Guaso, and might be easily and thoroughly drained; but no efforts
have been made in that direction, and malaria and fevers prevail. With
any kind of decent care, the city could be made as healthful as any in
the same latitude.
Pinar del Rio, the capital of its province, with 5500 population, is
situated 25 miles from the sea, 160 feet above it, and on a hill 70
feet high. It is in the midst of the famous Vuelta Abajo tobacco
district, and it might be made a clean town; but its streets are narrow
and filthy, its people are a mixture of French and African, and it is a
reflection on the great American Republic, in that it was founded in
1776.
Batabano, the southern seaport of Havana, thirty miles away, in its
narrow, dirty streets presents a condition of neglect and nastiness
suggesting that it is also a receptacle for the surplus refuse of the
capital.
Guanabacoa, a high and beautifully located city of twenty-five thousand
people, just outside of Havana, several degrees cooler than the capital
city, in the midst of pleasant breezes and cool groves, has narrow,
filthy streets, no pavements, no public improvements, small houses with
no modern conveniences, huddled together, and is a dozen times worse
than if nature had not done so much for it.
Güines and Marianao are so much cleaner and sweeter than any other towns
as to make one wonder why they are the exception instead of the rule.
Possibly it is hardly fair to call attention to or animadvert upon the
sanitary regulations and conditions of Santa Clara, an inland city and
capital of Santa Clara Province, seeing that in ten and a half months of
1897 there were over one hundred thousand deaths in the province, of
which nearly one third occurred in Santa Clara district. These were
chiefly _reconcentrados_, and show that there are some things Spanish
even worse than Spanish sanitation. The town has a population of twenty
thousand, is situated in a healthful locality, and while little has been
done toward public health, there is no yellow fever.
As with the cities and towns above mentioned, with the two exceptions
named, so of all Cuban aggregations of population. Everywhere there is
ignorance, carelessness, filth, disease, and death, and only education,
care, and time can remedy the evil. It may not, cannot be that Cuba will
ever enjoy the robuster health of the north, but she can be clean, and
to that end must every ability of knowledge, labour, and means be
directed, not only by those who are in authority, but by those whose
direct welfare is at stake.
Outside of the cities, conditions prevail which will be more difficult,
if not in many cases impossible, to remedy. Much of the Island along the
coasts is swampy; there malaria and fevers breed, and these sections, if
not capable of drainage, must be deserted by man, and left to the
alligators, toads, and lizards. Many of the swamps may be drained and
the land converted into fields yielding rich harvests; these should be
given the proper attention. In many places the tropical forests are of
such dense and tangled growth that no sunlight ever penetrates them, and
here, after nightfall, deadly miasmas arise, full of poison and disease.
Vast areas of such forests are filled with valuable timber, and when
these woods are cleared and converted into money, and the sunlight can
get in and exercise its saving grace upon the land, a wonderful
improvement will follow.
Back from the coasts, particularly in the eastern part of the Island,
the land is high and well drained, with mountains in some portions
rising from five thousand to eight thousand feet above the level of the
sea. While the heat and humidity incidental to the latitude prevail all
over the Island, they are much less in the uplands than along the coast,
and the climate for half the year is very agreeable and the air has a
brilliant clearness that has become famous. Over all these lands there
should be in the future a population which should develop into a
contradiction of the tradition that the people of the tropics live
because they are too lazy to die.
CHAPTER IX
CITIES AND TOWNS OF CUBA
The political divisions of Cuba, known as provinces, are six in number,
and are named as follows, beginning at the west: Pinar del Rio, Havana,
Matanzas, Santa Clara, Puerto Principe, and Santiago de Cuba; the
capital city of each bearing the same name as its province.
Of the provinces it may be said that Pinar del Rio, with an area of 8486
square miles, has a population of 225,891 (167,160 white and 58,731
black), and is the centre of the tobacco industry, the famous Vuelta
Abajo district lying within its limits; sugar, coffee, rice, corn,
cotton, and fruits are also raised. Havana, with an area of 8610 square
miles, has a population of 451,928 (344,417 white and 107,511 black). It
is the centre of manufacture, the capital province, and the most
populous province of the Island. Matanzas, with an area of 14,967 square
miles, has a population of 259,578 (143,169 white and 115,409 black),
and is the centre of the sugar industry; corn, rice, honey, wax, and
fruits are produced and the province contains a deposit of peat and
copper. Santa Clara, with an area of 23,083 square miles, has a
population of 354,122 (244,345 white and 109,777 black), and it is rich
in sugar, fruits, and minerals, including gold deposits in the Arino
River. Puerto Principe, with an area of 32,341 square miles, has a
population of 67,789 (54,232 white and 13,557 black), and is a
mountainous region, with the largest caves and the highest mountains;
building and cabinet woods and guava jelly are its chief products.
Santiago de Cuba, with an area of 35,119 square miles, the largest of
the provinces, has a population of 272,379 (57,980 white and 114,399
black), and not only possesses all the agricultural products found in
the other provinces, but also has deposits of gold, iron, copper, zinc,
asphalt, manganese, mercury, marble and alabaster, rock crystal, and
gems, and its commerce is most extensive.
[Illustration: SQUARE IN FRONT OF GOVERNOR'S PALACE AT SANTIAGO DE
CUBA.]
There are 115 cities and towns in the Island having an estimated
population of 200 and upwards named as follows:
CITIES. Population. | CITIES. Population.
|
Havana................... 200,000 | Macurijes................. 4,100
Matanzas................. 50,000 | Bayamo.................... 3,634
Puerto Principe.......... 40,679 | San Luis.................. 3,556
Santiago de Cuba......... 40,000 | San Cristobal............. 3,522
Cienfuegos............... 25,790 | Guira de Melena........... 3,500
Guanabacoa............... 25,000 | Morón..................... 3,017
Santa Clara.............. 24,635 | La Cruces................. 3,000
Cardenas................. 20,505 | Alfonso XII............... 3,000
Trinidad................. 18,000 | Arroyo Navanijo........... 3,000
Sancti Spiritu........... 17,540 | Sabanillo del Encomendador 2,991
Sagua la Grande.......... 14,000 | Palmira................... 2,987
Regla.................... 10,486 | Guanajayabo............... 2,879
Manzanillo............... 9,036 | Nueva Paz................. 2,737
Guantanamo............... 9,000 | Alquizar.................. 2,700
San Antonio de las Baños. 7,500 | San Felipe................ 2,311
San Juan de los Remedios. 7,230 | San Juan de las Yeras..... 2,267
San Fernando de Nuevitas. 6,991 | Jaruco.................... 2,200
San Julian de los Guines. 6,828 | San Jose de las Lajas..... 2,170
Colón.................... 6,525 | La Esperanza.............. 2,147
Bejucal.................. 6,239 | San Juan y Martinez....... 2,100
Jorellanos (Bemba)....... 6,000 | Corral Nuevo.............. 2,092
Santiago de las Vegas.... 6,000 | Consolacion del Sur....... 2,000
Guanajay................. 6,000 | Guines.................... 2,000
Pinar del Rio............ 5,500 | Santa Cruz................ 2,000
Holguin.................. 5,500 | Quemados de Guines........ 2,000
Caibarien................ 5,500 | Quivican.................. 1,950
Baracoa.................. 5,213 | Bahia Honda............... 1,889
Guira.................... 5,000 | Batabano.................. 1,864
La Isabela............... 5,000 | Bolondron................. 1,758
Artemisa................. 5,000 | Santa Domingo............. 1,750
Santa Isabel de las Lajas 4,924 | Mariel.................... 1,637
Guana.................... 4,650 | Cuevitas.................. 1,629
Gibara................... 4,608 | Cervantes................. 1,560
Macagua.................. 4,100 | Ranchuelo................. 1,533
Cabañas.................. 1,509 | Managua................... 896
San Antonio de Cabezas .. 1,500 | Ceiba del Agua............ 892
Zaza..................... 1,500 | Roque..................... 800
Calaboya................. 1,500 | Salud..................... 800
Cartagena................ 1,497 | Canasi.................... 700
Calabazar................ 1,481 | Caney..................... 700
Palmillas................ 1,471 | Jibacos................... 696
Aguacate................. 1,427 | Cidra..................... 695
San Diego del Valle...... 1,403 | Vereda Nueva.............. 672
Jiguani.................. 1,393 | Santa Maria del Rosario... 660
Mantua................... 1,380 | Rancho Velez.............. 656
Cayajabos................ 1,352 | Santa Ana ............ 601
Marianao................. 1,225 | San Jose de los Remos..... 570
San Antonio de Rio Blanco | Camarones................. 546
del Norte.............. 1,200 | Lagunillas................ 520
Candelaria............... 1,200 | Guane..................... 510
Ciego de Avila........... 1,167 | San Matias de Rio Blanco.. 400
Catalina................. 1,165 | Alto Songo................ 400
San Antonio de las Vegas. 1,136 | Limonar................... 330
Tapaste.................. 1,130 | Amaro..................... 320
San Nicolas.............. 1,100 | San Miguel................ 300
Melena del Sur........... 1,082 | Madruga................... 300
Santa Cruz del Sur....... 1,000 | Cimarrones................ 300
Bainoa................... 1,000 | Mangar.................... 209
Sagua de Tanamo.......... 981 | La Boca................... 200
Vinales.................. 925 | Alonso Rojos.............. 200
In addition to these are 132 places with less than 200 population,
including railroad stations, bathing and health resorts, and farm
hamlets.
As will be observed by the student of municipal nomenclature, the
Spanish were liberal to Cuba in christening the towns in the Island,
however parsimonious the mother country was in respect of all other
things; and many Cuban towns have more name than anything else. The
oldest town is Baracoa, in the province of Santiago de Cuba. It was laid
out in 1512. Its chief products are bananas, cocoa, and cocoa oil, and
there are some remarkable caves near by, noted for beautiful stalactites
and well preserved fossil human remains.
The largest city in the Island is Havana, the capital, to which a
chapter is devoted elsewhere in this volume.
[Illustration: A MULE TRAIN, SANTIAGO DE CUBA.] FROM A PHOTOGRAPH BY J.
F. COONLEY, NASSAU, N. P.
Matanzas, in size the second city of the Island, and the capital of the
province of Matanzas, is, in some particulars, the most attractive city
of Cuba, although but one-fourth the size of Havana. It lies
seventy-four miles by rail to the east of Havana, on the fine bay of
Matanzas, with beautiful hills at its back. The town is divided into
three parts by the rivers San Juan and Yumuri, two streams which water
the valley of Yumuri, situated behind the hills of Matanzas, and
presenting the most exquisite scenery in Cuba. The climate and soil of
the valley make Yumuri, to Cubans, synonymous with poesy and Paradise.
Notwithstanding the commercial importance of Matanzas, the Spanish
authorities have neglected the wharves and permitted its harbour to
become so filled with sediment from the river that ships are compelled
to load and unload by means of lighters in the roadstead. The city was
founded in 1693, and has paved streets, usually thirty feet in width,
with three-foot sidewalks; interesting stuccoed houses of two stories,
coloured drab and ochre, with balconies; pleasant parks, with fountains
and flowers; a pleasure promenade and drive--the Paseo; one of the best
hotels in Cuba; several theatres, among them the Esteban; some notable
churches, including the Hermitage, on Mount Montserrat, at whose shrine
marvellous cures are said to be effected. The people are well content.
The leading industries are rum distilleries, sugar refineries,
guava-jelly factories, machine and railroad-car shops. Shipments of
sugar and molasses to the United States in 1891-95 were about
$60,000,000. The city has gas-works and an electric-light plant, but no
street-cars, and since 1872 it has had a fine water supply, though only
about half the houses are connected with the water system, and many of
the people still buy water of street vendors, without knowledge as to
the source of supply or purity of the water. Sewers run through only two
streets, though the location of the city is well adapted to secure
excellent drainage. The suburbs, or rather divisions, of the city by the
river are known as Versailles, on the north-east, and to the
south-east, Pueblo Nuevo. Through the latter part of the city leads the
road to the famous caves of Bellamar, three and a half miles, where many
invalids resort for the health-giving qualities of the warm air of the
caverns.
The most beautiful and striking feature of Matanzas is the cañon of the
Yumuri, a great gorge of perpendicular walls green-clad with tropical
vegetation through which the rivers of the Yumuri Valley flow down to
the sea. This is a constant resort for the pleasure-loving Matanzans,
and they thoroughly realise its beauty and value to the city. There are
many interesting drives and excursions by river and rail from Matanzas.
The waggon roads extending into the interior, as everywhere in Cuba, are
in wretched condition; the railroad connections by several routes are
fairly good, the roads being equipped with American-cars and engines.
Its population of fifty thousand is nominal, having been reduced about
one-third by the war.
The third city in the Island is Puerto Principe, capital of the province
of Puerto Principe, and known to the natives as Camagüey, the original
name of the town and province. It is forty-five miles from the south
coast and thirty-five from the north, although it is forty-five miles
from its seaport, Nuevitas, with which it is connected by its only
railroad. It is located in the midst of what once was the grazing
district,--though the cattle are now destroyed,--and being on a plain
seven hundred feet above the sea it is a healthful place. Camagüey is a
back-number town, so to speak, having narrow streets with narrow
sidewalks, or none at all, old houses, old fashions, and fewer
foreigners than any of the other Cuban towns. It is distinctively Cuban,
and the new era of Cuba will no doubt work a long time on the good
people of Camagüey before they set aside the old things and step out
into the procession of progress, clothed in the uniforms of the modern
"hustlers." In this city of over forty thousand people there is not a
hotel, and the inhabitants are noted for their hospitality.
Of great commercial significance is Cienfuegos, one of the south-coast
cities, and in some respects one of the best towns on the Island. It is
situated on the landlocked bay of Jagua, with one of the safest harbours
in the world, and though built only since 1819, and restored after a
hurricane in 1825, it has developed a spirit of energy and progress rare
in Cuban cities. It has an extensive and growing commerce, with numerous
wharves and piers for its shipping; a railroad 190 miles to Havana and
one to Sagua la Grande on the north coast; electric lights and
gas-works; 25,790 people; 3000 stone and wooden houses; the famous Terry
theatre and one of the finest plazas in Cuba; a good location for
drainage, but with stagnant water in the streets, and no sewers; much
bad health, and one of the finest opportunities on earth to take
advantage of the new order of things and convert its energy and youth
into a power that will make Cienfuegos the Chicago of Cuba. There is one
good hotel. The only serious strike that ever occurred in Cuba took
place in Cienfuegos among the longshoremen, and resulted in the sending
of all the recalcitrants by the authorities to the Isle of Pines as
criminals. The bay of Jagua is noted for its beautiful clear blue water
with a bottom of the whitest sand. The climate is more variable than
that of Cuban coast cities as a rule, the mercury marking as high as
ninety-three degrees in summer and going down into the fifties during
the night in the rainy season.
The Cuban city held to be the most healthful, though sanitary
regulations are practically unknown, is Trinidad, in the province of
Santa Clara. It is also one of the oldest, having been founded by Diego
Velasquez in 1514. It is three miles in the interior from its seaport,
Casilda, though coastwise vessels of light draft can approach it by the
river Guaurabo. The town has a picturesque location, on the slope of La
Vija ("Lookout"), a hill rising nine hundred feet above the sea. The
harbour of Casilda is three miles long by one and a half miles wide, and
has only about eleven feet of water. From this bay Cortez sailed for
Mexico. There are several fine public parks and drives, and socially
Trinidad in the winter season is one of the gayest cities on the Island.
It is lighted by gas, and though it has no sewers, its location is such
that the rains keep it washed clean. The population is eighteen
thousand. In good times Trinidad has shipped to the United States
$903,700 worth of sugar, mahogany, coffee, and honey in one year, but
times have been poor in recent years, and Trinidad is one of the towns
which will feel the reviving effects of the new era of prosperity.
Santa Clara, the capital of the province of that name, has a population
of twenty-five thousand, and is popularly known as Villa Clara. It was
founded in 1689, and was once known for its great wealth and beautiful
women; its glory in this latter regard still continues. It has one
excellent hotel, kept in modern fashion, and a fine theatre. Its railway
connections are excellent in all directions; indeed, it is the terminus
of the Cuban system of railways. It is 248 miles by rail from Havana,
and thirty miles from the north and forty from the south coast. Its
location is high, and a fine grazing country surrounds it. Minerals also
abound, and ten thousand tons of a fine asphaltum have been shipped in a
year. Silver yielding as much as $200 per ton has been found, but the
mines have not been worked. Evidences of natural gas are present near
the town. Santa Clara has wide streets, and despite its healthful
location, it is, by reason of poor or no sanitary regulations, an
unhealthful place, though there is never any yellow fever.
[Illustration: YUMURI RIVER AND ENTRANCE TO THE VALLEY, MATANZAS.]
The capital of the province of Santiago de Cuba is Santiago de Cuba,
generally known as Cuba to the natives and Santiago to foreigners. Owing
to its war record it is the best-known town in the Island. It is
situated on the south coast, one hundred miles from the west end of
Cuba, and its harbour is one of the safest and finest in the world,
having an opening into the sea only one hundred and eighty yards in
width, extending back six miles into a beautiful bay, three miles wide
at its greatest width. Santiago has a population of forty thousand
(estimated sixty thousand in 1895), and is the second oldest city in
Cuba, the capital having been removed thither from Baracoa in 1514 by
Velasquez. It is historically the most interesting city in Cuba, and it
promises to be for the future second in importance to none in the
Island, except Havana. It became a bishopric as early as 1527 and is now
the metropolis of the Catholic Church in Cuba, the Archbishop of
Santiago being the Primate. The celebrations of church festivals are
conducted with ceremonies more elaborate than those anywhere else in the
Island, and the cathedral, in the Hispano-American style, is the largest
in Cuba, if not the handsomest. It is said that in a Santiago theatre
Adelina Patti made her first public appearance, at the age of fourteen
years; Velasquez is buried in this city, and so is Antomarchi, the
physician of Napoleon, who died, as his emperor did, upon a foreign
island. Cuba's greatest poet, José Maria Heredia, was born here, as were
Milanes, Dona Luisa Perez de Montes de Oca, Dona Gertrudis Gomez de
Avellanda; and Placido, next to Heredia in merit, passed several years
here.
Although well located for drainage, Santiago is one of the most
unhealthful towns in Cuba, and its beautiful bay is little better than a
cesspool. Yellow fever and smallpox have been the prevailing epidemics
for years, but under the new order a new condition will arise. Santiago,
with very poor business houses and offices, does a flourishing trade,
wholesale, retail, and in shipping. The surrounding country has many
people employed not only in agriculture, but in mining as well, for
Santiago is the centre of the mining district. Its railway facilities
are practically nil, being located two hundred miles east of the last
railway leading anywhere. The city is Moorish in its aspect. It is
sufficiently ancient to be without hotels, though there are several
clubs where civilised beings may be entertained comfortably. The
fortifications about the city are interesting: the Morro,--which is one
hundred years older than that of Havana,--La Socapa, La Estrella, and
Smith Key--all these have received much mention during the late war. The
mining interests of Santiago will be considered under a separate
chapter.
Cardenas may be said to be the newest town in Cuba, and is known as "the
American city," owing to the fact that many Americans are located here
in business, or make it their headquarters, with business interests
elsewhere in the Island. It was founded in 1828, is a thriving town,
with wide streets, numerous wharves, a plaza with a bronze statue of
Columbus, and is a purely commercial city. The harbour is shallow, and
the piers running into it are from three hundred to one thousand feet in
length. Although without sewers and located on swampy ground, Cardenas
is not unhealthful as the term is understood in Cuba. There are fine
water-works, but many of the people still prefer to buy water of street
vendors. Gas and electricity light the town. Its chief business is in
sugar, but, unlike other Cuban cities, it possesses numerous and varied
manufactures, producing liquors, beers, metal-work, soap, cigars,
fabrics, etc. It has connection by steamer and rail with the chief
points of the Island. The population is 20,505, over 15,000 of which is
white. Cardenas exported goods in 1894 to the amount of $10,008,565, of
which $9,682,335 was in sugar shipped to the United States, as against
$10,000,000 the previous year. Her imports in 1892 were $4,900,000, and
in 1895 the United States sent 32,283 tons of coal to this port.
Situated in one of the richest agricultural sections of Cuba, Cardenas
is also not poor in mineral wealth, notably asphalt. Peculiar mines of
asphalt are found in the waters of the bay. The mineral is broken loose
by bars dropped from ten to twelve feet through the water upon it, and
the pieces are scooped up with a net. The supply of the mineral is
renewed from some unknown source as fast as it is taken away. One of
these mines has furnished as much as 20,000 tons, and the supply is
inexhaustible. Asphalt of the first grade is worth from $80 to $125 per
ton.
Sagua la Grande, twenty-five miles from the mouth of the river of that
name, is almost wholly a sugar town. It has a population of 14,000, and
is the northern terminus of the Havana Railway system. Its seaport is La
Isabela, with a poor harbour; and its exports in 1895 reached nearly
$5,000,000--with a great falling off since, as it has suffered as much
as any town in the Island from the insurrection. As an indication of
this it may be said that immediately before the insurrection there were
23,500 cattle, 4500 horses, 4000 hogs, 700 sheep, and 450 mules in the
Sagua district, practically all of which have been destroyed or stolen.
Sagua has an ice plant whose product has sold at $3 per hundredweight.
The railway from Sagua to Cienfuegos marks the boundary between the
western and eastern districts of Cuba.
Caibarien is another nineteenth-century town, having been founded in
1822. Its houses are of brick, and its warehouses of recent styles of
architecture. Its population is fifty-five hundred, and it is said to be
not unhealthful, though its general level is not much more than ten feet
above the sea, and the country is swampy. Its chief industry is sugar,
although recently an active business in sponges has grown up,
principally of local consumption, the annual value approaching half a
million of dollars. The harbour is extensive, but shallow and poor. A
railway extends to San Andres, twenty-eight and one-half miles in the
interior. Some waggon roads, unusually good for Cuba, connect it with
various sugar estates. The future possibilities of Caibarien are
numerous and great.
Manzanillo is the best town on the south coast between Trinidad and
Santiago, and was founded in 1784. It has a population of nine thousand,
and is the seaport of several interior towns and a rich sugar district,
and is also the gateway to the fertile valley of the Cauto River, the
most important stream in the Island. It has a fine plaza, and numerous
inferior houses on fairly good streets, wider than the usual Cuban
street. There are no water-works, gas-works, electric lights, or
street-cars. The town is one of the most unhealthful in the Island, and
of Manzanillo mud the author has spoken in a previous chapter. The
principal shipments are lumber, tobacco, sugar, honey, and wax. In
1892-93-94 four million feet of mahogany and two million one hundred
thousand feet of cedar were exported.
Pinar del Rio, the capital of its province, should be particularly
interesting to Americans, as it was founded in 1776. It is a brick and
stone town of 5500 population and is neither clean nor attractive. It
has very few foreigners and is in no sense a modern place. It is,
however, of commercial importance, being the centre of the famous Vuelta
Abajo tobacco district, which produces the finest tobacco in the world.
Pinar del Rio is essentially a tobacco town. It is connected with Havana
by a highroad (_calzada_) and also by railway. The town is lacking in
most of the modern conveniences, and the spirit of the people is not
quick to respond to new notions.
An alphabetical list of the lesser towns may serve a useful purpose to
the reader whose geography of Cuba is as yet not complete.
Artemisa (Pinar del Rio) is a town of five thousand people, with a paved
road to Guanajay, nine miles, and a railway to Havana, thirty-five
miles. It is in a fine tobacco and sugar district, and is a low and
unhealthful place, but beautifully shaded with palms.
[Illustration: PANORAMA FROM THE ROAD TO THE CAVES, MATANZAS.]
Bahia Honda (Pinar del Rio), with about two thousand population, is one
of the chief seaports of the mountain coast; and although it possesses
none of the visible evidences of future promise, still it is one of the
places which impress the visitor with belief in its future greatness.
Its population is largely black, its wharves are miserable, its houses
are poor; though over one hundred years old, it is not a port of
entry--and still Bahia is promising. The harbour is one of the finest on
the coast, the surrounding country is rich in tobacco and sugar soil,
the climatic conditions are favourable, and the new times will be good
times for Bahia.
Cabanas (Pinar del Rio), with a population of fifteen hundred, has a
landlocked, shallow harbour, four miles by seven in extent, and its
connections with the interior are bad. It came into prominence during
the war, and was partly destroyed by General Maceo.
Consolacion del Sur (Pinar del Rio) is, after Bahia Honda, the chief
commercial town of the province. It has a population of two thousand,
and is in the centre of the Vuelta Abajo tobacco district, with eight
hundred plantations tributary to it.
Guanajay (Pinar del Rio) has a population of six thousand, is the
junction of several paved roads, and is considerably above the average
interior town in progressive spirit. It is lacking, however, in modern
conveniences and suffered by the war.
San Cristobal (Pinar del Rio), though one of the oldest towns in the
Island, is very enterprising and its people are energetic and
prosperous. It has a railway and good waggon roads, and its thirty-five
hundred people have a good climate and good health. It is in the midst
of the Vuelta Abajo tobacco district.
San Diego de los Banos (Pinar del Rio) is to be especially mentioned for
its wonderful sulphur baths. In one enclosure there are four of these
springs, having a temperature of ninety degrees, and they have effected
cures in leprosy, other cutaneous diseases, and rheumatism which are
passing belief. It has beautiful surroundings of hill and sea and its
caves of Arcos de Carguanabo are famous.
Vinales (Pinar del Rio), a small town of 925 people, is the interior
terminus of the railroad running to the north coast and the celebrated
San Vincente mineral springs.
Batabano (Havana) is the southern seaport of the city of Havana,
thirty-three miles to the north, and connected with it by rail and paved
roads. The town, in two parts, La Plaza and Surgirdero, is meanly built,
and has about nineteen hundred people. It has no harbour, but is the
western terminus of the south-coast line of steamers. The waters about
Batabano are notable for the beautiful submarine views they present to
observers on steamers. Batabano is hot and unhealthful.
Bejucal (Havana), built in 1710, has a population of six thousand two
hundred, an elevation of three hundred feet, and a situation in the
midst of pleasing scenery. The town itself is unattractive to the eye,
but its health is good, the people being noted for their long lives.
Cojimar (Havana), four miles from Havana, has a beautiful sand beach,
the finest in Cuba, and in time will become a profitable seaside resort,
though now unimproved. The British landed here in 1762.
Guanabacoa (Havana) is practically a suburb of Havana and has a
population of twenty-five thousand. With every opportunity and
possibility of being a clean, modern city, it is quite the reverse.
Güines (Havana), thirty miles from Havana over a fine waggon road, and
forty-four by rail, has a population of about seven thousand, and one of
the most desirable situations in the Island. It has bridges over the
river Catalina, a good hotel, a fine railway station; about it lies a
rich agricultural and grazing country, and the town is, in respect of
health, thrift, and progress, a model town--for Cuba.
Jaruco (Havana), with a population of two thousand two hundred, claims
recognition chiefly because it is clean. Naturally its health is better
than that of most Cuban towns.
Madruga (Havana) is famed for its warm mineral springs. It is fifty-five
miles from Havana by rail. Population three hundred.
Marianao (Havana), a suburb of Havana six miles away, has a population
of twelve hundred, and is said to be the cleanest and prettiest town in
Cuba. Its people are entirely of the better class.
Regla (Havana), a suburb of Havana, connected with the city by ferries,
has the largest and finest sugar warehouses in the world and a
bull-ring vying in popularity with those of Havana.
San Antonio de los Banos (Havana), with seven thousand five hundred
people, twenty miles from Havana, is the most popular mineral-springs
resort in the Island and its climate is famous for its health-giving
qualities.
Colon (Matanzas), on the railway between Matanzas and Cardenas, in the
heart of the sugar-producing district of this section, has six thousand
five hundred people and is of much commercial importance. Like all the
others, it needs public improvements.
Jovellanos (Matanzas), also known as Bemba, is a coloured town, the bulk
of its population being negroes, and its only hotel is kept by a
Chinaman.
Macagua (Matanzas) is noted for its extensive sugar estates. Some of the
largest in Cuba are immediately around it. Population four thousand one
hundred. It has a railway to Colon and Santa Clara.
Calaboya (Santa Clara) has a population of fifteen hundred and
possesses, in the bridge over the Calaboya River, the longest railway
bridge in Cuba. Otherwise it is not important.
La Cruces (Santa Clara) is a railway junction and was at one time
actively engaged in shipping horses, cattle, and sugar. The people are
active and energetic, and have been complimented with the name of the
"Yankees of Cuba."
La Isabela (Santa Clara), called also Concha and La Boca, is the seaport
of Sagua la Grande, and has five thousand people. It is the shore
terminus of the railway to Sagua and is of considerable commercial
importance, with a cosmopolitan people.
Remedios (Santa Clara), with a population of seven thousand, is in a
fine country and is one of the cities of the future, naturally and
logically.
Sancti Spiritus (Santa Clara), also known as Santo Espiritu, founded in
1514, is one of the old towns of the Island. Despite its size (seventeen
thousand), it is of no great commercial importance, and is a dirty town
in a good location for cleanliness.
Santa Isabel (Santa Clara), with a population of five thousand, does a
good business in sugar and cattle. Cienfuegos is its seaport and is
connected with it by a railroad twenty-five miles long.
Tunas de Zaza (Santa Clara), with fifteen hundred population, is in such
a poor country agriculturally and aquatically, that the railway has a
monopoly in carrying vegetables and water supply to the people. The town
is hot and healthful. It has shipped as much as half a million dollars'
worth of sugar, mahogany, cedar, honey, beeswax, etc., to the United
States in one year.
Nuevitas (Puerto Principe), population seven thousand, is a town of
promise and no public improvements. Water, in the dry season, commands
nearly as high a price as whiskey. It is the seaport of Puerto Principe,
Cuba's largest inland town, and is connected with it by forty-five miles
of railroad. It has a fine harbour and a good location for drainage. It
was at or near Nuevitas that Columbus first saw Cuba. Its annual exports
to the United States have, in a good year, exceeded one million dollars.
Banes (Santiago de Cuba) is noted for its fruit business, as many as
4,651,000 bunches of bananas having been exported since 1890. Thirty-two
thousand pineapples were shipped in 1894, but the insurrection ruined
the business in 1896.
Baracoa (Santiago de Cuba) is the most eastern port of importance on the
north coast. It is the oldest town in Cuba and formerly was the capital.
It was founded in 1512 by Velasquez, whose house is still shown to the
traveller. Baracoa is far behind the times, but it has all the
potentialities for future greatness. The country along the coast is not
healthful, but the interior is not only fine scenically but also
excellent as to its health standard. There are no good roads and no
railways of any kind. Baracoa imports about nineteen thousand pints of
beer per annum from the United States, and Milwaukee sells at
twenty-five cents a bottle. Copper, cocoanuts and oil, bananas, and
cocoa constitute the exports. General Maceo and his followers
inaugurated the last Cuban revolution in Baracoa, on the 20th of
February, 1895, and within a year had marched through the Island to
Mantua in the west of Pinar del Rio.
[Illustration: THE PLAZA, CIENFUEGOS.]
Bayamo (Santiago de Cuba), with a population of about 4000 and an age of
about 350 years, is a Spanish relic city, being very like the earlier
cities of the mother country. It has eleven churches. It has none of the
modern conveniences and no railways, and its waggon roads are impassable
in the wet season. Bayamo never had a boom. It was the cradle of the Ten
Years' War.
Cobre (Santiago de Cuba), founded in 1558, is famous for its copper
mines. It has a magnificent sanctuary, in which is the little statue
known as the _Virgin of Charity_, which is claimed to have effected
miraculous cures of all kinds.
Gibara (Santiago de Cuba), also spelled with a "J," is the seaport for
Holguin, with which it is connected by a railroad seventeen miles long
and by a very bad waggon road. It has a population of about five
thousand. It is greatly in need of improvement.
Guantanamo (Santiago de Cuba) has a population of nine thousand, and is
the centre of the coffee district. Other agricultural products and
minerals abound. It was founded in 1843, and still is not a modern town
in the matter of conveniences. It is unhealthful because it has no
sanitary provisions. It has a fine harbour and is of much commercial
importance. It came into prominence during the late war.
Holguin (Santiago de Cuba), with a high and healthful location and
fifty-five hundred people, ought to be a much better town than it is,
and will improve under the new order. It is fifteen miles from the north
coast, and is in the centre of the hardwood industry. It was of great
military importance during the late war.
Jiguani (Santiago de Cuba), with a picturesque mountainous location,
and an old castle in the vicinity, will be attractive to tourists and
artists.
Of the 570 islands, or keys, on the north coast of Cuba and the 730 on
the south, the Isle of Pines is the only one of sufficient size to be of
importance; its area being 1214 square miles to 1350 square miles for
all the other 1299 Islands. The Isle of Pines belongs to the judicial
district of Bejucal (Havana), and was first called "Evangelist Island"
by Columbus, who discovered it in 1494. It has a population of 2000, of
which 1800 is about equally divided between its two chief towns, Nueva
Gerona and Santa Fe. The people are rather superior to those of the
Island of Cuba, and the climate is drier and better than that of the
main Island. Besides the pines which flourish on the island, there is a
great quantity of mahogany, cedar, and other hardwoods. There are
deposits of fine marble, as well as of silver, mercury, and iron, yet to
be developed. Turtle fishing and pineapple raising flourish to some
extent. The Isle of Pines is really two islands, separated by a
tide-covered swamp, over which there is a causeway. The south portion is
rough and barren, while the northern part is fertile and pleasing to the
eye. The towns are poor. Its mineral waters are much recommended for
affections of the stomach.
A few of the other islands, or keys, are inhabited in a small way, and
the largest of them, Cayo Romano, has an area of 140 square miles, with
three hills rising from its flat plain.
CHAPTER X
HAVANA
"Oh Queen of many-coloured garb
And red-tiled crown!--in glory
The poets who
Have sung of you
Have set your name and story.
"No fairer Queen, they sing, than you,
The fairest of the daughters
Of Southern seas
Who take their ease
Beside the sunlit waters.
"And I, as they, would sing thy praise
As is to be expected;
But ere I sing,
Oh Queenly Thing,
Won't you be disinfected?"
W. J. LAMPTON.
Whatever may be said of Havana, the capital city of the Island of Cuba,
however sonorously its high-sounding name, San Cristobal de la Habana,
may be rolled forth, what titles of Queen of the Antilles, Key of the
New World, or other titular effervescence may be thrown about it by the
sentimental Spaniard, or the vivid-minded visitor, the plain, prosaic
fact remains that Havana for centuries has smelt bad, and man's other
four senses are utterly routed from any field of enjoyment when his nose
goes on the warpath. Unfortunately Havana has, for this reason, never
been the city of delight that Nature intended it should be for at least
one third of every year of its existence. In the great majority of
instances bad smells arise from a condition of sanitary neglect which
means bad health; and Havana has been, to all intents and purposes, a
plague spot for centuries. Yellow fever is always present, malarial
diseases of all kinds are prevalent, smallpox rings the changes at every
opportunity, and every ill that tropic flesh is heir to has found a home
and government encouragement in Havana.
This chapter on Cuba's capital city is thus introduced because, before
anything else is done looking to the reorganisation and the regeneration
of the city and the Island, thorough measures for the health of the
people must be formulated and put into immediate and active operation.
With the new order must come thousands of new people; and if these
newcomers, accustomed, as the poorest of them are, to better sanitary
regulations and conditions than have existed in Havana and Cuba, are
permitted to enter the Island and inhale its deadly stenches, Cuba will
become an international cemetery and it will receive a backset worse
than the worst Spain ever did for it.
Whatever Havana is now commercially, the time was when it ranked eighth
among the commercial cities of the globe, and the wealth of its people
was of the fabulous kind which characterised everything in the New
World. The city was founded about 1519, and it received its name, San
Cristobal de la Habana, from a small town of that name established by
Velasquez near Batabano, on the south coast. This was practically the
first settlement, but the second town absorbed the settlers of the less
important place. So large was the hope of a great future for the new
town that Diego Velasquez, the first Governor of the Island, called it
Lláve del Nuevo Mundo, the "Key of the New World." Later, Las Casas
obtained a grant of civic rights for it, and it became the permanent
capital. It was burned by the buccaneers in 1528 and was rebuilt by De
Soto, who discovered the Mississippi, and he surrounded the city by well
constructed fortifications. It was captured and sacked by the pirate
Jacob Sores in 1556, but was refortified, and in 1573-1589 Philip II.
built the castles, Morro and Los Tres Reyes, which still exist. In 1628
an attack of the Dutch fleet was repulsed, and in 1762 it was taken by
the British. It was restored to the Spanish July 18, 1763, who held it
until December 31, 1898, when it passed into the hands of the United
States as trustee for the people of Cuba.
The approach to Havana from the sea is most pleasing to the eye, the
narrow entrance to the harbour (one thousand feet wide) being flanked on
either side by castellated forts, the best known of which are Morro
Castle and Cabañas, whose names are familiar to all Americans since the
Spanish-American war. The harbour is three miles in length by one and
one half miles in width, is naturally very fine and of ample capacity
for the business of the port; but the Spanish authorities have, for four
hundred years and more, permitted it to be filled with the filth of the
city and the sediment from various small streams which empty into it,
until now a large part of it is useless for navigable purposes, and it
is a constant source of ill-health to both native and visitor. The
natural depth of the harbour is forty feet, but it has filled up to such
an extent that an available depth of only about eighteen to twenty feet
is possible. The tide on the Cuban coast rises and falls only about two
feet. The water-front of the bay, comparatively of small extent, is
lined with docks and piers, some of them built of iron, and of the first
class. Still, the bulk of the shipping business is done by lighters, and
the harbour is alive with small boats. Two lines of ferry-boats connect
Havana with Regla, across the harbour, where the principal coal docks
are situated. The harbour sea-wall, which is backed by a wide street
lined with parks and fine buildings, gives to the city a most attractive
appearance from the water.
Havana has a fluctuating population, variously estimated at from two
hundred thousand to three hundred thousand souls; at present it is
probably not greater than the former number. The people represent the
best there is in Cuba, in point of wealth, education, and progress, and
they are largely Spaniards, either Spanish-or Cuban-born. The city is by
far the largest and richest in the Island, and has always been to Cuba
what Paris is to France. The city is especially noticeable in that its
houses, built of the absorbent, porous stone of the Island, are painted
in yellows and pinks and greens and blues and whites, with a prevailing
red in the tiled roofs. Of the seventeen or eighteen thousand houses of
the city, three-fourths are of one story and only about two dozen have
four stories. The people live very closely together; the rich and the
poor, the good and the bad, are strangely huddled, all of them more or
less regardless of the simplest laws of sanitation. It is not so great a
wonder that the health of the city is so bad, as that any health exists.
Rents are high, with the result that as many poor persons as possible
live in one house, and the moral health suffers no less than the
physical. If any animals are owned--as, for example, horses--they find
quarters on the ground floor. Except in the best houses (and some fine
specimens of elegant homes exist in the city), modern conveniences are
unknown. Iron bars take the place of glass in the windows and doors, and
windows are always open in dry weather. The domestic life of the
Havanese is an open book to all who wish to look upon it as they pass,
for the houses open directly upon the street, and the lower story is on
the street-level. Most of the floors are laid directly on the ground,
and it would seem as if the people did all in their power to maintain a
low degree of health. All the good houses have marble floors.
Churches are numerous all over the city, the Cathedral in which the
remains of Columbus are said to have reposed being the chief in point of
interest.[13] The women of Havana constitute a large portion of the
congregations; the men give little attention to church attendance.
The Government buildings are numerous, but neither modern nor beautiful.
The cigar factories and tobacco warehouses are commodious structures;
indeed, some of the former occupy what were at one time official or
private palaces. The retail stores are usually small places, with the
stocks of goods mostly in the windows.
There are numerous parks. The Parque Central, the first in importance,
is the fashionable centre of the city. About it are hotels, theatres,
public buildings, and cafés; a band plays there during certain evenings,
and at night it is a blaze of light and alive with promenaders. The
streets in old Havana, that portion originally within the walls, are
very narrow; often the sidewalks are not wider than two feet, and
sometimes they are entirely lacking. In the newer portions of the city
the streets are thirty-three feet wide, with five-foot sidewalks. Some
of the streets are paved with blocks of stone in poor fashion, and some
are dirt roads which are almost impassable in the wet season. Naturally,
this condition of the streets does not improve the public health. Some
effort was making when the war began, looking to street improvement, and
contracts were let to an American firm; but the war stopped all
operations in that direction. The handsomest street in Havana is the
Cerro, running up the hill back of the city, and lined with handsome
villas in grounds and gardens of tropical loveliness. Here many of the
aristocracy reside. Another fine public promenade-street is the Prado,
which follows, as nearly as may be, the line of the old walls. The
Prado, and the Paseo de Tacon, are the Champs Élysées of Havana, and on
many nights the former is as brilliant as that famed Parisian promenade.
Havana lies so low that a wind tide will inundate the streets near the
water; and as much of that portion of the city is built on made-ground,
the material being of the worst sort of refuse, it is scarcely to be
expected that health will abound. Owing to the narrowness of the
streets, the possibilities for street-railway building are small,
although there are twenty-seven miles of track in the city, with cars
run by horse power; in the suburbs by steam dummies. The field for
development in this line presents especial attractions for American
capital, and the future promises much. The cab system of Havana was
unusually good before the war. At that time there were six thousand
public vehicles, with a maximum fare of twenty cents, and many were so
cheap that labouring people could afford to use them as street-cars are
used in this country. The volante, once the national vehicle of Cuba,
has been relegated to the rougher roads of the country districts. There
is also a 'bus line, doing about three times the business of the
street-cars.
The sewerage system is in a deplorable condition, and the last effort
made to improve it was stopped by the war. What should be done is a
problem to be solved by American engineers, and had Colonel Waring, of
New York, not fallen a victim to Havanese filth, he would no doubt have
done for the city what Spain in all her years of possession failed to
do. The task is now upon the shoulders of General Ludlow, whose
efficiency is beyond question. The city is lighted by gas and
electricity, the works being operated by a Spanish-American company,
controlled from New York City.
The water supply of the city has been excellent since the new aqueduct
was completed, in 1893, after thirty-two years of delay. The water is
gathered from about four hundred springs in the neighbourhood of Vento,
ten miles from the city; it is calculated that they will yield nearly
forty millions of gallons every twenty-four hours. The aqueduct, tunnel,
and receiving basin cost $3,500,000. The reservoirs, four miles from the
city, with a capacity of eight millions of gallons, cost $566,486, and
the laying of pipes, etc., $1,566,374, or a total of over $5,000,000.
The works are owned by the city.
The telephone system, owned by the Government, is leased to the Red
Telefonica de la Habana, and had, previous to the war, twenty-one miles
of line and fifteen hundred subscribers.
Two companies comprise the fire department of the city, and these are of
the old-style "volunteer" variety. One of the companies is supported by
the city, the other by private enterprise. Fires are rare and seldom
extensive, the annual losses not aggregating half a million dollars, and
insurance companies find Havana risks most desirable.
The death-rate of Havana is about 33 per 1000, a figure 25 per cent. in
excess of the majority of American cities. In one year (1893) there were
6610 deaths to 4175 births, showing a loss in population of 2435. While
yellow fever and diseases due to lack of sanitation are the chief causes
of death, it is noticeable that 20 per cent. of the deaths are due to
consumption, a disease not generally understood to prevail in the soft
air of the tropics. The proportion of illegitimacy, which is 147 per
1000 births in Austria, the leading European country in this regard, is
over 250 in Havana among the whites. What it is among the blacks is
unknown.
There are 120 tobacco manufactories of the first class in the city, and
many of lesser rank, and thousands of people find employment in them.
Some of the larger factories employ between 400 and 500 hands each. The
shipments of cigars from Havana from 1888 to 1896 reached the enormous
total of 1,615,720,000; the United States taking 739,162,000, or
somewhat less than half. Owing to the heavy tariff, the shipments
decreased from 188,750,000 in 1888 to 60,000,000 in 1896 and for several
years previously. Ninety-nine per cent. of the Cuban cigars received in
the United States come from Havana.
Havana easily leads the other seaports of the Island in commerce, about
one-third of all the shipments from the Island coming from that port. An
average of 1200 vessels a year clear from the port, with an aggregate
tonnage of over 1,500,000. In 1894, 1309 foreign vessels entered the
port, having a tonnage of 1,794,597 tons.
Commercially, Havana occupies a most important position, and when by the
adoption of modern ideas in all matters of progress she has regenerated
herself, cleansed herself, rejuvenated herself, there is no doubt that
she will take her place among the rich and powerful cities of the world.
The Botanical Gardens are situated on the Paseo de Carlos III., next to
the Captain-General's estate. They were originally intended for giving
practical lessons in botany to the students of the University of Havana;
but there was so much disorder during these lessons that they had to be
suppressed. These gardens are on one of the most beautiful places in the
outskirts of Havana and have been comparatively well kept. Some ten
years ago a stone and iron wall that had surrounded the Campo de Marte
was removed from there and placed around the Botanical Gardens. If the
Spanish Government had attended to the cultivation and preservation of
tropical plants and fruits in the way that has been done in the British
colonies, especially in Jamaica, these gardens would be to-day of the
greatest utility; but with the characteristic slackness that they have
shown in all the branches of administration of public affairs they have
neglected botany, and, from a scientific point of view, the gardens are
of little or no value. Probably a scientist could find in some of the
gardens for the cultivation and sale of flowers just as valuable
material as he could here. Let us hope that under the new regime the
necessity of studying the tropical flora will be realised.
[Illustration: HAVANA, FROM ACROSS THE BAY.]
Education in Havana and in all Cuba is in a very primitive
condition--old-fashioned, theoretical systems are general, and the lack
of practical applications of the different subjects taught is greatly
felt. This difficulty is mainly due to the fact that the Government has
hitherto controlled education in all its branches, and, far from
applying to its improvement the receipts from other sources, it has
attempted to arrange matters in such a way that the bulk of the expense
should be borne by a portion of those receiving instruction. In the last
Cuban budget the revenue from matriculation fees alone reached $90,000.
These fees are paid by students of all schools which are not free. If
to this the other items, as, for example, "examination fees" and
"inscription of certificates," are added, the receipts will probably
reach $150,000, nearly two-thirds of the total sum of $247,000 yearly
appropriated for public instruction in the same budget.
Under Spanish Government control all teaching is divided into three
classes: first, or primary instruction; second, or elementary
instruction; and professions. To follow these courses, a student must
have matriculated and passed the examinations of the preceding ones,
either in Spain or a Spanish Government college, no foreign titles being
respected. There is only one examination required to pass from first to
second instruction; the third instruction, however, is a five years'
course, divided as follows:
First year: Latin and Spanish grammar, geography.
Second year: Latin and Spanish grammar, Spanish history.
Third year: Arithmetic
and algebra, universal history, rhetoric, French, English, or
German.
Fourth year: Geometry and trigonometry, philosophy (logic,
ethics, and psychology), and languages (French, English, or
German).
Fifth year: Physics, chemistry, natural history,
agriculture, physiology.
After being examined in these each year, the student passes the Bachelor
of Arts examination, which consists of two oral exercises on the
subjects he has studied during the previous five years. To enter the
professional courses at the University a candidate must show the title
of A. B.
It must be said to the honour of some schools, that, although they have
been bound to follow the plan of studies ordered by the Government, they
have not confined themselves to it strictly, and other courses have been
taught in them in addition. The best schools in Havana are the Jesuits',
the Pious schools, and one or two others of a smaller number of
students. There is a class of cheap day-schools both in the city of
Havana and throughout the Island which is very objectionable; the
instruction given is very bad and the children are so neglected that
they acquire in a very short period of time a number of vicious habits
and lose all idea of morality and self-respect. Cuban children are
generally gifted with remarkable memories, and this is taken advantage
of by some of their teachers, who cram their heads with stuff which they
cannot understand and which consequently proves utterly useless to them.
The University of Havana is established in the old convent of Saint
Dominic in the centre of the city, facing the back of the Governor's
Palace. The building is over three hundred years old and is a typical
specimen of the old Spanish monastical architecture; the quadrangles are
surrounded by arched cloisters, the stone steps are long and wide, and
the walls are six feet thick of solid masonry. All the mortar on the
outer wall has long since fallen off, and the building has more the
aspect of an old-fashioned fortress than of a peaceful temple of
contemplation and learning.
When the old Dominicans owned the convent they instituted a free school
for children, and as the requirements of the city became more pressing
they extended their teaching to other and higher branches of learning,
among which the study of law, medicine, and philosophy was included.
They also had an annex school for special instruction.
At present the lectures are given by graduates of Spanish universities
who have taken the degree of Doctor in the course they may have
followed. The number of students, in some years, has reached two
thousand. None of them sleep in the building. To be a professor it is
necessary either to have acquired distinction in the vacant chair of the
special profession, or to be the best in a public contest against all
the others aspiring to the chair, or to be appointed by the Crown.
The students of the Havana University wear no caps and gowns, but the
professors on every official occasion appear in their "togas" and caps,
which are black, with tassels, lining, and cuffs of the colour of their
respective faculties. Medicine is yellow, Law is red, Science is dark
blue, Philosophy and Letters, light blue. Pharmacy, purple, and so on.
In spite of strict orders from the rectors and professors and covert
threats from the Spanish Government officers, no student has attended
lectures on the 27th of November since 1871, when seven students were
unjustly accused by the Spanish Volunteers of having desecrated the tomb
of a patriot. It was in vain that a brave Spanish officer, called
Capdevilla, showed that the scratches on the glass of the coffin were
covered with moss: all he succeeded in doing was to provoke the
Volunteers, who did their best to kill him, and to spoil his career; he
lived twenty-seven years more and was never promoted. He died in
Santiago. The students were executed two days after their arrest. When
the son of the man whose tomb had been the cause of so much villainy
went to Cuba for his father's remains, twenty years after that event, a
notary public attended the ceremony and the son was a witness to the
declaration that all was in exactly the same condition as at the time of
the burial. A monument was erected to the memory of the students after
the Spanish Cortes had declared that they had been innocent of the
charge that had been brought against them. There is a significant statue
of a blindfold woman with broken scales in her hand on one side of the
monument whilst History on the other side appears recording.
After this disgraceful act it is not surprising that the students of
Havana University furnished such a ready contingent to the ranks of the
rebellion.
When in Havana last September the author, accompanied by Admiral
Sampson, paid a visit to the Boys' Technical School. It was just
starting up again after the blockade, and though there were not many
scholars, the opportunity was afforded to observe the possibilities of
this admirable institution. Many specimens of the boys' work were given
to the author, and on returning to the United States some of them were
shown the President, who expressed gratification at these signs of
industrial life and a hope that the school would be provided for in the
new budget of the Island. The Havana Provincial School of Arts and
Trades is an institution for the promotion of technical knowledge among
workmen and the training of youths (preferably artisans' sons) in the
theories and practice of trades. It is maintained at the expense of the
Deputation of the Province of Havana.
The first courses given in this school commenced in 1882. In 1889,
thanks to the efforts of its founder, Don Fernando Aguado y Rico and
some zealous assistants, some shops were added to the school. They
succeeded in having an increase allowed in the appropriation voted by
the Provincial Deputation. The present cost of the school is $16,350 a
year. This school is absolutely a free school. The instruction is
divided into day courses and night courses. In view of its limited
resources, to provide for boarders in the institution has, thus far,
been impossible, consequently all the pupils are day scholars. A good
deal may be said of Mr. Aguado's work in this school. It is to be
regretted that, like so many others who work for the public good, the
results should not correspond to the labour. He conceived the idea of
creating this school a few years after graduating from the University of
Havana. After several unsuccessful attempts he managed to start his
enterprise, and since then the improvement of the instruction and the
general welfare of its scholars have been the main object of his life.
The acquisition of a lot of ground and the building of a suitable house
for the shops for mechanical training have been the most important steps
taken since the foundation. The new building is outside the city and is
high and airy. Part of the ground purchased will have a building erected
for an agricultural and industrial museum.
It is to be regretted that this school, which is the only one of its
class in Cuba, should furnish accommodation for only the limited number
of 491 pupils. A city of 250,000 inhabitants, like Havana, should be
able to provide more for this object. It is to be remarked that, out
of the number mentioned, as many as 316 take night courses.
[Illustration: THE PRADO, HAVANA.]
There is perhaps no branch of instruction that may lead to such
important developments in Cuba as the training of her youths in the
mechanical trades; the want has been felt for a long time, and with the
only exception of this school no efforts have been made to alleviate it.
The Cuban, being naturally quick, makes a good mechanic, but unless he
is trained to his work and has some knowledge of technicalities he can
never reach the degree of skill which the modern mechanic requires to
master his trade. However bright a man may be he can never acquire
perfection in any branch of industry if he confines himself to the
results of individual practice and personal observation. In a place like
Cuba, where the wealth and prosperity of the country depend materially
on one industry like the sugar industry, which is worked with huge
machinery, there is no excuse for bringing over every year foreign
engineers and mechanics to oversee any important repairs that may be
necessary, or to erect new plants. One would expect that being
constantly on the ground, seeing daily the working of this machinery,
those interested would acquire such complete mastery of the processes
that, far from having to depend on outsiders, they would be making and
suggesting improvements. The explanation is, as has been stated, merely
the want of technical knowledge; give the Cubans complete mechanical
instruction, technical and practical, and tangible results will be seen
in a remarkably short period. Let us hope that Mr. Aguado will continue
working with the zeal and ardour that he has shown heretofore, and that
ere long he may enjoy the satisfaction of seeing his work completed in a
way that may exceed his most sanguine expectations.
Havana feels the want of good hotels. There are some where a certain
degree of comfort may be had by paying high prices, but even then it
falls short of what can be obtained in other places at very much lower
rates. Travellers in Cuba have to be satisfied with taking what they can
get in this respect, as among those of so-called first-class standard
there is little difference between one hotel and another. Anybody who
has been in Havana during the winter months can have no doubt how
profitable an investment would be an hotel on American lines. As every
steamer arrives there is a rush for rooms most uncomfortable for
travellers, to say nothing of their disappointment after they have
succeeded in securing what, judging by the rate, they expect to find an
unusually fine apartment, and which actually turns out to be a small
whitewashed den, with very second-rate furniture and an iron bed. No
curtains, no carpets, and bare walls. The most frequented are the
Inglaterra and Pasaje hotels. Besides these, there is the Louvre, which,
though much smaller than the other two, is beyond comparison more
comfortable and better furnished.
There are several theatres in Havana. The Tacon, now owned by American
capitalists, is the third largest in the world.
The Church of the Merced (Mercy) is the most fashionable in the city.
The Belen (Jesuit) is the most frequented. It has, connected with it, a
school, a laboratory, an observatory, and a museum of natural history.
More men go to the Church of Santo Domingo than to any other because
more pretty women go there.
Fine suburbs of hill and seashore hedge Havana in. Notable among these
are Jesus del Monte, the highest point, 220 feet; Cerro, Chorreta Vedado
(beautiful and fashionable), Marianao, eight miles out; Regla, across
the harbour, famed for its bull-ring and large sugar warehouses;
Guanabacoa, Casa Blanco, Playa de Marianao (seashore); La Cienaga,
Puertos Grandes, and others of less importance. These places are of
varying quality, from the very fashionable to the kind which exist
because existence there is cheaper than in the city. The roads
(_calzadas_) leading out of Havana are, as a rule, good, though, owing
to the war, some are just now in bad repair.
Weather observations have been made in Havana since 1859. The rainy
season continues from June to November; the rest of the year is dry,
although about one-third of the rainfall of the year comes in the dry
season. The average rainfall is about 50 inches. The temperature varies
from 64 degrees to 85 degrees, and the humidity, which rarely falls
below 75, makes the heat most oppressive. The early morning and late
afternoon and evening are the hours devoted to business and pleasure.
The Jersey mosquito is a silken-winged messenger of mercy compared with
his cousins in Havana.
There are many asylums and hospitals in the city which are not lacking
in funds or attention, but they are all conducted upon antiquated
notions, which greatly lessen their usefulness. As in other Catholic
cities, Sunday is the amusement day of the week, and all the Havanese
are out in gala attire on that day after morning service at the
churches. There are many parks and promenades. The Alameda, the Plaza de
Armas, the Parque de Isabella, and the Prado are the chief places of
resort.
CHAPTER XI
COLONEL WARING'S SANITARY REPORT
When in October, 1898, the late Colonel George E. Waring, of New York
City, who had been sent by the Government to investigate the physical
condition of Havana, became the victim of the monster he had sought to
throttle, he had already written a large portion of his report, and he
left copious notes for the completion of it, from which his efficient
secretary and assistant, Mr. G. Everett Hill, prepared a full report.
From this report the following extracts are made:
"The death-rate of the city has always been high. In five years (not
consecutive) between 1800 and 1819, with a population less than
one-third of the present number of inhabitants, 26,576 people perished
from yellow fever alone. In 1832 the cholera killed 10,000. The official
reports of the Spanish garrison show that up to January 16, 1896, more
than 82 per cent. of the total losses were due to yellow fever. In 1897
the total mortality by disease in the Spanish army in Cuba was 32,534.
"At present the death-rate in Havana is enormous. The mortality for the
week ending October 6, 1898, was 536--an annual rate of 139.36 per cent.
per 1000. Since then owing to the change of season and to the removal of
certain contributing causes, it has fallen to 114.4.
"The surroundings and customs of domestic life are disgusting almost
beyond belief. Sixteen thousand houses, out of a total of less than
20,000, are but one story high, and at least 90 per cent. of the
population live in these--averaging say 11 to each house. Usually the
house covers the entire lot, so that there is no yard; though one or two
courts are commonly included in the building. According to the
general--almost the universal--plan, the front rooms are used as
parlours or reception rooms. Beyond them is a court, on which open the
dining-rooms and sleeping-rooms. Beyond these, on another court, are--I
might say is--the 'kitchen, stable, and privy, practically all in one.'"
In Colonel Waring's own words:
"The characteristic feature of the whole establishment--perhaps the
only feature which is conspicuous in every house without
exception--is the privy-vault, and sometimes a second vault for
kitchen waste. These occupy a space practically under and almost in
the kitchen. It is very rarely, indeed, that a Cuban privy has a
ventilating pipe, so it belches forth its nauseous odours
throughout the house and pervades the streets."
"There is no ordinance--at least none in force--requiring a
householder to empty his privy vault. He uses it until it threatens
to overflow; then he hires a night-scavenger, who comes with a
cart, carrying the requisite number of barrels. These are filled
through square holes at the top, and discharged through a plugged
orifice at the bottom.
"The workmen use tub-like ladles with long handles, with which they
scoop up the filth. These they carry, dripping as they go, through
kitchen, dining-room, reception-room, and hall to the street."
"When the barrels are filled, the cart starts, ostensibly for the
prescribed place of disposal; but often, in a dark street, the
plugs come out, and, before the waggon has gone very far, the
barrels are empty.
"Lest the conditions above set forth should fail to do their
appointed work of destruction, stimulus for their effectiveness is
furnished by an extraneous source of malaria of the very worst
character.
"The southerly edge of the harbour is bordered by broad marshes,
through which flow a number of watercourses, and to which these
bring the offscouring of a very poor quarter of the town, and
especially the effluent of the slaughtering-pens and of other foul
establishments; while a large portion of the flat is used as a
dumping-ground for garbage.
"This intimate relation of marsh and filth is greatly aggravated by
the admixture of fresh and salt water, by occasional floods, and by
a daily scorching sun.
"The vicinity of such marshes would be deadly in this climate, even
to a veritable 'City of Hygeia.' Their proximity to this foul,
fever-cursed town has always been recognised as disastrous, even by
intelligent Habaneros themselves."
The water supply of Havana is very pure and abundant,--more than two
hundred gallons per head per day:
"This and the winds of the Gulf save the city from being absolutely
and unqualifiedly bad; but they are powerless to make it tolerable.
It is a veritable plague-spot.
"Its own people, largely immune though they are to yellow fever,
which has prevailed here without interruption for one hundred and
sixty-eight years, fall constant victims under the pernicious
malarial and depressing influences to which they are always
subjected; and it needs only the immigration of fresh material,
which the enterprise of our population is sure to bring here, to
create a sacrifice such as we have not yet known; while commerce
will carry the terror and the terrible scourge of yellow fever to
our shores, until we rise again in a war of humanity, and at all
costs wipe out an enemy with which no military valour can cope.
[Illustration: YARD OF AMERICAN CLUB, HAVANA.]
"Can Havana be purified? And if so, will such purification result
in the eradication of yellow fever and malaria? Both questions can
be answered affirmatively and positively. Havana is no dirtier than
many another city has been. In England, in the olden time, the
earthen floors were strewn with rushes. When these became sodden
with filth beyond all endurance, fresh rushes were thrown over the
old ones, and these in turn were buried, until the foul
accumulation was several feet deep. Excrement was allowed to remain
in and around the houses indefinitely, or was thrown into the
streets regardless of consequences. In London, the frequent cry of,
'Ware below!' indicated that the household slops were about to be
poured from an upper window. These conditions remained until
repeated visits of the great sanitary teachers--the plague, the
black death, the cholera, and other pestilences, which devastated
cities and swept whole villages out of existence--had taught their
hard lesson. On the continent the ignorance and neglect were, if
possible, even greater. We have profited by the bitter experience
of our ancestors; and no intelligent person questions the merit of
sanitary works. But their true value is not yet fully appreciated,
even by educated men whose interests are at stake.
"The poison of yellow fever is ponderable. It clings to low levels
and usually follows the lines of greatest humidity. Like malaria,
it is more active--or at least more to be feared--by night than by
day. The danger from it in any quarter of an infected locality
depends upon the presence primarily of filth, secondarily of
dampness; and it increases in direct proportion to the confinement
and stagnation of the air. Infected cellars are more dangerous than
infected rooms. The holds of ships are notorious hotbeds of the
disease.
"In Havana the average height of the ground floor of a house above
the soil is but six or seven inches; and this space is
unventilated. The earth is not only damp, but is sodden with
putrefying organic matter. The houses are closely built, without
adequate space for ventilation between them. In the poorer quarters
the population is crowded, a whole family often occupying a single
room. The emanations from the cesspool and garbage-vault pervade,
as has been stated, the kitchen and the sleeping-and living-rooms,
even of houses of the better class. The standard of personal
cleanliness is, necessarily, very low. These conditions, for which
the citizens are responsible, are sufficient in themselves to
transform the most healthy locality into a fever-nest. In the case
of Havana, they are accumulated by climatic conditions favourable
to, but in no case accountable for, the propagation of disease. No
amount of rainfall, no high average of humidity, and no degree of
temperature will cause zymotic pestilence, if cleanliness be
secured and maintained, and proper drainage of the soil
established."
In the notes which Colonel Waring brought with him from Cuba, the
following improvements are specified as absolutely necessary for the
sanitary redemption of Havana:
(1) The immediate organisation of a Department of Public Cleaning,"
under the full control of a single Commissioner experienced in the
conduct of such work," who should have authority to act as occasion may
require.
The chief function of the Department would be the maintenance of a
"constant state of cleanliness" in all the streets and places of public
business or resort, including the abattoirs and markets. "It should also
control the disposal of all wastes, except sewage--by cremation and
otherwise."
(2) The construction of a system of sewers "to receive the liquid wastes
of all houses of the main city." The topography of the city divides it
naturally into several districts. Each of these should be served by a
distinct sewerage system, which should discharge directly into the
harbour or the Gulf, as the case may be. " Before such discharge, the
effluent should be effectively clarified by one of the various well
known methods; so that it would carry only its dissolved impurities."
The dilution would be immediate and more than sufficient; for the daily
movement of sea water into and out of the harbour is about six thousand
times as great as would be the day's discharge of clarified sewage from
the harbour slope of the city.
(3) The clearing out and filling with clean earth of all the cesspools
and garbage-vaults, and the supplying to each house of a suitable
water-closet connected with the public sewer system. The closets
furnished should be practically automatic in operation, and not liable
to damage from ignorance or carelessness. They should be made so that no
foreign substance able to cause an obstruction in the house drain or the
sewer could pass out of sight. If more elaborate plumbing be desired,
this may be put in by the householder, under proper supervision, at his
own expense. The immediate installation of the water-closet in each
house is the only course which will make possible the annihilation of
the cesspool; and Havana will not be a healthy city until this result is
accomplished. The benefit that will be gained when it is done is out of
all proportion to the insignificant cost of the doing.
(4) The paving, or repaving, of all the streets with the best quality of
asphaltum. Some form of artificial paving of the streets of cities is
indispensable. Mr. Edwin Chadwick says that between the two divisions of
a town population, similarly situated in general condition, one part
inhabiting streets which are unpaved and another inhabiting streets that
are paved, a difference of health is observed. He cites instances
showing the sanitary benefit resulting from paving.
Laying aside all considerations of comfort and economy, which in
themselves are sufficient to warrant its construction, asphaltum is the
best paving material from a hygienic standpoint. Being a monolithic
sheet it is impervious alike to the rise of exhalations from the earth
and the soakage of liquids into the earth. It is easily cleaned; and, as
it can be cleaned without sprinkling, it can be cleaned dry. At
intervals it can be thoroughly washed with a hose, and all surplus water
removed immediately with a squeegee. The absence of dust and the
minimising of noise are hygienic benefits of secondary degree.
(5) The erection of a new abattoir, adequate to all the needs of the
population, and furnished with modern appliances for the inoffensive
utilisation of the entire animal, so that no refuse remains to be got
rid of.
(6) The construction of "a suitable and sufficient incinerating furnace,
for the complete and inoffensive destruction of garbage and other
refuse," including dead animals, street sweepings, mattresses, discarded
clothing, rags, excelsior, paper, and similar substances, which might
serve as vehicles of contagion. The experiments made by Colonel Waring
while Street Cleaning Commissioner of New York, indicated that such a
furnace may produce steam in quantities large enough to be valuable.
(7) The reclamation and drainage of all the marshes, or at least of
those bordering on the harbour on the south and west. "This reclamation
to be made after the 'Polder' method of Holland--by diking out the
harbour and the watercourses and removing the water by pumping."
(8) The establishment of a "power-plant sufficient for this pumping, for
pumping sewage where necessary, and for propelling the machinery of the
abattoir."
In concluding his paper, Mr. Hill says:
"It may seem strange that no reference has been made to the
dredging of the harbour--so urgently advocated by some advisers--or
to any improvement of it, save such as would be effected by the
withholding of solid organic matters from the abattoir, sewage, and
dumping grounds, and by the construction of the dikes at its
southern end. As has been said, the tidal flow is more than
sufficient to effect the purification of the clarified sewage,
which Colonel Waring proposed to empty into the harbour. So long as
solid wastes are withheld, its surplus oxidizing power will
gradually destroy the accumulation of putrescible material.
"To dredge the harbour now would be dangerous work; for it would
stir up and expose to the air vast quantities of putrid filth.
Later, if Colonel Waring's recommendations should be carried out,
it would mean only the removal of innocuous mud. Navigation is not
yet impeded by the deposits; and the rate at which the harbour is
silting up--one-third of one per cent. per year--makes it evident
that a delay of even ten years would not be injurious to commerce.
Long before this time has elapsed the harbour should be clean.
"Havana can be freed from her curse. The price of her freedom is
about $10,000,000. Can the United States afford to redeem her? For
once humanity, patriotism, and self-interest should be unanimous,
and their answer should be, Yes!"
General Greene, U.S.A., has submitted an extended report on the city's
condition. General Greene notes that about sixty per cent. of the
street surface is not paved, and that which is paved is in very poor
condition. In some streets are small drains, connecting by gratings with
the gutters, but no official record is kept of them, and no city plat
shows whither they go, but as in Havana all sewers lead to the bay, it
is supposed that is their destination. Some few private houses have
their own sewers, but no official knows anything further than that
permits were granted to build them and they are never cleaned. In parts
of the city a drain two feet deep and two feet wide, covered or
uncovered, runs alongside of the streets and into these all manner of
ill-smelling and nasty refuse is dumped and left to wash away by the
rain or to rot in the sun. For four years previous to the war the
authorities had been considering an elaborate plan of street improvement
and sewerage system, submitted by an American contractor, but no action
had been taken. The estimated cost was $7,000,000.
For three hundred years or more house drainage has been discharged into
cesspools, varying in size from three to ten feet in diameter, and from
four to eight feet deep, closed at the top with a stone. While rules for
taking proper care of these cesspools are plenty, enforcement of them is
so neglected that some of them have not been cleaned in five years. They
are not cemented inside and they drain off into the soil and rock,
infecting everything in reach.
The paved streets (surface) are cleaned by contract, by methods
prevailing in this country twenty-five years ago, and the work is fairly
well done. The cleanings are carried eight miles from the city, where
they are dumped and left on the ground, and the condition there is
fearful. During the blockade the authorities ordered the cleanings to be
dumped into the marsh near the Christina Street station, and here in the
wet soil they remain, a dangerous menace to health. The thousands of
_reconcentrados_ and soldiers in the city used the unpaved streets as
open privies, and when the Americans went into the city they found these
streets utterly noxious and foul, and set to work at once to clean
them, the street-cleaning contractor being permitted to continue his
work on the paved streets.
There is but one slaughter-house in the city and it is owned by the
municipality. It is mortgaged, like other city properties, to the
Spanish Bank. From three hundred to four hundred cattle are killed
daily, and the offal, which might easily be saved, and is, in American
slaughter-houses, is dumped into Chavez Creek, where it is left to rot
in the sun. The construction of a new building in a different locality
has been long discussed, but opposition has been made to it, and nothing
has been done. In the meantime the dumping continues in Chavez Creek.
The military hospitals have not yet been examined. Of the nine city
hospitals, asylums, and homes examined by Surgeon Davis, three were in
fairly good condition, two in bad condition, and four are most
deplorable. Some of the houses are overcrowded and the inmates half
starved. These hospitals can be put in good condition very soon.
The two principal markets, the Colon and the Tacon, are owned by the
city and mortgaged to the Spanish Bank. Their sanitary condition is bad
as it can be, but it can be remedied easily and quickly.
An elaborate code of Health Regulations, a volume of fifty pages,
exists, but it is seldom or never referred to or its provisions carried
out. Dairies prevail in many parts of the city, where twenty to thirty
cows are kept in stalls in the same house where human beings live;
livery stables are located in the most thickly settled parts of the
city; dead dogs, cats, and other animals are left in the open streets
for weeks; slops, filth, and night soil are thrown out of the windows
and doors on the streets in the poorer localities and no kind of regard
is paid to health regulations of any kind.
The condition of the harbour is gone into at length, one new fact being
noted, to wit: that the water is so foul that the bottom cannot be seen
two feet below the surface, while at Marianao, eight miles away, the
bottom at twenty feet is plainly visible.
Both General Greene and Surgeon Davis are of the opinion that the
harbour is not such a menace to health as are the cesspools,
slaughter-house, and general filth of the city, and that it should come
last in the cleaning process.
In recapitulation, General Greene says:
"From the foregoing it is apparent that the first steps toward
sanitation are the improvement of the slaughter-house, the cleaning
of cesspools, the inauguration of a proper system of street
cleaning, and the devising and rigid enforcement of health
regulations. I have therefore advised that immediately on taking
possession of the city government a board be appointed, consisting
of three army surgeons and two civilians--one from New York and one
from Chicago--of long experience on the Health Boards in those
cities; that this board study the sanitary conditions of the city
and draw up a new code of sanitary regulations, including the
management of the hospitals; and that this code be rigidly enforced
by the new city police, assisted by such number of sanitary
inspectors as may prove to be necessary. In this manner I believe
that the sanitary conditions can be improved and the death-rate
enormously reduced before the next rainy season sets in. The
death-rate in October last was at the rate of 133 per 1000 per
annum; in December it had been reduced to 106, and with only two
deaths per week from yellow fever.
"In order completely to stamp out yellow fever it will be necessary
to destroy a limited number of the worst infected houses occupied
by the poorest classes, to construct a system of sewers, and lay
new pavements. This will involve a very large expenditure of money,
and it is not at present clear how the city can raise this money.
It is probable, however, that a feasible financial scheme could be
devised after thorough study, and in the meantime a commission of
engineers should be appointed to study the problem, and either
acquire the existing surveys by purchase, at a fair valuation, or
else make new surveys, and a definite report covering the whole
ground, so that the matter may be intelligently considered."
EXTRACTS FROM REPORT OF THE HAVANA YELLOW FEVER COMMISSION, 1879
TEMPERATURE
"This is conceded to be a climatic element of greatest importance, and
the 'annual mean' to be the chief factor. Throughout the West Indies the
mean annual temperature, near the sea, is from 78 degrees to 80, the
mean daily range is only about 6 degrees, and the extreme annual range
does not usually exceed 20 degrees. At Havana the mean annual
temperature varies in different years from 77 degrees to 79; the mean
temperature of the hottest months, July and August, varies from 82 to 85
degrees; and of the coldest months, December and January, from 70 to 76
degrees. The minimum temperature is very rarely as low as 50 degrees,
and the maximum as rarely exceeds 100 degrees; in fact, the thermometer,
in the shade, seldom rises above 94 degrees. There are no records nor
any tradition of frost having ever occurred except on December 24 and
25, 1856. It is alleged that even in the sparsely inhabited mountains in
the east of Cuba, where the Tarquino peak reaches an altitude of about
8000 feet, frost rarely occurs, and snow never."
RAINFALL
"During the sixteen years, 1859-74, the average number of rainy days at
Havana was 113; the minimum number, 97 days, occurred in 1869, and the
maximum number, 141 days, occurred in 1862. The average amount of rain
for the sixteen years was 49 inches, the minimum was 42.5 in 1861, and
the maximum was 70 inches in 1867. The maximum amount of rain falling in
any one season is from May to September, inclusive, but especially
during August and September. The rain then descends with such rapidity
that it runs off in torrents; but, as is seen, the usual belief that the
annual rainfall is excessive is erroneous. The annual mean relative
humidity varies in different years from about 73 to 74.5, and that of
the different months of the year from 66 to 79; the minimum, occurring
in any day of the year, may be as low as 34, and the maximum as high as
96. Evaporation is extremely rapid."
ANNUAL DEATHS IN HAVANA, 1870-79
----+-----------+-----------+-----------------------------------------------
| | |
| Deaths | | DEATHS BY
| by all | | | |
| Diseases | Deaths by | YELLOW FEVER. | SMALL POX.| CHOLERA.
| in the | all | | |
| Military |Diseases in+-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------
| and Civil | the Civil | Military | | Military | Military
|Population.|Population.| and Civil | Civil | and Civil | and Civil
| | |Population.|Population.|Population.|Population.
----+-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------
1870| 10,379 | 9,451 | 665 | 277 | 681 | 1,655
1871| 9,174 | 8,290 | 991 | 796 | 1,126 | ....
1872| 7,031 | 6,036 | 515 | 372 | 174 | ....
1873| 7,755 | 6,932 | 1,244 | 1,019 | 47 | ....
1874| 9,604 | 8,523 | 1,225 | 1,236 | 772 | ....
1875| 8,390 | 7,044 | 1,001 | 94 | 711 | ....
1876| 9,122 | 7,438 | 1,619 | 904 | 160 | ....
1877| 10,217 | 7,139 | 1,374 | 567 | 97 | ....
1878| 11,507 | 8,594 | 1,559 | 758 | 1,225 | ....
1879| 9,052 | 7,826 | 1,444 | 737 | 523 | ....
+-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------
| 92,231 | 77,273 11,837 6,760 5,516 1,655
----+-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------
"Spanish army losses to January 16, 1896:
Killed in action and died from wounds......... 405
Died from yellow fever........................ 3,190
All other diseases............................ 282
-----
3,877
"Total mortality of Spanish army in Cuba in 1897 (from Public Health
Report, U. S. Marine Hospital Service, April 29, 1898):
Died from yellow fever........................ 3,190
Deaths from yellow fever...................... 6,034
Deaths from enteric fever..................... 2,500
Enteritis and dysentery..................... 12,000
Malarial fevers............................... 7,000
All other diseases............................ 5,000
------
Deaths from all diseases............. 32,534
"The above table ... clearly proves that 'the actual sanitary condition
of the principal ports of Cuba' is very unfavourable, since, in recent
years, their death-rates have ranged from 31.9 to 66.7. It also proves
that the sanitary condition of the inland towns is very little, if at
all, better than that of the seaports. The high death-rates of
Guanabacoa and of Marianao are especially notable, because these
suburban towns, within three and six miles of Havana, are summer
resorts, and enjoy, especially Marianao, a high repute for salubrity.
Taking a general view of the death-rates for the total population of all
the twenty towns in the above list--towns selected solely because the
only ones which furnish reliable official reports, though many others
were solicited, it will be found that twenty-six death-rates are given;
that these range from 23.5 to 66.7, and that, while only eight of the
twenty-six are under 35, twelve of them are 50 or more."
"The portion of the city in worst repute is the fifth district, and
especially Jesus Maria, one of its wards. This is, to considerable
extent, reclaimed swamp lands, filled in largely with street refuse and
garbage. It fronts the bottom of the harbour. Its rough, unpaved streets
are in many places almost impassable in wet weather, even to
pedestrians. Great mud-holes, covered with green slime, and fit only for
the abode of hogs, are numerous. The houses, as well as the streets,
have an uncared-for, filthy, and disgusting appearance; and the sickly,
anæmic residents look as dirty and cheerless as the streets and houses.
"The Punta or Colon wards in the third district--at least the portions
which immediately front the sea--have a reputation almost as bad as the
Jesus Maria ward. The foundation rocks were, during the last century,
excavated to build fortifications, and these excavations were filled up
with street refuse and garbage; hence this ward is, like Jesus Maria, to
some extent, reclaimed land. These portions are alleged to be very
unhealthful, while houses only six or eight blocks distant are not so;
comparatively light rains flood the _banquettes_ and run into the
houses. The streets are wider and the houses better than in Jesus Maria.
Some consider the location of the latter, at the bottom of the harbour,
a chief cause for its unhealthfulness, but the unhealthy portion of the
city now referred to fronts the sea.
[Illustration: THE PRADO AND INDIAN STATUE, HAVANA.]
"The Pueblo Nuevo ward, still farther to the west, also fronts the sea,
and is built on a slope which attains an altitude of nearly seventy
feet. Notwithstanding these advantages, it is very badly drained, and
has, as it apparently deserves, an ill repute for healthfulness....
"The three suburban wards, Jesus del Monte, the Cerro, and Vedado, enjoy
the best reputation for salubrity, and also for their freedom from
yellow fever. Intelligent residents are readily found, who will assert
with great assurance that no one is ever attacked in these wards except
those who have been elsewhere infected. The summit of Jesus del Monte
has an altitude of 67 meters, or 220 feet, the highest point in Havana,
or its immediate vicinity. However, there are few, if any, houses about
the summit; the average level of the ward is only 80 feet, and more
inhabitants live below than above this level. The natural drainage is
excellent, the houses in the elevated portion occupy more ground and are
better ventilated than in Havana."
GEOLOGICAL FORMATION
"The surface soil of Havana consists for the most part of a thin layer
of red, yellow, or black earths. At varying depths beneath this, often
not exceeding one or two feet, lie the solid rocks. These foundation
rocks are (especially in the northern and more modern portion of the
city, towards the coast of the sea and not of the harbour) quarternary
and especially tertiary formation so permeable that liquids emptied into
excavations are absorbed and disappear. In the southern and greater
portion of the city, these rocks are of cretaceous formation, and so
much less permeable that sinks and other excavations readily fill to
overflowing. About twenty thousand persons or one-tenth of the
population, live on land reclaimed from the sea, in large measure, by
dumping on garbage and street refuse. Much of this reclaimed land was
formerly mangrove swamps, and Havana still lies adjacent to these
breeders of malarial poison. There are few if any towns in Cuba which
are not subjected to malarial effluvia from mangrove or other swamps,
and many of these suffer to greater extent than Havana."
Messrs. Ariza and Herrera reported a population of 3000 on the
reclaimed parts of the first district, 5000 on parts of the third
and fourth, 5000 on part of the fifth, and 600 on part of the sixth
district.
THE CLEANSING OF THE HARBOUR
"The sanitarian cannot hesitate to advocate, for general reasons if not
especially for yellow fever, the cleansing of the harbour, the cessation
of daily additions to it of large masses of filth, and the replenishment
of it by constant currents of pure water. To accomplish the last, it has
been much insisted on, in the United States, as well as in Cuba, that
canals should be dug. Out of Cuba it ought to be better understood that
Havana is by no means deficient in highly educated, skilful, practical
engineers, who are fully alive to the sanitary interests of the city,
and to the merits of this especial subject. Among these, Colonel Albear
stands pre-eminent, and in September, 1879, he delivered before the
Academy of Sciences an extremely able address on this subject, which is
so full of instruction, on other local conditions also of interest to
the sanitarian, that this address has been translated and is presented,
as a most interesting part of this report. Colonel Albear seems to have
conclusively demonstrated the impracticability of these proposed canals;
and my own conviction is that if practicable they could not possibly
place the small harbour of Havana in as favourable sanitary conditions
as are by nature the large harbour of Matanzas and of Cienfuegos, where
yellow fever none the less prevails."
DRAINAGE
"In Cuban cities, generally, good drainage is not found except in such
comparatively inextensive parts where nature required little or no
assistance. Even in Havana, the oldest and wealthiest city, the visitor
is often astounded, especially in the rainy season, by impassable
mud-holes, and green, slimy, stagnant pools in the streets and in the
backyards. This condition was found even in the Pueblo Nuevo ward, which
is located so admirably for good drainage that little labour would be
required to make it perfect.
"Messrs. Ariza and Herrera reported: 'Havana has no sewers save in a few
principal streets. These sewers have been built at interrupted
intervals, without reference to any general plan for drainage. They are
seldom cleaned and are generally obstructed in part or wholly with
sediment or filth from the streets, and exhale offensive odours. As the
sewers are few in number, the greater part of the water of the city
empties through the streets, into the harbour or the sea; but the
quantity flowing into the sea is comparatively small.' Mr. A. H. Taylor,
a civil engineer, thoroughly informed on this subject, testified that
the sewers of only three streets subserved any good purpose whatever,
and that the remainder were so defective that the city would really be
much better off without them. Through the gratings, which have large
interspaces, the dirt and refuse of the streets find such ready entrance
that a number of these sewers were soon filled up, with apparently solid
materials, to within a few inches of the surface openings. Since very
few houses or privies are connected with sewers, these are less
offensive than they would otherwise be, but no one who has seen them can
find any words except of unhesitating condemnation for their grossly
defective structure."
THE PAVING OF STREETS
"Less than one-third of the population live on paved streets, and these
are well paved and kept as clean, it is believed cleaner, than is usual
in the United States. The remainder live on unpaved streets, which for
the most part are very filthy. Many of these, even in old and densely
populated parts of the city, are no better than rough country roads,
full of rocks, crevices, mud-holes, and other irregularities, so that
vehicles traverse them with difficulty at all times, and in the rainy
season they are sometimes impassable for two months. Rough, muddy, or
both, these streets serve admirably as permanent receptacles for much
decomposing animal and vegetable matter. Finally, not less, probably
more, than one-half of the population of Havana live on streets which
are constantly in an extremely insanitary condition, but these streets,
though so numerous, are not in the beaten track of the pleasure tourist,
in which capacity the writer, in 1856, spent ten days in Havana without
witnessing many of the evils now testified to with emphasis."
DENSITY OF POPULATION
"Of the various evils recounted in connection with the subject of
houses, there are two which deserve special attention. Many facts,
besides those associated with the holds of vessels, justify the belief
that the growth of the poison of yellow fever is specially favoured in
warm, moist, ill-ventilated places, where air is closely confined. The
low-lying floors touching the earth, the small, densely packed houses,
the unusually contracted ventilating space in their rear, the large
unventilated excavation for privies and sinks, all furnish, as is firmly
believed, the most favourable breeding-places for the poison of yellow
fever. In addition, statistics prove that in great cities subjected to
their ordinary unfavourable conditions, the denser their population the
sicklier and shorter-lived their inhabitants. Common-sense and
experience unite to teach that the denser a population the more
widespread and frightful the havoc of diseases, especially of
communicable diseases. Elsewhere will be found a special report on the
density of the population of Havana compared with numerous other cities,
and it therein appears that more than three-fourths of the people of
Havana live in the most densely populated localities in the world. A
tropical climate renders this enormous evil still greater. Not only in
Havana but throughout Cuba the average number of inhabitants to each
house is unusually great, and this fact enables us better to understand
the great prevalence in Cuba of those communicable diseases which its
climate and other local conditions favour.
"The Registry Office in Havana reports that there are upwards of
eighteen thousand fincas in this registry district, which comprises the
village of Marianao in addition to the city of Havana.
"A finca is a piece of land, with definite boundaries or limits whether
large or small, and whether it has buildings on it or not.
"Of the eighteen thousand fincas in the district about fourteen thousand
have houses upon them, and the other four thousand being vacant lots in
the city, or fincas rusticas, in the rural districts.
"At least twelve in every thirteen inhabitants live in one-story houses;
and as the total civil, military, and transient population exceeds two
hundred thousand, there are more than twelve inhabitants to every house.
Tenement houses may have many small rooms, but each room is occupied by
a family. Generally, the one-story houses have four or five rooms; but
house-rent (as also food and clothing) is rendered so expensive by
taxation, by export as well as import duties, that it is rare for a
workman, even when paid fifty to one hundred dollars a month, to enjoy
the exclusive use of one of these mean little houses. Reserving one or
two rooms for his family, he rents the balance. This condition of
affairs is readily understood when it is known that so great a necessity
as flour costs in Havana $15.50, when its price in the United States was
$6.50 per barrel.
"In the densely populated portions of the city the houses generally have
no back yard, properly so called, but a flagged court, or narrow vacant
space into which sleeping-rooms open at the side; and in close proximity
with these, at the rear of this contracted court, are located the
kitchen, the privy, and often a stall for animals."
"Messrs. Ariza and Herrera report that in Havana the average height of
the ground floor is from seven to eleven inches above the pavement, but
in Havana, and more frequently in other Cuban towns, one often
encounters houses which are entered by stepping down from the sidewalk;
and some floors are even below the level of the streets. In Havana some
of the floors; in Matanzas more; in Cardenas and Cienfuegos many, are of
bare earth itself, or of planks raised only a few inches above the damp
ground.
"The privy and the sink for slops, the open kitchen shed, and the stable
immediately adjoin each other, confined in a very contracted space close
to sleeping-rooms. The privy consists of an excavation which often
extends several feet laterally under the stone flags of the court. Even
if the sides be walled, the bottom is of the original porous earth or
subsoil rock, thus permitting widespread saturation of the soil."
LA LUCHA OCTOBER, 21, 1896
"These houses are veritable pig-styes. Houses which rent from thirty to
forty-five dollars per month--an extremely high price for a country
where wealth has been destroyed by war--are devoid of all comfort. They
are unhealthful habitations. A very distinguished stranger, who visited
us some time ago, said of them: 'They are composed solely of four walls
and a pavement which are stained with dampness and a privy whose fetid
and constant emanations poison the air that must be breathed.'"
CHAPTER XII
MUNICIPAL PROBLEMS IN HAVANA
The American authorities and American enterprise have jointly taken hold
of the municipal problem of Havana with considerable energy. This
subject is of such vital importance, not only to the industrial
reconstruction of Cuba, but to the future of the Island itself, that no
apology is necessary for devoting an entire chapter to it. The problems
which General Ludlow, the present Governor of Havana, has taken up
energetically are those relating to the reorganisation of the police
force, public works, water and gas supply, fire department, and other
branches of local government. Private enterprise, both English and
American, has lost no time in securing the street-railway system and
some of the public theatres, and in various ways engaged in semi-public
enterprises, the result of which will be greatly to improve existing
conditions, and make Havana a much more desirable city, both for
business and residence.
Next to the question of sanitary improvement, which is absolutely
imperative unless the United States stands ready to sacrifice thousands
of lives next summer, is the organisation of the police force for the
preservation of life and property. For several years past it is said the
attention of the police of Havana has been directed more to political
arrests than to prevention of crime. Whether these rumours are well
founded or not, General Greene, whose report upon the sanitation of Cuba
was presented in the previous chapter, is not prepared to assert; but he
contends that at the time he made his report, last December, the police
force was completely disorganised. As it formerly existed, the police
force of Havana consisted of two parts, namely: the Government police,
under the direct orders of the civil governor of the province; and the
municipal police, under the orders of the Alcalde, or Mayor. The
functions of the latter were mainly those of inspectors, to look after
the enforcement of city ordinances in regard to buildings, public
health, and such matters. They numbered 200. The Government police
consisted of a battalion called the _Orden Publico_, the colonel in
command of which was chief of police. The battalion numbered about 1200
men, and was recruited from the Spanish army, among men who had passed
through not less than six years' service, who held the grade of
sergeant, and who had won certificates of perfectly good character. This
force was disarmed and shipped to Spain in November, on the ground of
alleged mutiny; the facts being that they claimed the money belonging to
them which had been deposited with the regimental paymaster, and by him
embezzled.
In addition to the municipal police and the _Orden Publico_, there was a
force, detailed from the _Guarda Civil_, whose total strength was about
3500 men. This force constituted the rural police of the entire Island,
under the orders of the civil governor of each province. About 300 were
used by the civil governor of Havana for duty in the suburbs of Jesus
del Monte, Cerro, and other outlying neighbourhoods.
At the time the control of the city passed from Spanish into American
hands, the police force consisted simply of the municipal police, about
200 in number, with a few additions, all of whom were temporarily
organised into a Government police force after the disarmament of the
_Orden Publico._
The city, according to General Greene's report, is divided into ten
districts, and these are still further subdivided into thirty-nine
_barrios_, or wards. The _barrios_ correspond in a measure to the
precincts in New York, and in each there was a _celador_, corresponding
to a sergeant in New York. He received $100 per month, and had charge
of the police in his _barrio_, or precinct. There were five inspectors,
each of whom had two of the principal districts under his charge. They
received $125 per month. They were in turn subject to the orders of the
chief of police, and he to the orders of the civil governor. The
appointments to all of the positions named were made by the
Governor-General on the nomination of the Governor. Each inspector had
an office on the ground floor of the house where he lived, and these
were all connected by telephone, through the Telephone Exchange, with
the Police Headquarters on Cuba Street, near Quarteles Street.
Similarly, each of the _celadors_ had an office in his own house. There
were a large number of details for special service at banks, theatres,
public offices, and similar places, and while the nominal strength of
the _Orden Publico_ was 1200, yet vacancy, sickness, and other causes
reduced its effective strength to 800 or 900.
According to this report, in the opinion of the civil governor, a force
of 600 carefully selected men, thoroughly well organised, under proper
officers, will be ample for the security of life and property in this
city. The orders of the President of the United States authorised the
organisation of a force of 1000 men. Subsequently the Secretary of War
telegraphed General Greene to employ such number of men as was
necessary. In the judgment of the commanding general the number
authorised by the President was sufficient, and the proposed
organisation, inaugurated by General Greene and just completed under the
direction of General Ludlow, aided by ex-Chief of Police of New York
City, McCullough, is as follows:
Salary per month
1 Colonel (U. S. V.), Chief of Police..........
1 Deputy Chief of Police....................... $250
1 Secretary Inspector.......................... 165
1 Chief of Detectives, Deputy Inspector........ 165
6 Inspectors, officers U. S. V.................
6 Deputy Inspectors............................ 150
12 Captains..................................... 115
48 Lieutenants.................................. 90
48 Patrol Sergeants............................. 65
10 Detective Sergeants.......................... 115
14 Detectives................................... 100
12 Detectives................................... 75
820 Patrolmen.................................... 50
1 Stenographer and Interpreter................. 150
6 Clerks....................................... 50
6 Drivers...................................... 40
12 Janitors..................................... 35
2 Surgeons..................................... 100
The total expenses for salary would be $56,360 per month, or $676,020
per annum. In addition there would be expenses for rent of office,
telephone, telegrams, patrol service, 100 horses for use in suburban
districts, and other expenses, which would bring the total cost of the
police up to about $723,660 per annum.
It is proposed to put the entire police management under charge of an
officer of the volunteer army, and to give him a deputy chief, who shall
be a resident of the Island, and, if possible, experienced in police
matters. Similarly, to put officers of the army of junior rank as
inspectors in the principal districts--six in number--and to give to
each a deputy inspector, who will be a resident. At the beginning, it is
deemed essential that the police management should be in the hands of
army officers who can be relied upon, but each will have a deputy who
will be a resident, and if possible thoroughly experienced in the police
service. It may be necessary to change these resident officers once or
more before the best men for the positions are finally found. After the
system has been in operation, and the men have proved their efficiency,
it will be possible for the army officers to be relieved, and the native
or resident officers to assume full control.
In his report on the organisation of the Havana police force General
Greene says:
"There are three sources from which the men can be obtained,
namely, the existing police force, the Cuban troops under General
Menocal, and the discharged Spanish soldiers. The President's
instructions are positive that this force should be selected
without reference to previous affiliations, either for or against
the revolutionary movement, and by drawing from the three classes
above named; these instructions will be carried out in letter and
in spirit."
In accordance with the President's instructions, every officer and
member of the police force will be required to subscribe the following
oath, which will be printed in both Spanish and English:
"I do solemnly swear that I will bear true and exclusive faith and
allegiance to the Government of the United States existing in the
Island of Cuba, and that I will faithfully and obediently perform
my duty as a member of the police force of Havana under the said
Government. So help me God."
The uniform of the new Havana police officer will consist of straw hat,
dark blue blouse and trousers, tan-coloured shoes, and white gloves.
The public works needed in Havana are sewers, pavements, a new
slaughter-house, buildings for the police, fire, and health departments,
and new hospitals. All of these will require a very large sum of money,
and the ability of the city to raise this money is not yet evident. For
the present, all that can be done is thoroughly to clean, disinfect, and
repair the existing public buildings, either owned or rented, so as to
make them habitable for the public officials, both American and native.
The means of communication are entirely inadequate. They consist of
lines of tramways running out to Jesus del Monte, Cerro, and the foot of
the Principe Hill. The tracks are in bad order, the cars are old and
dirty, and they are drawn by three horses each. The live stock is in bad
condition, and the stables are filthy. These lines are owned by a
company called the _Ferro Carril Urbano y Omnibus de la Habana_, under a
concession granted February 5, 1859. The same company also runs, in the
suburban districts, a few lines of very small omnibuses, drawn by two
mules. The service is extremely bad. In addition to these facilities for
transportation there is a "dummy" line, running from the centre of the
city to the western end of the Vedado, a distance of about four miles.
The track is in bad order, and the service is unsatisfactory.
Undoubtedly one of the first enterprises that will be pushed to
completion in Havana will be an entirely new tramway system, with
mechanical traction. General Greene recognises the necessity of this
when he says in his report:
"There is a great need of a thorough and modern system of electric
street railways in this city. While the streets are narrow, yet a
single track could be laid on each street, near the curbstone on
one side, in such a manner as not to impede traffic. It is a
question, however, whether these tracks should be laid prior to the
laying of the sewers, which would cause the tearing up of every
street in the thickly populated portion of the city."
General Greene is undoubtedly right in saying that the new sewerage,
gas, and water pipes, tramways, and paving of Havana should all be done
at one time. If a general plan of this sort were inaugurated, the
streets could be taken one at a time and finished. It should be borne in
mind that this sort of work cannot be done as it is done in American
cities, by reason of the fact that the streets are so narrow that to
pull part of them up and leave any room for traffic is impossible. Added
to this, the paving which should be done in Havana is more like masonry
work than ordinary paving, because in consequence of the tremendous
rains in the rainy season when the streets practically become small
rivers (for it is not an unusual thing to see small boys swimming in the
street), the sort of pavements we are familiar with would be entirely
inadequate.
In the chapter on Havana mention was made of the excellent water supply.
While the following description of the water supply of Havana by
General Greene partially covers the statement already made, it brings
out an interesting point in relation to the necessity of not only
encouraging but also insisting on the additional use of water in Havana.
It is nothing less than criminal for a city so abundantly supplied with
magnificent spring water as is Havana not to insist upon its more
liberal use. The waterworks themselves were built by American enterprise
and there can be no doubt that those responsible for their management
will be glad enough to increase the use of the water, and in so doing
reduce the price to the consumer. However this may be, the water supply
of Havana is so closely allied to its sanitary condition, that whatever
the United States Government may decide to do in regard to its sewerage
should be taken up in conjunction with the water supply. It is not a
matter that should be left to the decision of the people of Havana
themselves, but should be managed with no uncertain hand by those in
authority, and the supply paid for by the city if the people are too
poor or too indifferent to appreciate the necessity of cleanliness. Note
what General Greene says on this point:
"The present water supply of Havana is excellent, although it is
used by only a portion of the population. It comes from enormous
springs on the banks of the Almendares River, about eight miles due
south of the city. These springs are inclosed in a masonry
structure, about 150 feet in diameter at its base, and 250 feet at
the top, and 60 feet deep. Masonry drains are laid around the upper
surface to prevent any surface water from washing into the spring.
At the base of this spring the water is constantly bubbling up, and
appears to be of remarkable purity. The supply is so large that it
more than fills all the present requirements, and a large portion
of it runs to waste. From the spring the water is conveyed under
the Almendares River by pipes situated in a tunnel, and from the
north side of the river the water is conveyed in a masonry tunnel
or aqueduct for a distance of about six miles, where it discharges
into a receiving reservoir, the altitude of which is 35 metres, or
about 108 feet, above the sea level. From the distributing
reservoir the water is carried into the city by gravity in pipes,
the highest point in the thickly populated portion of the city
being, as already stated, 68 feet. The pipes in the streets are
said to be small, and there is not sufficient pressure to carry the
water to the upper stories of the small number of buildings which
exceed one story in height. In these buildings pumping is
necessary.
"There are said to be about 18,000 houses in the city, and from a
report made by the municipality in 1897 it appears that the number
of houses directly connected with the water pipes is 9233. The
poorer houses, which are not thus connected, obtain water either by
purchase from the street vendors or by getting it from public taps,
of which there are a certain number scattered throughout the city."
Of the efficiency of the fire department, General Greene, in his report,
said that he was unable to speak without further knowledge. "It is
generally considered," he says, "to be very satisfactory, and the
inhabitants of the city take great pride in it."
The fire department of Havana appears to consist of two branches--the
Municipal Fire Department and the Commercial Fire Department, the former
being partly supported at public expense and the latter at the expense
of private individuals.
The Municipal Fire Department is organised as a battalion, as follows:
1 Colonel, Chief of Fire Department. 74 Corporals.
1 Lieutenant-Colonel, Deputy-Chief. 10 Cornets.
2 Majors 1531 Firemen.
1 Adjutant. 1 Chief Surgeon.
12 Captains. 4 Assistant Surgeons.
16 First Lieutenants. 1 Chief Apothecary.
13 Second Lieutenants. 2 Assistant Apothecaries.
44 Sergeants.
The only paid employes, however, are a few machinists, drivers, clerks,
and a telegraph operator. The entire expense in the budget of 1897-98 is
as follows:
For salaries.. $ 6,713
For materials. 7,062
-------
Total... $13,774
The apparatus consists of five steam fire engines in Havana, one in
Jesus del Monte, and one in Marianao; two hose-carts, and one hook and
ladder carriage.
There are 78 fire-alarm stations and 356 water-plugs distributed in
different parts of the city.
The debt of the city of Havana on December 31, 1898, according to a
statement signed by the Mayor and Controller, was as follows:
Loan of April 22, 1889, fifty-year 6 per cent. bonds (mortgagee,
Spanish Bank of the Island of Cuba)
$6,721,000.00
Loan of October 17, 1891, fifty-year 6 per cent. bonds (mortgagee,
Bank of Commerce, United Railroads, and Regla
Warehouses) 2,882,000.00
Notes 23,830,94
Floating debt for salaries, materials, interest, and sinking fund.
2,450,064.78
--------------
Total $12,076,895.72
By the end of this year the floating debt will be still greater, and the
total obligations of the city at that time will probably be about
$12,500,000.
[Illustration: HOUSE OF PARLIAMENT, HAVANA]
The mortgage for the loan of 1889 to the Spanish Bank is a document of
158 printed pages, including the index. It recites that in 1877 the city
borrowed from the Spanish Bank a sum of money which, together with its
interest, amounted in 1889 to $3,177,053.25; that the city was in
arrears for interest and sinking fund, and that lawsuits have been in
progress to compel the city to pay; that the city also desired funds for
the completing the water-works and other purposes, and it was finally
agreed that the city would issue $6,500,000 6 per cent. fifty-year bonds
for the purpose of taking up the existing debt and completing the
water-works, the expense of which was estimated at $1,850,000; and that
the balance of the loan, which was taken at 90, was to be turned over to
the city for general purposes. There was a further provision that the
loan might be increased to $7,000,000 in case the city found it
necessary, and this was done. The sinking fund provides for withdrawal
by lot and payment of a certain number of bonds every three months
during the fifty years, the amount at the end of the first quarter being
$5000 and the last quarter $100,000. As security for the loan the city
gave a first mortgage on the following property:
Canal de Vento, valued at................ $5,030,000
The aqueduct of Fernando VII., valued at. 153,000
The Cristina market, valued at........... 103,000
The Tacon market, valued at.............. 960,000
The Colon market, valued at.............. 304,000
----------
Making a total of.................. $6,550,000
together with all revenues and receipts from them during the period of
the loan. In addition the municipality mortgaged as further security
upward of fifty houses which it owns in various sections of the city.
The amount of this loan was $7,000,000, which has been reduced by the
operations of the sinking fund to $6,721,000. The mortgage of 1891 is
also for fifty years and at 6 per cent., with the same property as
security. The original amount was $3,000,000, which has now been reduced
by the operations of the sinking fund to $2,882,000. The amount of
arrears of interest and sinking fund on the two loans is $343,600.56,
which figures as part of the floating debt first above stated.
The floating debt of Havana arises from the failure to pay practically
any salaries, contractors, or bills for materials during the whole of
the year 1898, and for some debts contracted prior to this year. The
items are given as follows:
Salaries........................... $ 678,117.55
Supplies........................... 230,205.77
Materials.......................... 1,183,312.31
Public works....................... 2,568.59
Interest and sinking fund of debts. 343,600.56
Notes overdue...................... 12,160.00
-------------
$2,450,064.78
This is _prima facie_ a valid obligation of the municipality, and should
be funded. But before making a new loan for the purpose of paying these
debts it would be only proper to have a court of claims established,
before which all the creditors of the municipality could appear and
definitely prove the amount of their claims and the date at which they
accrued.
The debt question of Havana can not be disposed of lightly. In his
instructive report on the municipal finances of Havana, General Greene
gives it as his opinion that $12,500,000 is not excessive for a city of
the size and wealth of Havana. Discussing the question with prominent
financiers of Havana, the author found that these gentlemen agreed
substantially with General Greene, some going so far as to declare the
city could easily stand double the present debt, which would bring it up
to $25,000,000. According to the last census, the only city comparable
with Havana in the United States that carries a debt approaching this
was Cincinnati, which had then a debt of $24,737,611. Cleveland, on the
other hand, with a population about the same, had in 1890 a debt of only
$6,143,206. The other United States cities of about the same population
are respectively Pittsburg, debt, $10,026,806; Buffalo, debt,
$10,843,029; Milwaukee, debt only $2,915,900; and San Francisco, less
than $1,000,000 of municipal indebtedness. The debts of both Boston and
Philadelphia were in 1890 less than $30,000,000. It will be bad
financiering to burden Havana at present with more debt. When the budget
is fully examined by expert accountants a large floating debt will be
found, some of which it may be right and just to pay, and much of which
is fraudulent. There will be long past-due gas bills, aggregating over
$500,000; unpaid bills for street cleaning; salary accounts unadjusted,
and a great variety of debts the validity of which may have to be tried
in the courts. To meet current expenses the revenues of the city will
have to be increased and honestly expended. Naturally, the city will
have to bear its share of the important sanitary work which must be done
in Havana, but as this work is for the general welfare of the Island,
part of it may rightly be taken from the general funds. Judged from an
American point of view, the municipal debt of Havana at the present
moment is quite large enough, and great care should be taken not to
increase it beyond the danger line.
The revenue of the city is derived entirely from licences and indirect
taxation. Real estate is not directly taxed, and the municipality does
not receive directly anything from it. The Island of Cuba imposes, among
other taxes, a duty of 12 per cent. on the estimated rental value of all
houses in the city and country, and it pays over to the city of Havana
18 per cent. of the amount thus collected on rents within the city
limit. The Island of Cuba also levies a tax on industry, commerce, and
professions, and it pays over to the city of Havana 25 per cent. of all
such taxes collected within the city limits. The other sources of city
revenue, which are directly collected by the municipality, are the rent
of houses owned by the municipality, revenues of the waterworks,
slaughter-house, and markets, taxes on meat, coke, and wood, licences on
factories and business of all kinds, and various minor licences. The
total estimated revenue for the year 1897-98 is slightly in excess of
$2,000,000, and the principal items, taken from the budget, are as
follows:
1. Rent of houses owned by the city............. $159,598.16
2. Special taxes and licences:
Street vendors............................. $ 15,000.00
Slaughter-house............................ 163,000.00
Water rents................................ 300,000.00
Tax on pleasure houses..................... 12,000.00
Tax on wood................................ 9,000.00
Tax on charcoal and coke................... 44,660.00
Licence on factories....................... 26,000.00
Licence on advertisements and signs........ 8,101.90
Sundry licences, etc. ..................... 12,496.00
-------------- 590,257.90
3. Charities--Income of legacies................ 4,000.00
4. Public Instruction--Income of legacies....... 1,138.80
5. Public Correction--Income from shops, private
cells, etc. .......................... 30,638.42
6. Extraordinary Receipts:
Building permits........................... $ 29,000.00
Fines, municipal ordinances................ 6,000.00
Special sewer tax.......................... 50,000.00
Replacing street openings.................. 22,258.57
Licence on cedulas......................... 28,000.00
Tax on business............................ 111,300.00
Tax on meat................................ 663,000.00
Special deposits........................... 20,000.00
Sundries................................... 3,300.00
-------------- 932,858.57
7. Contributions by General Government:
Quota from real estate..................... $ 165,200.00
Quota from industry and commerce........... 206,700.00
-------------- 371,900.00
-----------
Total................................ $2,090,441.95
These receipts amount to something between $8 and $10 per head of a
population estimated between 200,000 and 250,000.
The expenses of Havana are such as are common in every city, namely:
expenses of the Mayor and Council (Ayuntamiento), police, fire, health,
schools, charities, correction, courts, street cleaning, lighting,
repairs and paving, interest, and sinking fund. There is only one
unusual item, namely: a contribution of $100,000 towards the expenses of
the government of the province. The items are shown in the following
statement, taken from the budget of 1897-98:
1. Council:
Salaries................... $ 79,220.00
Materials.................. 9,792.00
Elections.................. 9,100.00
Cost of collections........ 49,500.00
Sundries................... 1,874.00
-------------- $ 149,486.00
2. Police:
Mayor, deputies, etc. ..... $ 43,060.00
Salaries, municipal police. 99,470.00
Materials.................. 3,650.00
Fire Department............ 13,974.00
-------------- $ 160,154.00
3. Urban and rural police:
Sundries...................$ 806.00
Street lighting............ 134,589.50
Street cleaning............ 125,577.28
Tree planting, etc. ....... 11,212.00
Slaughter-house............ 20,149.50
-------------- 292,334.28
4. Schools:
Salaries...................$ 53,452.00
Materials.................. 13,890.00
Rents...................... 28,904.90
Sundries................... 300.00
-------------- 96,546.90
5. Charities.................... 177,308.80
6. Public works:
Salaries................... $ 22,270.00
Labor, repair streets...... 170,000.00
Material, repair streets... 12,200.00
Sundries, repair streets... 4,500.00
-------------- 208,970.00
7. Corrections--Prisons......... 78,683.50
8. Trees........................ 1,000.00
9. Justice and Legal Credits:
Interest and Sinking Fund.. 676,195.00
Provincial expenses........ 100,000.00
Repayment special deposits, etc. 26,950.00
Litigation...................... 11,000.00
Street condemnation............. 5,000.00
Subsidy in harbour works........ 5,000.00
Sundries........................ 9,013.47
---------- 833,158.47
10. New Works:
Ditches and Drains................... $45,000.00
Subscription private Fire Department. 2,400.00
----------- 47,400.00
11. Contingencies:
Public Calamities and unforeseen contingencies 45,400.00
-----------
Total..................... $2,090,441.95
The current annual estimated expenses of Havana, according to the
printed budget, which the author has had translated for 1897-98, were
$2,090,441.95, and the revenue, of course, is made to balance. This
looks all right on paper, but it is exceedingly doubtful that the
present authorities will find the real facts corresponding with these
figures. The items that are excessively high are moneys spent for
salaries, for office of mayor, for gas, for street cleaning, for
charitable institutions, for paving, and for contingent expenses. By
"excessive" is of course meant excessive when compared with what the
city receives for the money thus expended. The officials do little or
nothing for their salaries, the gas is wretched and intolerably
expensive, the streets are not cleaned, only the vilest patchwork in the
way of paving has of late years been done, and the charitable
institutions, so called, are in a miserable and filthy condition. In
spite of this, the city of Havana is mulcted to this extent for these
purposes:
Salary of employés and experts and
expenses of mayor's office $120,000
Municipal lighting 134,000
Street cleaning 125,577
Charitable institutions 177,308
Pavements and paving and drains 208,000
Provincial contingent 100,000
---------
$864,885
If honestly and economically expended, these sums would produce good
results without greatly increasing the taxes. The interest and
liquidation of the debt makes an annual charge of $676,195, about
one-third of the present total revenue of Havana; which, if not
excessive, is quite enough under existing conditions of the population.
General Greene thinks the revenues may be with safety increased, say to
$3,000,000. There is force in this, but probably the better way would be
before the debt and taxes are increased to try what an honest
expenditure of the present revenue will do for the rehabilitation of
Havana. Here is what General Greene says on this subject:
[Illustration: TACON MARKET, HAVANA.]
"I am inclined to think, although further study might modify this
opinion, that the wealth of Havana is such that a judicious
system of taxation would yield a revenue of $15 per head, or upward
of $3,000,000, and this, if honestly and judiciously collected and
expended, would probably be twice the actual net revenue now
enjoyed by the city. The collection of taxes of all kinds is now
farmed out on a basis of five per cent. commission for collection,
which is added to the tax. The tax collector states that there are
no arrears, but this statement is vigorously disputed. The whole
system of taxation is radically different from that used in
American cities, and the system has been so long in operation, and
is so intertwined with the system of taxation for the Island, that
it would probably be unwise to attempt to introduce American
methods during the period of military occupation, the duration of
which is so uncertain. It would seem that all that can be done is
to make an honest collection, substantially on the basis of
existing laws, increasing such items as in the judgment of the
military governor can stand an increase without hardship. Such
arbitrary changes would create no surprise, as the population has
for generations been accustomed to having them made by the Spanish
Governor-General."
Arbitrary changes are the one thing the military authorities should
avoid in Cuba, for therein lies our greatest danger with these people.
The fact that the people were accustomed to such action under Spanish
rule makes them far more sensitive to such action than they otherwise
would have been. Note the flutter in Santiago because of the order to
send the custom-house funds to Havana, a perfectly righteous order in
itself, but promulgated in too arbitrary a manner. Notwithstanding this
it created something akin to a panic in Santiago, principally because it
reminded the people of that province of the high-handed Spanish way of
doing things. It is not advisable to increase either the debt or revenue
of Havana at present, but, in the opinion of the author, it would be far
wiser to keep the total revenues about as they now exist. The sources of
revenue may be changed, however, to great advantage; increased in some
directions, reduced in others. For example, ordinances should be passed
compelling the owners of all houses not having water supply (and,
according to General Greene, there are about 18,000 of these) to put in
a water supply immediately. If this were done the water tax could be
spread over a larger number of population, the individual taxes reduced,
and yet the revenue from this source measurably increased. A good
water-works, like that of Havana, should be made self-sustaining, and
under proper management the profits from this department could easily be
made sufficient to pay all the expenses, and at the same time to take
care of the interest and sinking fund of the water-works bonds. From the
American point of view the most unwise tax in Havana is that which has
made the slaughter-houses of that city a constant source of scandal.
To-day every kilogram of meat killed and used costs the people of Havana
4-1/4 cents, and thus the cost of living of the poorer classes is
greatly increased; yet the revenues of the slaughter-house are pledged
to pay the interest on the water-works bonds, when the water-works
themselves are ample security for this purpose.
The real estate of the city should be reassessed fairly and justly, and
a tax-rate arranged which would relieve many of the professions and
industries of unnecessary taxation. It would seem from a glance at the
budget of Havana that, if this were done, and the petty, annoying taxes
abolished, sufficient revenue could easily be raised for all legitimate
purposes. As a matter of fact, a very large proportion of the taxes
collected for municipal purposes in Havana has been diverted from
legitimate channels only to find its way into the pockets of those who
have had charge of municipal affairs. According to the evidence of
several witnesses who appeared before the author in Havana, a large
amount of money was exacted from the people of the city by corruption,
in the way of petty fines paid direct to officials, and not into the
treasury of the state, and also large sums of money in the shape of
payment for indulgences, much in the same manner as the Tammany
officials exact tribute from those conducting illegitimate business or
those engaged in breaking the ordinances of the city. Relief from this
sort of exaction has been at once felt in Havana, but will not be fully
appreciated until the present Governor of the city is able to ferret out
and stop these several forms of imposition.
CHAPTER XIII
BANKS AND CURRENCY
The heading of this chapter is somewhat misleading, for, strictly
speaking, Cuba has neither banks nor currency--that is, of her own. The
basis of the money which circulated in Cuba before the military
occupation of the United States was Spanish gold, principally the
_centen_, or twenty-five-_peseta_ piece, the value of which had been
inflated to $5.30 by royal decree. Owing to the scarcity of this coin
and to the fear that it might leave the Island, in 1893 the French
louis, or twenty-franc piece was similarly inflated by royal decree and
made legal tender in Cuba at $4.24. The silver coins of Cuba were of
Spanish origin: the peso, or dollar, the _medio peso_, or half dollar,
the _peseta_, twenty-cent piece, the _real_, or dime, and the _medio
real_, corresponding to our nickel. There are also the usual bronze
coins. The silver money of Cuba has for some time been worth only its
market value, and that subject to daily changes. At various periods in
the history of Cuba the Spanish Government at Madrid has attempted to
force bank bills on the people of Cuba, and such attempts, as a rule,
have ended disastrously to the people of the Island. The Spanish Bank of
the Island of Cuba, a semi-official institution, whose governor was
appointed by the Spanish Government, has also at times issued bank
bills, and to the credit of this institution they have always been
redeemed ultimately. As much cannot be said of the Government, whose
repudiated bank bills, aggregating about $17,000,000, are at this moment
only worth six or seven cents on the dollar. The passing of the control
of the Island into the hands of the military authorities of the United
States has happily ended all the currency complications of Cuba, and the
order of President McKinley, which went into force January 1, 1899, will
in a short time not only bring order out of confusion, but gradually
reduce the currency systems of Cuba to a sound basis, making gold and
silver alike worth one hundred cents the world over--no more, no less.
The object of this order is not only to unify the Cuban currency, but in
time to replace the present system by the monetary system of the United
States.
There is no need for entering further into the history of Cuban
currency, but in the following pages will be given the reasons which led
up to the Executive Order of December 28, 1898. Considering that the
author was called upon by the President of the United States and the
Secretary of the Treasury to make a report upon this subject, and the
report was subsequently adopted and acted upon, therefore the facts
herein stated may be regarded as official. The real point at issue in
relation to Cuban currency and the only one which caused the United
States authorities any trouble was that arising from the inflation by
royal decree of the Spanish twenty-five-_peseta_ pieces, popularly known
as alfonsinos, or _centen_, and the subsequent inflation of the French
twenty-franc piece, the so-called louis, which, as we have seen, were
given a legal value of $4.24 and decreed since the end of 1893 as legal
money.
The Spanish authorities at Madrid, having thus inflated two gold coins
six per cent. above their current value and about ten per cent. above
their intrinsic value--for the mint value of these two coins at Havana
is $4.776 and $3.8208 respectively--the United States authorities at
Washington were now called upon to inflate a third gold coin and make
the American eagle worth $11 in Cuba and our $5 gold piece current there
at $5.50. As a temporary measure this might have had some justification,
and the statements in support of it from Cuban bankers, planters, and
business men had a certain degree of plausibility. The process,
however, is entirely artificial, and whatever was done in this direction
to-day must be undone some other day, and the only question the
Administration had to decide was whether the inflation should be taken
out when the United States authorities took possession or the operation
postponed to some more opportune time. The danger in following the
advice of some influential financiers of Havana lay in the adoption by
the United States Government of a bad precedent in Cuban financiering,
inaugurated by the Spanish Government, a precedent for which the United
States was in no manner responsible.
The reckoning day must come for all inflated values, whether of paper,
of silver, or of gold; and when that day comes someone will suffer.
Fortunately, in this case the degree of suffering was small, varying
only from six to ten per cent. The practical question would seem to be
how to disinflate these two coins with the least possible disturbance to
mortgages, contracts, notes, and all classes of existing agreements to
pay money.
Current matters will adjust and take care of themselves. It is generally
known that all transactions in Cuba since the close of the war have been
made with the belief that the United States would not continue the royal
decree of Spain, and that the inflations would collapse with the
disappearance of Spanish rule.
In Santiago the author found the bankers and financiers in favour of
leaving matters as they existed and adopting similar methods in the rest
of the Island, namely, reducing the $5.30 gold piece to $5. This was the
view taken by Mr. Schuman, of Schuman & Co., Santiago.
On this question the Chamber of Commerce of Santiago, in a thoughtfully
prepared memorial, submitted to the President of the United States, say:
"It is frequently difficult in this market to effect change,
especially in small sales, for the want of fractional currency. As
this makes considerable difference in transactions, the chamber
considers it necessary for the American Government to remedy this
difficulty by sending sufficient silver fractional money, utilising
it to pay the army of occupation.
"This chamber has heard that the administration of the custom-house
of this port has solicited the Government at Washington to declare
American money legal and obligatory tender in all transactions
which take place in this territory, and we consider this movement
premature, as the political situation of the country is not
settled; and furthermore, prejudicial to commercial interests and
to the public wealth by the depreciation it would cause in the
Spanish gold in circulation and for the difficulty it will occasion
through the lack of American money in sufficient quantity for these
transactions. For this reason we beg that this petition will not be
considered, it being even more inopportune, since the resolution of
the civil governor of the province on the first of August last,
establishing the legal value of Spanish gold, is just and has given
satisfactory results."
Speaking to the author on the same subject, Mr. Brooks, of Brooks & Co.,
Santiago, a careful financier and capable business man, said:
"Regarding the currency question, we should also be inclined to
support the opinion of the Chamber of Commerce, to leave matters as
they are at present, _i.e._, the Spanish and French gold coins
having been disinflated, to leave them as current circulating
medium, including for the payment of custom-house duties. It is
also always a small advantage for the sugar estates to pay their
labour in Spanish gold as it represents a saving of three to four
per cent. as compared with paying them in American money, as where
a planter now pays $5 Spanish, he would, with a change in the
circulating medium, have to pay $5 American, which would represent
from three to four per cent. advance in wages without receiving any
compensation from his sugar shipped to the United States, from
which, in former years, and with inflated gold values, he derived
an advantage of ten per cent."
A partial adjustment of the question was suggested to the author by Dr.
Antonio Jover, director of the Spanish Bank of the Island of Cuba, and
as Dr. Jover is an authority on Cuban finances, the statement thus made
is quoted in full:
"The only way to settle all the difficulties of the present Spanish
monetary state of things is to declare legal tender the American
dollar and admit at par all Spanish gold coins.
"1. Thus the onza should be worth $16; the medio onza $8; the
doubloon, $4; the escudo, $2; the centen, $5--that is, pretty
nearly its intrinsic alloy and weight value.
"2. The English sovereign ought to be taken for $5, and the French
louis (which circulates in Cuba in great numbers) for $4.
"This arrangement, that slightly improves the value of the Spanish
gold,--for the centen is worth in the New York market $4.87 or
$4.90 at the utmost,--would tend to drive to Cuba the foreign coins
of this country, perfectly useless for circulation. As for the
Spanish silver, it is considered there almost as a merchandise or
stock value subject to daily quotation, and it is really
troublesome in its use. Therefore I would propose to give it a
fixed value in American gold, thus--
Value.
The peso....... $ 0.60
The medio-peso. .30
The peseta..... .12
The real....... .06
The medio-real. .03
"This value is a little less than the price of quotation to-day,
but it is much more than it was a few months ago, but I do not
think acceptable the use of any coin without a fixed, invariable
value. Now, as the American currency and the American silver would
stand at the par value, and, on the other hand, the Spanish silver
is at the present quoted higher in Spain, there too would likely go
a large quantity, if not all, Spanish silver coins; that
nevertheless would not be objectionable, but rather convenient to
both nations. Bronze or copper coins should be received just at
half their face value; the _centavo_ for half a cent American gold,
and the two-_centavo_ piece for one cent. But as this implies a
change in the standard value of the Spanish gold dollar, which up
to the present has been the basis of all contracts and dealings of
the country, it will be necessary to fix a date to implant the new
system, and that can be no other but the 1st of January next.
Hence, from that date all money transactions will be understood to
be on the basis of American gold, with American currency; Spanish,
French, and English gold at par value; American silver to be
accepted also at its full value only in quantities not exceeding
$5; Spanish silver at the stated rate, and foreign silver coin as
merchandise.
"As for all contracts and stipulations in money matters standing at
present to be fulfilled after the appointed date of the 1st of
January, I believe it would be but right to be paid off with six
per cent. discount, which would simply disinflate them, because
they were made with the basis of gold coins which had six per cent.
premium; and discounting the same six per cent. when they were
settled with coins whose said premium had been taken off, although
the intrinsic value of which coins had remained unaltered during
the time, would only be common morality and fair equity. Lastly,
all those who would attempt to alter the value of money ought to be
severely punished, according to the law of the country."
With these supplemental facts, the case is fully and impartially before
the reader. To accept the proposition of the Havana bankers meant a
continuation of the inflated value of ten per cent. To concede the
proposition of Dr. Jover and the Santiago financier would reduce the
inflation about six per cent., still retaining Spanish and French gold
in circulation at a slightly increased value. (Dr. Jover even includes
the British sovereign at $5.) The other and only remaining course would
be to accept United States money at its full value for customs and taxes
and the foreign coins at their intrinsic or mint value.
After carefully considering all these facts, the Honourable Secretary of
the Treasury, Lyman J. Gage, prepared and submitted to the President the
following order in relation to the future currency of Cuba:
"EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON,
December 28, 1898.
"It is hereby ordered that on and after January 1, 1899, and until
otherwise provided, all customs, taxes, public and postal dues in
the Island of Cuba shall be paid in United States money, or in
foreign gold coin such as the Spanish alfonsinos (centen) and the
French louis, which will be accepted in payment of such customs,
taxes, public and postal dues at the following rates:
Alfonsinos (25-peseta piece) $4.82
Louis (20-franc piece) 3.86
"That all existing contracts for the payments of money shall be
payable in the money denominated in such contracts, and where
French and Spanish gold shall be the stipulated money of payment
they shall be received in their present decreed inflated values,
_i. e._, alfonsinos (25-peseta piece) $5.30; louis (20-franc piece)
$4.24, or in United States money at the relative value set forth in
the above table, namely, $4.82 for alfonsinos (25-peseta piece) and
$3.86 for louis (20-franc piece).
"It is further ordered that on and after January 1, 1899, and until
further provided, the following Spanish silver coins now in
circulation in the Island of Cuba shall be received for customs,
taxes, public and postal dues at the following fixed rates in
American money:
The peso $0.60
The medio-peso .30
The peseta .12
The real .06
The medio-real .03
"Bronze and copper coins now current in the Island of Cuba will be
received at their face value for fractional parts of a dollar in a
single payment to an amount not exceeding 12 cents (1 peseta).
"WILLIAM MCKINLEY."
[Illustration: FIRE DEPARTMENT, SANTIAGO DE CUBA.]
In signing and promulgating the above order, the currency question of
Cuba has been settled for all time to come on a sound basis. In offering
to accept for the present the Cuban peso or silver dollar for sixty
cents, American money, the United States Government merely delays the
migration of the coin to Spain. At this price it is profitable to ship
them to Spain, but at fifty cents they would have disappeared so rapidly
that a commercial disturbance might have followed on account of scarcity
of silver dollars and fractional currency. It is not probable, nor is
it asserted that this adjustment can be accomplished without hardship to
some debtors and a slight financial disturbance. It is not, however,
apprehended that the trouble will be as great as some have anticipated.
In Santiago the first step to absolutely sound finance was taken last
summer and six per cent. of the inflation squeezed out. The business
interests in that part of the Island were opposed to a continuation of
the ten per cent. inflation, and merely asked of the United States
Government that the several gold coins in circulation should be left at
their face value. As one of the evils arising from disinflation, certain
Cuban bankers put forward the fact that it will mean an increase of from
four to ten per cent. in the wages of labour, which Cuban industries
cannot afford. Such a result, if true, cannot be regarded as an evil,
but, on the contrary, a benefit to the poorer classes, whose condition
in Cuba is deplorable beyond description.
In the iron mines at Santiago the large American enterprises have
already adjusted themselves to the new conditions and are paying their
labour seventy-five cents per day American currency instead of a Spanish
dollar worth sixty-five cents in Cuba and only sixty cents in exchange
for United States currency. The author, when in the mining districts of
this province, heard no complaints, either from the proprietors or the
labourers. Stress was laid in the arguments before the President and
Secretary Gage upon the loss to the debtor who has borrowed on a
fictitious value and must pay the premium, and the unfortunate Cuban
sugar-planter is especially singled out for sympathy. That the planter
will suffer cannot be denied, but the advent of the United States into
Cuba will lighten so many of his burdens that his condition is not
without hope. All the customs duties on his imported food supplies, as
will be seen in the chapter on the tariff, have been reduced, and many
important commodities put upon the free list. The duty on his sugar
machinery has been reduced to ten per cent. ad valorem; on his
locomotives and railway supplies to twenty per cent.; and all along the
line the taxes have been cut down. It is not probable that his land
taxes will be collected during the present fiscal year, and the return
of peace, establishment of law and order, and protection of property
will immeasurably improve his lot. If, therefore, the sugar-planter of
Cuba will gauge his present outlook by a glance backward and compare it
with his condition last year at this time, he may face the new year with
less gloomy premonitions as to his future than some of the testimony
taken by the United States Government on the effects of disinflation
would indicate. The action of the President, by and with the advice of
the able financier at the head of the Treasury Department, will give
Cuba a sound currency, which must be the foundation of her future fiscal
prosperity.
The proof of the poverty of Cuba is a scarcity of capital, manifest in
many different ways. The difficulty, not to say the impossibility, of
selling sugar plantations proves the scarcity of capital and at the same
time the precarious situation of the sugar industry. The decrease in the
price of property is a natural consequence of lack of disposable
capital, and this is why the rate of money is so high; it can only be
caused by lack of capital, and not of money, since scarcity or abundance
of money has only a limited influence on rates of interest. Nearly all
the banks established for the last twenty or thirty years in Cuba have
disappeared, owing to the losses experienced by the gradual increase of
the poverty of the country; the want of resources rendering it
impossible to start these banks anew or establish new ones with Cuban
capital.
A few years ago there were in Havana, besides the Spanish Bank and the
Bank of Commerce, the Industrial Bank, the San José, the Alianza, the
Maritime Security Bank, and the Caja de Ahorros (savings bank).
Excepting the first two, all have stopped working, and if the two
surviving ones have outlived the others, it is because the Spanish Bank
enjoys official privilege, and because the Bank of Commerce, though
compelled twice to reduce its capital, owns valuable property, as, for
example, the Regla warehouses and the United Railroads, which property,
if the Island were prosperous, would be worth several millions more than
it is to-day.
It is almost incredible that, having such extensive relations with
foreign countries, the condition of banks in Cuba should be so
precarious, especially as the Island feels more every year the need of
banking facilities, without which no modern country can prosper.
Although not as important as regular banks, savings banks are a gauge of
public wealth, since their object is to gather the economies of the
working classes and create capital for the promotion of industries. The
only savings bank in Cuba failed in 1884, ruining in its fall not only
those who had deposited their funds, but also the shareholders; and to
this day no other institution has been established to take its place,
and at the present moment there is not a single public institution where
money can be deposited in large or small quantities earning interest!
In foreign countries the thrift of the working classes is the
corner-stone of new industries. Are there in Cuba any economies or
annual profits that can be capitalised? The sugar industry, the base of
Cuban wealth, yields to-day no profit save in exceptional cases. The
tobacco industry since 1895 has been in a critical condition, and as all
the other industries depend on these two, or are of comparatively
limited importance, it may be said that work and capital yield no profit
in Cuba at present; since either no profits are realised, or, if they
are, they leave the Island. This aspect of the present economic
situation of Cuba is of immense importance and not only explains the
actual situation at this moment, but shows that the hope of improvement
alone lies in the prosperity of these industries.
The history of banking in Cuba is sad with financial disasters. The only
bank which has survived during half a century is the Spanish Bank of the
Island of Cuba. This concern was originally chartered as the Spanish
Bank of Havana, and although it was a private institution, owned by
shareholders, the Spanish Government maintained the right of appointing
the governor, and in many other ways controlled its actions. At various
times this bank has itself issued bank bills, and at other times it has
been the medium through which the Spanish Government endeavoured to
circulate its own paper money. The notes of the bank itself, as already
stated, have never been repudiated, though during hard times, as a
result of the Ten Years' War, the bank bills of the Spanish Bank were at
a small discount. Sixteen years ago the Spanish Bank of Havana was
reorganised and the name changed to the Spanish Bank of the Island of
Cuba. At the present time this bank has no bills in circulation; the
paper currency now valued at but a few cents on the dollar, which was
issued during the war by the Spanish Government through the Spanish Bank
of the Island of Cuba, is not regarded by the shareowners of the bank
nor by the public as the issue of the bank itself. The history of these
bills is briefly as follows: In order to meet the expenses of the last
war, the Spanish Government arranged to issue $20,000,000 worth of paper
money. As a security and partial fund for redemption of the same, the
Madrid authorities deposited in the vaults of the Spanish Bank of the
Island of Cuba $6,330,000 in silver against this issue. For a while this
bullion, together with the mandate of the Spanish Government that these
bills must be accepted as legal tender, kept the currency floating
somewhat below par. The people of Cuba, however, had been deceived so
many times in relation to paper money that they were suspicious of these
bills from the beginning, and when in due course of time Spain gradually
and dishonestly absorbed from the bank all silver upon which the paper
money had been issued, the bills depreciated until they were absolutely
refused in all business transactions. This entailed considerable loss,
as the street railways and cabs of the city were compelled to take them
in spite of this great depreciation in value. Finally, they were
repudiated on all sides. A temporary value was given this paper by
accepting ten per cent. in the payment of customs dues. This raised it
up to twelve to fifteen cents on the dollar. Immediately upon the
military occupancy of the United States the value of these bills fell
still lower, and they are to-day worth but a few cents on the dollar,
and are held chiefly by Government contractors and speculators.
Realising that a decided change would take place in banking as soon as
the United States took charge of affairs, the shareholders of the Bank
of Spain met some months ago in Havana and reorganised the bank, making
it a private concern, and changing its by-laws so that it could do
business as a private institution, untrammelled by Government
interference.
Among other uses to which the Government of Spain put the Spanish Bank
was that of a collecting agency for practically all taxes other than
those of the custom-houses. The value of receipts for direct taxation
that have been delivered for collection to the Spanish Bank of the
Island of Cuba, from the fiscal year 1885-86, when this institution
commenced the collection, with right of seizure, to 1894-95, both
inclusive, actual amounts collected, deductions, and amounts pending
collection as per vouchers, and accounts rendered to the Treasury by
this institution, are as follows:
---------+-------------+-------------+-------------+------------+----------
| | |Deductions | |Per cent.
Fiscal | Face Value. | Collected. |for which | Pending | of face
Years. | | |Bank was not |Collections.|value un-
| | |responsible. | |collected.
---------+-------------+-------------+-------------+------------+----------
| Pesos C.| Pesos C.| Pesos C. | Pesos C. |
| | | | |
1885-86 | 5,021,271.25| 4,561,976.18| 438,029.78 | 21,265.29| 0.423
1886-87 | 5,240,651.50| 4,655,776.10| 547,435.19 | 37,440.21| 0.714
1887-88 | 5,386,627.83| 4,758,446.22| 575,840.11 | 52,341.50| 0.971
1888-89 | 5,316,367.75| 4,694,829.26| 549,628.25 | 71,910.24| 1.352
1889-90 | 4,878,047.21| 4,304,196.24| 497,220.89 | 76,630.08| 1.570
1890-91 | 5,336,611.25| 4,659,477.26| 571,994.17 | 105,139.82| 1.970
1891-92 | 4,242,982.34| 3,696,877.74| 428,374.80 | 117,729.80| 2.774
1893-93 | 5,357,928.97| 4,635,278.61| 572,890.51 | 149,759.85| 2.795
1893-94 | 5,092,200.41| 4,505,426.32| 432,163.62 | 154,610.47| 3.036
1894-95 | 5,163,321.70| 4,421,631.99| 534,492.41 | 207,197.30| 4.012
+-------------+-------------+-------------+------------+----------
|51,036,010.21|44,893,915.92|5,148,069.73 | 994,024.56|
---------+-------------+-------------+-------------+------------+----------
The above table gives a good idea of how this arrangement worked during
normal times. There were two or three features in it, however, which
were bad, and which the author is glad to notice that the United States
Government in renewing the agreement of the Bank of Spain for the
present fiscal year, that is, the year ending June 30, 1899, has
obliterated. The Spanish Government paid the five per cent. on the
receipts given the bank, and not on the money collected. This resulted
in great abuses, because the delinquents during the years of war were
fifteen, sixteen, and forty-three per cent. respectively. The punishment
of delinquents has also been considerably modified by the United States
authorities.
The following table gives the receipts for direct taxation that have
been delivered for collection to the Spanish Bank of the Island of Cuba
from the fiscal year 1895-96 to 1896-97, both inclusive, actual amounts
collected, deductions, and receipts pending collection up to December
12, 1898, as per data at hand in the Spanish Bank:
-------+---------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+---------
| | |Deductions |Pending |Per cent.
FISCAL| Face Value. | Collected |for which |Collections. |of face
YEARS.| | |bank not is | |value un-
| | |responsible. | |collected.
-------+---------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+---------
| | | | |
1895-96|$ 4,802,936.66 |$3,460,998.24|$ 579,002.52 |$ 762,935.90|15.88
1896-97| 4,589,735.08 | 3,283,286.51| 547,975.70 | 758,472.87|16.52
1897-98| 4,341,112.87 | 2,250,806.74| 223,119.47 | 1,867,186.66|43.01
+---------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+---------
|$13,733,784.61 |$8,995,091.49|$1,350,097.69|$3,388,595.43|
-------+---------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+---------
This table and the one preceding it were prepared for the author by the
governor of the Spanish Bank of the Island of Cuba and differ from the
table prepared by the Spanish authorities which will be found in the
chapter on the revenue of Cuba. In the report furnished by the
officials, the face value of the tax receipts is given in one column and
the actual amount collected in another, the third column showing, under
the caption of "Total Delinquent Taxes," the amounts uncollected,
without any explanation as to why they were not collected. The governor
of the Spanish Bank in the two tables given above includes a fourth
column, namely, deductions for which the bank was not responsible. The
bank authorities claim that the amounts represented in this column were
receipts which were not valid, inasmuch as they were claims in many
cases upon persons dead and upon property which had been destroyed by
fire. The governor of the bank thinks it an injustice to the bank to add
these under the general head of delinquent taxes, without this
explanation.
It is easy to enforce and collect the customs duties; but the collection
of internal revenue taxes is a much more difficult matter. The United
States authorities found, on coming into possession of the Island of
Cuba, January 1st, that all the receipts of taxes for the present fiscal
year were in the hands of the Spanish Bank of the Island of Cuba; that
this institution had not only six or seven branch banks in various parts
of the Island, but also in the neighbourhood of 258 sub-district or
collecting agencies. The bank assumed all the responsibility of these
agencies, and it was decided to place in its hands for the present
fiscal year this work, for the reason that it had all the machinery and
there would be no loss in revenue. An agreement was entered into between
the Spanish Bank of the Island of Cuba and the United States military
authorities, and an order issued from Washington to the bank to make the
collection, but the arrangement engendered such opposition among the
Cubans that the order was revoked and the work was placed entirely in
the hands of the American authorities under General Brooke.
CHAPTER XIV
PAYMENT OF INSURGENT SOLDIERS
The question of the payment of insurgent soldiers and of certain
legitimate indebtedness incurred by the insurgent government has an
important bearing upon the civil, if not the industrial reconstruction
of the Island of Cuba. This matter was referred to a commission of Cuban
officers, consisting of General Garcia, General José Miguel Gomez,
Colonel Manuel Sanguily, Colonel José Ramon Villalon, Dr. José Gonzales
Lanuza, Señor Gonzalo de Quesada, and Mr. Horatio S. Rubens, who acted
as interpreter. This commission came to Washington in November for the
purpose of aiding in the pacification of the people of Cuba. General
Garcia unhappily was taken ill of pneumonia and died. This delayed the
work somewhat and took from the commission one of its strongest members.
The commission had several informal interviews with the President, the
members of the Cabinet, and finally with the author, who, as Special
Commissioner for the United States to Cuba, took the testimony of these
gentlemen and prepared a report on the subject for the consideration of
the President and Secretary of the Treasury. The substance of this
report is of permanent public interest, as it was the first official
step towards the settlement of a question that must be adjusted before
the entire Cuban army will disband and go to work. It also has
considerable bearing upon the industrial future of Cuba.
The gentlemen comprising this commission were briefly informed by the
author as to the work committed to him, namely, an inquiry into the
economic condition of the Island of Cuba and the recommendation of such
measures for the commercial and industrial reconstruction of that
country as might appear advisable after impartially consulting all
interests. They were told that so far as the United States was
concerned, Cuba had won her economic and industrial freedom. That the
work had been performed with scrupulous regard to the interest of the
people of Cuba. That the aim had been the rehabilitation of its
industries and the building up of the country generally with as little
friction as possible. That in accordance with instructions received from
both the President and Secretary of the Treasury the tariff of Cuba had
been framed so that there should be no discrimination in favour of the
United States, and that the same tariff laws would be applied alike to
all countries, so that Cuba was now free to purchase her supplies in the
world's markets wherever they were best and cheapest, and not compelled
to buy in a dear market, as under Spanish rule. They were furthermore
informed that hereafter the revenues of the country were to be used
exclusively for the economical and honest government of the Island and
that the largest portion would not be drained away to pay the enormous
interest charged (aggregating $10,500,000) upon an indebtedness which
had unrighteously been saddled upon a people already bowed down under
the double yoke of war and debt. Lastly they were asked to state fully
and frankly, as citizens of Cuba, their views on any subject bearing
upon the reconstruction of Cuba.
In reply, these gentlemen said, in substance, that they were entirely
satisfied with the course the Government of the United States had
pursued in relation to these economic questions, and realised the fact
that Cuba had become free, commercially and industrially. They then
proceeded to discuss the important problem of how the existing
transitory condition of the Island could best be changed to a permanent
civil life, without friction in Cuba or trouble and annoyance throughout
the United States. Their purpose, they avowed, was simply to co-operate
with the United States toward the restoration of order, without which,
in their opinion, there could be no reconstruction of industries and no
return of prosperity. Their purpose was, they assured the author, to
advise with the people of the United States, to the end that everything
might be harmonious and that the people of Cuba might get to work as
soon as possible.
Speaking for all the gentlemen above named, Colonel José R. Villalon
said:
"The discharge of the army of Cuba is a very complex and difficult
problem. It has to be done for humanity's sake, in one sense; those
men who have been working and suffering have to be remunerated in
some way. But that is not the only point of view. We have got to
look towards the maintaining of order and we have got to give them
compensation or gratification or a certain amount of money with
which they can go back to their homes and their agricultural
labours. In doing that we have a duty to our country so far as the
Cubans are concerned, but, at the same time, it seems to me that it
is a high political measure on the part of the United States to
prevent now what would afterwards be very difficult to suppress. If
we scatter these 30,000 men (approximately) throughout the country
without any resources whatever--men who for the last two or three
years have been accustomed to live upon the resources of the
country or forage on the enemy and who are used to the hardships of
the campaign--it will not be very difficult to foresee that in
spite of the good nature and good disposition of the people these
men will be forced to do what they do not wish to do by their
nature. If the men are left as they are, with their present needs
unsupplied, they will go to the woods and will be a source of
disorder and brigandage, which will be very difficult for the
United States to suppress; and for the sake possibly of saving a
few million dollars now the nation will be obliged afterwards to
spend many more millions, in addition to the sacrifice of many
lives. It is an economic question. Unless something is done to
relieve their needs the disorder of the Island will be prolonged
indefinitely. As an example, I would call attention to the case of
your Indians in this country, who now and then break away. In
Cuba the condition will be worse, for there they would have the
shelter of the woods, and besides the Americans would not be able
to stand the climate as well as they stand their own. Ultimately,
of course, they will succumb, but it will be at the cost of a great
many lives and a great many millions of dollars.
[Illustration: MORRO CASTLE, SANTIAGO DE CUBA.]
"Besides, there is another thing; that if to-day we provide for
their needs and restore order, it is the wish of every inhabitant
of Cuba to contribute their share towards this. If these men are
supplied now, they will not have the moral support of the people of
Cuba should they not go to work; but the people of Cuba will see
that they are punished. If, however, they had the moral support of
the people of Cuba it would be difficult to punish them.
"There is another point, and that is with regard to the amount of
money required. Although they have not said anything about this,
nevertheless, there is a tendency to lessen this amount. We want to
say that although the measure, in principle, will be very good,
even if it does not attend to all of the needs at present; though
it will be a moral obligation from ourselves to the United States,
it will not solve the problem, because the sum determined upon is
not enough. If the revenues of the Island of Cuba ought to be
mortgaged to repay whatever advances they have received from the
United States now, it will not be a very difficult matter to make
this amount a few millions more."
The above gives a fair summary of the general tenor of the testimony
taken, and it is believed fairly represents the views of these
gentlemen. Testimony was also taken in relation to the payment of
certain legitimate debts which, as these gentlemen felt, the good faith
of the people of Cuba had been pledged to pay. On being asked the
probable amount of this indebtedness, they said it was not in excess of
$2,250,000 or $2,500,000. The first and most important matter and the
one which, they insist, will have much to do with the pacification of
the Island, is the payment of some sort of compensation to the
impoverished Cuban soldiers. These gentlemen were asked if they had in
their possession any estimate as to the number of soldiers, the length
of service, and the amount of money necessary for the purpose they had
in mind. An itemised account, they were told, would make a useful
supplement to the interesting and instructive testimony given.
In compliance with this request, these gentlemen prepared and presented
certain tables, with additional verbal testimony. This testimony was
subsequently reduced to writing. It purports to be a statement showing
the number of officers and privates of the Cuban army and their time of
service. On behalf of Cuba, these gentlemen informed the author that had
Cuba been recognised as an independent nation, their first duty would
have been to pay all legal obligations contracted during the struggle
for independence. They request that the United States, acting as trustee
for Cuba, will give this subject a careful hearing and enable the people
of Cuba to disband the army and complete the pacification of the Island.
They recognise the fact that $3,000,000 has been appropriated for a
purpose similar to this, but regard it as inadequate. The figures
submitted by these gentlemen, as representing the pay which the
insurgent army, in their opinion, has earned, are somewhat startling.
The summary is as follows:
ESTIMATE FOR PAYMENT OF INSURGENT TROOPS
11 Major-Generals $ 179,450
19 Generals of Division 296,175
54 Brigadier-Generals 682,825
153 Colonels 1,491,750
290 Lieutenant-Colonels 2,362,800
578 Majors 3,870,240
965 Captains 4,561,800
1245 Lieutenants 3,763,800
1794 Sub-Lieutenants 4,952,880
2130 1st Sergeants 3,796,200
3123 2d Sergeants 4,605,600
4509 Corporals 5,238,240
30,160 Privates 21,502,620
------ -----------
45,031 $57,304,380
The pay promised the Cuban army is very much higher (except in the grade
of generals) than the amounts actually paid the officers and men in the
United States army, as will be seen from the following comparison of the
salaries of the two armies:
SALARIES PAID CUBAN AND UNITED STATES ARMIES PER MONTH
United
Cuban. States.
Major-General. $500 $625
General of Division 450 --
Brigadier-General 400 458.33
Colonel 325 290.67
Lieutenant-Colonel 275 250
Major 220 208.33
Captain 130 150
Lieutenant 100 125
Sub-Lieutenant 90 116.67
1st Sergeant 60 25
2d Sergeant 50 18
Corporal 40 15
Private 30 13
It is not assumed by the gentlemen who prepared the above estimates that
claims of such magnitude could be seriously considered by an independent
Republic. The resources of the Island at present are entirely inadequate
to shoulder such a debt. Upon the reduced basis of the salaries paid the
United States soldiers, the reduction would be about one half, or less
than $30,000,000, an equally impossible sum. On the other hand, that
some aid should be rendered by the United States to enable these
soldiers to disband and go to work would seem both feasible and just. It
could easily be met by the revenue of the Island, and would have a
decided effect in securing permanent peace and the early establishment
of a stable government in Cuba. If done now under the guidance of the
United States it would prevent excessive payment to the troops
hereafter. In the same manner the liquidation of the small amount of
outstanding obligation--not exceeding $2,500,000--might settle the debt
question for all time to come. Especially if all other advances for
these purposes were prohibited until such debt was adjusted to the
satisfaction of the United States. In case the ultimate solution of the
Cuban question should be, as it is quite within the range of
probability, annexation, the independent government will not previously
have had the opportunity of incurring improvident indebtedness, which
ultimately may have to be assumed by the United States. In short,
whatever may be done in this matter, or however it may be done, the
United States should control and safeguard the finances of the Island
for a considerable period. It has been very truly stated that should an
independent government be established and recognised, the United States
will no longer be able to control the financial legislation of the
Island. It can, however, by the plan proposed, and very properly, not
only save money for Cuba while under its military possession or control,
but also prevent the making of unnecessary improvident or other loans by
such independent government, except with the consent, or approval in
advance, of the United States. This can be readily done, if, when making
an advance for the benefit of Cuba, the right to apply the customs
receipts and other revenues of the Island to the repayment of the
principal and interest of such advance be reserved to the United States.
In this way all reckless expenditure may be prevented and all
speculative or independent bond issues be avoided and at the same time
quick assistance be rendered those whose position at present is
deplorable in the extreme.
CHAPTER XV
REVENUE--CUSTOMS TARIFF
The revenues and expenditures of the Island of Cuba for the fiscal year
1898-99, according to the reports obtained by the author from the
Secretary of the Treasury, Marquis Rafael Montoro, may be thus
summarised:
BALANCE OF THE ESTIMATED RECEIPTS AND EXPENDITURES OF THE BUDGET OF THE
ISLAND OF CUBA FOR 1898-99
--------------------------------------+-----------------------------------
Expenditures. Amount. | Receipts. Amount.
--------------------------------------+-----------------------------------
Sovereignty | Taxes and Imposts $ 6,142,500
Expenditure $22,500,808.59 | Custom-Houses 14,705,000
_Local._ | Internal Revenue 1,640,650
General Expenditures 159,605.50 | Lotteries 1,900,500
State-Church, Justice, | State Property 435,000
and Government 1,612,859.44 | Miscellaneous Revenue 1,536,000
Treasury 708,978.51 | -----------
Public Instruction 247,033.02 | Estimates of Total
Public Works and | Revenue $26,359,650
Communications 1,036,582.10 |
Agriculture, Industry, |
and Commerce 108,178.52 |
-------------- |
$26,374,045.68 |
Deduct Amounts not |
Specified 17,314.27 |
-------------- |
Total $26,356,731.41 |
Receipts $ 26,359,650.00
Expenses 26,356,731.41
---------------
Surplus $2,918.59
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
While the revenues are all derived from the various species of taxation
exacted from the people of Cuba, the expenditures are divided into two
important classes: those under the head of "Sovereignty Expenses," or
expenses of the General Government, which, according to this estimate,
aggregate $22,500,808.59, and those which, under the head of "Local
Expenses" aggregating $3,873,237.09, constitute the expenditures for the
immediate necessities of the Island. In order to obtain a clear view of
the possibilities of revenue and the probable future expenses of the
Island of Cuba, these receipts and expenditures should be further
examined.
Taxes in Cuba, as will be seen from the above exhibit, are collected
under six general classifications, namely: (1) taxes and imposts,
including excise and liquor taxes, and taxes on railway freight and
passengers; (2) receipts from custom-houses, which include taxes on
imports and exports, loading and unloading merchandise, fines and
passports; (3) internal revenue, including stamped paper,[14] postage
stamps, warrants for payment issued by the State, diplomas and titles,
stamps on letters of exchange or deeds of transfer, on insurance
policies, on matches, and on almost every other conceivable sort of deed
and document; (4) lotteries, are put down in the above table as yielding
$1,900,500; (5) revenue from State property, including rents and sale of
lands and rent from docks; (6) revenue from miscellaneous sources, some
of which seem somewhat mythical. These comprise the general sources of
revenue which appear in this report, and from which the Secretary of the
Treasury, Marquis Montoro, informed the author he hoped to secure for
the fiscal year 1898-99 the following sums:
Estimated Amount
Sources of Revenue. Spanish Gold.
Taxes and Imposts $ 6,142,500
Custom-Houses 14,705,000
Internal Revenue 1,640,650
Lotteries 1,900,500
State Property 435,000
Miscellaneous Revenue 1,536,000
----------
Total Estimated Revenue $26,359,650
As to how much of this has been collected or how much can be collected,
it is impossible to say with any degree of certainty. Spanish official
reports are not very reliable documents at the best, and during the last
three years of internal dissensions, frequent changes in officials, and
war, they appear to be at their worst. The only possible light on the
subject which the author was able to obtain was a statement of the
actual taxes as levied between 1887 and 1897, inclusive, and the actual
amounts collected at the custom-houses and by the Spanish Bank of the
Island of Cuba, for under Spanish administration the latter institution
collected all taxes other than customs.
According to these figures, the custom-house receipts of Cuba fell from
$14,708,509.10 in 1895 to $9,648,369.94 in 1897-98. While the value of
the tax receipts handed to the Spanish Bank for collection for the
fiscal year 1896-97 exceeded $5,000,000, the actual money collected was
only $3,266,583.37, while for the next fiscal year, 1897-98, out of
receipts aggregating in the neighbourhood of $4,500,000, only
$2,377,742.21 was realised. The exhibits show that rural real estate,
which, under prosperous conditions, should yield in taxes from $880,000
to $1,000,000, is incapable of paying anything. Out of receipts
aggregating in 1897-98 over $800,000, the Spanish Bank only collected
$89,661.98 from these properties. Nor will it be possible in the
reconstruction of the Island to secure revenue from these sources, for
the burned and destroyed estates are yielding nothing to their owners.
City property which, in times of prosperity, should yield upward of
$2,000,000, or even $3,000,000, in 1897-98 only yielded $1,140,230.12.
This tax, however, and the receipts from customs will be the first to
recover, as the immediate effects of permanent peace and honest
government will be felt in the cities and towns and seaports. Lotteries
will become a doubtful, if not impossible source of revenue. The
collections from internal revenue may keep up to the estimate, though
the income from State property and miscellaneous revenues seems upon
examination a rather doubtful resource for the new government to rely
upon. Judged from the actual revenue collected in 1897-98, had present
conditions prevailed, it is extremely doubtful if the real revenue
collected for 1898-99 would have reached more than half the rosy
estimates put forth by the Marquis Montoro. The fact is apparent to
those who know existing conditions in Cuba that the people of the Island
are just now in such an impoverished condition that the agricultural
interests are simply incapable of paying taxes.
The cities will soon be all right again, and under honest municipal
government, taxes on urban property will be paid. The influx of
commodities of all sorts, to make up for losses and destruction by war
and low stocks due to the blockade, will increase the custom-house
receipts. The reduction of duties on machinery and railway supplies may
increase the importations of these articles, and thus the lower rates of
duty will yield a revenue which the present high rates, by making
importations impossible, fail to do. By putting an end to smuggling, and
by honestly administering the custom-houses, the United States
Government may increase the revenue, but the proposed reduction of
duties of the amended tariff in a measure offsets this. Unless,
therefore, some new source of revenue is found practicable (and the
Spanish seem to have exhausted all known means of raising revenue),
reliance for the future will have to be on five of the six revenue
sources above enumerated. If for the first year or two they should yield
in all $15,000,000, it will probably be all the revenue that may safely
be estimated. Much will naturally depend upon the foreign imports. The
cable despatches from Havana, as this volume goes to press, indicate
that the customs revenue will be fully up to the author's estimates.
Aside from special imports, such as specie, leaf tobacco, etc., the
value of the imports of merchandise proper into Cuba the last normal
year (1895) was upward of $60,000,000. An average tariff rate of
twenty-five per cent. on this valuation of imported merchandise would
itself yield $15,000,000. As a matter of fact, the duties collected in
1895 were $14,587,920.57, on a total importation of merchandise other
than specie of $61,443,334.65, or about an average of twenty-five per
cent. To be sure, the nominal tariff rates were much higher in 1895 than
they will be in 1899, but there is a possibility of making up for the
loss by reason of lower duties by abolishing smuggling and honestly
administering the custom-houses. It is impossible, however, to estimate
on this, because, to do so with any degree of success, it would be
necessary to reduce to figures the losses of revenue by smuggling,
undervaluation, and misclassification. This is an impossibility.
The tariff which the Spanish Government enacted and put in force in the
Island of Cuba in September, 1897, and which, with modifications in the
shape of war taxes, was in force in ports of Cuba in possession of the
Spanish Government until the change of government, January 1, 1899, is
based upon the preceding tariffs. Both this tariff and its predecessors
seem to lack rational basis, so far as Cuba is concerned, the aim
apparently being to secure, by the means of exorbitant customs duties
revenue for the Spanish exchequer and profits for Spanish subjects,
without the slightest regard for the welfare of the people of Cuba.
While the duties seem to have been levied with this idea, the
classifications and methods of administration are so complicated and
obscure that they easily lend themselves to every known species of
revenue fraud, from false classifications and undervaluations to
smuggling of the most barefaced character. In fact, the author, after a
careful inquiry into the Cuban tariff and an examination of several
hundred witnesses in Havana and other cities of Cuba, reached the
conclusion that almost every form of revenue iniquity has been
perpetrated upon the people of this Island by the ruling powers.
Not only was the tariff constructed in a way that compelled the Cuban
producer to purchase the articles he needed and could not himself
manufacture, of Spain, instead of in the cheaper markets, but also it
levied almost prohibitive duties on such articles as Spain could not
under any circumstances send to Cuba. For example, the Spanish exporter
was able, by a discriminating duty of more than one hundred per cent.
against other countries, to import from Minnesota to Barcelona American
flour and reship it to Cuba at a price just below the price of the
American article shipped direct to Cuba, upon which a duty nearly three
times as great as that exacted from Spain had to be paid. On the other
hand, Spain took little interest in such articles as machinery and
railway supplies, including steel rails and locomotives, because she
neither produced them nor could she purchase elsewhere and reship as
Spanish production.
The amended tariff for the Island, which went into force January 1,
1899, was framed on the general plan of the "open door" for all nations;
that is, the merchandise of all nations will be admitted on an equal
footing, or at the same rate of duty. There is but one uniform rate of
duty, and that, as far as possible, a revenue, not a protective rate. In
a few cases, a protective rate has been allowed, for the purpose of
encouraging Cuban home industry, but as over half of all the imports
into Cuba are food products, not produced to advantage in the Island,
the rates of duty rarely exceed twenty-five per cent. ad valorem. In
this connection, it will be interesting to note the value of the
merchandise imported, divided by schedules or classes (page 217).
It will be seen from the following exhibit that Schedule 12, "Alimentary
Substances," covering all food products, is the most important of all
the schedules, representing more than half the total imports into Cuba
during 1895, and aggregating over $31,000,000. Next in importance to
this is Schedule 4, "Cotton and Manufactures thereof," aggregating
nearly $6,000,000, or ten per cent. of the total imports; Schedule 1,
"Ores, etc.," aggregating in the neighbourhood of $4,750,000, ranking
third, and so on through the list.
TABLE SHOWING VALUE OF IMPORTS INTO CUBA BY TARIFF CLASSES FOR THE LAST
NORMAL YEAR, 1895-96
----------+---------------------------------------------+---------------
Number of | | Value Imports,
Schedule. | Commodity. | 1895-96.
----------+---------------------------------------------+---------------
Class I. | Stones, earths, ores, etc. | $ 4,733,358.12
" II. | Metals, and manufactures of | 2,063,281.95
" III. | Pharmacy and chemicals | 2,166,414.92
" IV. | Cotton, and manufactures of | 5,908,202.23
" V. | Hemp, flax, jute, and other vegetable |
| fibres and manufactures of | 3,587,713.23
" VI. | Wool, bristles, etc., and manufactures of | 1,060,192.13
" VII. | Silk, and manufactures of | 315,010.00
" VIII. | Paper and its applications | 1,257,132.94
" IX. | Wood, etc., and manufactures of | 2,054,057.57
" X. | Animals and animal wastes | 3,880,209.64
" XI. | Instruments, machinery, etc. | 2,123,315.43
" XII. | Alimentary substances | 31,179,289.98
" XIII. | Miscellaneous | 1,115,156.51
| +---------------
| | $61,443,334.65
----------+---------------------------------------------+---------------
In conjunction with the above table, the following recapitulation of
values of exports and reshipments into Cuba during 1895-96 is given:
RECAPITULATION OF VALUES OF EXPORTS AND RESHIPMENTS IN CUBA DURING
1895-96
------------+---------------+---------------+
| First | Second |
Exports | Quarter | Quarter |
------------+---------------+---------------+
Classes of | | |
goods: | | |
Timber | $ 286,190.70 | $ 267,068.47 |
Cigars | 6,616,458.97 | 4,374,938.70 |
Sugar | 26,288,456.91 | 30,457,278.50 |
Molasses | 427,886.11 | 1,010,657.35 |
Rum and | | |
liquors | 352,393.44 | 292,808.18 |
Other | | |
articles | 1,332,714.86 | 2,538,509.69 |
+---------------+---------------+
Total | 35,304,100.99 | 38,941,260.89 |
+---------------+---------------+
Reshipment: | | |
Foreign | | |
goods | 15,462.65 | 8,477.91 |
Spanish | | |
goods | 61,343.08 | 27,477.62 |
+---------------+---------------+
Total | 76,805.73 | 35,955.53 |
+---------------+---------------+
Special | | |
exports | 207,477.55 | 166,881.15 |
+---------------+---------------+
Grand | | |
total |$35,588,384.27 |$39,144,097.57 |
------------+---------------+---------------+
------------+---------------+---------------+---------------
| Third | Fourth |
Exports | Quarter | Quarter | Total
------------+---------------+---------------+---------------
Classes of | | |
goods: | | |
Timber | $ 200,878.03 | $ 130,463.90 | $ 848,601.10
Cigars | 6,389,770.95 | 6,666,672.71 | 24,047,841.33
Sugar | 10,679,269.55 | 7,572,016.36 | 74,997,021.32
Molasses | 152,205.65 | 8,846.30 | 1,599,595.41
Rum and | | |
liquors | 267,277.53 | 121,991.00 | 1,034,470.15
Other | | |
articles | 2,738,024.01 | 1,112,242.44 | 7,721,491.00
+---------------+---------------+---------------
Total | 20,427,425.72 | 15,612,232.71 | 110,285,020.31
+---------------+---------------+---------------
Reshipment: | | |
Foreign | | |
goods | 17,567.05 | 27,524.08 | 69,031.69
Spanish | | |
goods | 28,718.17 | 29,276.53 | 146,815.40
+---------------+---------------+---------------
Total | 46,285.22 | 56,800.61 | 215,847.09
+---------------+---------------+---------------
Special | | |
exports | 2,092,960.13 | 153,326.30 | 2,620,645.13
+---------------+---------------+---------------
Grand | | |
total |$22,566,671.07 |$15,822,359.62 |$113,121,512.53
------------+---------------+---------------+---------------
The grand total of the trade of the Cuban ports for the last normal year
was nearly $175,000,000. Perhaps with allowance for smuggling and
undervaluations, this total may have reached $200,000,000; possibly it
may have exceeded those figures. However this may be, Cuba, under a
satisfactory government and normal conditions, may be easily said to
represent from $200,000,000 to $250,000,000 in the world's commerce.
This fact gives some idea of the vast trade possibilities of Cuba after
a complete rehabilitation and industrial reconstruction of the Island.
In the following table the author has carefully compiled from the
several available sources of information the average receipts from 1886
to 1897, inclusive, of the several custom-houses of Cuba:
TOTAL CUSTOM-HOUSE RECEIPTS IN ISLAND OF CUBA FROM 1886 TO 1897,
INCLUSIVE
------------------------+-----------------+----------------+---------
| Total for | Average per | Ratio of
Custom-Houses. | Twelve Years. | Year. | Total.
------------------------+-----------------+----------------+---------
Havana | $106,132,753.38 | $ 8,844,396.11 | 69.9
Cienfuegos | 13,691,144.65 | 1,140,928.72 | 9.0
Matanzas | 9,381,754.10 | 781,812.84 | 6.2
Santiago de Cuba | 7,668,501.66 | 639,041.81 | 5.1
Cardenas | 4,363,935.76 | 363,661.32 | 2.9
Sagua la Grande | 2,994,082.56 | 249,506.88 | 2.0
Caibarien | 1,705,523.71 | 142,126.97 | 1.1
Nuevitas | 1,564,595.30 | 130,382.94 | 1.0
Guantanamo | 1,380,693.44 | 115,057.79 | 0.9
Gibara | 1,186,480.34 | 98,873.37 | 0.8
Manzanillo | 913,896.91 | 76,158.07 | 0.6
Baracoa | 373,498.11 | 31,124.85 | 0.2
Trinidad | 194,656.85 | 16,221.40 | 0.1
Santa Cruz | 107,935.59 | 8,994.63 | 0.1
Zaza | 91,276.51 | 7,606.38 | 0.1
------------------------+-----------------+----------------+---------
Total | $151,750,728.87 | $12,645,894.08 | 100.00
------------------------+-----------------+----------------+---------
During the twelve years, it should be stated the largest amount of
revenue was collected in 1886, when it was $15,330,778.96, and the
smallest amount last year, namely, $9,648,369.94. The receipts show the
working of the Reciprocity Treaty with the United States, which, while
it greatly added to the prosperity of the Island, decreased the revenues
which Spain sought to secure for herself.
From the above table it will be seen that the total amount of revenue
collected during these twelve years averaged $12,645,894.08 per year;
that the custom-house of Havana collected 69.9 per cent, and
Cienfuegos--which is an important city, and, in the opinion of the
author, the city which, under the new conditions, will show the most
rapid development--9 per cent., ranking second. In the custom-house
district of Santiago, the average revenue receipts per year have been
5.1 per cent. The inclusion in this district of Guantanamo, Gibara,
Manzanillo, and Baracoa will probably increase the collections for the
province to nearly ten per cent. of the total revenue of the Island.
The following is a similar table to that given above, but gives at a
glance the customs receipts from imports and exports at each port:
RECEIPTS FROM IMPORTS AND EXPORTS--1886-1897
----------------+---------------------------+-------------------------
| IMPORTS. | EXPORTS.
+---------------+-----------+--------------+----------
| | | |
| Average | Per Cent. | Average | Per Cent.
Custom-Houses. | Twelve Years. | of Total | Twelve Years.| of Total
| | imports. | | Exports.
| | | |
----------------+---------------+-----------+--------------+----------
Havana |$ 7,882,855.48 | | $ 961,540.63 |
Cienfuegos | 1,094,962.53 | | 45,966.19 |
Matanzas | 723,978.04 | | 57,834.80 |
Santiago de Cuba| 625,517.97 | | 13,523.84 |
Cardenas | 297,738.05 | | 65,923.27 |
Sagua la Grande | 207,422.23 | | 42,084.65 |
Caibarien | 127,011.98 | | 15,114.99 |
Nuevitas | 122,282.25 | | 8,100.69 |
Guantanamo | 103,198.88 | | 11,858.91 |
Gibara | 63,371.21 | | 35,502.16 |
Manzanillo | 60,664.85 | | 15,493.22 |
Baracoa | 31,122.49 | | 2.36 |
Trinidad | 11,963.02 | | 4,258.38 |
Santa Cruz | 4,679.98 | | 4,314.65 |
Zaza | 4,520.12 | | 3,086.26 |
----------------+---------------+-----------+--------------+----------
Aggregate |$11,361,289.08 | 8.33 |$1,284,605.00 | 8.33
----------------+---------------+-----------+--------------+----------
During the war, as already explained, the customs receipts have
naturally declined, therefore the year preceding that has been selected
as indicating the average revenue from custom-houses, when not disturbed
by commercial treaty, such as that made in connection with the McKinley
Tariff law of the United States, nor the other disturbances, such as
civil war and subsequently the blockade of Cuban ports by the United
States navy. The value of the following table is in the fact that it
shows customs receipts from the several sources other than those which
may be considered strictly import duties.
CUSTOM-HOUSE RECEIPTS DURING 1895-96, SPECIFYING TAXES
--------------+-------------+-------------+
| First | Second |
Tariff | Quarter | Quarter |
--------------+-------------+-------------+
Import Duties |$2,464,392.70|$2,387,357.28|
Ten per cent. | | |
on Imports | 272,162.34| 237,673.86|
Provisional | | |
fifteen per | | |
cent. on | | |
Imports | 84,126.55| 312,346.57|
Export Duties | 344,850.62| 227,858.34|
Navigation Tax| 2,539.75| 4,635.50|
Loading Tax | 254,316.53| 346,953.59|
Unloading Tax | 140,562.35| 128,938.58|
Passenger Tax | 8,925.75| 7,808.00|
Merchants' | | |
Bonds | 332.05| 143.50|
Fines | 18,308.40| 22,496.45|
Interest on | | |
Promissory | | |
Notes | 695.03| ..........|
Excise Tax | 333,003.78| 252,265.95|
+-------------+-------------+
Totals $3,924,215.85|$3,928,477.62|
----------------------------+-------------+
--------------+-------------+-------------+--------------
| Third | Fourth |
Tariff | Quarter | Quarter | Total
--------------+-------------+-------------+--------------
Import Duties |$1,947,152.48|$1,977,028.01|$ 8,775,930.47
Ten per cent. | | |
on Imports | 521,216.92| 209,483.87| 970,536.99
Provisional | | |
fifteen per | | |
cent. on | | |
Imports | 302,821.71| 267,337.93| 966,632.76
Export Duties | 359,135.46| 369,237.95| 1,301,082.37
Navigation Tax| 6,232.50| 5,305.00| 18,712.75
Loading Tax | 124,242.98| 91,509.85| 817,022.95
Unloading Tax | 129,965.77| 112,984.47| 512,451.17
Passenger Tax | 6,190.25| 6,229.75| 29,153.75
Merchants' | | |
Bonds | 208.56| 228.84| 912.95
Fines | 13,346.50| 16,663.15| 70,814.50
Interest on | | |
Promissory | | |
Notes | ..........| ..........| 695.03
Excise Tax | 333,525.56| 205,179.59| 1,123,974.88
+-------------+-------------+--------------
Totals $3,474,038.69|$3,261,188.41|$14,587,920.57
Having treated as fully as possible on the revenue of Cuba in the past
from customs and made such forecasts as to the probable revenue as would
seem warranted by the official figures, the next chapter will be devoted
to a summary of the schedules of the amended tariff now in force, which
will probably remain during United States occupancy the customs revenue
law of the Island.
[Illustration: PALM-TREE BRIDGE.]
CHAPTER XVI
THE AMENDED CUBAN TARIFF--OFFICIAL
After a careful consideration of the facts given in the foregoing
chapter, Assistant-Secretary of the Treasury, William B. Howell, and the
author recommended the adoption of the following amended tariff, the
order for the establishment of which President McKinley signed on the
13th of December, 1898; and the tariff was promulgated and took effect
in all Cuban ports in the possession of the United States January 1,
1899. The new tariff, at the time this volume goes to press, is reported
by the several custom-houses of the Island as working smoothly, and
yielding an amount of revenue equivalent to the estimates given in the
chapters relating to the revenue of the Island.
CUSTOMS TARIFF FOR PORTS IN CUBA
FREE LIST
The undermentioned articles may be imported into Cuba exempt from
the duties stipulated in the tariffs on compliance with the
prescribed conditions and the formalities established for every
case in the customs ordinances:
346. Manures, natural.
347. Trees, plants, and moss, in natural or fresh state.
348. National products returning from foreign exhibitions, on
presentation of the bill of lading or certificate proving their
exportation from the Island and of satisfactory evidence attesting
that such products have been presented and have been shipped to
their point of departure.
349. Carriages, trained animals, portable theatres, panoramas, wax
figures, and other similar objects for public entertainment,
imported temporarily, provided bond be given.
350. Receptacles exported from Cuba with fruits, sugar, molasses,
honey, and brandy, and reimported empty, including receptacles of
galvanised iron intended for the exportation of alcohol.
351. Specimens and collections of mineralogy, botany, and zoology;
also small models for public museums, schools, academies, and
scientific and artistic corporations, on proof of their
destination.
352. Used furniture of persons coming to settle in the Island.
353. Samples of felt, wall paper, and tissues, when they comply
with the following conditions:
(_a_) When they do not exceed 40 centimetres in length, measured in
the warp or length of the piece, even when such samples have the
entire width of the piece. The width shall, for tissues, be
determined by the list, and for felts and wall paper by the narrow
border which has not passed through the press.
(_b_) Samples not having these indications shall only be admitted
free of duty when they do not exceed 40 centimetres in any
dimension.
(_c_) In order to avoid abuse, the samples declared for free entry
must have cuts at every 20 centimetres of their width, so as to
render them unfit for any other purpose.
354. Samples of trimmings in small pieces, of no commercial value
or possible application.
355. Archæological and numismatical objects for public museums,
academies, and scientific and artistic corporations, on proof of
their destination.
356. Works of fine art acquired by the Government, academies, or
other official corporations, and intended for museums, galleries,
or art schools, when due proof is given as to their destination.
357. Gold in bars, powder, or coined; also national silver or
bronze coins.
358. Wearing apparel, toilet objects, and articles for personal
use, bed and table linen, books, portable tools and instruments,
theatrical costumes, jewels, and table services bearing evident
trace of having been used, imported by travellers in their luggage
in quantities proportionate to their class, profession, and
position.
359. When travellers do not bring their baggage with them, the
clearing of the same may be made by the conductor or persons
authorised for the purpose, provided they prove, to the
satisfaction of the customs, that the effects are intended for
private use.
360. Stone, unwrought, for paving purposes.
361. Ploughs, hoes, hatchets, machetes, cane knives, etc., for
agricultural purposes, and other agricultural implements not
machinery.
362. Quinine, sulphate and bisulphate of, and all alkaloids or
salts of cinchona bark.
363. Hemp, flax, and ramie, raw, hackled, or tow.
364. Abaca, heniquen, pita, jute, and other vegetable fibres, raw,
hackled, or tow.
365. Single yarns made of jute for the manufacture of sugar bags
only, to be imported by sugar-bag manufacturers only, the importer
to give a bond to use the yarn exclusively for the manufacture of
sugar bags.
366. Books, maps, and scientific instruments, for the use of
schools.
367. Coal and coke.
368. Mineral, carbonated or seltzer waters, natural or artificial,
root beer, ginger ale, and other similar non-alcoholic beverages,
not otherwise provided for.
369. Fresh fish.
370. Second-hand clothing donated for charitable purposes to needy
persons, and not for sale.
371. Articles of the growth, produce, and manufacture of the island
of Cuba exported to a foreign country and returned without having
been advanced in value or improved in condition by any process of
manufacture or other means, and upon which no drawback or bounty
has been allowed.
IMPORT RATES OF DUTY
ABBREVIATIONS EMPLOYED IN THE TARIFF
G. W. = Gross weight.
N. W. = Net weight.
G. W.; T. = Gross weight or tare, as the case may be.
T. = Tare.
S. T. = Special tare.
Kil. = Kilograms.
Kilog. = Kilogram.
Hectog. = Hectogram.
Hectol. = Hectoliter.
Duties shall be paid in United States money, or in foreign gold
coin, such as the Spanish alfonsinos (centen) and the French louis,
which will be accepted at the following rates: Alfonsinos
(25-peseta piece), $4.82; louis (20-franc piece), $3.86.
The following Spanish silver coins now in circulation in the Island
of Cuba shall be received for customs at the following fixed rates
in American money: Peso, 60 cents; medio peso, 30 cents; peseta, 12
cents; real, 6 cents; medio real, 3 cents.
Bronze and copper coins now current in the Island of Cuba will be
received at their face value for fractional parts of a dollar in a
single payment to an amount not exceeding 12 cents (1 peseta).
The metrical system of weights and measures is in use in Cuba.
Importations from the United States are dutiable like other
commodities.
CLASS I.--STONES, EARTHS, ORES, GLASS, AND CERAMIC PRODUCTS
GROUP I.--_Stones and earths employed in building, arts, and
manufactures_
1. Marble, jasper, and alabaster:
_a._ In the rough or in dressed pieces, squared or prepared for
shaping, G. W......100 kil. $0.50
_b._ Slabs, plates, or steps of any dimension, polished
or not, G.W......100 kil. 1.00
_c._ Sculptures, high and bas-reliefs, vases, urns, and similar
articles for house decoration, T......100 kil. 3.10
_d._ Wrought or chiselled into other articles, polished
or not, T......100 kil. 2.00
2. Stones, other, natural or artificial:
_a._ Slabs, plates, or steps, G. W......do. .50
_b._ Wrought into all other articles, T......do. 1.00
3. Earths employed in manufactures and arts: Cement, lime,
and gypsum, G. W.....100 kil. .60
4. Gypsum manufactured into articles:
_a._ Statuettes, T......do. 3.00
_b._ Articles, other, T......do. .75
GROUP 2. _Coal._
(See Free list).
GROUP 3.----_Schists, bitumens, and their derivatives_
6. Tar and mineral pitch, asphalts, bitumens, and schists,
G. W.,.....100 kil. $ 0.60
7. Oleonaphtha, crude natural petroleum and crude oils
derived from schists, G. W......100 kil. 1.40
_a._ Crude petroleum to be used exclusively in the manufacture of
illuminating gas and only at gas works in Cuba, said gas
works to be subject to inspection by the customs authorities,
and to be used for no other purpose, provided that the importer
gives such bond as may be regarded necessary by the
acting collector, G. W......100 kil. .70
8. Petroleum and other mineral oils, rectified or refined, intended for
illumination; benzine, gasoline, and mineral oils not specially
mentioned; vaseline, G. W......100 kil. 4.70
_a._ A product from petroleum known under the name of cordage
oil, imported by and used exclusively for cordage works in
their manufacture of rope and cordage, provided that the importation
be made at the direct demand of the president of
the cordage company, and that the latter submit their works
at all times to the inspection of the customs authorities, and
that the importer give such bond as may be regarded necessary
by the acting collector, G. W......100 kil. 2.35
GROUP 4.----Ores
9. Ores, G. W......100 kil. .10
GROUP 5.----_Crystal and Glass_
10. Common or ordinary hollow glassware; electric
insulators, T......100 kil. 1.00
Common bottles of glass, intended to contain beer, rum, and
sparkling wines, manufactured with native fruit, and garrafones or
demijohns and siphons to contain mineral, carbonated, or seltzer
waters, shall enjoy a rebate of 60 per cent. of the duties stipulated
in this number, when imported and declared in the custom-house
by the manufacturers of said beverages.
11. Crystal, and glass imitating crystal:
_a._ Articles, cut, engraved, or gilt, T......100 kil. 14.00
_b._ Articles, other, T......do. 7.00
12. Plate glass and crystal:
_a._ Slabs, paving or roofing, T......100 kil. 1.65
_b._ For windows or in other articles, provided
they be neither polished, bevelled, engraved,
nor annealed, T......100 kil. 3.40
_c._ Window glass set in lead and polished, or bevelled
plate glass, T......100 kil. $ 4.90
_d._ Articles, engraved or annealed, T......do. 9.80
13. Glass and crystal, tinned, silvered, or coated with other metals:
_a._ Common mirrors not exceeding 2 mm. in thickness, coated
with red or dark mercurial varnish, T......100 kil. 10.00
_b._ Mirrors, other, not bevelled, T......do. 15.00
_c._ Mirrors, bevelled, T......do. 18.00
14. Glass and crystal in statuettes, flower stands, and vases and similar
articles for toilet purposes and house decorations; spectacle and
watch glasses; imitations of precious or fine stones;
enamel, T......kilog. .56
15. Incandescent electric lamps, mounted or not hundred. 2.50
GROUP 6.----_Pottery, earthenware, and porcelain_
16. Bricks of clay, not glazed, for building purposes, furnaces, etc.;
articles of fire clay, G. W......100 kil. .30
17. Roofing tiles of clay, not glazed, for building purposes, per square
(10 by 10 feet) 1.50
18. Slabs or conduits of clay, glazed or unglazed, cement or stoneware,
G. W......100 kil. .50
19. Ceramic tiles of all kinds and glazed roofing tiles, per square
(10 by 10 feet) 2.50
20. Hollow ware, glazed or not, of clay or stoneware:
_a._ Household and kitchen utensils, T......100 kil. .80
_b._ Dishes or other articles, provided that they be neither gilt,
painted, nor ornamented in relief, T. .....100 kil. 5.50
_c._ Common bottles of earthenware, to contain beer, etc......do. 1.00
_d._ Articles, gilt, painted, or ornamented in relief, T......do. 5.60
21. Hollow ware or dishes of faience:
_a._ Neither painted, gilt, nor in relief, T......do. 3.50
_b._ Gilt, painted, or with ornaments in relief, T......do. 6.40
22. Hollow ware or dishes of porcelain:
_a._ Neither painted, gilt, nor in relief, T......do. 5.80
_b._ Painted, gilt, or with ornaments in relief, T......do. 9.30
23. Statuettes, flower stands, and vases, high and bas-reliefs, articles for
toilet purposes and house decoration, of fine clay, faience, stoneware,
porcelain, or bisque, T......kilog. .25
CLASS II.--METALS, AND ALL MANUFACTURES IN WHICH A METAL
ENTERS AS A PRINCIPAL ELEMENT
GROUP I.--_Gold, silver, and platinum, and alloys of these metals_
24. Gold and platinum in jewelry or goldsmiths' wares, with or without
precious stones or pearls; jewelry or wares of silver, with
precious stones, pearls and seed pearls, not set, N. W. hectog. $7.50
25. Gold or platinum wrought in articles, other, of all kinds, N. W.
hectog. $2.80
26. Silver in ingots, bars, plates, sheets, or powder, N. W. kilog. 2.60
27. Jewelry or wares of silver, without precious stones or pearls, N.W.
hectog. 1.50
28. Silversmiths' wares, other, of all kinds, and platinum in ingots, N. W.
.....kilog. 8.00
29. Plate, N. W......do. 2.40
GROUP 2.--_Cast iron_ (I)
(I) Articles of malleable cast iron are dutiable as manufactures of
wrought iron,
Cast iron:
30. Pigs, G. W......100 kil. .10
31. Articles not coated or ornamented with another metal or porcelain,
neither polished or turned--
_a._ Bars, beams, plates, grates for furnaces, columns, and pipes,
G. W......100 kil. .50
_b._ Lubricating boxes for railway trucks and carriages, and railway
chairs, G. W......100 kil. .35
_c._ Articles, other, G. W......do. .75
32. Articles of all kinds not coated or ornamented with another metal
or porcelain, polished or turned, T......100 kil. 1.20
33. Articles of all kinds, enamelled, gilt, tinned, or coated or ornamented
with other metals or porcelain, T......100 kil. 2.30
GROUP 3.--_Wrought iron and steel_
34. Iron, soft or wrought, in ingots or "tochos"; steel in ingots, G. W.,
.....100 kil. .40
35. Wrought iron or steel, rolled--
_a._ Rails, G. W......do. .425
_b._ Bars of all kinds, including rods, tires, hoops, and beams,
G. W......100 kil. .90
_c._ Bars of all kinds of fine crucible steel, G. W......do. 1.60
36. Sheets, rolled--
_a._ Neither polished nor tinned, of 3 millimetres and more in
thickness, G. W......100 kil. 1.10
_b._ Neither polished nor tinned, of less than 3 millimetres in
thickness, and hoop iron, G. W......100 kil. 1.20
_c._ Tinned and tin plate, G. W......do. 1.50
_d._ Polished, corrugated, perforated, cold-rolled, galvanised or
not, and bands of polished hoop iron, G. W......100 kil. 1.30
37. Wrought iron or steel:
Cast in pieces, in the rough, neither polished, turned, nor adjusted,
weighing, each--
_a._ 25 kil. or more, G. W......100 kil. $1.00
_b._ Less than 25 kil., G. W......do. 1.35
38. Cast in pieces, finished--
_a._ Wheels weighing more than 100 kilograms, fish plates, chairs,
sleepers, and straight axles; springs for railways and tramways;
lubricating boxes, G. W......100 kil. .60
_b._ Wheels weighing 100 kilograms or less; springs other than for
railways and tramways; bent axles and cranks, G. W.
.....100 kil. 1.40
39. Pipes--
_a._ Covered with sheet brass, G. W......do. 1.40
_b._ Other, galvanised or not, G. W......do. 1.40
40. Wire, galvanised or not--
_a._ 2 millim. or more in diameter, T......do. 1.00
_b._ More than 1/2 and up to 2 millim. in diameter, T......do. 1.30
_c._ 1/2 millim. or less in diameter, and wire covered with any kind
of tissue, T......100 kil. 1.60
41. In large pieces, composed of bars or bars and sheets fastened by
means of rivets or screws; the same, unriveted, perforated, or
cut to measure for bridges, frames, and other buildings, G. W.,
.....100 kil. 1.80
42. Anchors, chains for vessels or machines, moorings, switches, and
signal disks, G. W......100 kil. .80
42_a._ Anvils, T......do. 2.50
43. Wire gauze--
_a._ Up to 20 threads per inch, T......do. 2.00
_b._ Of 20 threads or more per inch, T......kilog. .06
44. Cables, fencing (barbed wire), and netting; furniture springs, G. W.,
.....100 kil. 1.00
45. Tools and implements--
_a._ Fine, for arts, trades, and professions, of crucible steel, T.
.....100 kil. 8.00
_b._ Other, T......do. 2.50
46. Screws, nuts, bolts, washers, and rivets; Parisian and similar
tacks, T.....100 kil. 1.50
47. Nails, clasp nails, and brads, T......do. 1.00
48. Buckles:
_a._ Gilt, silvered, or nickeled, T......kilog. .20
_b._ Other, T......do. .15
49. Needles, sewing or embroidering, pins, and pens; pieces of clockworks,
N. W......kilog. .30
50. Crochet hooks and the like; hooks, hairpins, and surgical instruments,
N. W......kilog. .30
51. Cutlery of all kinds; tailors' scissors; sidearms and pieces for same,
T......kilog. .40
52. Firearms:
_a._ Barrels, unfinished, for portable arms, G. W......kilog. $ .25
_b._ Small arms, such as pistols and revolvers, also their detached
parts, T......kilog. 1.00
_c._ Sporting guns: Muzzle-loading, and detached parts thereof,
T......kilog. .60
_d._ Breech-loading, and detached parts thereof, T......do. 2.50
53. Manufactures of tin plate, T......100 kil. 4.00
Wrought iron or steel:
54. Articles of all kinds not specially mentioned, common, even coated
with lead, tin, or zinc, or painted or varnished--
_a._ In which sheet predominates, T......100 kil. 3.00
_b._ In which sheet does not predominate, T......do. 2.00
55. Articles of all kinds not specially mentioned, fine, i.e., polished,
enamelled, coated with porcelain, nickel, or other metals (with
the exception of lead, tin, or zinc), or with ornaments, borders,
or parts of other metals, or combined with glass or earthenware--
_a._ In which sheet predominates, T......100 kil. 3.00
_b._ In which sheet does not predominate.....do. 3.00
GROUP 4.--_Copper and alloys of common metals with copper (brass,
bronze, etc.)_
56. Copper scales, copper of first fusion, old copper, brass, etc., G. W.
.....100 kil. 3.00
57. Copper and alloys of copper in ingots, G. W......do. 4.00
58. Rolled in bars of all kinds, G. W......do. 4.50
59. Rolled in sheets, G. W......do. 5.00
60. Wire, galvanised or not--
_a._ 1 millimetre and more in diameter, T......do. 6.00
_b._ Less than 1 millimetre in diameter, T......do. 6.00
_c._ Gilt, silvered, or nickeled, T......kilog. .50
61. Wire covered with tissues or insulating materials; conducting cables
for electricity over public thoroughfares, T......100 kil. 7.50
62. Wire gauze--
_a._ Up to 100 threads per inch, T......100 kil. 6.00
_b._ Of 100 threads or more per inch, T......kilog. .15
63. Pipes, bearings, plates for fireplaces, and boilermakers' wares partially
wrought, G. W......100 kil. 4.50
64. Nails and tacks:
_a._ Gilt, silvered, or nickeled, T......kilog. .20
_b._ Other, T......do. .12
65. Pins or pens, N. W......do. .60
Copper and alloys of copper:
66. Articles not specially mentioned, varnished or not, T......kilog. .20
67. Articles, gilt, silvered, or nickeled, not specially mentioned, T.
.....kilog. .50
GROUP 5.--_Other metals and their alloys_
68. Mercury, G. W......kilog. $ .20
Nickel, aluminium, and alloys having for a basis these metals:
69. In lumps or ingots, G. W.....100 kil. 3.00
Tin and alloys thereof:
70. In lumps or ingots, G. W......do. 4.00
Zinc, lead, and other metals not specially mentioned, as well as
their alloys:
71. In lumps or ingots, G. W......100 kil. 1.00
Nickel, aluminium, and their alloys:
72. In bars, sheets, pipes, and wire, G. W.......do. 7.00
Tin and alloys thereof:
73. In bars, sheets, pipes, and wire, G. W.......do. 7.00
Zinc, lead and other metals:
74. In bars, sheets, pipes, and wire, G. W. 1.50
75. Tin hammered in thin leaves (tin foil) and capsules for
bottles, T......kilog. .04
Nickel, or aluminium, and their alloys:
76. Articles of all kinds, T......do. .50
Tin and alloys thereof (Britannia metal, etc.):
77. Articles of all kinds, T......do. .50
78. Zinc, lead, and other metals, and their alloys:
_a._ Articles, gilt, silvered, or nickeled, T......do. .30
_b._ Articles, other, T.....do. .15
GROUP 6.--_Wastes and scoriæ_
79. Filings, shavings, cuttings of iron or steel, and other
wastes of cast iron or from the manufacture of common metals,
fit only for resmelting, G. W......100 kil. .15
80. Scoriæ resulting from the smelting of ores, G. W......do. .03
CLASS III.--SUBSTANCES EMPLOYED IN PHARMACY AND CHEMICAL INDUSTRIES,
AND PRODUCTS COMPOSED OF THESE SUBSTANCES
GROUP 1.--_Simple drugs_
81. Oleaginous seeds, copra or cocoanuts, G. W......100 kil. $2.00
82. Resins and gums:
_a._ Colophany, pitch, and similar products, G. W......do. .50
_b._ Spirits of turpentine, T......do. 2.50
_c._ Caoutchouc and gutta-percha, raw or melted in lumps,
G. W......100 kil. 3.00
83. Extracts of licorice, camphor, aloes, and other similar
vegetable juices, G. W......100 kil. 5.25
84. Tan bark, G. W.....do. .25
85. Opium, G. W......kilog. 6.00
86. Other simple vegetable products, not specially mentioned,
G. W......100 kil. $2.75
87. Animal products employed in medicine, not specially
mentioned, G. W......100 kil. 1.80
88. Natural colours, in powder or in lumps (ochres, etc.),.....do. .60
G. W.
GROUP 2.--_Colours, dyes, and varnishes_
89. Artificial colours of metallic bases:
_a._ In powder or lumps, G. W.; T......100 kil. 2.55
_b._ Prepared in the paste, oil, or water; also lead or
coloured pencils, G. W.; T......100 kil. 5.00
90. Other artificial colours, in powder, crystals, lumps, or
paste, G. W.; T......kilog. .25
91. Natural dyes:
_a._ Woods, barks, roots, etc., for dyeing, G. W......100 kil. .20
_b._ Madder, G. W......do. 4.50
_c._ Indigo and cochineal, G. W......kilog. .20
92. Artificial dyes:
_a._ Extracts from logwood, archil, and other dyeing extracts,
G. W.; T......100 kil. 5.00
_b._ Writing, drawing, or printing inks, G. W.; T......do. 3.00
_c._ Colours derived from coal, G. W.; T......kilog. .20
93. Varnish, G. W.; T......100 kil. 7.50
94. Blacking, G. W......do. 3.00
GROUP 3.--_Chemical and pharmaceutical products_
95. Simple bodies:
_a._ Sulphur, G. W.....100 kil. .15
_b._ Bromine, boron, iodine, and phosphorus. Phosphorus, T.;
other, G. W......kilog. .18
96. Inorganic acids:
_a._ Hydrochloric, boric, nitric, and sulphuric, also aqua regia,
G. W......100 kil. .30
_b._ Liquid carbonic acid, N. W......do. 5.00
_c._ Other, G. W......do. 5.00
97. Organic acids:
_a._ Oxalic, citric, tartaric, and carbolic, G. W......do. 1.00
_b._ Oleic, stearic, and palmetic, G. W......do. 1.40
_c._ Acetic, G. W......do. 6.00
_d._ Other, G. W......do. 5.00
98. Oxides and oxyhydrates: Of ammoniac, potash, and other caustic
and barilla alkalies, G. W......100 kil. .25
99. Inorganic salts:
_a._ Chloride of sodium (common salt), G. W......do. .50
_b._ Chloride of potassium; sulphates of soda, iron, or
magnesia; carbonate of magnesia; alum, G. W......100 kil. $0.45
_c._ Sulphate of ammoniac; phosphates and superphosphates
of lime; nitrate of potash and soda, G. W......100 kil. .03
_d._ Other salts of ammoniac, salts of copper, chloride of
lime, sulphate of potash, hyposulphite of soda and borax,
G. W.,.....100 kil. .75
_e._ Chlorates of soda and potash, G. W......do. 1.80
100. Organic salts:
_a._ Acetates and oxalates, G. W......do. 2.50
_b._ Citrates and tartrates, T......do. 3.00
101. Alkaloids and their salts; chlorides of gold and silver,
N. W.,.....kilog. 6.75
102. Chemical products not specially mentioned, G. W.; T......do. .05
103. Pills, capsules, medicinal dragees, and the like, T......do. .25
104. Pharmaceutical products not specially mentioned, T......do. .10
GROUP 4.--_Oils, fats, wax, and their derivatives_
105. Vegetable oils:
_a._ Solid (cocoanut, palm, etc.), G. W......100 kil. 2.50
_b._ Liquid, except olive oil, G. W......do. 3.00
106. Crude oils and animal fats:
_a._ Cod-liver oil and other medicinal oils, not refined,
G. W......100 kil. 1.47
_b._ Glycerin, olein, stearin, and spermaceti, crude, G. W......do. 1.40
_c._ Other crude oils and fats, G. W......100 kil. .50
107. Mineral, vegetable, or animal wax, unwrought, and paraffin in
lumps, G. W......100 kil. 2.50
108. Articles of stearin and paraffin, wax of all kinds, wrought,
T......100 kil. 2.40
109. Common soap, G. W.; T......do. 1.50
110. Perfumery and essences, T......kilog. .20
GROUP 5.--_Various_
111. Artificial or chemical fertilizers, G. W......100 kil. .05
112. Starch and feculæ for industrial uses; dextrin and glucose, G. W.;
T......100 kil. 1.40
113. Glues, albumens, and gelatin, G. W......do. 3.90
114. Carbons prepared for electric lighting, G. W......do. 3.00
115. Gunpowder and explosives:
_a._ Gunpowder, explosive compounds, and miners' fuses, G. W.;
T......100 kil. 4.00
_b._ Gunpowder, sporting, and other explosives not intended for
mines, N. W......kilog. .20
CLASS IV.--COTTON AND MANUFACTURES THEREOF.
GROUP 1.--_Cotton in the wool and yarns_
116. Cotton in the wool and cotton waste, G. W......100 kil. $1.00
117. Cotton yarn and thread for crocheting, embroidering, and
sewing; including the weight of reels, N. W......kilog. .33
GROUP 2.--_Tissues_
118. Tissues, plain and without figures, napped or not,
weighing 10 kilograms or more per 100 square metres,
unbleached, bleached, or dyed, having:
_a._ Up to 9 threads, N. W......kilog. .13
_b._ From 10 to 15 threads, N. W......do. .17
_c._ From 16 to 19 threads, N. W......do. .23
_d._ 20 threads or more, N. W......do. .35
118 _a._ The same tissues, printed or manufactured with dyed
yarns:
Dutiable as the tissue, with a surtax of 30 per cent., N. W.
119. Tissues, plain and without figures, napped or not, weighing
less than 10 kilograms per 100 square metres, unbleached,
bleached, or dyed, having:
_a._ Up to 6 threads, N. W......kilog. .15
_b._ From 7 to 11 threads. N. W......do. .20
_c._ From 12 to 15 threads, N. W......do. .27
_d._ From 16 to 19 threads, N. W......do. .37
_e._ 26 threads or more, N. W......do. .50
119 _a._ The same tissue, printed or manufactured with dyed
yarns: Dutiable as the tissue, with a surtax of 40 per cent.,
N. W.
120. Tissues, twilled or figured on the loom, napped or not,
weighing 10 kilograms or more per 100 square meters,
unbleached, bleached, or dyed, having:
_a._ Up to 6 threads, N. W......kilog. .15
_b._ From 7 to 11 threads, N. W......do. .18
_c._ From 12 to 15 threads, N. W......do. .20
_d._ From 16 to 19 threads, N. W......do. .32
_e._ 20 threads or more, N. W......do. .42
120 _a._ The same tissues, printed or manufactured with dyed
yarns: Dutiable as the tissue, with a surtax of 30 per cent.,
N. W.
121. Tissues, twilled or figured on the loom, napped or not,
weighing less than 10 kilograms per 100 square metres,
unbleached, bleached, or dyed, having:
_a._ Up to 6 threads. N. W......kilog. .18
_b._ From 7 to 11 threads, N. W......do. .23
_c._ From 12 to 15 threads, N. W......do. .32
_d._ From 16 to 19 threads, N. W......do. .43
_e._ 20 threads or more, N. W......do. .55
121 _a._ The same tissues, printed or manufactured with dyed
yarns: Dutiable as the tissues, with surtax of 40 per cent.,
N. W.
122. Tissues for counterpanes, N. W......kilog. $ 0.24
123. Piqués of all kinds, N. W......do. .45
124. Carded tissues:
_a._ Unbleached, half bleached, or dyed in the piece, N. W......do. .08
_b._ Bleached, printed or manufactured with dyed yarns,
N. W.,.....kilog. .20
125. Velvety tissues, such as corduroys and velveteens;
three-ply plush tissues, cut or not, N. W......kilog. .47
126. Knitted goods, even with needlework......do. .30
_a._ Undershirts and drawers of simple finish or rough
sewing, N. W......kilog. .70
_b._ Undershirts and drawers of double sewing or fine
finish, N. W.,.....kilog. .80
_c._ Stockings, socks, gloves, and other small articles of
simple finish or rough sewing, N. W......kilog. .70
_d._ Stockings, socks, gloves, and other small articles of
double sewing or fine finish, N. W......kilog. .90
127. Tulles:
_a._ Plain, N. W......do. .70
_b._ Figured or embroidered on the loom, N. W......do. .92
128. Lace, blondes, and tulle for borders, of all kinds,
N. W......do. 1.47
129. Carpets of cotton, N. W......kilog. .15
130. Tissues called tapestry, for upholstering furniture and
for curtains manufactured with dyed yarns; table-covers and
counterpanes of the same kind, N. W......kilog. .32
131. Wicks for lamps and candles, N. W......do. .15
132. Trimmings of cotton; ribbons and galloons, N. W......do. .52
CLASS V.--HEMP, FLAX, PITA, JUTE, AND OTHER
VEGETABLE FIBRES, AND THEIR MANUFACTURES
GROUP 1.--_Raw and spun_
133. Twisted yarns of two or more ends (including the weight
of the reels); also the fibres of abaca, heniquen, pita, jute,
and other vegetable fibres, prepared for spinning, not otherwise
provided for, N. W......kilog. $ 0.10
133_a._ Bags for sugar.....100 kil. 2.00
134. Rope and cordage:
_a._ Twine or rope yarn and cord of hemp, not exceeding 3
millimetres in thickness, G. W......100 kil. 6.00
_b._ Cordage- and ropemakers' wares of hemp, exceeding 3
millimetres in thickness, N. W......100 kil. 6.00
_c._ Cordage- and ropemakers' wares of abaca, heniquen,
pita, jute, or other fibres, N. W......100 kil. 6.00
GROUP 2.--_Tissues_
135. Tissues of hemp, linen, ramie, jute, or other vegetable fibres, not
specially mentioned, plain, twilled or damasked, weighing 35
kilograms or more per 100 square metres, unbleached, half
bleached, or dyed in the piece, having:
_a._ Up to 5 threads, N. W......100 kil. $2.00
_b._ From 6 to 8 threads, N. W......kilog. .05
_c._ 9 threads or more, N. W......do. .08
135_a._ The same tissues, bleached or printed:
Dutiable as the tissue, with a surtax of 15 per cent., N. W.
135_b._ The same tissues, manufactured with dyed yarns:
Dutiable as the tissue, with a surtax of 25 per cent., N. W.
136. Tissues, plain, twilled, or damasked, weighing from 20 to 35
kilograms per 100 square metres, unbleached, half bleached, or
dyed in the piece, having:
_a._ Up to 5 threads, N. W......kilog. .06
_b._ From 6 to 8 threads, N. W......do. .08
_c._ From 9 to 12 threads, N. W......do. .12
_d._ From 13 to 16 threads, N. W......do. .16
_e._ 17 threads or more, N. W......do. .20
136_a._ The same tissues, bleached or printed:
Dutiable as the tissue, with a surtax of 25 per cent., N. W.
136_b._ The same tissues, manufactured with dyed yarns:
Dutiable as the tissue, with a surtax of 40 per cent., N. W.
137. Tissues, plain, twilled, or damasked, weighing from 10 to
20 kilograms per 100 square metres, unbleached, half bleached,
or dyed in the piece, having:
_a._ Up to 8 threads, N. W......kilog. .08
_b._ From 9 to 12 threads, N. W......do. .12
_c._ From 13 to 16 threads, N. W......do. .18
_d._ From 17 to 20 threads, N. W......do. .25
_e._ 21 threads or more, N. W......do. .35
137_a._ The same tissues, bleached or printed:
Dutiable as the tissue, with a surtax of 30 per cent., N. W.
137_b._ The same tissues, manufactured with dyed yarns:
Dutiable as the tissue, with a surtax of 50 per cent., N. W.
138. Tissues, plain, twilled, or damasked, weighing less than
8 kilograms per 100 square metres, unbleached, half bleached,
or dyed in the piece, having:
_a._ Up to 8 threads, N. W......kilog. .10
_b._ From 9 to 12 threads, N. W......do. .14
_c._ From 13 to 16 threads, N. W......do. .20
_d._ From 17 to 20 threads, N. W......do. .35
_e._ 21 threads or more, N. W......do. .06
138_a_. The same tissues, bleached or printed:
Dutiable as the tissue, with a surtax of 30 per cent., N. W.
138_b_. The same tissues, manufactured with dyed yarns:
Dutiable as the tissue, with a surtax of 50 per cent., N. W.
139. Velvets and plushes of linen, jute, etc., N. W......kilog. $0.20
140. Knitted goods of linen or hemp, mixed or not with cotton
or other vegetable fibres, even with needlework:
_a._ In the piece, jerseys, or drawers, N. W......kilog. .80
_b._ Stockings, socks, gloves, and other small articles, N.W......do. 1.00
141. Tulles:
_a._ Plain, N. W......do. .60
_b._ Figured or embroidered on the loom, N. W......do. .75
142. Lace, blonde, and tulles for borders, N. W......do. 2.00
143. Carpets of jute, hemp, or other vegetable fibres without
admixture of wool, N. W......kilog. .05
144. Tissues called tapestry for upholstering furniture and for
curtains, mixed or not with cotton, figured or damasked, provided
they be manufactured with yarns dyed prior to being woven; table-
covers and counterpanes of the same kind, N. W......kilog. .28
145. Trimmings of hemp, jute, linen, ramie, etc.; ribbons and
galloons, N. W......kilog. .40
CLASS VI.--WOOL, BRISTLES, HAIR, HORSEHAIR, AND THEIR
MANUFACTURES
GROUP 1.--_Raw and spun_
146. Bristles, hair, and horsehair per cent. ad valorem 40
147. Wool, raw.....do. 40
148. Woollen yarn, unbleached, bleached or dyed,
single or twisted per cent. ad valorem. 40
Woollen yarns mixed with silk shall be liable to the
following surtaxes:
When containing up to one-fifth of silk, per cent. ad valorem 22
When containing up to two-fifths of silk.....do. 50
When containing three-fifths or more of silk the
yarns shall be dutiable as untwisted silk.
GROUP 2.--_Tissues and fulled stuffs_
149. Swanskin of pure or mixed wool per cent. ad valorem 40
150. Baizes:
_a._ Of pure wool.....do. 40
_b._ Of mixed wool.....do. 40
151. Flannels, white or colored, for underclothing:
_a._ Of pure wool.....do. 40
_b._ Of mixed wool.....do. 40
152. Blankets or counterpanes of wool, pure or mixed with other
materials:
_a._ Grey blankets ("pardas") per cent. ad valorem 40
_b._ Other.....do. 40
153. Astrakhans, plushes, and velvets of wool, pure or mixed.....do. 40
154. Cloths and other tissues not specially
mentioned, of wool, hair, or flock wool,
comprised or not in drapery, weighing per
square metre:
300 grams or more:
_a._ Of wool, hair, or flock wool, pure per cent. ad valorem 40
_b._ Of wool or hair, mixed.....do. 40
155. From 175 to 300 grams:
_a._ Of wool, hair, or flock wool, pure.....do. 40
_b._ Of wool or hair, mixed.....do. 40
156. Less than 175 grams:
_a._ Of wool, hair, or flock wool, pure.....do. 40
_b._ Of wool or hair mixed.....do. 40
157. Tissues of bristle or horsehair, with or without
an admixture of cotton or other vegetable fibres per cent. ad valorem 40
158. Knitted stuffs, with or without an admixture of
cotton or other vegetable fibres, even with needlework:
_a._ In the piece, jerseys, or drawers per cent. ad valorem 40
_b._ In stockings, socks, gloves, and other
small articles.....do. 40
159. Carpets of wool, pure or mixed with other materials:
_a._ With uncut pile.....do. 40
_b._ Plushy or with cut pile.....do. 40
160. Tissues called tapestry, for curtains and uphol-
stering furniture, of wool, pure or mixed with cotton
or other vegetable fibres, even figured or damasked,
weighing more than 350 grams per square metre; table-
covers and counterpanes of the same kind per cent. ad valorem 40
161. Felts of wool, pure or mixed.....do. 40
162. Trimmings of wool; ribbons and galloons.....do. 40
CLASS VII.--SILK AND MANUFACTURES OF SILK
GROUP 1.--_Yarns_
163. Silk and floss silk, spun or twisted, in skeins per cent. ad valorem 50
164. Silk on reels, including weight of the reels.....do. 50
GROUP 2.--_Tissues_
165. Tissues of unbleached silk per cent. ad valorem 50
166. Tissues of silk or floss silk:
Not mixed with any other material--
Plain, not figured, twilled, or serged--
_a._ Black.....do. 50
_b._ Coloured.....do. 50
167. Figured, plushy or velvety.....do. 50
168. Mixed with another material:
Plain, not figured, twilled, or serged--
_a._ Mixed with cotton or other vegetable fibres.....do. 50
_b._ Mixed with wool or hair.....do. 50
169. Figured, plushy or velvety.....do. 50
170. Knitted stuffs of boiled silk, of unbleached silk;
or of floss silk, made up in any kind of article:
_a._ Of pure silk per cent ad valorem 50
_b._ Mixed with other textile materials.....do. 50
171. Tulles of silk or floss silk, pure or mixed:
_a._ Plain.....do. 50
_b._ Figured or embroidered on the loom.....do. 50
172. Lace tulles for borders and blondes, of silk or
floss silk, plain or figured:
_a._ Not mixed per cent ad valorem 50
_b._ Mixed with cotton or other vegetable fibres.....do. 50
173. Trimmings of silk.....do. 50
CLASS VIII.--PAPER AND ITS APPLICATIONS
GROUP 1
174. Paper pulp, G. W......100 kil. $0.15
GROUP 2.--_Printing and writing paper_
175. Paper, endless or in sheets, white or coloured, uncut
and unprinted, for printing purposes, T......100 kil. 4.00
176. Paper, endless or in sheets, white or coloured, used
for wrapping purposes, T......100 kil. 2.50
177. Paper in sheets, unruled, unprinted, and uncut, white
or coloured, used for writing purposes.....100 kil. 8.00
GROUP 3.--_Paper, printed, engraved, or photographed_
178. Books, bound or unbound, and similar printed matter.....100 kil. 1.25
179. Headed paper, forms for invoices, labels, cards,
and the like, T......kilog. .10
180. Prints, maps, charts, etc., drawings, photographs,
and engravings; pictures, lithographs, chromolithographs,
oleographs, etc., used as labels and wrappers for tobacco
or other purposes:
_a._ Of a single printing and bronze or leaf, including
labels printed only in bronze or leaf, T......kilog. .05
_b._ Of two printings and bronze or leaf, T......do. .20
_c._ Of three to ten printings (inclusive) and bronze
or leaf, T......kilog. .40
_d._ Of more than ten printings and bronze or leaf, T......do. .80
GROUP 4.--_Wallpaper_
181. Wall paper printed:
_a._ On natural ground, T......100 kil. $4.00
_b._ On dull or glazed ground, T......do. 6.00
_c._ With gold, silver, wool, or glass, T......kilog. .27
GROUP 5.--_Pasteboard and various papers_
182. Blotting paper, common packing paper, and sand or
glass paper, T......100 kil. 1.75
183. Thin paper, of common pulp, for packing fruit, T......do. 2.30
184. Other paper not specially mentioned, T......do. 4.60
185. Pasteboard in sheets:
_a._ Cardboard paper and fine, glazed, or pressed
cardboard, T......100 kil. 3.50
_b._ Other pasteboard, T......do. 1.00
186. Manufactures of pasteboard:
_a._ Boxes lined with ordinary paper, T......do. 1.00
_b._ Boxes with ornaments or lined with fine paper, T......kilog. .22
_c._ Articles not specially mentioned, T......do. .17
187. Paste and carton-pierre:
_a._ In mouldings or unfinished articles, T......100 kil. 1.00
_b._ In finished articles, T......kilog. .15
CLASS IX.--WOOD AND OTHER VEGETABLE MATERIALS EMPLOYED IN
INDUSTRY, AND ARTICLES MANUFACTURED THEREWITH
GROUP 1.--_Wood_
188. Staves thousand $0.80
189. Ordinary wood:
_a._ In boards, deals, rafters, beams, round wood,
and timber for shipbuilding, G. W. cubic metre .40
_b._ Planed or dovetailed, for boxes and flooring,
broomsticks and cases wherein imported goods were
packed, G. W......100 kil. .16
190. Fine wood for cabinetmakers:
_a._ In boards, deals, trunks, or logs, G. W......do. 1.20
_b._ Sawn in veneers, T......do. 1.75
191. Coopers' wares:
_a._ Fitted together, G. W......do. .65
_b._ In shooks, also hoops and headings, G. W......do. .36
192. Wood, cut, for making hogsheads or casks for sugar or
molasses, G. W......100 kil. .06
193. Latticework and fencing, G. W......do. .60
[Illustration: AVENUE OF PALM TREES, PALATINO.]
GROUP 2.----_Furniture and manufactures of wood_
194. Common wood manufactured into joiners' wares, and articles
of all kinds, turned or not, painted or not, varnished or not,
but neither chiselled, inlaid, nor carved, T......100 kil. 4.75
195. Fine wood manufactured into furniture or other wares, turned or
not, polished or not, varnished or not, and furniture and common
wooden wares veneered with fine wood; furniture upholstered
with tissue (other than with silk or stuffs containing an
admixture thereof, or with leather), provided that the articles
specified in this number be neither chiselled, carved, inlaid, nor
ornamented with metal, T......100 kil. $15.00
196. Furniture of bent wood, T......do. 12.00
197. Battens:
_a._ Molded, varnished, or prepared for gilding, T......100 kil. 5.05
_b._ Gilt or carved, T......kilog. .20
198. Wood of any kind manufactured into furniture or other wares, gilt,
chiselled, carved, inlaid, or veneered with mother-of-pearl or
other fine materials, or ornamented with metal, and furniture
upholstered with stuffs of pure or mixed silk or leather, N. W.
.....kilog. .68
GROUP 3.--_Various_
199. Charcoal, firewood, and other vegetable fuel, G. W......1000 kil. 1.50
200. Cork:
_a._ In the rough or in boards, G. W......100 kil. 1.40
_b._ Manufactured, T......do. 4.50
201. Rushes, vegetable hair, cane, osiers, fine straw, palm, and genista,
raw, raw esparto, and baskets and other common wares of
esparto, G. W......100 kil. 1.83
Baskets wherein imported goods were packed shall be dutiable
according to this number, with a rebate of 60 per cent.
202. Esparto manufactured into fine articles; rushes, vegetable hair,
cane, osiers, fine straw, palm, and genista, manufactured into
articles of all kinds not specially mentioned, T......100 kil. 13.10
CLASS X.--ANIMALS AND ANIMAL WASTES EMPLOYED IN INDUSTRY
GROUP 1.--_Animals_
203. Horses and mares:
_a._ Above the standard height.....each $10.00
_b._ Other.....do. 5.00
204. Mules.....do. 5.00
205. Asses.....do. 5.00
206. Bovine animals:
_a._ Oxen.....do. 1.00
_b._ Cows.....do. 1.00
_c._ Bullocks, calves, and heifers.....do. 1.00
207. Pigs.....do. 1.00
208. Sucking pigs.....do. 1.00
209. Sheep, goats, and animals not specially mentioned.....do. 1.00
210. Singing birds, parrots, etc.....per cent. ad valorem .25
GROUP 2.--_Hides, Skins, and Leather Wares_
211. Pelts in their natural state or dressed, G. W......kilog. $1.50
212. Hides and skins, green or not tanned, G. W......do. .02
Wet-salted hides and skins shall enjoy a reduction of 60 per cent.
in respect of salt and moisture.
Dry-salted hides and skins shall be allowed a rebate of 30 per cent.
213. Hides tanned with the hair, G. W......kilog. .20
214. Hides tanned without the hair:
_a._ Cow and other large hides, whole, G. W......do. .15
_b._ Other and backs of large hides, G. W......do. .20
215. Hides and skins, curried, dyed or not:
_a._ Sheepskins (basils), T......do. .20
_b._ Calf or goat skins, T......do. .25
_c._ Kid, lamb, or young calf skins, T......do. .36
_d._ Cow and other large hides, whole, T......do. .15
_e._ Backs of large hides and hides and skins not specially mentioned,
T......kilog. .30
216. Hides and skins, varnished, satiny, grained, dulled, and hides and
skins with figures, engravings, or embossed, T......kilog. .50
Leather cut out for boots and shoes or other articles shall be
liable to a surtax of 30 per cent, of the respective duties leviable
thereon.
217. Chamois leather or parchment of all kinds and gilt or bronzed
hides and skins, T......kilog. .60
218. Gloves of skin, T......do. 3.50
219. Shoes of cowhide and similar leather:
_a._ For men.....dozen 2.50
_b._ For women.....do. 2.00
_c._ For boys below size 4-1/2.....do. 1.50
220. Shoes of patent and similar leather:
_a._ For men.....do. 2.75
_b._ For women.....do. 2.25
_c._ For boys below size 4-1/2.....do. 1.75
221. Boots of calfskin, with elastics, or for lacing:
_a._ For men.....do. 5.00
_b._ For women.....do. 3.00
_c._ For boys below size 4-1/2.....do. 2.00
222. Boots of patent and similar leather:
_a._ For men.....do. 6.00
_b._ For women, and top-boots ("polacas").....do. 7.00
_c._ For boys below size 4-1/2.....do. 5.00
223. Other boots and shoes, fancy.....do. 8.00
224. Riding boots.....pair 2.00
225. Sandals dozen .40
226. Saddlery and harnessmakers' wares; valises, hat-boxes, and travelling
bags of cardboard or leather, T......kilog. $0.20
227. Other manufactures of leather or covered with leather, T......kilog. .40
GROUP 3.--_Various_
228. Feathers for ornament, in their natural state or manufactured,
N. W......kilog. 2.00
229. Other feathers and feather dusters, T......do. .40
230. Intestines, dried, N. W......do. 2.00
231. Animal wastes, unmanufactured, not specially mentioned, G. W.
.....100 kil. .50
_Class XI._--INSTRUMENTS, MACHINERY, AND APPARATUS EMPLOYED IN
AGRICULTURE, INDUSTRY, AND LOCOMOTION
GROUP 1.--_Instruments_
232. Pianos:
_a._ Grand .....per cent. ad valorem .40
_b._ Other.....do. .40
233. Harmoniums and organs.....do. .40
234. Harps, violins, violoncellos; guitars and mandolins with incrustations;
flutes and fifes of the ring system; metal instruments
of 6 pistons or more; detached parts for wind instruments of
wood or copper.....per cent. ad valorem .40
235. Musical instruments, other.....do. .40
236. Watches:
_a._ Of gold; also chronometers.....per cent. ad valorem .40
_b._ Of silver or other metals.....do. .40
237. Clocks with weights, and alarm clocks.....do. .40
238. Works for wall or table clocks, finished, with or without cases
.....per cent. ad valorem .40
GROUP 2.--_Apparatus and Machines_
239. Weighing machines.....per cent. ad valorem .20
240. Machinery and apparatus for making sugar and brandy.....do. .10
241. Agricultural machinery and apparatus.....do. .10
242. Steam motors, stationary.....do. .20
243. Marine engines; steam pumps; hydraulic, petroleum, gas, and hot
or compressed air motors.....per cent. ad valorem .20
244. Boilers:
_a._ Of sheet iron.....do. .20
_b._ Tubular.....do. .20
245. Locomotives and traction engines.....do. .20
246. Turntables, trucks and carts for transshipment, hydraulic cranes
and columns.....per cent. ad valorem .20
247. Machines of copper and its alloys; detached parts of the same
metals.....per cent. ad valorem .20
248. Dynamo-electric machines:
_a._ Exceeding 50 kil. in weight.....do. .20
_b._ Weighing 50 kil. or less; inductors and detached parts.....do. .20
249. Sewing machines and detached parts thereof.....do. .20
250. Velocipedes.....do. .20
251. Machines and apparatus, other, or of materials not specially mentioned,
also detached parts of all kinds other than of copper
or its alloys.....per cent. ad valorem .20
GROUP 3.--_Carriages_
252. Coaches and berlins, new, used, or repaired:
_a._ With four seats, and calashes with two "tableros,"
.....per cent. ad valorem .40
_b._ With two seats, with or without folding seat; omnibuses with
more than 15 seats; diligences.....per cent. ad valorem .40
_c._ Four or two wheeled, without "tableros," with or without
hood, irrespective of the number of seats; omnibuses up to
15 seats; carriages not specially mentioned.
.....per cent. ad valorem .40
253. Railway carriages of all kinds for passengers, and finished wooden
parts for same.....per cent. ad valorem .40
254. Vans, trucks, and cars of all kinds; miners' trolleys, and finished
wooden parts for same.....per cent. ad valorem .40
255. Tramway carriages of all kinds, and finished wooden parts for the
same.....per cent. ad valorem .40
256. Waggons, carts, and hand carts.....do. .40
256_a_. Salvage from wrecked vessels is _prima facie_
dutiable on appraised value according to its material.
CLASS XII.--ALIMENTARY SUBSTANCES
GROUP 1.--_Meat and fish, butter and greases_
257. Poultry, live or dead, and small game, N. W.....kilog. $0.08
258. Meat in brine, N. W.:
_a._ Beef, brine or salt, N. W.....100 kil. 2.80
_b._ Pork, brine or salt, N. W.....do. 2.80
259. Lard, N. W......do. 2.80
260. Tallow, N. W......do. 2.00
261. Bacon, N. W......do. 4.00
262. Ham, N. W......do. 5.50
263. Jerked beef ("tasajo"), N. W......do. 3.96
264. Meat of all other kinds, T.:
_a._ Beef, canned, N. W......do. 5.00
_b._ Beef, fresh, N. W......do. 4.50
_c._ Mutton, fresh, N. W......do. $4.50
_d._ Pork, fresh, N. W......do. 4.00
265. Butter and oleomargarine, N. W.; T......do. 7.00
266. Cheese, N. W......do. 5.00
267. Condensed milk......per cent. ad valorem .10
268. Salt cod and stock fish, G. W.; T......100 kil. $2.00
269. Herring, pickled, smoked, salted, or marinated, and skate salted,
N. W......100 kil. 1.00
270. Mackerel, pickled, smoked, salted, or marinated, N. W......do. 2.00
271. Salmon, canned, smoked, salted, or marinated, N. W......do. 5.00
272. Oysters of all kinds, and shellfish, dried or fresh, G. W......do. 1.00
273. Eggs (taken out of Group 7).....do. 5.00
GROUP 2.--_Cereals_
274. Rice, husked or not, T......100 kil. 1.00
275. Wheat, N. W......do. .60
276. Cereals:
_a._ Corn, N. W......do. .30
_b._ Rye, N. W......do. .40
_c._ Barley, N. W......do. .50
_d._ Oats, N. W......do. .40
277. Flour:
_a._ Of wheat, T......do. 1.50
_b._ Of rice, T......do. 2.00
_c._ Of corn, N. W......do. .50
_d._ Of oats, N. W......do. 1.20
GROUP 3.--_Pulse, garden produce, and fruits_
278. Beans, N.W......100 kil. 1.10
279. Pease, N. W......do. 1.10
280. Onions, N. W......do. .70
281. Potatoes, N. W......do. .50
282. Flour of pulse, T......do. 2.50
283. Fruits, fresh, T......do. .60
284. Apples, fresh, N. W......do. .60
285. Fruits, dried or drained, T......do. 1.50
286. Apples, dried, N. W......do. 1.50
GROUP 4.--_Seeds and fodder_
287. Clover, N. W......100 kil. 3.60
288. Flax, N. W......do. .82
289. Timothy, N. W......do. 2.00
290. Fodder and bran.....per cent. ad valorem .25
GROUP 5.--_Preserves_
291. Fish or shellfish, preserved in oil or otherwise, in tins
.....per cent. ad valorem .25
292. Vegetables and pulse, pickled or preserved in any manner,
.....per cent. ad valorem .25
293. Fruits, preserved:
_a._ In brandy.....do. .25
_b._ Other.....do. .25
294. Alimentary preserves not specially mentioned; pork butchers'
wares, truffles, sauces, and mustard.....per cent. ad valorem .25
GROUP 6.--_Oils and beverages_
295. Olive oil:
_a._ In receptacles of earthenware or tin, G. W.; T......100 kil. $2.40
_b._ In bottles, including the weight of bottles, G. W.; T......do. 3.00
296. Alcohol, S. T. ectol. 14.00
297. Brandy and all compound spirits not specially mentioned:
_a._ In casks, S. T......do. 21.00
_b._ In bottles or flasks, S. T......do. 34.00
_c._ Rum, in casks......do. 18.00
_d._ Whiskies, in casks......do. 10.00
298. Wines, sparkling, S. T. liter. .85
299. Liqueurs and cordials:
_a._ In casks or similar receptacles, S. T......do. .18
_b._ In bottles, S. T......do. .36
300. Wines, other:
_a._ In casks or similar receptacles, S. T. hectol. 4.50
_b._ In bottles, S. T......do. 13.00
301. Beer and cider:
_a._ Malt liquor, in casks. hectol. 3.30
_b._ Malt liquor, in bottles......do. 3.66
_c._ Cider......do. 1.60
GROUP 7.--_Various_
302. Saffron, safflower, and flowers of "tobar".....per cent. ad valorem .25
303. Cinnamon of all kinds.....do. .25
304. Cinnamon, Chinese ("canelon"), cloves, pepper, and nutmegs,
.....per cent. ad valorem .25
305. Vanilla.....do. .25
306. Tea.....do. .25
307. Coffee in the bean or ground; chicory roots and chicory, T.
.....100 kil. 12.15
308. Cocoa of all kinds, in the bean, ground, or in paste; cocoa
butter, T......100 kil. 20.25
309. Chocolate and sweetmeats of all kinds, including the immediate
packages......per cent. ad valorem .25
310. Eggs. (See last item, Group I.)
311. Pastes and feculæ for soups and other alimentary purposes,
.....per cent. ad valorem .25
312. Biscuits:
_a._ Ordinary, T......100 kil. $0.60
_b._ Fine, of all kinds, including the immediate package, T.
.....100 kil. 2.50
314. Honey. per gallon .20
315. Molasses......do. .06
316. Sugar, raw. per pound .015
317. Sugar, refined......do. .02
318. Saccharine......do. 1.50
CLASS XIII.--MISCELLANEOUS GOODS
319. Fans:
_a._ With mountings of bamboo, reeds, or other wood, T......kilog. $0.15
_b._ With mountings of horn, bone, composition, or metal (other
than gold or silver), N. W......kilog. .60
_c._ With mountings of tortoise shell, ivory, or mother-of-pearl;
also fans of kid skin, silk tissue, or feathers, N. W......kilog. .80
320. Trinkets and ornaments of all kinds, except those of gold and
silver, N. W......kilog. .75
321. Amber, jet, tortoise-shell, coral, ivory, and mother-of-pearl:
_a._ Unwrought, N. W......kilog. 1.00
_b._ Wrought, N. W......do. 1.80
322. Horn, whalebone, celluloid, meerschaum, and bone; also compositions
imitating these materials or those of the preceding number:
_a._ Unwrought, N. W......kilog. .60
_b._ Wrought, N.W......do. 1.20
323. Walking-sticks and sticks for umbrellas and parasols......hundred 4.00
324. Buttons of all kinds other than gold or silver, N. W......kilog. .20
325. Hair, human, manufactured into articles of all kinds or any shape,
N. W......kilog. 5.00
326. Cartridges, with or without projectiles or bullets, for unprohibited
firearms; also primers and caps for such arms, T......100 kil. 30.00
327. Tarpaulins coated with sand, for vans; felts and tow, tarred or
coated with pitch, G. W......100 kil. .28
328. Oilcloths:
_a._ For floors and packing purposes, T......do. 3.00
_b._ Other, T......kilog. .06
Pads and brief cases of oilcloth shall be liable to a surtax of
40 per cent.
329. Cases:
_a._ Of fine wood or leather, lined with silk; other similar cases,
N. W......kilog. .75
_b._ Of common wood, cardboard, osier, and the like, N. W.
.....kilog. .20
330. Artificial flowers of tissue, also pistils, buds, leaves, and seeds, of
any kind of material, for the manufacture of flowers, N. W.,
.....kilog. $1.00
331. Matches of wax, wood, or cardboard, including the immediate
packages, N. W......kilog. .20
332. Caoutchouc and gutta-percha manufactured in any shape or into
any kind of article not specially mentioned, T......kilog. .05
333. Games and toys, other than those of tortoise shell,
ivory, mother-of-pearl, gold, or silver, T......kilog. .10
334. Umbrellas and parasols:
_a._ Covered with silk each .10
_b._ Other.....do. .05
335. Oil paintings.....per cent. ad valorem .25
336. Hats of straw or "guano" bast, straw of Curaçoa, and the
like dozen $0.10
337. Hats of "yarey," leghorn or Indian straw, rice straw or esparto,
and their imitations:
_a._ Shaped or not, but without lining, ribbons, borders,
or trimmings dozen .80
_b._ Finished, or with either of these accessories.....do. 1.40
338. Hats known as "jipijapa," having:
_a._ Up to 4 straws, inclusive.....do. 4.50
_b._ Of from 4 to 6 straws, inclusive.....do. 8.00
_e._ More than 6 straws.....do. 30.00
339. Hats of woollen felt:
_a._ Shaped or not, but without ribbons, borders, or lining, and
shapes for the manufacture of these hats.....dozen .40
_b._ Finished, with ribbons, borders, or lining, with either of
these accessories.....dozen .80
340. Hats of felt of hair, carded or not, and those of silk, velvet,
cloth, cashmere, satin, or plush:
_a._ Shaped or not, but without ribbons, borders, or lining, and
shapes for the manufacture of these hats.....dozen .75
_b._ Finished, with ribbons, borders, or lining, or with either of
these accessories.....dozen 1.00
341. Hats for ladies or children, with whatever kind of trimmings or
accessories.....each .40
342. Caps of all kinds.....dozen .40
343. Waterproof and caoutchouc stuffs:
_a._ On cotton tissue, T......kilog. .25
_b._ On woollen or silk tissue, T......do. .50
CLASS XIV.--TOBACCO
344. Tobacco:
_a._ In cakes, so-called "breva," or in carrots.....100 kil. $10.50
_b._ In powder or snuff, or otherwise manufactured per lb. .12
_c._ Leaf tobacco, stemmed, or unstemmed, whether wrapper or
filler, per pound $5.00
_d._ Cigars, cigarettes, cheroots of all kinds, $4.50 per pound and
25 per cent. ad valorem.
Paper cigars and cigarettes, including wrappers, shall be subject
to the same duties as are herein imposed on cigars.
345. On all other goods, wares, merchandise, and effects, not otherwise
enumerated or provided for, except crude materials,
.....per cent. ad valorem 25
345a. On crude materials, not otherwise enumerated.....do. 10
EXPORT RATES OF DUTY
Tobacco:
Manufactured--
_a._ Cigarettes in boxes thousand $ 0.90
_b._ Tobacco, cut.....100 kil. 3.75
_c._ Cigars.....thousand 1.35
In the leaf or filler tobacco--
_a._ Harvested in the Province of Santiago de Cuba and exported
through the custom-houses of Santiago, Gibara, or Manzanillo
.....100 kil. 2.20
_b._ Other.....do. 6.30
CHAPTER XVII
REVENUE OF CUBA--INTERNAL TAXES
In the two preceding chapters the attention of the reader has been
called to the revenue of Cuba derived from custom-house receipts, which
aggregates about $15,000,000 of the $26,000,000 required by the Spanish
to pay the governmental expenses of the Island. Before ascertaining the
way in which this money has been expended, and before making any
suggestion as to possible division of revenue for the future, it may be
well to pass briefly in review the other sources of revenue; and in this
process the land, professional, and internal taxes come in for
consideration. The Spanish Government estimated that the revenue from
these combined sources for 1898-99 would be $7,783,150. This
amount--when added to the customs, $14,705,000; the lotteries,
$1,900,500; income from State property, $435,000; and miscellaneous
revenue, $1,536,000,--practically completed the budget, as given in the
opening of Chapter XV. Dismissing lotteries, the most important source
of Cuban revenue has been from land and professional taxes, which should
yield under normal conditions the following amount:
TAXES AND IMPOSTS
Sources. Dollars.
Sovereignty taxes 650,000
Impost on mining property 10,000
Taxes on city property at 12 per cent. 1,600,000
Taxes on rural property, irrespective of cultivation,
at 2 per cent. 150,000
Taxes on industry, commerce, and the professions,
including 1/2 per cent. from contractors 1,400,000
Tax on personal drafts (cedulas) 150,000
Liquor consumption tax 1,300,000
Sale of liquor licences 120,000
Additional tax of 10 per cent. on transportation of
passengers and 3 per cent. on that of merchandise 300,000
Discount on payments 70,000
Tax of 1 per cent. on payments 400,000
---------
6,150,000
Deduct 5 per cent. commission for the collection of
personal drafts (cedulas) 7,500
---------
Total 6,142,500
The following important statement in regard to the taxes of Cuba other
than customs duties was prepared by José Anton Alcala, chief of the tax
bureau of the Banco Español of Cuba, for Hon. Charles W. Gould, of the
Department of Justice, and through the courtesy of Mr. Gould has been
made part of this chapter:
"We have selected for our explanations the collection of taxes
during the year 1894 to 1895 because it is the latest year in which
taxes were collected with regularity and the accounts of the yearly
production to the State duly verified. In our statements appear
only the sums belonging to the public Treasury and by no means the
total amount of receipts collected. A reason for this is that with
the exception of the capital of the Island all receipts of taxes in
Cuba include, as an additional tax, the sums which belong to the
municipalities. Both taxes and the agreed expenses for collection
are perceived jointly. We hope thus to render clearer which are the
real taxes, in behalf of the Treasury. Otherwise it would be
necessary, in order to form a judgment, to make in each case a
deduction of the sums belonging to the municipalities, which are of
18 per cent. over the Treasury taxes on the city real estates, of
100 per cent. for the country estates, and of 25 per cent. for the
industrial taxes. As expenses for collection, 5 per cent. on the
total amount belonging to the Treasury is charged.
"Here is the rule followed to impose taxes for real-estate, city,
and real-estate, country:
"On city estate, 25 per cent. on the amount of the rent which the
proprietor declares to perceive is discounted, and over the
remaining 75, 12 per cent. is imposed.
"On country estates, 2 per cent, is charged on the rent which the
proprietor declares to perceive, without any previous discount.
"The Industrial Subsidy affects every citizen who should exercise
any industry, profession, trade, art, or employ. A relation of them
is made, being arranged by tariffs, classes, and numbers, with
expression of the portion anyone ought to satisfy according to the
last Regulation and Tariffs approved by the Government on 12th of
May, 1893. These relations, named _matriculas_, are made every
year.
"There are also the _patentes_ or receipts of taxes on certain
industries which satisfy their duties per annum and in advance. If
the industrial stops business before the year is over, he has no
right to claim the balance. To this class belong certain shops,
hawkers (_vendedores ambulantes_), veterinary surgeons, etc. The
amount to be paid in each case is unchangeable and it is fixed in a
special tariff for the _patentes_.
"There are also receipts called of 'occasional amounts.' They
include the receipts from the taxpayers who begin or stop business.
As taxes as a rule are collected quarterly, these receipts are for
the amount of time during the three months in which the taxpayer is
a debtor to the Treasury.
"'Occasional taxes' and _patentes_ amounted, for the whole Island,
during the year 1894 to 1895, to the sum of $133,283.31 for the
public Treasury. We do not include that total in our statements
because it is collected only occasionally.
"It is to be borne in mind that the total of taxes is never
collected in Cuba, and that there is always a deficit, which has
been less since the Spanish Bank is the collector.
"Here is the total collection of taxes during the year 1894 to
1895:
Havana Province 90.84 per cent.
Matanzas " 89.72 "
Santa Clara " 87.73 "
Pinar del Rio " 78.34 "
Santiago de Cuba " 66.59 "
Puerto Principe " 93.65 "
"The last-mentioned province gives such a good result
(notwithstanding the very great difficulties in collecting, over
only five municipal districts which are on a very large area of
land), because the capital of the province and the city of
Nuevitas afforded a splendid revenue. In the province of Santiago
de Cuba the collection is harder than in any other, on account of
the scarce and bad roads and means of communication.
"In the lists of collection of 'Industrial Subsidy' in the province
of Havana, there appears a great number of taxpayers who have not
existed for many years and whom, nevertheless, the administration
continues to keep on its records, because every new administrator
is reluctant to confess that the taxpayers have decreased during
his time of office.
"There are reasons to suspect that there are concealments of
taxpayers in the city estates list. A new record (_catastro_), made
by an intelligent and honest administration, would surely give a
rise in the collection of taxes.
"The collection of taxes is in charge of the Banco Español de la
Isla de Cuba, which has branches at Matanzas, Cardenas, Cienfuegos,
Sagua, and Santiago de Cuba, and auxiliary offices at Puerto
Principe and Pinar del Rio.
"The Island has been divided into groups of towns near those
cities. The representatives of the Bank collect the taxes
themselves in the cities where they live, and by delegates in the
other towns.
"The actual contract signed by the Government and the Bank began in
1892-93, and holds good for ten years. The Bank receives as a
commission 5 per cent. upon the total amount of the taxes to
collect, presented by the public Treasury. As the Bank has no
interference whatever, when the lists of taxes are made, it
confines itself to collecting what the public Treasury declares in
its own lists. The Bank, therefore, is merely an agent.
"City and country taxes are collected quarterly, semi-annually, and
annually. Industrial Subsidy is only collected by quarterly
receipts. Annual receipts are applied to the estates whose taxes do
not exceed the sum of eight dollars a year; the semi-annual are for
those that do not exceed the sum of ten dollars a year.
"The annual receipts and the receipts for the first six months of
the year are collected jointly with the receipts for the first
three months. The second six months' receipts are collected with
the second three months'. This explains why there is an increase in
the collection of taxes in some places, during the first and second
three months of each year. Some sudden increases happen also in
some places in the 'Industrial Subsidy' during certain quarterly
collections. This is due to the collection of receipts from some
corporations which pay 12-1/2 per cent. of their profits according
to their balances. Railway companies pay 6-1/4 per cent. of their
profits. State contractors pay 1/2 per cent.
"Taxpayers who do not pay their taxes at the time fixed for it are
subject to the procedure called _apremios_, according to the rules
of May 15, 1885, approved by the Government. When _apremios_ are to
begin, taxpayers are duly warned by mail, giving them time enough
to pay their taxes before incurring trouble.
"_Apremios_ are of three _degrees_: The first consists in an
increase on the tax of 5 per cent.; the second consists in the
seizure and afterwards the sale at public auction of chattel and
live stock, besides a further increase of 7 per cent.; the third
consists in the seizure and sale at public auction of real estate,
besides a further increase of 9 per cent.
"These rules embody many details. They are obscure and complicated.
According to them, long proceedings are made against morose
taxpayers, a characteristic of Spanish bureaucracy."
The two tables which follow show the face value of the tax receipts
placed in the hands of the Spanish Bank for a series of years and the
actual amounts collected. They have been carefully compiled by the
author from official sources and are believed to be reliable:
TABLE I.----FACE VALUE OF TAX RECEIPTS HANDED TO SPANISH BANK FOR
COLLECTION
-------+---------------+-------------+--------------+-------------+--------------
YEARS. | City | Rural Real| Taxes on | Minor | Total.
| Property. | Estate. | Professions,| Taxes. |
| | | Trades, etc.| |
-------+---------------+-------------+--------------+-------------+--------------
1886-87|$ 2,520,061.51 |$ 507,739.70|$ 1,963,778.53|$ 249,071.76|$ 5,240,651.50
1887-88| 2,565,834.77 | 472,909.25| 2,090,306.46| 257,577.35| 5,386,627.83
1888-89| 2,633,491.17 | 510,456.81| 2,030,542.86| 141,876.76| 5,316,367.60
1889-90| 2,451,866.27 | 393,938.19| 1,895,638.08| 136,604.67| 4,878,047.21
1890-91| 2,498,060.52 | 693,323.04| 2,027,435.32| 117,792.37| 5,336,611.25
1891-92| 2,093,492.10 | 386,578.79| 1,654,306.58| 108,604.87| 4,242,982.34
1892-93| 1,989,290.65 | 784,943.09| 2,452,044.86| 131,650.37| 5,357,928.97
1893-94| 1,889,814.97 | 804,838.90| 2,183,355.47| 214,191.07| 5,092,200.41
1894-95| 1,884,766.87 | 814,006.33| 2,297,452.23| 167,096.27| 5,163,321.70
1895-96| 1,905,731.44 | 823,609.47| 2,073,581.75| 104,731.51| 4,907,654.17
1896-97| 2,060,263.25 | 880,946.21| 1,995,542.42| 105,453.12| 5,042,205.00
1897-98| 1,924,866.65 | 811,470.78| 1,609,094.32| 85,163.40 | 4,430,595.15
-------+---------------+-------------+--------------+-------------+--------------
|$26,417,540.17 |$7,884,766.50|$24,273,078.88|$1,819,813.52|$60,395,193.13
-------+---------------+-------------+--------------+-------------+--------------
[Illustration: ROAD IN A PINE GROVE OF VUELTA ABAJO.]
TABLE II.---- ACTUAL AMOUNT OF TAXES COLLECTED BY THE SPANISH BANK
-------+--------------+-------------+--------------+-------------+--------------
| City | Rural Real | Taxes on | Minor |
YEARS.| Property. | Estate. | Professions, | Taxes. | Total.
| | | Trades, etc. | |
-------+--------------+-------------+--------------+-------------+--------------
1886-87| $2,275,853.10| $468,245.88|$1,662,664.91 | $249,071.76| $4,655,835.65
1887-88| 2,347,957.42| 436,222.17| 1,716,689.28 | 257,577.35| 4,758,446.22
1888-89| 2,380,545.54| 466,897.68| 1,705,509.13 | 141,876.91| 4,694,829.26
1889-90| 2,227,503.12| 363,222.63| 1,576,865.82 | 136,615.59| 4,304,207.16
1890-91| 2,227,217.01| 619,271.48| 1,695,196.40 | 117,792.36| 4,659,477.25
1891-92| 1,851,515.43| 345,743.88| 1,391,013.56 | 108,604.87| 3,696,877.74
1892-93| 1,789,106.74| 717,760.37| 1,996,761.13 | 131,650.37| 4,635,278.61
1893-94| 1,728,234.60| 722,572.96| 1,842,921.66 | 214,191.07| 4,507,920.29
1894-95| 1,703,327.71| 684,296.62| 1,870,617.89 | 167,096.27| 4,425,338.49
1895-96| 1,594,158.79| 371,845.50| 1,468,294.18 | 104,731.51| 3,539,029.98
1896-97| 1,523,368.43| 224,870.98| 1,412,890.84 | 105,453.12| 3,226,583.37
1897-98| 1,140,230.12| 89,661.98| 1,062,686.71 | 85,163.40| 2,377,742.21
-------+--------------+-------------+--------------+-------------+--------------
|$22,789,018.01|$5,510,612.13|$19,402,111.51|$1,819,824.58|$49,521,566.23
-------+--------------+-------------+--------------+-------------+--------------
The following table is compiled from the totals of the detailed tables
above, and shows the amount of the taxes collected by the Bank of Spain
and the amount and percentage of delinquent taxes in each year for
twelve years. It is probable that the amount for the half of the present
fiscal year is relatively greater:
TAX RECEIPTS HANDED TO SPANISH BANK FOR COLLECTION
--------+---------------+---------------+---------------+---------------
| | Actual Amount | Total | Percentage of
YEARS. | Face Value. | Collected. | Delinquent |Delinquent Tax
| | | Taxes. | Each Year.
--------+---------------+---------------+---------------+---------------
1886-87 | $5,240,651.50 | $4,655,835.65 | $584,815.85 | 11.16
1887-88 | 5,386,627.83 | 4,758,446.22 | 628,181.61 | 11.66
1888-89 | 5,316,367.60 | 4,694,829.26 | 621,538.34 | 11.69
1889-90 | 4,878,047.21 | 4,304,207.16 | 573,840.05 | 11.76
1890-91 | 5,336,611.25 | 4,659,477.25 | 677,134.00 | 12.69
1891-92 | 4,242,982.34 | 3,696,877.74 | 546,104.60 | 12.87
1892-93 | 5,357,928.97 | 4,635,278.61 | 722,650.36 | 13.49
1893-94 | 5,092,200.41 | 4,507,920.29 | 584,280.12 | 11.47
1894-95 | 5,163,321.70 | 4,425,338.49 | 737,983.21 | 14.29
1895-96 | 4,907,654.17 | 3,539,029.98 | 1,368,624.19 | 27.88
1896-97 | 5,042,205.00 | 3,266,583.37 | 1,775,621.63 | 35.21
1897-98 | 4,430,595.15 | 2,377,742.21 | 2,052,852.94 | 46.33
--------+---------------+---------------+---------------+---------------
Total |$60,395,193.13 | 49,521,566.23 |$10,873,626.90 | 18.04
--------+---------------+---------------+---------------+---------------
Of course this difference does not absolutely represent the uncollected
taxes, because the Government officials may have subsequently been able
to secure collections from some of the delinquents. The delinquent
column is also very greatly enlarged by reason of the fact that the
Government authorities place in the hands of the Spanish Bank a large
number of worthless receipts--that is, receipts in which the taxpayer is
dead or the properties destroyed. This explanation, of course,
exonerates the Spanish Bank, and shows that it collects the taxes in a
businesslike way; but it does not change matters from a revenue point of
view. That remains the same. It is probable, however, that under the new
conditions it will be easy so to levy these taxes that they will yield
annually from $4,000,000 to $5,000,000 in revenue. In thus proceeding
the United States authorities will unquestionably abolish some of the
most onerous.
The receipts from internal taxes are estimated as follows:
INTERNAL REVENUE
Stamped paper $350,000
Postage stamps 300,000
Stamped paper for payment to the State 250,000
Stamps for the same 50,000
Telegraph stamps 40,000
Bills of Health 3,000
Stamps for diplomas and matriculation 90,000
Stamped paper for municipal fines 1,000
Postal cards 2,000
Papal Bulls 1,000
Revenue stamps for drafts, etc. 60,000
" " " receipts, etc. 300,000
Stamps on policies 20,000
Revenue stamp on consumption of matches 260,000
----------
$1,727,000
Deduct commission for sale of the above 86,350
----------
Total $1,640,650
This source of revenue will be greatly increased under American control,
though it will come from improved postal and telegraph facilities,
increase in banking business, and other legitimate sources of internal
revenue. The internal taxes of Cuba must be fully revised. If this work
is intelligently performed, the same revenue can be obtained in a manner
far less odious to the taxpayer.
This table practically completes the sources of Cuban revenue, for the
miscellaneous sources are of an intermittent character, and the
lotteries revenue is not likely to cut any figure in the future finances
of the Island. In the next chapter the author will briefly consider how
the money has been expended and give some suggestions as to the future
division of the funds collected.
CHAPTER XVIII
HOW THE REVENUE WAS SPENT
In dealing with expenditures, the factors become more certain quantities
than those present in the forecasting of possible revenue. The money
collected from Cuba, whether it was $26,000,000 or more, has all gone,
and nothing was found in the treasury when the United States forces took
possession but numerous evidences of promises to pay, records of
receipts given by the Government for goods not paid for, and debts of
all kinds, including the salaries of a large number of the minor
officials. The first and most important item of expenditure is, as has
been said, for sovereignty expenses, and aggregates a sum exceeding
$22,000,000. These expenses are subdivided as follows:
I. Interest on Public Debt and General Expenses $12,574,709.12
II. State Church, and Justice 329,072.63
III. War 5,896,740.73
IV. Navy 1,055,136.13
V. Executive 2,645,149.98
--------------
$22,500,808.59
The largest single item in these expenditures is that of the interest on
the public debt and general expenses, which aggregates $12,574,709.12.
Of the total, about $10,500,000 undoubtedly found its way to Spain to
pay interest and sinking-fund payments on the enormous debt which Spain
had saddled upon Cuba. There has been much controversy over this debt,
and as the discussion has ended by the American Peace Commission
insisting on Spain's assuming the debt, and thus freeing Cuba forever
from the legal obligation, a brief review of the subject will be of
interest to the reader. Owing to the fact that Cuba has been, until
United States occupancy, a colony without personality and without real
representation, the question of the public debt was never properly
settled. The Spanish Government, the Cubans contend, arbitrarily
burdened the Island with the weight of the whole war debt of 1868-78.
The Cubans have rightly taken the ground that this debt was Spanish, not
Cuban. As a matter of fact, the Spanish Government, during the
insurrection of 1868-78, never admitted that there was any war in Cuba,
affirming, on the contrary, that the trouble was only a disturbance
limited to some parts of the Island, and that the immense majority of
the population of Cuba were loyal Spaniards. The conclusion to be drawn
from this official fact and from its assertion by the Government was
that Cuba was not bound to pay the expenses of that revolt. A somewhat
similar instance occurred in the Peninsula at the same time. The Carlist
War was likewise a very serious disturbance spread over some important
provinces of Spain. The cost, however, of that war was not charged to
the revolted provinces, but was considered a national debt. Besides,
there are some items which have been held as forming part of the Cuban
debt, which by no means can be accepted as such. Thirty or forty years
ago Spain sustained war with Mexico, San Domingo, and Peru, the cost of
those three wars having been charged to the Cuban Treasury, which, since
then, has annually paid the interest thereon. In 1878 or 1879, a general
liquidation of Cuban accounts took place, in which the "Banco
Hispano-Colonial" of Barcelona assumed a very important position.
Probably the cost of the three above-mentioned wars (in Mexico, San
Domingo, and Peru) and some other accounts were then settled.
Not even the smallest part of the whole debt has been employed in any
kind of Cuban improvement. A memorandum prepared by the Cuban planters
and addressed to Madrid in 1894 thus referred to the debt:
"This debt has its origin in the extraordinary expenses of the
civil war (1868-78), and it has since been increased, first by the
administrative demoralisation which is so evident to all those who
live in Cuba, and which has been so well described in the Cortes by
ministers and by representatives belonging to all political
parties; and secondly, by the deficits originating in the fiscal
laws, the first object, or aim, of which has been (particularly
since the year 1882), more than the regulation of public expenses,
to secure an excessive protection to the Spanish industries. And,
so formed, the public debt, which, as well in the years of
insurrection as in the years of peace, has enriched so many people,
represents the ruins of the war, the disorders of the public
administration, and the injustice of the fiscal laws."
During the discussion of the Cuban debt by the Peace Commission in Paris
last autumn, the _Economiste Français_ contained an article by Paul
Leroy Beaulieu, proposing an arrangement or compromise, with the
bondholders, of part of the Cuban debt (about $140,000,000). The author
of the article admitted that Cuba was not bound to pay the cost of the
last insurrection (of 1895-98). As the _Economiste Français_ represents
the interests of the French public and of the great French banking
houses that have largely invested in Cuban bonds of the issues of 1886
and 1890, the inference to be finally drawn from the above-mentioned
article is rather in favour of Cuba. If Spain thus lent her guarantee,
she did so in obedience to a necessity and as a business convenience, in
order to prop up her colonial and commercial system. The Spanish nation
believed that her domination in Cuba would be lasting, and that the
remote danger of being called upon to pay the Cuban debt was more than
compensated by the enormous amount of wealth which she drew every year
from the colony.
If, instead of extorting, yearly, millions of dollars, the Government of
Spain had applied the superabundant resources of the Island to the
extinction of the debt, it is certain that in 1895 the whole of it would
have been paid off. It may unquestionably be asserted that Cuba has, in
many ways, from 1878 to 1895, spent enormous sums of money, millions of
dollars, in payment of debts not really her own,--but with this
difference, namely, that the whole of the money lost to the colony,
instead of going to redeem the outstanding Cuban bonds, has been spent
in Spain, either in a reproductive way, or otherwise. The amount in
Spain of the manufacturing, commercial, and agricultural riches,
dwelling-houses, and even palaces, country villas, and other
investments, representing Cuban wealth which has been transferred
without any return, is incredible. The magnificent fleet of steamers of
the Transatlantic Company enters into this category. At the same time,
the unhappy Cubans who produced that wealth suffered want and went into
bankruptcy; for the Spanish exactions absorbed not only the profits of
Cuban industries, but also a part of its gross production, and in that
way encroached on the industrial capital of the Island. The encroachment
was shown and evinced by the accumulation of public and private debts in
all forms. The productive classes of Cuba have always, though in vain,
protested against the injustice of having this burden thrown upon the
treasury of the Island, which, as is shown above, has been compelled to
pay more than $10,500,000 every year for the interest and sinking fund
of this unrighteous debt.
The debt which was, so far as Cuba is concerned, wiped out by the
American Commission in Paris must have amounted to over $500,000,000.
From a variety of rather scrappy data, obtained by the author in Havana,
a brief statement of the Cuban debt has been made up. The debts of the
Cuban Treasury before the war can be reduced to five.
First: Spain's debt to the United States.
Second: Redeemable debt of 1 per cent. per annum and 3 per cent.
interest.
Third: Annuity debt.
Fourth: Mortgage notes of 1886.
Fifth: Mortgage notes of 1890.
The first debt, $600,000. is an engagement made by Spain and signed in
Madrid on the 17th of February, 1834, to pay the United States the
amount specified; it was confirmed by the minister of the Spanish Treaty
in a royal order, dated April 8, 1841, ordering the payment to be made
by the Havana Treasury.
The second and third debts have been almost entirely converted into
mortgage notes.
The fourth debt: by a royal decree of May 10, 1886, 1,240,000 notes of
500 _pesetas_ each (about $124,000,000) were issued, redeemable by
quarterly drawings and paying six per cent. per annum interest.
The fifth debt: by a royal decree of the 27th of September, 1890,
1,750,000 mortgage notes of 500 _pesetas_ each (about $175,000,000),
were issued, redeemable at par by quarterly drawings, and paying five
percent. per annum interest.
The notes of these last two emissions are placed in Paris and London,
and the redemption and interest thereon are payable in gold or its
equivalent. They are guaranteed by the customs, post-office, and stamp
revenue of the Island of Cuba, and the direct and indirect taxes, and
besides by the Spanish nation. Besides, during the last war, the Spanish
Government made an internal loan against the Cuban Treasury of
400,000,000 _pesetas_ ($80,000,000) and another one of 200,000,000
_pesetas_ more ($40,000,000), guaranteed by the Spanish customs. The
floating debt, caused by the war expenditure and payments of current
appropriations in Cuba, was not less than $100,000,000. These are not
exactly official statements, and yet they were obtained personally by
the author from official sources, and come close to the mark.
Tabulated, we have this:
STATEMENT OF CUBAN DEBT, OCTOBER, 1898
Spain's debt to the United States $600,000
Notes by royal decree of May 10, 1886 124,000,000
" " " " " September 27, 1890 175,000,000
Internal loan against Cuban Treasury 80,000,000
" " " Spanish customs 40,000,000
Floating debt, war expenses, etc. 100,000,000
------------
$519,600,000
Paul Leroy Beaulieu gives the bonded debt of Cuba as 2,032,000,000
_pesetas_, or $406,400,000. This evidently does not include the large
floating debt included in the above estimate. So far as Cuba is
concerned, this debt has been liquidated. It will, therefore, in the
language of the French economist, be "absolutely necessary for Spain to
meet the expenditure." Why not? Spain lost the game, therefore she must
pay the cost.
The largest expenditure, next to interest on debt, was for purposes of
war, $5,896,740.73. The expenses of the navy aggregate $1,055,136.13,
and of the executive department, $2,645,149.98. Under the last section
will be noted the salary of the Cuban Governor-General, $40,000, and the
expenses of his office, $46,450, aggregating $86,450. In this division,
it appears, the Civil Guards were paid; this body of men received, in
all, $2,095,221.12. The second largest item in this total is the subsidy
to the Compañia Transatlántica, which amounts to $471,836.68. A study of
these several items will at once show that the principal expenditures
for the Island of Cuba are those which have, directly or indirectly, to
do with the control of the Island by Spain. Ten and a half millions,
annual charge for the debt; nearly $7,000,000, the combined cost of the
army and navy; while upward of $2,000,000 of the total amount expended
under the classification of executive went to the Civil Guards, who have
been used for patrolling the various parts of the Island. Here, then, we
have a total of $19,500,000 for extraordinary expenditures, the larger
portion of which will be abolished now the public debt is wiped out and
peace restored to Cuba.
The second grand division of expenditure is the smallest, and represents
the amount of money which was spent strictly for local affairs, and not
in the defence of the sovereignty, in its possession of Cuba, and the
payment of an unjust debt. One of the first items of expenditure under
this latter head is the result of the concession last year by Spain of
autonomy for the Island, and the round sum of $133,830 is paid under the
head of "Colonial Legislature." The second section is for the church,
justice, and executive; also for the courts of justice, expenses for
prisons and charitable institutions. It aggregates $1,612,859.44. The
next most expensive department of the Government seems to be that of the
Treasury, the salaries of the secretary, sub-secretaries, and other
officers aggregating $218,725. This does not include general expenses,
which make another item of this department, aggregating $33,500. Under
the head of contingent expenses may be found the various provincial
administrations of the Treasury; the cost of administration of
custom-houses and revenue marine, amounting to $472,370, giving a total
for the department of $708,978.51.
Public instruction fares badly in Cuba. Under this head, it appears,
$247,033.02 were expended. The largest item in these expenditures seems
to be for the University of Havana and its educational adjuncts,
aggregating $172,840.80. The next largest item is the salary of the
Secretary of Education and the inspectors of primary instruction, etc.,
aggregating $58,300. None of the total amount seems to go for
common-school education, as it is understood in the United States. Under
the head of "Public Works and Communications," $1,036,582.10 was
expended. The proportion of this money which goes for salaries is very
large indeed. The largest single item of expenditure is given under the
rather dubious heading of "Communication," and aggregates $417,640.
Repairs and care of public buildings, including rent of buildings,
aggregates $79,500; postal communication, $114,514. Marine navigation,
including docks and sheds, lighthouses and buoys, aggregates $98,058;
and the construction of the San Cristobal bridge, $49,000. The care and
repair of public roads cost $100,000; in all making the above-mentioned
total.
[Illustration: A COCOANUT GROVE.]
The agriculture, industry, and commerce of Cuba, like the public
instruction, in the broader sense of the word, comes in for a meagre
share of the small amount of the total budget, which seems to be
reserved exclusively for expenditures for the benefit of the Home
Government. The aggregate under the title of "Agriculture, Industry, and
Commerce" is $108,178.52, the most of which is used in salaries and
expenses for the secretary's office, for which one-third of the total
appropriation is expended. Under the head of "Local Fairs of
Agricultural Industries," $40,000 is appropriated. The forest lands seem
to come in for some attention; at least $16,175 is expended for
inspection under this head.
These form the chief items of expenditure for all purposes for the
Island of Cuba. Perhaps it would be more accurate to say these are the
estimates of the appropriations which the Secretary of the Treasury
thought would be necessary to run the government on the present plan. It
is only necessary to study these interesting tables in detail to see
where a large amount of this expenditure can be reduced or abolished
altogether. In doing this, however, it must be borne in mind that other
expenses will be necessary in order satisfactorily and honestly to
administer the affairs of Cuba in the interests of the people of the
Island.
At this moment it is impossible to make a satisfactory estimate of the
new budget, nor can it very well be done until after the United States
authorities have been in full possession for at least twelve months, and
are thus able to secure complete data as to the pressing needs of the
Government of Cuba. Of course, the large items, such as interest on the
public debt and expenditures of Spain for the purpose of conquering the
Island will have disappeared, making a reduction, if we include the
Civil Guards, of $18,000,000 or $20,000,000. To forecast how much of
this amount will be required for immediate expenditures under the new
order of things is impossible.
In recommending revenue laws for Cuba, the author was aided by the
suggestions of Mr. Fran Figueras, who has given the subject intelligent
consideration. To emphasise the importance of giving immediate attention
to a careful division of the expenditures for the central government and
the expenditures for local purposes (something the Spanish Government,
in the whole history of its management of Cuba, has failed to do), the
following is given from a statement made to the author by Mr. Figueras:
"The right to impose customs duties has a rational and just limit;
it is determined by the legitimate needs of the Treasury. All in
excess of these needs converts tax into an unjust, and therefore
insupportable exaction. With due attention to these considerations
and bearing in mind that the customs duties are the real source of
revenue in the Island of Cuba, it is indispensable to determine the
total amount of expenditure which this revenue must liquidate. If
these expenditures are those used for public defence, central
government administration of post-offices, justice, public works,
education, and any other which it would not be advisable to turn
over to the municipal or provincial governments, we may safely
consider that six million to eight million dollars annually would
be quite sufficient. This is the largest revenue the American
Government should expect from the administration of customs duties
in Cuba."
Another statement well worth attention in this connection is that of Mr.
Philip Pelaez, a former official of the Spanish Government in Cuba, who
said to the author when in Havana:
"Neither in the administration of the islands, nor in the ministry
of the colonies, are there any statistics with respect to the
composition of the tariffs, and only a few data with regard to
valuations. This is as much as can be stated precisely offhand
concerning the said tariffs, an analysis of which, article by
article, it would be very difficult to get, seeing that there are
no statistics of the real importations. Even without asking these
investigations, there remains for the Government of the United
States the most interesting problem on the making of peace, with
the cession of the two islands. Is free trade convenient? Is a
simple tariff preferable? Would it not be more prudent to keep to
the existing one? Free trade at the present time would impose the
burden of the general expenses without any profit and with great
dangers, the most immediate being the paralysation of business, the
flight of existing capital, etc. The _ad valorem_ tariff diminishes
the receipts and gives advantages to a multitude of foreign
articles. The tariffs now in force would, with a few changes, suit
the islands and the United States for a long time to come."
This sets forth substantially what has been done. The United States
Government has made no violent fiscal changes in Cuba. Where the old
laws and methods and customs could be fitted to the new order of things,
they have been so fitted. The first and only radical change in the
revenue system of Cuba is the speedy and absolute separation of local
and general revenue. That which is local should be collected by local
authorities and regarded as municipal revenue, to be expended for
municipal purposes; while that which is general should be levied and
collected by general authorities and expended for the general welfare of
the Island. The general fund, after careful consultation with the
governor of each province, should be apportioned geographically, and
also into funds, such as the following:
_a._--Maintenance of the general government, 20 per cent.
_b._--Sanitary and other improvements, and loans to cities
therefor, 10 per cent.
_c._--Public schools and education, 10 per cent.
_d._--To pay the bonds and other obligations issued by the
Provisional Government of Cuba and its duly authorised agents since
February, 24, 1895, which in the aggregate must not exceed
$2,500,000, and to pay amounts due the soldiers of the Army of
Liberation, 20 per cent.
_e._--Development of the Island by the building of railroads,
properly constructed highways, and other means of communication, 25
per cent.
_f._--The repayment of the cost to the United States of the
temporary military occupation pending the establishment of the
proposed stable and independent government, 15 per cent.
As all the expenses of the municipal and local government can be readily
provided from taxes on real estate, income tax, liquor licences, and
other internal-revenue taxes, the customs revenue can, without
embarrassment, be devoted to and amply satisfy all general governmental
requirements as scheduled above. The percentages above suggested are, of
course, tentative, and must not be regarded as more than a rough
apportionment. The widest possible latitude should be given each
provincial governor in the expenditure of the share of the general funds
allotted him for sanitary and other improvements, public schools, for
building railroads, and constructing highways. A study of the Jamaica
budget, presented in Chapter IV., might help in a fair apportionment of
funds for the new budget of Cuba. The subject has not yet been taken up
systematically by the United States Government, but will soon need
attention, or the old haphazard Spanish methods will receive a new lease
of life. Such a contingency would indeed prove a misfortune.
CHAPTER XIX
COMMERCE
Speaking in round numbers, the commerce of Cuba during the last normal
year aggregated about $100,000,000 of exports and a trifle over
$60,000,000 of imports. From these figures it would seem that the
balance of trade is about $40,000,000 in favour of Cuba. But this is
more apparent than real. In one way and another Spain has annually
turned away from the Island $40,000,000, which, had it been expended in
Cuba every year, would have added immeasurably to the prosperity of the
country. This money went to Spain in a variety of ways. Ten and a half
millions of it were used in payment of a debt which did not justly
belong to Cuba, and with which the people of the Island had been
arbitrarily burdened without their consent. Large sums also went to
Spain through the constantly changing Spanish civil and military
officials, who regarded Cuba as their legitimate field for plunder.
It has been estimated elsewhere in this volume that the total commerce
of Cuba, had the affairs of the Island been honestly and economically
administered, would have reached from $200,000,000 to $250,000,000, so
prolific is the country, and so valuable in the world's markets are its
two staple productions, sugar and tobacco.
To indicate more definitely the extent of Cuban commerce, the reports
for 1893, which was a good year, are given below, presenting, among the
principal exports from Cuba to the United States, the following:
Fruits and nuts $2,347,800
Molasses 1,081,034
Sugar 60,637,631
Wood, unmanufactured 1,071,123
Tobacco, manufactured 2,727,030
Tobacco, not manufactured 8,940,058
Iron ore 641,943
------------
Total $77,446,619
In the same year the principal exports from the United States to Cuba,
aggregating $15,448,981, were distributed as follows:
Wheat flour $2,821,557
Corn 582,050
Carriages and street cars 316,045
Freight and passenger cars (steam railroad) 271,571
Coal 931,371
Builders' hardware 395,964
Railroad rails 326,654
Saws and tools 243,544
Locomotives 418,776
Stationary engines 130,652
Boilers and engine parts 322,284
Wire 321,120
Manufactures of leather 191,394
Mineral oil 514,808
Hog products 5,401,022
Beans and peas 392,962
Potatoes 554,153
Planks, joists, etc. 1,095,928
Household furniture 217,126
------------
Total $15,448,981
These tables show the extent of Cuban commerce with but one country, the
United States; and though, naturally and logically, that is the country
with which Cuba must always do the vast bulk of her business, the other
countries of the world have not been shut out; the average annual amount
of exports from the Island to foreign countries other than the United
States fell between $13,000,000 and $15,000,000, and the imports were
upward of $40,000,000, the most of which, of course, was compulsory
commerce with Spain.
A casual inspection of the above table of imports to Cuba, covering only
a portion of the articles taken from us by the Cubans, shows at once
what the demands of the Island are for even the simplest necessities
beyond bare existence. The million and a half people of the Island want
our flour, our lard and pork, our oil, our barbed wire--our soldiers
found samples of it strung around San Juan hill,--our manufactures of
leather, our household furniture of all kinds, our locomotives and cars
and steel rails, our saws and mechanics' tools, our stationary engines
and boilers, our lumber in its various shapes for framing and building,
our locks and hinges and nails, our corn and beans and potatoes; our
coal, our street cars and carriages, and any and every kind of the
manifold things we produce in this country for the comfort and
convenience and economy of mankind. In part exchange for these things,
we get from Cuba sugar and tobacco, and control the markets of the world
in these products; mahogany and all manner of beautiful hard woods;
bananas and cocoanuts and fruits, pleasing to the palate and wholesome
to the health; honey from the flowers; glycerine, no less sweet, from
the fats of cattle; manganese and molasses; cigars and coffee; beeswax
and birds, and the vast fields of tropical wealth and luxuries for the
millions of our colder clime scarcely yet touched.
The golden dream of Columbus and his followers, when they beheld for the
first time the purple peaks of the strange land rising out of the sea
before them, are as poverty and nightmare in comparison with what is
actual and real, for the more material age of the twentieth century.
The greatest obstacle in the way of Cuban commerce, and the peculiar
disadvantage under which the Island laboured was in a large measure
attributable to the fact that Spain compelled Cuba to purchase
merchandise in Spain which could have been bought in other markets at
prices far below the figures which Cuba was forced by these
discriminating duties to pay to Spanish merchants and manufacturers.
The most glaring illustration of this may be seen by reference to the
following table of Spanish imports into Cuba in 1896, which the author
has prepared from the report of the Bureau of Statistics in relation to
Spanish trade with Cuba and the West Indies:
ARTICLES. VALUE.
Marble, and manufactures of $ ......
Mineral waters 29,031
Glass bottles, etc. 66,889
Bricks, tilings, mosaics, etc. 28,371
Earthenware 77,853
Lime and cement 5,036
Silverware and jewelry 6,800
Iron bars, etc. 176,719
Fire-arms 1,872,240
Copper, and manufactures of 15,772
Lead, manufactured 15,344
Zinc 6,373
Other metals 52,654
Oils and paints. 117,542
Salt 51,030
Chemicals, medicines, etc. 35,365
Soap 635,369
Wax and stearin 419,124
Perfumery, etc. 12,722
Cotton thread 67,451
Other manufactures 3,676,807
Flax, hemp, etc., and manufactures of 740,017
Woollen blankets 219,971
Other woollen manufactures 73,007
Silk goods 74,206
Paper in rolls 82,457
Writing paper 88,219
Smoking paper 377,046
Packing paper 284,047
Books, music, etc. 39,655
Other paper 107,917
Wood, manufactures of 451,568
Leather 110,955
Shoes of leather 3,449,952
Saddlery 102,122
Machinery and musical instruments .....
Hams and meats, salted, etc. 75,679
Butter 171,918
Rice 298,970
Corn 286,563
Wheat flour 4,065,376
Beans 375,604
Other dried vegetables 128,254
Onions, garlic, and potatoes 241,023
Almonds 80,298
Olives 121,765
Raisins 44,982
Saffron 234,252
Pepper, ground and unground 61,582
Oil, common 663,244
Wine, common 1,469,409
" other 18,752
Preserved food 948,472
Pressed meat 316,314
Soup pastes (vermicelli, etc.) 287,200
Sandals 2,686,702
Playing cards 34,345
Felt hats 28,079
Cartridges 69,719
All other articles 614,196
------------
Total $ 26,892,329
------------
Gold .....
Silver $ 24,288,640
The most casual observer and the person of the most superficial
knowledge in trade matters must be well aware that Spain is by no means
as good a market in which to purchase such commodities as are noted
above as is the United States, or as is any other country, for that
matter; yet Cuba, by reason of iniquitous discriminating duties, was
forced to buy these commodities of the mother country, and to pay a
higher price for them than that at which they could have been bought
elsewhere. And not only was the price exorbitant, but the articles were
of inferior quality, and, especially in the line of all machinery and
the appliances of modern industrial progress, the types were primitive
and the models were as old and ineffective as the workmanship and
material were poor. To any Government seeking the best interests of the
governed, these discrepancies would have suggested themselves; and in
the logic of location and the invincible combination of first-class
goods, low prices, cheap freights, and quick delivery, the trade of Cuba
would have been turned to the United States. The Spanish Government
would have been the gainer by the greatly increased prosperity,
progress, and wealth of her Island dependency. But Spain pursued a
different policy, and by the overwhelming force of natural laws,
regulating the relation of the governing to the governed, she has lost
not only the trade of Cuba, but also the Island itself, and by trade
laws not less immutable than those of civil government, the compulsory
commerce she exacted from Cuba goes freely, naturally, and logically, to
the United States. It is scarcely necessary to say what the Great
Republic will do in the premises. The youngest of nations, it stands
to-day to the fore with the oldest and the greatest of the powers of the
earth in every field of human intelligence, industry, and endeavour, and
it will scarcely leave the great work it has undertaken in Cuba to
others for that final accomplishment which it is best qualified to carry
to perfect completion. Cuba looks to the United States for
encouragement, for strength, for education, for development, for
business--for union, shall we say?--and, as her nearest neighbour, the
United States will pledge itself that the Queen of the Antilles shall
not look in vain.
[Illustration: A SUGAR-CANE TRAIN.]
In strong and hopeful contrast with this compulsory commerce is the
amended American tariff of Cuba, which makes no discrimination whatever
against the Cuban purchaser; and now and hereafter, so long as the
United States Government controls the affairs of Cuba, the Cuban
producer may sell his sugar, tobacco, fruit, iron ore, hard woods, and
all that he produces to whomsoever he will; and he may buy what he wants
from whomsoever he thinks sells cheapest and best. He is in no way
bound to the United States and its markets, but is perfectly free to buy
his goods in England, or France, or Germany, or Kamschatka, or even in
Spain herself, if he can there find the best return for his money. We of
the United States shall not so much as expect that the Cuban may, from a
sense of gratitude to us for services we have rendered, give his trade
to us; but we shall teach him, by the invincible example of the very
best goods at the very lowest prices, that the markets of the United
States present to the buyer attractions possessed by no other markets of
the world, and he will learn early that having been his benefactor in
war, we are not less so in peace; and as we have made him free, we have
no fear that he will use that freedom to his own disadvantage.
Under the reciprocity of the McKinley Tariff law, Cuba and the United
States were brought more closely together in commercial union than ever
before in their history. No more competent testimony on this point can
be adduced than the following extract from the report for 1892 of the
British Consul-General at Havana:
"It will be seen from the above article" [on the lack of reliable
statistics] "that the difficulty--especially to a new-comer--of
forming anything like a clear and accurate view of the commercial
movement of the district is next door to impossible. But,
unfortunately, there is one feature of a very unsatisfactory nature
which stands out prominently and did not take long to discover,
namely, that British trade with Cuba has almost become a thing of
the past; and under the recent reciprocity treaty the United States
of America practically supplies all the wants of the Island and
receives all its produce....
"Machinery, which formerly was largely supplied by England,
Germany, France, and Belgium, now nearly all comes from the United
States; and the machinery required for the vast amount of sugar
manufactured in Cuba is immense and of great value....
"The reciprocity treaty between Spain and the United States would
appear to be mainly beneficial to the latter nation. Articles such
as machinery, iron, steel, coal, etc., which formerly came
principally from Europe and continue to pay duty when imported from
those countries, are admitted free of duty when coming from
America, so that the former trade is fast disappearing, although
some articles of English manufacture and of superior quality are
still able to compete, notwithstanding the duty. The free admission
of flour makes bread cheaper, but this is the only article which
seems reduced in price. The free admission of Cuban sugar into the
large markets of the United States is, of course, the great
inducement for Spain to enter into an arrangement by which she
sacrificed a considerable portion of her customs revenue....
"The effect of the recent reciprocity treaty between the United
States and Spain in regard to her West Indian colonies has been to
throw nearly the entire Cuban trade into the hands of the United
States traders, with whom importers of goods from less favoured
nations cannot compete, having to pay, by the terms of such a
treaty, higher import duties."
As a further indication of the benefit of reciprocity between Cuba and
the United States, and as a working suggestion of the commercial
possibilities presented to the business interests of this country, the
following extract from an article on the "Commercial Relations between
Cuba and the United States," by Mr. E. Sherman Gould, in the
_Engineering Magazine_ for July, 1894, is given:
"The value of the sugar exported to the United States has no doubt
frequently reached, if not surpassed, the sum of $60,000,000 in a
single year. At any rate, it will surely be safe to estimate the
total yearly value of all exports from Cuba to this country at that
figure. This large sum must be paid back to Cuba either in money or
in exchange of commodities. In regard to this alternative we must
recall the fact that Cuba has no manufactures of any account except
cigars; that all the implements and machinery used in sugar-making
and all the textile fabrics used for clothing, and even many
articles of food, such as breadstuffs, butter, salt meats, and
'canned goods' must come from abroad. That is to say, $60,000,000
worth of exports are sent by a country without manufactures to the
greatest manufacturing country in the world, and one in which the
danger of 'over-production' is supposed to be a standing menace.
Under these circumstances the mere statement of the question, 'How
should these imports be paid for?' carries its answer with it.
"In this connection the following table, compiled from the records
of the United States Treasury at Washington, and showing the total
value of exports from the United States to Cuba for two different
years will be of great interest, especially as it gives an idea of
the varied character of American products which already find a
market in the latter country.
"This table shows that the balance of trade is largely against us,
assuming our imports from Cuba to reach $60,000,000. There is
evidently room in the Island for at least thirty millions more of
American goods. The table shows also that about one-half of the
value of our exports in 1893 consisted of breadstuffs, provisions,
etc., while wood and woodwork amounted to about one-eighth, and
coal, iron, hardware, and machinery entered the list for about a
quarter of the total amount.
VALUE OF EXPORTS FROM THE UNITED STATES TO CUBA
IN 1889 AND 1893
DESCRIPTION. IN 1889. IN 1893.
Agricultural implements $74,135 $130,341
Animals 14,264 39,401
Books 46,617 39,075
Brass manufactures 32,420 44,150
Breadstuffs 1,336,147 3,511,617
Bricks 4,922 95,489
Builders' hardware 80,285 395,464
Carriages 67,282 316,045
Car-wheels 1,908 18,073
Chemicals 223,784 386,562
Clocks and watches 17,399 26,551
Coal 581,094 931,571
Copper manufactures 13,692 48,656
Cotton manufactures 126,180 148,178
Cutlery 10,347 21,094
Fire-arms 3,030 3,055
Flax, hemp, and jute 301,290 86,478
Fruit 30,971 126,954
Glass 55,178 117,870
India-rubber goods 27,804 42,879
Iron manufactures, not
otherwise specified 241,122 1,343,551
Lamp goods 28,326 51,389
Leather manufactures 166,334 181,476
Lime and cement 16,500 71,570
Machinery 965,242 2,792,050
Marble and stone 14,243 77,003
Nails and spikes 58,112 127,583
Oils 430,203 548,092
Paper 198,461 159,895
Provisions 3,267,883 5,611,076
Railway bars 20,240 327,411
Railway cars 127,533 271,571
Saws and tools 115,232 243,544
Scales and balances 35,406 62,561
Sewing-machines 42,571 95,630
Steam-engines 10,493 130,652
Sugar and candy 19,941 35,911
Tobacco, manufactured 59,658 61,494
Vegetables 380,802 978,261
Wire 118,214 321,120
Wood, and manufactures of 1,110,946 2,881,095
All other 820,987 701,656
----------- -----------
Total $11,297,198 $23,604,094
[Illustration: SUGAR-CANE SCALES.]
"The Western Railway of Havana, now in English hands, and recently
extended from Havana to Pinar del Rio, in the heart of the finest
tobacco region of the Island, has called largely upon the United
States for its new work. Many hundred feet of iron bridging were
furnished and erected by the Union Bridge Company of New York, the
railway company being satisfied with the price, and their engineer,
as well as the government inspectors, satisfied with the work. The
cement used was also wholly or largely American, the American being
adopted rather than the English, somewhat reluctantly, by their
engineer, on account of the greatly reduced cost. The stone used
for bridge-seats was American granite, and highly praised to me by
the engineer, who, being a Scotchman, was naturally a good judge of
the material. The fact merits attention, in estimating the value of
the Cuban market, that the people are heavy buyers. There is very
little saving practised. I do not think there is a single savings
bank on the Island.... As a rule, all the money received is freely
spent, particularly by the poorer and middle classes, who, of
course, form the bulk of the population. Probably the pernicious
system of government lotteries has something to do with the absence
of saving, as the practice of purchasing tickets is as widespread
among the poor as it is destructive and demoralising. Probably,
too, the character of the climate and the consequent ease of living
prevent people from devoting much forethought to a future that they
do not dread, for there is really very little of that pinching want
ever felt in Cuba which recent hard times have brought to notice in
our own country. Be the cause what it may, the fact remains that
all the Cubans are prodigal in their expenditures, which goes far
to account for the immense quantities of goods consumed and paid
for by a comparatively small population.
"Enough has been said, I think, to show that Cuba offers a most
inviting field for American enterprise. Her prosperity and even her
very existence may be said to depend upon her commercial relations
with the United States; the two are bound together by the strong
ties of mutual interest, and everything points to the fact that,
commercially, Cuba should be ours....
"I believe that if the trade, not only of Cuba, but also of the
South American countries, were first poured into the United States
as a receiving reservoir, it would be naturally distributed,
directly or indirectly, over the world to better advantage than if
distant and various nations were carrying on desultory and
independent business relations with them. The purchasing power that
would be gathered into and concentrated in the United States by
such trade would be largely expended in procuring those
requirements of an ever-advancing refinement and civilisation which
Europe can, at present at least, furnish better than we can
ourselves. We appreciate and want these things--none more so--and
the wealth which a practical monopoly of the South American trade
would give us would make us Europe's best customer for those things
of which she is the best producer. But this is a digression.
"The Cuban market, like all others, is governed largely by fashion.
Hitherto all supplies, except perhaps locomotives and
steam-boilers, which have for a long time been chiefly furnished by
the United States, have come, for the greater part, from Europe. I
think that both in Spain and in South America, French goods, as
well as French manners and customs have the preference. Just as
there is a certain tendency in the United States to admire and
imitate that which is derived from English sources, so everything
French is apt to 'go' in these countries. It naturally takes time
to overcome such preoccupations, particularly as in many cases they
are well founded. I have taken occasion elsewhere to call attention
to the fact that American houses shipping goods to Cuba put
themselves under quite unnecessary disadvantage by careless
packing. In the case of many fancy articles the mere appearance of
the package goes a great way, and in the case of all goods careless
packing entails great loss from breakage. This loss is a twofold
one for the American dealer. Not only does he have to make good the
damage at his own cost, but he creates a prejudice against his
goods and his ways of doing business. This brings up another
important point. It is a great mistake to suppose that 'anything is
good enough for Cuba.' On the contrary, the people there not only
want the best, but they also know it when they see it, and, once
deceived, they never have any further transactions with the
deceiver. The market is perhaps a capricious one, but it is one
that fully recognises and appreciates fair dealing, and there is no
better or more paying advertisement than to enter it 'on the
square.'
"The market being such as it is, and, moreover, being for many
classes of goods a new one, the agents employed in it should be
carefully selected. Here, again, Americans are at a disadvantage.
Very few of the commercial travellers who are sent out from the
United States speak Spanish, whereas nearly all those representing
foreign concerns do. The Americans are therefore obliged to put
themselves entirely into the hands of agents and interpreters,
which is always an unsatisfactory way of doing business. In view of
the growing relations between the United States and the South
American countries, it would seem as if Spanish should occupy a
preferential place, in our educational institutions, over French or
German. Our business is to invade the Spanish-speaking territories,
whereas we are ourselves invaded by the European nations, and this
fact necessitates a more perfect equipment on the part of our
business agents entering the foreign field.
"As regards the classes of goods most needed in Cuba it would be
impossible and wholly unnecessary to particularise more fully in
this paper. We may broadly say that everything needed in this
country is needed in Cuba, within the limits imposed by the
difference of climate. They want or can be led to want everything
we can furnish that is good and cheap.
"I may perhaps be here permitted another digression. We have heard
a great deal in times past, and more particularly of late, of
'overproduction,' and it is supposed to account for many of our
business troubles. Now overproduction is a strictly relative
condition, and its remedy is either to produce less or to dispose
of more. Political economists tell us that true material progress
lies in commonising the good things of life, so that what to-day
are the luxuries of the rich shall become to-morrow the ordinary
possessions of the middle classes, who will, in their turn,
relegate their previous simple comforts to the poor, thus
establishing an ever-ascending scale of prosperity, and raising, as
it were, the standard of poverty. It is impossible, I think, to
deny the truth of this proposition, which dictates a _levelling
up_, instead of the socialistic plan of _levelling down_. In this
view it is plainly to be seen that we are not, and cannot be, in
any danger from _overproduction_. What we and all the world are
suffering from is _underdistribution_. The remedy, as far as the
United States are concerned, is not to limit production, but rather
to increase it even to its utmost possibilities and then launch out
in quest of new markets. It is this policy which has given England
her vast commercial supremacy in the past. She has never attempted
to restrict the production of her manufactures, but her efforts
have always been to open up new markets, until she has forced her
way to the remotest regions of the earth. It is said that the sun
never sets on the British flag; it certainly never sets on British
manufactures.
"In carrying out such a policy for the United States it is evident
that the Spanish-American countries offer themselves to us as our
natural field for enterprise. As already pointed out, our labours
in this field would be of mutual advantage to them and to us, and
in more ways than one. While receiving from us our labour-saving
machinery and wonderful mechanical appliances of all kinds, they
would also imbibe a portion of the spirit which led to their
invention and use. We, on our part, would not only receive from
them the rich products of their fertile soil, but might also catch,
by contact with men of another race, something of that natural
grace and refinement in which our national character is said to be
deficient."
Referring to the fact that the railways in Cuba under English control
have had their machinery from the United States, the manager of the
English railways in Cuba only so recently as October, 1898, informed the
author that they had not only purchased of the United States in the
past, but that they intended getting all their railway supplies for the
future from the same source. Surely no higher tribute could be paid to
the manufacturers of our country than this from an Englishman, whose
people for hundreds of years have led all competitors in the industrial
manufacturing of the world.
And this is but a step in the giant strides of commercial progress the
United States will make in Cuba, under the encouraging influence of a
reasonable tariff, the abolition of all discrimination, the assurances
of a stable government, and that proximity which makes Cuba one with us
in temper, in trade, and in territory.
CHAPTER XX
SUGAR--HISTORY AND FUTURE OUTLOOK
Of Cuba's 28,000,000 acres, about 2,000,000 are devoted to the raising
of her sugar crop, which in amount is a little less than half of the
entire cane-sugar product of the world. Historians differ as to when the
cultivation of sugar began in Cuba, but in 1523 Philip I., King of
Spain, allowed a loan of 4000 _pesetas_ to each person who would
undertake to establish a sugar plantation; and although it appears that
the people of San Domingo began cane farming about this time, it is not
positively known that the industry had secured much of a hold in Cuba
until sixty years later. Indeed, some writers assert that the first cane
farm was established in Cuba in 1595. In any event, three hundred
years--or, to be exact, two hundred and ninety-nine years--later, that
is, in 1894, the year before the last rebellion, during which the sugar
industry was almost wiped out, 1,054,214 tons of sugar were produced,
the greatest quantity ever raised in any one year in the Island.
Although it made so early a start in the history of American
agriculture, the sugar industry in Cuba languished for two hundred
years, the annual output during that time being only about 28,000 tons.
A quarter of a century later it reached 75,000 tons; the middle of the
nineteenth century saw it at 250,000 tons, and in 1894 it passed the
million mark, with an impetus that would have sent it on the first
quarter in the second million by the end of the century, if the wretched
mismanagement and criminal culpability of Spain had not brought on the
rebellion.
With millions of acres of the richest and best cane land on the globe,
yet untouched by the plough, with a climate unsurpassed for the growth
and development of sugar cane, and with a prestige for Cuban sugar
second to none in the markets of the world, the future of Cuba's sugar
presents a possibility of wealth surpassing the richness of the gold and
silver which came to Columbus in the marvellous tales of the interior of
the magnificent Island which he had discovered.
Recurring to the effect of the rebellion of 1895-1898 on the sugar
industry, it is appalling to contemplate the dreadful decrease in a
country's chief source of wealth and income to the government, as well
as to the individual. In 1894, the output was 1,054,214 tons, and the
following year, under the first touch of war and its alarms, the crop
dropped off 50,000 tons, though it remained still above the million.
This was the second year in Cuban sugar history that the million mark
was passed. In 1896, the war was raging all over the Island, and with
the Spaniards on one side, taking men and cattle, and the insurgents on
the other, burning cane and buildings and stealing stock, the sugar
planter was utterly obliterated in some sections, and so badly crippled
in others that the output reached only 225,221 tons, the lowest figure
known in fifty years. Nor was this astounding decrease a matter of
gradual accomplishment, permitting the country, the business, and the
people to accommodate themselves to the changed conditions, but it
happened almost in a night, and an income from sugar of $80,000,000 a
year dwindled on the instant to $16,000,000, a loss of $64,000,000 at
once as the result of Spanish mismanagement.
[Illustration: CANE FIELDS.]
As a cane-sugar-producing country, nature has made Cuba superior to any
competitor which may appear; but all sugar does not come from cane, and
since 1840, when the first record of beet sugar appeared, with 50,000
tons for the year's output for the world, as against 1,100,000 tons of
cane sugar, about 200,000 tons of which was raised in Cuba, the sugar
growers of the Island have had their only dangerous rival. Beginning
with the small production of 50,000 tons in 1840, principally grown in
France, the beet-sugar production increased rapidly in Europe, reaching
200,000 tons in 1850; 400,000 tons in 1860; 900,000 tons in 1870;
1,860,000 tons in 1880; and in 1894 going to 3,841,000 tons. Cane sugar
in the meantime only increased from 1,100,000 to 2,960,000 metric tons.
Cuba in 1895 produced only 100,000 tons less than the world's entire
output of all kinds of sugar in 1840. The total output of beet and cane
sugars in 1893-1894 was 6,801,000 metric tons. The United States in 1894
produced 272,838 tons of cane sugar, 20,219 tons of beet sugar, 394 tons
of sorghum sugar, and 3408 tons of maple sugar.
With the growth of sugar production in Cuba have come newer and better
methods; and whereas in 1825 the largest plantations rarely exceeded
1500 acres in extent, producing only 350 tons per year, with a total
value of land, buildings, machinery, stock, and slaves, of, say,
$500,000, with aggregate revenue of, say, $60,000, and expenses of
$30,000, leaving a profit of $30,000,--in these later times there are
plantations of 25,000 acres, representing an investment of $2,000,000
with an annual revenue of $1,000,000, expenses, say, of $800,000,
leaving a profit of $200,000 per year. Contrasting the earlier figures
with these later estimates, a profit of ten per cent. is shown in 1894
as against six per cent. in 1825.
In 1840, it is estimated there were 1710 sugar plantations in Cuba;
while in 1894 there were 1100. Sugar farms are upland soils, the cane
requires to be planted only once in seven years, and no fertilizers are
required. Many of the planters in later years are very enterprising, and
the machinery they use is the best in the world. The outfitting of one
central, or grinding plant, with a capacity of 1000 tons a day, costs
$500,000. Houses and stores for the accommodation of the employes are
provided; there are locomotives and cars for the miles of railway for
bringing the cane to the mill from all parts of the plantations; as
many as 2000 labourers are employed; 1000 cattle for work and beef are
to be found on this place; and the _colonia_ is conducted upon the most
economic, advantageous, and improved lines. This is a model _colonia_;
but all Cuban _colonias_ are not models.
To give the reader a somewhat more definite idea of a sugar farm, a
statement by Mr. P. M. Beal, of Beal & Co., lessees of the _Colonia
Guabairo_, owned by Messrs. E. Atkins & Co., of Boston, possibly the
largest American proprietors in Cuba, is herewith appended. Mr. Beal
says:
"In 1889, when preparations for cane farming were commenced, the
_Guabairo_ was mostly impenetrable forest, and not a building of
any kind existed; the working people slept under a cart until
temporary palm-leaf huts could be constructed to shelter them. At
this time the _Guabairo_ proper contained 1333 acres; later some
1100 acres were hired or bought, and the _colonia_ increased in
area to about 2433 acres, of which in 1895, at the breaking out of
the insurrection, 1100 acres were planted with cane and the rest
was pasture, woods, and waste lands. In 1895, at the breaking out
of the insurrection, the 1100 acres under cane cultivation produced
about 2,500,000 _arrobas_ (an _arroba_ is twenty-five pounds), and
aside from this, a sufficient quantity of corn and vegetables were
grown for all the requirements of the _colonia_, so we never had to
purchase. From the 1st of December to the 1st of June, an average
of about 350 people were employed; of these ten per cent. were
Canary Islanders or Spaniards, ten per cent. negro women and boys
(white women do no field work); twenty per cent. native whites, and
about sixty per cent. negroes and mulattoes. From the 1st of June
to the 1st of December, an average of about 150 were employed.
Women do no field work during this period.
"For agricultural purposes this _colonia_ keeps nearly 300 oxen and
about 20 horses and mules; also a few cows for milk, and a number
of animals for beef, which in normal times varies from 30 to
something over 100. In normal times this _colonia_ slaughters on an
average, about 22 animals per month, with an average dressed weight
of about 200 kilos (450 pounds) per head. The cost for preparing,
breaking up, cross-ploughing, marking, furrowing, seed cane,
planting, cultivating, wear and tear to implements, and weeding one
_caballeria_ (33-1/3 acres) of cane to maturity, and do it well, is
from $1400 to $1600, according to conditions of soil, wages, etc.,
and under normal conditions will here require from three to four
years before the farmer can see any profits, and then only by
intelligent management and good soil. Soil which requires planting
every three to five years will ruin any man. The average yield of
cane per _caballeria_ in Guabairo for 1895 was about 71,500
_arrobas_, and the cost per 100 _arrobas_ for weeding, cutting,
carting, and delivering to the central amounted to about $1.84."
The concluding passage of Mr. Beal's statement indicates to some extent
the effect of the war upon his plantation, which escaped happily as
compared with hundreds of others. He says:
"In 1896 we had some new plantings, and the crop was estimated at
2,700,000 _arrobas_; very nearly the whole of this was burned by
the insurgents, some of the fields were burned twice and no crop
was made. The horses were seized, cattle driven off, storehouses
plundered repeatedly, and finally the manager had to flee for his
life and seek safety in Cienfuegos; since then the fields have
suffered repeated burnings and the crop has been reduced from
2,700,000 _arrobas_ to 1,400,000 _arrobas_, estimated. In 1897 and
1898 the crops were made under difficulties, the colonia employing
a private armed force of sixteen men, and Colonel Luis Ramos
Izquierdo kept a small garrison of his guerrillas in the
_colonia_."
Contrasting opinions as to the matter of profit in the production of
sugar in Cuba, we present herewith two statements. The first is by Mr.
William J. Clark, in his work, _Commercial Cuba_, and is as follows:
"We have already seen that Mr. Gollan, the British Consul-General
at Havana, estimates the factory cost of sugar in Cuba at the best
managed centrals to be 2.50 cents per pound, although in
exceptional cases it may be less. But during the month of October,
1898, the selling price of raw centrifugal sugar, 96 degrees test,
in the New York market has ranged between 2.40 and 2.60 cents per
pound, neglecting United States import duty, which is a fixed rate
of 1.685 cents per pound. If we take this selling price at 2.50
cents per pound, and deduct .22 cents per pound freight, wharfage,
and commission, we get 2.28 cents as the price paid for raw sugar
free on board at Cuban ports. From this amount must be taken export
charges of five cents per 100 kilos lighterage at the port of
shipment, and the cost of transportation from the central to the
seaboard. These together sum up not less than .10 of one cent,
which would leave the net price at the central 2.18 cents. But we
have already shown that the factory cost of the product has been as
low as 1.99 in Trinidad, 1.94 in British Guiana, and 1.86 in
Barbadoes. These three costs give an average of 1.93 cents.
Deducting from 2.18 cents which we have calculated as the present
selling price at the central, 1.93 cents, the present possible
minimum cost of production, we shall get .25 cents, equal to 12.95
per cent. as the margin of profit."
Mr. Clark takes New York prices in October, 1898. These prices were not
under normal conditions, the current prices of the year being 2-3/8 to
2-1/2 cents for 96 centrifugals in bond. Mr. Clark gives cost of
Muscovado sugars at the British islands of Trinidad and Barbadoes. These
sugars test 89, and are worth seven cents less per pound in New York
than 96 test centrifugals. He compares cost and values as if they were
worth the same money. Properly compared, his profit changes into loss.
In this connection the following figures, especially prepared by an
expert for this work, may be of interest:
THEORETICAL SUGAR CONTENTS OF 100 POUNDS CANE
_Bagasse_ (dry fibre) 12 pounds
Juice 88 "
---
Total 100 "
88 pounds of juice containing
16 per cent. in sugar 14 "
[Illustration: CUTTING SUGAR CANE.]
THEORETICAL PURE SUGAR CONTENTS OF 100 POUNDS CANE
"The practical results are difficult to obtain. The best of work
seems to be about as follows:
Per 100 pounds of cane:
_Bagasse_ 30 pounds
Juice (extracted) 70 "
---
Total 100 "
70 pounds of juice at 16 per cent. sugar equal in pure sugar, 11.20"
"This 11.20 pounds of sugar, less loss of working and less the
sugar left in the final molasses, reduced the actual yield to about
10 per cent. of pure sugar, or 10-1/2 per cent. of commercial
product, besides the mechanical difficulty of increased impurities,
whose ratio increases rapidly with better milling, and the loss of
fuel in the _bagasse_, which is an important consideration where
such loss must be made up by imported coal.
"With 30 pounds of _bagasse_ per 100 pounds of cane, no other fuel
should be required.
"The difficulty of increasing the sugar contents of the cane comes
from the fact that cane, unlike beet, has no seed, and must be
reproduced from cuttings.
"Improvement in this line is quite possible, but must come from
long years of study and experiment and will require the best
attention of scientific minds."
The expert who furnished the above, adds:
"It will seem strange to the uninitiated that the manufacturers can
afford to leave any sugar in the _bagasse_, if there is any
possible method of getting it out; but with low prices for the
sugar product and expensive coal it can be seen that there is a
point beyond which it may not be profitable to pass. With cheap
fuel and high-priced sugar products, the case might be different."
The second statement, which is at considerably greater length, is by Mr.
E. F. Atkins, who prepared the following especially for this volume:
The total output of sugar in the world was for some years in excess of
the requirements for consumption. This over-production and consequent
accumulation of stocks brought prices down to a point which in all
probability was considerably below the average cost of production.
Germany, as the largest sugar-producing country, naturally fixes the
market prices of the world. The refiner in New York will pay no more for
sugars to be shipped from Havana than the equivalent of the price at
which he can buy at Hamburg; difference of freight, duties, bounties,
and quality, of course, considered.
The present average cost of production of German raw sugar is said to be
about 9_s._ per 112 pounds. At this figure the existing bounty upon
exports would allow sales for shipment to England, where no duty is
paid, as low as 8_s._= $1.71 per pound for 88 analysis beets; this,
allowing for difference in values of the two grades, would be equivalent
to $1.89 United States currency for 96 test Cuba centrifugals, under
like conditions, viz.: f.o.b. at port of shipment, for any country such
as England where the two grades enter upon equal terms.
The effect of our countervailing duty assessed upon bounty-fed sugars
under the Dingley Act of 1897, has been to raise the comparative value
of cane sugar in producing countries, as against beet sugar, and to
place Germany and other European sugar countries in exactly the same
condition, so far as the United States market is concerned, as if no
bounties were paid by them; thus in considering Germany's competition
with Cuba in the United States markets, we may eliminate both bounties
and countervailing duties as factors, and say that when Germany can sell
to England at 8_s._ she must obtain 9_s._ from the United States to give
her shippers an equal price; 9_s._ is equivalent to about $2.18 United
States currency, for Cuba centrifugals, 96 test, f.o.b. Cuba.
The export price of German sugar at Hamburg from January 1 to June 1,
1898 (a period covering the Cuban sugar crop season), ranged from 9_s._
to 9_s._ 9_d._ with an average of about 9_s._ 4-1/2_d._
Last crop prices gave the Cuban manufacturers an average of about 4-1/2
reals per arroba, say 2-1/4 cents Spanish gold, a price at which they
could be laid down in New York slightly under the parity of European
beets, duty paid.
The imports of beet sugar from Europe into the United States, from
January 1 to June 1, 1898, were 22,000 tons against 496,000 tons for
same period of previous year; while imports of cane sugars showed an
increase of some 60,000 tons; this change in source of supply being
brought about by the countervailing duty.
It is not possible to give any figures of the average cost of production
in Cuba. In my opinion it is undoubtedly higher than the average of
Germany. Of the 2-1/4 cents net obtained by the Cuban manufacturers, the
cane (which is generally purchased upon a sliding scale based upon the
current value of sugar) costs them from 1 cent to 1-1/4 cents per pound
of sugar according to yield at the various factories. This would leave
them but little over 1 cent per pound, average margin, to cover
manufacturing expenses, salaries, maintenance and repairs, office
expenses, interest, insurance, and freight to seaboard, and while some
factories, thoroughly equipped as regards machinery, skilfully conducted
as to business management, favourably located regarding inland
transportation, and not dependent upon borrowed capital, have shown fair
interest returns upon capital invested, very many have been operated at
a loss (aside from such losses as arose from the war), and the margin of
profit, both past and prospective, is not such as to invite any large
investment of new capital in sugar manufacturing.
The future values of sugar in Cuba are dependent, not upon cost of
production in the Island, but rather upon the cost in Germany; and upon
the extent to which free sugars are to be admitted into the United
States from the Sandwich Islands, Porto Rico, and the Philippines. With
new capital and skill the average cost of production in Cuba can be
reduced, and with either free sugars or a uniform rate of duty in the
United States, assessed upon all sugars (a countervailing duty to
offset foreign bounties always maintained), she can hold her own and
recover her prestige as a sugar-producing country, but the margin of
profit in sugar manufacturing is so small, and the world's capacity for
production so great, that Cuba cannot recover her prosperity in the face
of any advantage to be given to sugars from other countries entering the
United States. At current prices in Cuba cane is worth to the planter
the equivalent of $2 to $2.50 per net ton, out of which price he must
pay for his planting and cultivation, cutting, and delivery to factory
or nearest railroad point. As the cost of cane production consists
almost entirely of labour, and wages in Cuba, for some years previous to
the insurrection, ranged about the same in Spanish gold as similar work
commanded in the United States, the profits in this branch of the
industry have not been great, and have been dependent upon skill in
management, quality of lands, and proximity to the factories.
The supply of labour and rates of wages in the future are now most
serious questions to the sugar producer in Cuba, and present the
greatest obstacle to reducing cost. For supplies of cane the
manufacturer must depend either upon his own resources or upon large
planters. Factories to be operated at a profit should be kept running
day and night, and cane, owing to its nature, must be ground immediately
it is cut. The grinding season in Cuba is limited to about one hundred
and twenty working days, and small farmers, while they can generally
find a market for their cane, cannot be depended upon for a constant
regular supply. Had Cuba the power to dictate her own prices, she could
maintain sufficient margin to overcome local difficulties, but that
power has long since passed and future profits must be dependent upon
her economies. The price of cane to her planters is dependent upon the
price at which her manufacturers can sell their sugar, and this price in
turn is dependent upon the price at which other sugar-producing
countries (principally Germany, the great factor in the world's sugar
trade) can place their goods, duty paid, in New York. If Cuba in the
future should have to compete to any extent, in the United States, with
free sugar from other countries, while a duty was exacted upon Cuban
sugars, her case would seem to be hopeless.
[Illustration: UNLOADING CANE AT A BATEY.]
Another interesting and valuable statement was prepared for the author
by Mr. Wm. Bonnet, of Havana, under date of October 8, 1898, and gives
an array of statistical information which is as follows:
The loss to Spain's dominion of the Mexican Territory (1821-1825)
deprived the Island of a yearly allowance of about $1,000,000, which
amount was drawn out of the Mexican budget for the needs of the Cuban
administration. The Island, up to those days, was considered more as a
penitentiary than as a productive colony; convicts were sent to Havana
with the principal object of building good ships for the Spanish Armada.
It was only after the loss to Spain of Mexico that Cuba began to improve
her general production, and the efforts of the country in growing sugar
and coffee were so successful that a few years later, with the help of
the slaves that were again freely brought from Africa, and with the
co-operation of immigrants that had come from Hayti, etc., the Island,
besides covering all her expenses, was able to send large amounts of
money to the mother country.
From 1840 to 1850, the production of sugar increased gradually from
200,000 to about 300,000 tons. Prices of coffee began to decline owing
to excess of production and competition of Brazil, and all the attention
was given to cane growing, so much so that from 1853 up to 1868, the
production was rapidly increased to the following figures:
1853................ 332,000 Tons.
1854................ 374,000 "
1855................ 392,000 "
1856................ 348,000 "
1857................ 355,000 "
1858................ 385,000 "
1859................ 536,000 "
1860................ 447,000 "
1861................ 466,000 "
1862................ 525,000 "
1863................ 507,000 "
1864................ 575,000 "
1865................ 620,000 "
1866................ 612,000 "
1867................ 597,000 "
1868................ 749,000 "
This period of sixteen years was really the so-called Golden Age of
Cuba. The Cuban budgets, although heavy at that time, were easily
covered, and on this account extra taxes were imposed upon the Cuban
people in excess of what the budgets called for and remitted to the
mother country; such extra sums reaching as high as $5,000,000 per
annum,--an erroneous and fatal system, the consequence of a mistaken
policy, which then, as ever, led Spain to consider her colony as a
source of income, forgetting that such excessive calls, constantly
resulting in a deficit, clearly indicate bad administration.
Cuba was overtaxed and nothing was done to help the growing of our
fertile Island. In vain did the Cubans lay their claims for better
administration. The mother country was deaf. Commissioners went to
Madrid to represent, but they had to return, bringing back only many
promises that were never fulfilled. No hope was left to the Cubans, and
all these obstinate errors brought on the outbreak of October 10, 1868,
which resulted in a civil war that lasted ten years, ending in 1878 with
the so-called agreement of Zanjon.
The war at first was not a drawback to sugar production, and the crops
gathered during the Ten Years' War were:
Called the { 1869 726,000 Tons.
twin crops. { 1870 726,000 "
1871[15] 547,000 "
1872 690,000 "
1873 775,000 "
1874 681,000 "
1875 718,000 "
1876 590,000 "
1877 520,000 "
1878 533,000 "
It is to be noticed that during the period of war the sugar production
continued to increase at first, say from 1869 to 1875. Highly
remunerative prices were then obtained for sugar; besides, from 1869 to
1870, $70,000,000 in paper money were issued, and money was easy.
From 1876 to 1878, the production rapidly decreased. Mismanagement,
enormous taxes to attend war expenses, and depreciation of paper money
brought on national distrust and financial troubles. And with all this,
the emancipation of slaves was carried through at that time, moreover,
without any compensation of any kind to owners.
Prices of sugar, up to the year 1880, were still remunerative (4 to
4-1/2 cents per pound, centrifugals 96 test); but the competition of
beet sugars in Europe began to be felt more and more every day, causing
a lower tendency towards the crisis in prices of the article which
finally reached a value of only fifty per cent. of its former quotation.
Under such difficulties Cuba struggled hard. The Cuban army was
disbanded after the war, and many persons who had come to towns for
safety went back to work their fields and became a new contingent of
cane growers. The system of cane _colonias_ was started all over with
marked success. Canes were sold to the mills at remunerative prices and
fresh impulse was imparted to the country.
In spite of all these efforts, Spain persisted in considering her colony
a source of income. Our deputies to the Cortes went full of faith, but
they came back fruitlessly as always. The same mistaken policy that
ruled Cuba before was continued as ever, and the outbreak of February
24, 1895, was the inevitable result.
The crops gathered from 1879 to 1898 were:
1879 670,000 Tons.
1880 530,000 "
1881 493,000 "
1882 595,000 "
1883 460,397 "
1884 558,937 "
1885 631,000 "
1886 731,723 "
1887 646,578 "
1888 656,719 "
1889 560,333 "
1890 632,368 "
1891 816,980 "
1892 976,960 "
1893 815,894 "
1894 1,054,214 "
1895 1,004,264 "
1896 225,221 "
1897 212,051 "
1898 300,000 " (about)
Notice the decrease of production of the year 1896. We could have ground
that year more than 1,100,000 tons of sugar, had it not been for the
war.
The amount of the coming crop will depend entirely on the greater
celerity that is to be given to the so-wished for political change. Any
delay will be of disadvantage to all our productions. The proper season
for cleaning cane fields has already vanished, and besides cattle are
badly wanted and very scarce. Training for working purposes requires
time.
If peace becomes a fact and all the available cane is ground, I would
say that 500,000 tons might be reached.
Now I will call your attention to the distribution of our crops these
few years back.
CROP OF 1893--815,894 TONS OF 2240 LBS.
Exported to the United States 680,642 Tons.
" " Canada 25,069 "
" " Spain 9,448 "
" " England 3,045 "
Local consumption whole year 50,000 "
CROP OF 1894--1,054,214 TONS OF 2240 LBS.
Exported to the United States 965,524 Tons
" " Canada 24,372 "
" " Spain 23,295 "
" " England 10,528 "
Local consumption whole year 50,000 "
CROP OF 1895--1,004,264 TONS OF 2240 LBS.
Exported to the United States 769,958 Tons
" " Canada 28,324 "
" " Spain 28,428 "
" " England 5,674 "
Local consumption whole year 50,000 "
CROP OF 1896--225,221 TONS OF 2240 LBS.
Exported to United States 235,659 Tons
" " Spain 9,969 "
Local consumption whole year 40,000 "
CROP OF 1897--212,051 TONS OF 2240 LBS.
Exported to United States 202,703 Tons
" " Nassau 83 "
" " Spain 1,337 "
Local consumption whole year 38,000 "
[Illustration: CYLINDERS FOR GRINDING SUGAR CANE.]
The stock of sugar left in store on December 1, 1897, was 1888 tons, the
smallest stock held at an equal date since several years. The returns
and distribution of this year's crop are not completed yet.
Notice the proportion of exports to Spain in 1897 as compared with
exports to the United States.
Mr. Adolfo Muñoz del Monte, writing in the _Revista de Agricultura_,
says:
"During the thirty years before 1884 the following classes of sugar
were made:
"First. White sugar nearly refined, manufactured with the aid of
vacuum pans, filtered through bone-black, and purified in
centrifugal turbines; and the inferior products of this
manufacture.
"Second. White and brown sugar, manufactured and purified in forms.
Some estates use vacuum pans for these sugars.
"Third. Muscovado sugars manufactured directly from the cane juice.
"The best sugars of these three classes were exported in boxes, and
the inferior in hogsheads.
"Fourth. Raw sugar, made in vacuum pans and crystallised
immediately in centrifugal turbines, there being two varieties of
this class of sugar, that extracted directly from the juice and the
one extracted from the molasses resulting in the purification of
the first product.
"In the year 1857 there was a universal crisis and after that time
planters considered that the first class mentioned was the most
profitable, and machinery was improved at great expense for the
purpose of manufacturing this grade of sugar. A plantation with
this machinery could be improved only at great cost, and it would
have been impossible to do so to any advantage had it not been for
the reduced cost of labour owing to slavery, carried on at the
time.
"In the meanwhile, the beetroot-sugar industry was progressing both
in its agriculture and manufacture. No one in Cuba foresaw the
terrible revolution that this industry was to suffer in
consequence. It first became apparent in the crisis in 1884, which
may be considered the most important event in the history of the
sugar industry. This crisis, which came in a most sudden and
unexpected manner, caused the reduction in the price of sugar
which, though a benefit to the poorer classes of the world, was the
ruin of Cuba, as at the same time slavery was abolished without any
compensation whatever, direct or indirect, at the time when the
losses of a sanguinary civil war were being overcome.
"It may be stated that absolutely no one could foresee, either in
the present or in the past generation, the revolution that since
1884 has shaken the industry; though the French colonists, fearing
the competition from the start, solicited the protection of their
Government.
"The French colonists feared this competition so much that fifty
years ago they solicited from the French Chamber of Deputies a law
prohibiting the cultivation of beetroot in French territories,
offering to indemnify those who had commenced it. Experience has
proved how just their fears were at that early date; but the French
Government did not grant their petition, because it was adverse to
favouring monopolies, and besides, because Germany, having no
colonies, could promote that industry without fear of the rivalry
which has proved of material benefit to all Europe, including
France itself.
"In the course of human events, time alone will cause considerable
changes; just as before 1884 all planters firmly believed that
greater profit was obtainable by the manufacture of white sugars
than lower grades. They then realised that the unexpected
improvements in the manufacturing and refining processes in Europe
indicated the necessity of changing their system. Those countries
which had, up to that time, imported fine grades of sugar from Cuba
have been able since then not only to manufacture better sugar at
lower cost for their own consumption, but also to export immense
quantities of this article both raw and refined to the principal
markets of the world. The production is to-day considerably greater
than that of Cuba.
"The change is so marked that there are no longer any estates in
Cuba where the white sugar is manufactured which was so desirable
from 1856 to 1884.
"Instead of this high-grade sugar, planters are manufacturing the
fourth of the above mentioned classes. The founding of these
estates or _centrales_ requires investing considerable capital for
the erection and running expenses of the works. These _centrales_
require excellent machines and apparatus, furnaces to burn the
green _bagasse_, transportation facilities, usually narrow-gauge
railroads, and fuel--without counting the necessity of having
well-paid superintendents, aided by competent workmen.
"Many will accuse planters of hasty action and imprudence for
having invested so heavily in the sugar business, but this would be
an unjust charge, since their object was to keep up an industry
which was threatened with destruction, and which is the main source
of wealth of the country.
"The consequence is that since 1884 the general condition of
planters, considering the circumstances, is remarkably better than
it otherwise would have been, and had it not been for the numerous
obstacles which have always prevented the growth and increase of
Cuban wealth there is no reason why their work should not have been
crowned with success. It is the obstacles that have been put in
their way at the time when these changes were being carried out
that made their work so much more difficult, but upon it depends
the fortunes of the present generations.
"It is the principle of accumulation of capital produced by work
and thrift, put into effect during one century, which has created
the colossal fortune and solid civilisation of the United States;
and this simple and natural procedure is the only one that can
produce in Cuba results of any importance tending to alleviate the
present necessities. To organise a sugar factory of any importance
it is absolutely necessary to invest a capital of, at the very
least, one half a million dollars, and if the work is to be of
great importance the first expense must be increased to from one
million to two million dollars. The annual expenditure of the sugar
estates can be divided into the following groups.
"First. Cost of cane and its transportation to the mills, whether
bought from outsiders or grown on the estate itself. This will
absorb fifty per cent. of the gross receipts of each crop.
"Second. Salaries and wages, ordinary and extraordinary.
"Third. Interest, whether on mortgages, running expenses, or
accounts current.
"Fourth. Management and running expenses, which are so considerable
that a statement of them would seem exaggerated.
"Fifth. The redemption of loans invested therein, taking into
account the wear and tear of the plant.
"Sixth. The loss of interest of the capital invested in the lands,
factories, and other works of the plantation.
"The gross receipts of the crop are the source of the planter's
income, and naturally the six items specified have been deducted
therefrom before the net profit can be estimated.
"In the above expenses no repair items have been included, since
they are often virtually an increase in the value of the property
and therefore merely constitute an additional amount of the capital
invested. Although some companies insure parts of sugar estates,
they only take limited risks; so many losses by fire, in addition
to hurricanes, impair the value of the property. The fire insurance
companies charge very high premiums for the insurance that they
effect.
"The result of the crop depends naturally on two factors--first,
the quantity of sugar made; and second, the price at which it is
sold.
"Before the year 1884 the average price was eight rials the
_arroba_ (equal to one dollar for twenty-five pounds) of cane
sugar, number twelve, Dutch standard; or centrifugal sugar, 96
degrees polarisation; and when sold under this price the planter
could not cover expenses.
"Since 1884 the price of sugar has decreased so considerably that
it has reached a ruinous figure. During the last ten years, as can
be seen by official quotations, 96 degree centrifugal sugars have
been quoted from four to five rials, and although from 1889 to 1893
the prices have several times exceeded eight rials, it has only
been for a very short while.
"At the end of 1893 and during 1894, the average price has been
five and one-half rials, which is simply ruinous for the planters.
"In Europe there are facilities for obtaining money; and besides,
it happens that the beetroot only takes five months from its
planting to the making of sugar, while sugar cane, besides having
to struggle against many obstacles, requires fifteen months.
[Illustration: APPARATUS FOR PACKING SUGAR AT THE SAN JOSE
CENTRAL.]
"The consequence is that the periods of high prices are always of
short duration, since as soon as the prices commence to rise the
sowings of beet increase, thereby causing an obstacle to the
continuance of the rise.
"The lack of capital makes the problem insoluble to the Cuban
planter, and whatever means he can use to overcome his
difficulties, the final result will always be the same, as he
cannot reduce the expenses of his plantation beyond a certain
limit.
"There is no doubt that to-day (1894) the sugar estates do not
cover expenses, and this fact is of immense importance, not only
because it explains the present misfortunes, but because in it will
be found latent the germs of many future misfortunes.
"The causes of the dangerous situation have been well studied; some
will be found in history and in the economic management of the
Island and others in the effect of beetroot industry on cane.
"Consequently, the unfortunate situation of the sugar industry in
Cuba is due to three principal causes which by a strange
coincidence have acted simultaneously, to wit: the economic régime
in the Island, the abolishment of slavery without indemnifying the
owners, and the great reduction in the price of sugar since 1884.
"The efforts of the planters to save their industry have been
interpreted by the Spanish Government as signs of prosperity, and
that has based on this misunderstanding of facts the indefinite
continuance of a disastrous economic system that is moulded on the
old colonial system and is bound to ruin this Island, even if it
were as rich and prosperous as the Government states that it is.
"This official optimism is deplorable for more than one reason. It
is to be noticed that as Cuba's poverty increases the pretensions
of perpetual exactions are greater, and that the bulk is borne by
the planters, who, together with the rest of the Cuban population,
are possessors, judging by these exactions, of sources of unlimited
wealth."
This chapter may be fittingly concluded with the following table
compiled by Messrs. Willet & Gray, January 5, 1899, giving the entire
sugar production of all the countries of the world, including those
crops which have heretofore been ignored in statistics. These figures
include local consumptions of home production wherever known.
-----------------------------------+----------+----------+----------+---------
| 1898-99. | 1897-98. | 1896-97. | 1895-96.
-----------------------------------+----------+----------+----------+---------
United States: | Tons. | Tons. | Tons. | Tons.
Cane | 270,000 | 310,000 | 282,009 | 237,730
Beet | 33,960 | 41,347 | 40,000 | 30,000
Porto Rico | 70,000 | 54,000 | 54,000 | 50,000
Canada--beets | 300 | 300 | 300 | 500
Cuba--crop | 450,000 | 314,009 | 219,500 | 240,000
British West Indies: | | | |
Trinidad--export | 50,000 | 52,000 | 51,000 | 58,000
Barbadoes--exports | 47,000 | 52,000 | 58,249 | 47,800
Jamaica | 27,000 | 30,000 | 30,000 | 30,000
Antigua and St. Kitts | 22,000 | 25,000 | 29,000 | 24,000
French West Indies: | | | |
Martinique--exports | 32,000 | 35,000 | 35,000 | 35,000
Guadeloupe | 40,000 | 45,000 | 45,000 | 45,000
Danish West Indies: | | | |
St. Croix | 12,000 | 13,000 | 13,058 | 8,000
Hayti and San Domingo | 48,000 | 48,000 | 48,800 | 50,000
Lesser Antilles, not named above | 8,000 | 8,000 | 8,000 | 8,000
Mexico--exports | 2,000 | 2,000 | 2,000 | 2,000
Central America: | | | |
Guatemala--crop | 9,000 | 9,000 | 8,000 | 7,000
San Salvador--crop | 4,000 | 4,000 | 3,000 | 2,000
Nicaragua--crop | 1,500 | 1,500 | 500 | 500
Costa Rica--crop | 500 | 500 | 200 | 200
South America: | | | |
British Guiana (Demerara)--export| 98,000 | 98,000 | 99,789 | 105,000
Dutch Guiana (Surinam)--crop | 6,000 | 6,000 | 6,000 | 6,000
Venezuela | | | |
Peru--crop | 75,000 | 70,000 | 70,000 | 68,000
Argentine Republic--crop | 75,000 | 110,000 | 165,000 | 130,000
Brazil--crop | 165,000 | 195,000 | 210,000 | 225,000
+----------+----------+----------+---------
Total in America |1,546,260 |1,523,656 |1,469,405 |1,409,720
+----------+----------+----------+---------
Asia: | | | |
British India--exports | 50,000 | 50,000 | 50,000 | 50,000
Siam--crop | 7,000 | 7,000 | 7,000 | 7,000
Java--exports | 635,000 | 541,581 | 473,420 | 605,025
Japan (consumption 125,000 tons, | | | |
mostly imported) | | | |
Philippine Islands--exports | 140,000 | 165,000 | 197,000 | 240,000
Cochin China | 31,000 | 30,000 | 30,000 | 30,000
+----------+----------+----------+---------
Total in Asia | 863,000 | 793,581 | 757,420 | 932,025
+----------+----------+----------+----------
Australia and Polynesia: | | | |
Queensland | 65,000 | 65,000 | 70,000 | 60,000
New South Wales | 30,000 | 30,000 | 30,000 | 30,000
Hawaiian Islands | 240,000 | 204,833 | 224,220 | 201,632
Fiji Islands--exports | 30,000 | 30,000 | 30,000 | 30,000
+----------+----------+----------+---------
Total in Australia and Polynesia | 365,000 | 329,833 | 354,220 | 321,632
+----------+----------+----------+---------
Africa: | Tons. | Tons. | Tons. | Tons.
Egypt--crop | 105,000 | 85,000 | 100,000 | 92,000
Mauritius and other | 150,000 | 120,000 | 150,000 | 140,000
British possessions | | | |
Reunion and other | 45,000 | 45,000 | 48,000 | 44,700
French possessions | | | |
+----------+----------+----------+---------
Total in Africa | 300,000 | 250,000 | 298,000 | 276,700
+----------+----------+----------+---------
Europe: | | | |
Spain | 8,000 | 8,000 | 8,000 | 8,000
+----------+----------+----------+----------
Total cane-sugar production |3,082,260 |2,905,070 |2,887,045 |2,948,077
Total beet-sugar production |4,790,000 |4,825,529 |4,916,586 |4,285,429
(Licht.) | | | |
+----------+----------+----------+----------
Grand total cane- and beet-sugar | | | |
production |7,872,260 |7,730,599 |7,803,631 |7,233,506
Estimated increase in world's | | | |
production | 141,661 | | |
-----------------------------------+----------+----------+----------+----------
The above table shows the relative importance of the sugar-producing
countries of the world. The time will come when Germany and the other
continental countries will become tired of paying a bounty on the
production of beet sugar. Then Cuba will take her rightful place as the
greatest sugar-producing country of the world. If Cuba then belongs to
the United States we shall control the sugar market of the world just as
we now control the world's market in so many other staple products.
CHAPTER XXI
TOBACCO
The companions of Christopher Columbus on the first voyage of discovery
in 1492 found what has since been known as tobacco. Two weeks after
sighting the first known land in the New West, that is to say, on the
27th of October, the ships of Columbus anchored off the shores of a
great land, supposed to be the Kingdom of the Khan, to whose ruler
Columbus bore letters of introduction from the King and Queen of Spain.
Here--in the Island which is now called Cuba--exploring parties went
ashore and proceeded into the interior seeking mines of gold and silver,
which they had been told existed. They found no gold or silver, but many
strange things, among them natives, with firebrands in their hands, and
puffing smoke from their mouths and noses. After investigation into the
nature of this peculiar custom the sailors tried it for themselves; but
its adoption by the Spaniards was not immediate. The herb bore several
names, but tabago, or tobago, or tabaco, seemed to be the one of most
general adoption. It was the name of a peculiar-shaped implement, or
pipe, which the natives used in smoking, and from this the name tobacco
easily grew--though various European writers attempted to fix more
romantic or poetic names upon the new narcotic.
Although tobacco was first known to the Spaniards in 1492, it was not
until 1560 that it was known at all in Spain, and not until 1586 that it
was used in Europe, when Ralph Lane, sent out to Virginia as Governor by
Sir Walter Raleigh, returned and smoked the first pipe in England.
[Illustration: PLANTING TOBACCO.]
Thence very quickly the habit grew, until in the middle of the
seventeenth century tobacco was sought and fêted in every civilised
country of the world.
It may be appropriate in this connection to call the reader's attention
to the fact that, although every known climate and soil of the earth
have been tried in the cultivation of tobacco, Cuba, where it was
discovered more than four hundred years ago, is still first in the
quality produced, and Cuban tobacco need never fear a successful rival
in excellence.
The cultivation of tobacco in Cuba was not begun until 1580, when the
Spaniards laid out small plantations in the neighbourhood of Havana.
Three hundred years later there were over ten thousand tobacco
plantations in the Island. These first plantations were located in or
near the Vuelta Abajo (Lower Valley) to the south-west of Havana; and
although even at that early period these plantations produced the best
tobacco in the Island, the product of the Vuelta Abajo did not reach its
world-wide fame until two hundred and fifty years later. Having once
reached the summit of tobacco glory, however, the Vuelta Abajo product
has never lost its proud position, and to-day ranks as the first tobacco
in the world.
This is due, of course, to soil and climatic conditions; for that
peculiar skill or strange power, or whatever it may be, which the Cuban
tobacco grower possesses is not more a characteristic of the Vuelta
Abajo farmer than of other growers in the Island. Indeed, the Partidos
leaf is larger in size, finer in texture, and richer in colour than its
neighbour, the Vuelta Abajo, but it is lacking in the flavour which can
only come from water, soil, and air. The Vuelta Abajo district occupies
an area of about ninety miles in length by ten in width, and its
province (Pinar del Rio) leads in the Cuban tobacco output, both as to
quality and quantity.
Tobacco is the second leading industry of Cuba, with sugar first, and
its cultivation is considerably in advance of sugar as concerns not
only profit to acreage, but conditions of plantations and labour. A
sugar plantation is a wide waste of monotony in appearance; while a
tobacco plantation, or _vega_, as it is known, with its kitchen garden,
its _plantanos_ for feeding the hands, its flowering and fruit trees,
its stone walls, its entrance gates and, pretty houses, is the most
charming agricultural sight in Cuba except a coffee plantation. The
average acreage of a _vega_ is, say, thirty-five acres, and from a dozen
to forty men are employed in each _vega_, chiefly lower-class whites.
More skill, too, is required in the cultivation of tobacco than sugar,
and the class of labour is considerably superior to that employed in
sugar planting.
Only a small portion of the acreage of Cuba is occupied by tobacco
plantations, notwithstanding tobacco is its second product in value. The
bulk of it comes from the western end of the Island: the provinces of
Pinar del Rio, Havana, and Santa Clara.
The following report on the tobacco product will show the amounts raised
in each province, the grade, the amount consumed, and the amount
exported:
"The production of leaf-tobacco in the Island of Cuba before the
revolution of the year 1894-95 amounted to about 560,000 bales,
averaging about 50 kilos each, say 28,000,000 kilos or 62,173,800
pounds. Of this amount about 260,000 bales are harvested in the
province of Pinar del Rio, known in the trade as Vuelta Abajo leaf,
which is of the finest quality and of which about 140,000 bales are
used by first-class cigar and cigarette manufacturers of Havana,
the balance being exported to the United States of America and
Europe.
"The province of Havana on an average produced, before the war,
only about 70,000 bales known as Partido leaf, one-fifth of which
is used in Cuba for cheaper grades of cigars and cigarettes and the
remainder exported to Key West, New York, and Europe. The quantity
of tobacco grown in the province of Matanzas is so very
insignificant that it is not known in the market at all.
[Illustration: TOBACCO FARM AND DWELLING.]
"The province of Santa Clara produces on an average about 130,000
bales, generally known as Remedios leaf, of which about 30,000
bales are used in that district and the neighbouring cities, and
the remainder, 100,000 bales, goes to the United States; that is,
the finer grades, for the lower grades are shipped to Germany, etc.
The province of Puerto Principe produces little or no tobacco;
nothing at least comes to the market.
"El Oriente, or in other words the province of Santiago de Cuba,
had a production of about 100,000 bales, generally called tobacco
Gibara or Mayari, of which about 40,000 bales are consumed by the
inhabitants of the district, and the remaining 60,000 bales are
exported to those countries where a government monopoly of the
tobacco industry exists, viz.: Austria, Spain, Italy, etc. This
tobacco is very coarse and the greater part suitable only for pipe
smoking. The price is in proportion to the quality; often not
higher than twelve to fifteen cents a pound."
While the methods of the tobacco grower differ in detail in the various
provinces, in a general way one fairly broad description of tobacco
raising will apply to all. The activity begins in September, at which
time the seed is sown in the _semilleros_, or planting beds, which
ordinarily lie higher than the common level of the farm. About the end
of October, or say in fifty days, the young plants are transferred to a
field prepared for them, and are set out at intervals of eighteen
inches; great care being taken, as they are so delicate that a slight
bruise upon their roots will kill them. The plants are removed from the
nursery in the morning and set out in the evening. The growing plant is
now carefully watched, the ground kept free from weeds, the tops of the
plants pruned, and the suckers removed from the roots. The pruning is
done with the thumb nail, as its dull edge closes the wound to the stem
and prevents its bleeding. The three enemies to the plant are the common
tobacco worm, a slug that destroys the leaf, and a butterfly from this
slug, which lays its eggs on the leaves and kills them. These insects
must be removed by hand, and the work is hard and disagreeable.
The plant is ready for cutting in January, and after being cut the
leaves are hung on poles and dried in the open air and in the
drying-sheds. When thoroughly dry, the leaves are removed from the
poles, sprinkled with water in which tobacco stems have been left until
fermentation has taken place, and the tobacco is packed, first into
bunches, then into bales of 110 pounds each. In this form it is ready
for shipment. The tobacco is classed according to quality, which also
fixes the price. Fertilisers are not often used, as they affect the
flavour.
One man can attend to 15,000 plants, which is about the product of two
acres, and one acre has been known to yield a crop worth $3000, but, of
course, quality, rather than quantity, makes such value. It is estimated
that 80,000 persons are engaged in cultivating tobacco in Cuba.
Although profits of from ten to thirty-five per cent. have been realised
on tobacco-raising in Cuba, very few foreigners, excepting an occasional
German, have undertaken it. English and German companies own the
majority of the manufacturing establishments in Havana and elsewhere,
but they have found that it is more profitable to buy the raw material
than to raise it, although an English company, manufacturing in Havana,
is reported to have paid $1,000,000 for 18,000 acres in the Vuelta Abajo
district.
Among the great Havana companies are the famous Henry Clay and Bock
Company, Limited, with a capital of $2,500,000; the Partagos Company, of
London, capital $1,500,000; H. Upmann & Company, a German corporation,
and many others (120 in all), of varying nationalities; but no American
companies.[16] Of the total exports of cigars and tobacco from Cuba,
Havana ships by far the largest percentage, estimated at from
ninety-five to ninety-nine per cent. of the whole. The largest number of
cigars (188,755,000) were shipped in 1888, out of a total shipment to
all countries of 219,892,000. In 1896, owing to the high tariff in the
United States, the exports dropped to 60,000,000, estimated, and the
entire shipments of Cuban tobacco to the United States decreased from
26,771,317 pounds, valued at $10,613,468, in 1896, to 4,410,073 pounds,
valued at $2,306,067 for the first nine months of 1897.
The tobacco interests of Cuba have suffered, as all others have, from
Spanish greed, dishonesty, and misrule; and now that the new era is at
hand, changed conditions for the better will develop at once. No more
fitting conclusion to this chapter could be made than to present the
following clear and comprehensive statement of Mr. Gustavo Bock, of the
Henry Clay and Bock Company, Limited, of Havana, on the production of
tobacco in Cuba, its manufacture, its necessities in the present
difficult situation, and the quickest and best means of improvement. Mr.
Bock prepared this valuable report especially for the author.
"The war, with its sad and distressing consequences, has been the
principal cause of the destruction of the farms employed in the
cultivation of tobacco and the ruin of the tobacco industry.
"The principal causes of destruction are three: 1st. Depopulation of the
country. It is an undoubted and recognised fact that the scarcity of men
employed in the country has greatly reduced the production of tobacco,
limiting it to small zones, where at great expense and sacrifice a small
production has been obtained. This reduction in the population is
estimated at sixty-five per cent., as may be seen by the statistics of
the districts of Guane, Remates, Grifa, Cortes, and Sabalo, in the
province of Pinar del Rio, to which--not to make these notes too
long--we will limit ourselves. Before the war there were 36,000
inhabitants in the province named, and the average production of leaf
tobacco was 60,000 to 65,000 bales. To-day there are scarcely 6000
inhabitants, and the last crop was barely 6000 bales; and these were
produced thanks to the efforts of a foreign syndicate, which, risking
its capital, and with few hopes of future compensation, began the work
of reconstruction, thereby saving thousands of families from a certain
death.
"2nd. Seizure of cattle. Cattle, which are the most important factor in
agriculture, have been reduced to such small numbers that in some
tobacco districts there are absolutely none, and in the few places where
there are any left, they are entirely insufficient for the most urgent
requirements. Cattle in this Island are of the first necessity. Without
exaggerating the expression, oxen constitute the right hand of the
farmer during the crop. Their work commences with the plough and
continues without rest until the crop is gathered and taken to the
seaboard. They cannot be replaced by any other animal, as has been
proved by experience; practice having shown that horses and mules are
unavailable in this service, in view of the special topography of the
Vuelta Abajo district and the climate of the Island of Cuba. One of the
chief reasons of this scarcity is the constant seizure of the cattle by
the Government troops, carried on unmercifully. It is not necessary to
prove that this state of affairs will bring about the complete
annihilation of cattle, leaving the poor labourer and the majority of
the inhabitants of the Vuelta Abajo in the most precarious
circumstances. The consequence of this unjustifiable measure will affect
not only those employed in the fields of that province, but also those
who depend exclusively on the tobacco industry in the towns and in
Havana. Without a crop, without raw material, the factories will have to
close their doors, and the misery with all its horrors, brought about by
the system of reconcentration, will only be renewed.
"3rd. Loss of capital and credit. The disappearance of capital, and the
consequent absence of credit, are due essentially to the above mentioned
causes. It is unnecessary to prove this statement; it has been the
inevitable. These are, I repeat, the principal causes which have brought
about the disastrous condition of the tobacco industry.
"That the reconstruction be permanent, it is necessary to give ample
protection to the farmer, and for this we need:
[Illustration: WETTING THE TOBACCO LEAF.]
"1st. The promotion of immigration. All obstacles to the return of the
white man to his labour in the fields should be removed. As the existing
number of white labourers is entirely insufficient for the needs of the
cultivation of tobacco, it is necessary to favour as much as possible
the immigration of Canary Islanders, who constituted before the war the
majority of the tobacco growers. Their knowledge and condition make them
suitable for the working of these fields in preference to others.
"2nd. Free importation of cattle. The immediate free importation of
cattle is necessary, as only a few oxen and milchers are left. As I have
already stated, oxen are the principal factors in the farmer's work in
this district, and it is necessary to import them without delay, free of
duty, as the farmer cannot afford to pay the exorbitant duties now
enforced. Immediate attention should be given this subject in view of
the fact that work on the next crop must begin in a very short time.
"3rd. Inducement to capital and revival of credit. With the free
importation of cattle, immigration of white labourers, and the
establishment of a firm and stable government, undoubtedly this district
would return to its former prosperous condition. Peace, order, and work
would invite capital to lend a vigorous and impulsive hand to regain the
district's lost wealth and credit.
"4th. Construction of roads. The province of Pinar del Rio has always
felt the want of communication with the commercial centres. After three
years of war, between neglect and destruction, there are to-day
practically no roads. This evil has caused an increase in freight rates,
and in some cases the rates exceed the value of the goods. To promote
the industry of the province, new roads should be built and the old ones
reconstructed.
"5th. Establishment of a corps of rural police. The establishment of a
corps of police is an important point to the country districts. They
should be organised under conditions similar to those now given to the
Civil Guards, an armed force for the persecution of bandits and the
maintenance of order in the country districts of Cuba. It is not to be
expected that all the vagabonds, thieves, and bad characters who existed
before the revolution have decreased in number, considering the
irregular lives they must have been leading, and that, now peace is
restored, they will become honest and good workmen. Protection against
this class of people can be afforded the tobacco grower by a well
constituted corps of rural police.
"Protection and guarantee of the genuineness of Cuban tobacco. Now that
we have pointed out the measures we consider most urgent to re-establish
the industry of the tobacco provinces, we will mention what we consider
necessary for the protection of the Vuelta Abajo tobacco leaf. It is not
enough that the agriculture of the district should rise to its former
state of prosperity; it is necessary, besides, to protect in some way
the reputation of Cuban tobacco, and especially the Vuelta Abajo tobacco
leaf, considered to-day without a rival in the world. These measures are
purely economical. They concern an uncommon article, for the production
of which means and expenses are used that entitle it to unusual
protection, as will be shown by the following calculation:
"To produce 100 bales of tobacco, of 50 kilos each, a farmer would rent
one _caballeria_ of land (equalling 33-16/100 acres), one half of which
he would employ for tobacco cultivation and the remainder for
vegetables.
Rent of land per year $ 300.00
250,000 plants @ $1.50 per thousand 375.00
6250 lbs. of Peruvian fertiliser 250.00
Hiring of oxen 102.00
Wages and maintenance of 12 men @ $25 per month each 3000.00
_Yaguas_, _Majaguas_, and expenses 300.00
Taxes, physicians bills and medicines,
and living expenses of the planter 400.00
---------
Total $4,727.00
[Illustration: TOBACCO DRYING HOUSE.]
"So that a planter would have to sell each 50 kilos of tobacco at $47.27
to cover the cost of production. The foregoing figures show clearly
that the production of tobacco in the Island of Cuba is more expensive
than that in any other part of the world, special attention being
necessary to its raising from the day it is planted to the cutting of
the leaf, besides the subsequent treatment necessary to obtain good
results; which work goes on night and day, if a good quality is desired.
The following measures are therefore necessary for the protection of the
industry:
"To insure a planter the sale of his crop at a price in proportion to
the cost of production, it is absolutely indispensable that the present
regulations prohibiting the importation and reimportation in this Island
of all foreign manufactured or unmanufactured tobacco should continue in
force; excepting only snuff and chewing tobacco, that have always been
imported here and in no way hurt our trade or agriculture. Of the many
laws and decrees which the Madrid Government has issued to favour this
colony, none has been wiser than this prohibition of the importation of
foreign leaf tobacco, thereby avoiding the importation of a leaf of
inferior quality by unscrupulous persons, who after manufacturing the
cigar in the way usual in this country, made perhaps with a small
proportion of Cuban leaf, would export it as genuine Havana; a business
which would prove most profitable to the adulterator, but which in time
would totally ruin the reputation of our products, both agricultural and
industrial, bringing about a decrease in prices which would eventually
cause a cessation of the cultivation of tobacco.
"Production of tobacco in the Island, local consumption, exports,
particularly those to the United States. The production of tobacco in
normal times is estimated at:
In Pinar del Rio, called Vuelta Abajo 260,000 bales
In Havana, called Partido 70,000 "
In Las Villas Sta. Clara, called Remedios 130,000 "
In the Eastern Provinces, called Mayiri y Gibara 100,000 "
-------
Total 560,000 "
or, on an average of 50 kilos per bale (110 pounds), 28,000,000 kilos,
or 62,173,800 pounds.
"Note.--In Vuelta Abajo there is a good deal of uncultivated land, and
with permanent peace and a stable government, that could insure
protection to capitalists, this production could easily be increased in
Vuelta Abajo alone to 500,000 bales. The provinces of Havana, Las
Villas, and the Eastern Provinces would increase in the same proportion.
"In the manufacture of cigars, cigarettes, and packages of smoking
tobacco for home consumption, the following number of bales of tobacco
are used:
Vuelta Abajo 140,000 bales.
Partido 10,000 "
Sta. Clara 30,000 "
Gibara 40,000 "
-------
Total 220,000 "
and for export as follows:
Vuelta Abajo 120,000 bales.
Partido 60,000 "
Sta. Clara 100,000 "
Gibara 60,000 "
-------
Total 340,000 "
at 50 kilos per bale, 17,000,000 kilos or 36,956,000 pounds.
"The United States has bought and imported from the Island of Cuba as
follows:
In the year 1893 21,694,881 pounds $8,940,058
In the year 1894 14,578,248 " 5,828,954
In the year 1895 20,175,620 " 7,271,794
In the year 1896 26,771,317 " 10,613,468
In the year 1897 4,410,073 " (6 mos.) 2,306,067
A total value of leaf exported is estimated per annum at $12,000,000
and the 220,000 bales for home consumption are valued at 10,000,000
-----------
Total $22,000,000
"Manufacturing: its importance and prospects. Having expressed our views
concerning the production of leaf tobacco, we will now refer to its
manufacture, an industry which has for several years dragged along, and
which is of great importance and deserves the utmost attention. It is
impossible to estimate how important an industry it would be to-day, if,
instead of the setbacks it has received, its energies had been allowed
to develop. The universal reputation which this leaf enjoys, owing to
the excellency of its quality and the perfection of its manufacture,
would increase threefold if the industry were promoted. In importance,
it is to-day the second industry in the country, and in the provinces of
Havana and Pinar del Rio it is the foremost. With 100,000 cwt. costing
$4,000,000 in 1889, the following has been manufactured:
For exportation 250,000,000 cigars $11,500,000
Local consumption 50,000,000 " 2,000,000
----------- -----------
Total 300,000,000 " $13,500,000
"In addition to this, the manufacture of cigarettes represents from
$3,000,000 to $4,000,000 per annum. However, the importance of this
industry must not be gauged by these figures, but by the fact that the
proceeds of this industry circulate rapidly and give life and movement
to other industries that depend upon it, which in the city of Havana
alone employ from 18,000 to 20,000 workmen, who, with their families,
represent from 45,000 to 50,000 people.
"We have cursorily glanced over its actual importance: let us study its
future. Even if under the auspices of peace, with the adoption of proper
measures for the future of the agriculture and production of tobacco a
brilliant and promising future is assured, the same cannot be said,
unfortunately, of its industry and manufacture. The future of the former
is most promising; it has no rival in the world; there is only one
Vuelta Abajo district. The latter, besides, handicapped as it is by
excessive competition, has the insurmountable obstacle of being taxed
by the treasuries of countries burdened by a heavy national debt; while
other nations, like the United States, levy heavy duties on cigars to
protect their national industry in its various phases. As a proof of
what we say, we call attention to the following figures showing the
gradual decrease of the manufacture of tobacco in this Island, a
decrease which nearly reaches fifty per cent. of normal. The following
will show how the exportation of cigars decreased from 250,000,000 in
1889 to 123,000,000 in 1897:
EXPORTATION OF CIGARS IN NINE YEARS
In 1889 250,467,000
In 1890 211,823,000
In 1891 196,667,000
In 1892 166,712,000
In 1893 147,365,000
In 1894 134,210,000
In 1895 158,662,000
In 1896 185,914,000
In 1897 123,417,000
"On the other hand, the exportation of leaf tobacco has increased fifty
per cent.; from 177,000 bales exported in 1889 by the port of Havana,
the exports in 1895 had increased to approximately 250,000 bales. It is
easy, then, to understand the actual condition of the tobacco industry
and its dependencies, and that of the numerous families who live by the
work that this gives them; their future cannot be promising, unless laws
are immediately enforced to protect them and raise them from the abject
state in which they find themselves.
[Illustration: BALING TOBACCO.]
"Cause of decline. Besides the high customs tariffs on imported cigars
abroad, among which we may mention those of the Argentine Republic, as
well as the internal taxes of those countries where tobacco is a source
of government revenue, one of the main reasons of the decline of the
Cuban industry originated in the McKinley bill, which compelled many
manufacturers to move their factories to the United States, owing to
the want of protection on the raw material, thereby causing a
considerable decrease in the production of the Island, and increasing in
the same proportion that of the United States, in which country the
manufacture has reached the enormous sum of 5,000,000,000 cigars per
annum.
EXPORTATION OF TOBACCO TO THE UNITED STATES
In 1889 101,698,560 cigars $3,970,034
In 1890 95,105,760 " 4,113,730
In 1891 52,015,600 " 2,742,285
In 1892 54,472,250 " 2,859,941
In 1893 46,033,660 " 2,424,425
In 1894 40,048,330 " 2,131,981
In 1895 39,579,400 " 2,050,367
In 1896 40,601,750 " 2,091,856
In 1897 34,017,583 " 1,868,610
"Mode of protection. To protect and promote the prosperity of this
industry it is necessary: 1st. To maintain the suppression of export
duty on cigars ordered by the local Government of this Island on the
31st of last December, both on cigars and cigarettes and packages of cut
tobacco, as well as on tobacco in fibre or powdered, which are
considered as industrial products thereof.
"2nd. To maintain to its full extent the export duty on leaf tobacco,
ordered at the same time, of $12 per 100 kilos for that grown in the
provinces of the west and centre of the Island (Vuelta Abajo, Partido,
and Remedios). The following data will prove the justice of this step:
to manufacture in the United States 1000 cigars weighing 12 pounds, sold
in Havana, unstemmed, 25 pounds of filler, and 5 pounds of wrapper, we
should arrive at the following results:
For export duty on the leaf in Cuba,
30 lbs. of leaf at $12.00 per 100 kilos $ 3.60
Import duty in the United States on
25 lbs. of filler at 35 cents each 8.70
" " " " " " "
5 lbs. wrapper @ $2 each 10.05
------
Total $22.35
The same 1000 cigars imported from Cuba, weighing
12 lbs., at $4.50 per lb. $54.00
Export duty 25 per cent. ad valorem, valued @ $60 per thousand 15.00
------
Total $69.00
making a difference of $46.65 against our tobacco.
"3rd. It is also indispensable that the prohibition of importing and
reimporting all tobacco, whether prepared or in leaf, be maintained, and
"4th. If, as is to be hoped, the commercial relations between this
Island and the North American Republic continue in perfect harmony and
well directed, we may soon expect to have complete reciprocity and free
exchange of trade."
In this connection it will be interesting to note the relative
importance of the tobacco-producing countries of the world. The
following table is the latest and most reliable obtainable:
AVERAGE PRODUCTION OF TOBACCO
Countries. Product in Pounds.
United States of America 488,000,000
Mexico 5,600,000
Cuba 62,000,000
Puerto Rico 8,800,000
Santo Domingo 8,000,000
Brazil 33,000,000
Argentine 6,000,000
Austria Hungary 135,000,000
Russia 110,000,000
Turkey 80,000,000
Germany 72,000,000
France 50,000,000
Greece 18,000,000
Belgium 10,000,000
Roumania 8,000,000
Bulgaria 7,500,000
Bosnia 7,000,000
Netherlands 6,300,000
Italy 4,000,000
Switzerland 3,000,000
Servia 3,000,000
Sweden 2,200,000
Philippine Islands 45,000,000
British East Indies 370,000,000
Dutch " " 66,000,000
Japan 50,000,000
Ceylon 8,000,000
Cochin China 6,000,000
Algiers 10,000,000
Australia 10,000,000
China } 160,000,000
Paraguay }
Sundries 55,000,000
-------------
1,907,400,000
Thus the primary cost of the world's tobacco ranges from $200,000,000 to
$225,000,000 per annum. It is not in quantity but in quality that Cuba
leads the world.
CHAPTER XXII
MINES AND MINING
The first questions asked the natives of Cuba by Columbus and his
company concerned gold and silver, and they heard many tales of the
riches of the unknown interior, but all their searching produced nothing
of value, nor have the succeeding centuries added greatly to what was
first discovered. Some little gold and silver was found, but it amounted
to really nothing, and the mineral riches of the Island remained hidden
until 1524, when copper was discovered near Santiago de Cuba; and here
grew up the little mining town of Cobre (copper). Since that date
deposits of asphaltum, iron, manganese, and salt have been found and
have been worked, but not as they would have been in a well governed and
progressive country.
The mining districts of Cuba are confined almost exclusively to the
mountainous or eastern end of the Island, and so far the province of
Santiago is the chief producer. Its leading product is iron ore, mined
principally by American companies with American corporations. The first
real iron-mining in Cuba began about 1884, when 21,798 tons were shipped
to the United States. This was the first Cuban iron ore received in this
country, and was about one-twenty-third of the total iron ore
importation. In 1897 we received 397,173 tons of Cuban ore, which was
three-fourths of the ore imported. During the years 1884-1897 we
received 3,401,077 tons of Cuban ore.
[Illustration: OLD COPPER MINES AT LA COPERA.]
The ore is a brown hematite, in large quantities, easy to work, of
excellent quality, about sixty-two per cent. iron, and is especially
adapted for the making of Bessemer steel. Though there are many mining
properties, three American companies, the Juragua Iron Company, the
Spanish-American Iron Company, and the Sigua Iron Company, do all the
business. The Juragua does far more than all the others. Its shipments
to the United States in 1897 were 244,817 (5932 tons, in addition, to
Nova Scotia) to 152,356 tons by the Spanish-American Company, which made
its first shipment in 1895, and none by the Sigua Company, which has
shipped, in all, 21,853 tons. The Sigua began operations in 1892, the
Spanish-American in 1885, and the Juragua in 1884. In 1897, the
Spanish-American Company shipped 51,537 tons to foreign countries;
bringing its total output for the year up to 203,893 tons.
Although iron ore of the best quality outcrops in many places on the
estates once devoted to coffee on the southern slope of the coast range,
it was not until the year 1881 that the first claim was located, or
"denounced." Since then more than a hundred locations have been
denounced in this range (the Sierra Maestro), both to the east and the
west of the city of Santiago de Cuba. Of these denouncements the most
important, and in fact the only ones that have ever been worked, are to
the east of the city, covering a distance of twenty odd miles along the
range, a few miles in from the coast. The deposit is not continuous, but
there are numerous separate deposits along this distance; some of them
very extensive.
In order to encourage the mining of this ore, the Crown of Spain issued,
on the 17th of April, 1883, a royal decree to the following effect: That
for a period of twenty years from that date, the mining companies should
be free from all tax on the surface area of all claims of iron or
combustibles; that ores of all classes should be free from all export
taxes; that coal brought in by mining companies for use in their work
should be free from all import taxes; that combustibles and iron ore
should be exempted from the three per cent. tax on raw materials; that
mining and metallurgical companies should be free from all other
impost; that for a period of five years the mining companies should be
exempt from the payment of duties on all machinery or materials required
for working and transporting the ore; that vessels entering in ballast
and sailing with ore should pay a duty of five cents per ton navigation
dues, and that vessels entering with cargo destined for the mining
companies should pay $1.30 per ton navigation and port dues on all such
cargo, and on the remainder of the cargo as per general tariff.
Under this charter the Juragua Iron Company, Limited, opened mines in
Firmeza, laid a railroad twenty miles long from that point to La Cruz in
Santiago Bay, where fine docks and piers were built, and, in 1884,
shipped the first cargo of iron ore from Cuba. The company has a fine
fleet of iron steamers. The mines of this company were extensively and
successfully worked, and, encouraged by this, the Spanish-American
Company and the Sigua Company purchased mines to the east of the Juragua
properties and at once began the work of developing them.
The Spanish-American Iron Company, incorporated under the laws of West
Virginia, and owned entirely by American citizens, built four miles of
standard-gauge railroad from its mines to Daiquiri Bay, about sixteen
miles east of the harbour of Santiago de Cuba. Here the company
constructed a steel ore-dock of 3000 tons capacity, a landing-pier,
buoys, moorings, and other harbour improvements at a cost of $500,000.
The work of preparing this harbour delayed the opening of the mines for
shipment, and it was not until May, 1895, that the first cargo was
cleared.
The Sigua Iron Company built a standard-gauge road nine miles long from
its mines to Sigua Bay, and there constructed a breakwater and a wooden
ore-dock. This company during the first two years of operation shipped
21,853 tons. Later, the mines were closed, and during the war between
Spain and the Cubans the dock, roundhouse, locomotives, and buildings of
the company at Sigua Bay were entirely destroyed in the course of an
engagement between the Spanish and the Cuban forces.
The Spanish-American Iron Company and the Juragua Iron Company remained
in operation during the entire war between Spain and Cuba, and, although
located at the extreme outpost of the Spanish troops, with Cuban forces
in the immediate vicinity, maintained throughout a strict neutrality,
and continued shipping ore until they were closed by order of the
Spanish authorities, after the declaration of war between the United
States and Spain.
The three companies, which are the only ones that have ever operated
mines in the province, represent an investment of American capital of
about $8,000,000, and the two still operating have paid into the
Treasury of the United States more than $2,000,000 in import duties on
iron ore. The following table shows the production of iron ore in the
province from 1884 to 1897:
------+------------------------------------------------------
| PRODUCTION.
YEARS.+----------+----------------+-------------+------------
| Juragua |Spanish-American|Sigua Iron | Total Tons.
| Company. | Iron Company. | Company. |
------+----------+----------------+-------------+------------
1884 | 23,977| .... | .... | 23,977
1885 | 80,095| .... | .... | 80,095
1886 | 110,880| .... | .... | 110,880
1887 | 94,810| .... | .... | 94,810
1888 | 204,475| .... | .... | 204,475
1889 | 255,406| .... | .... | 255,406
1890 | 356,060| .... | .... | 356,060
1891 | 261,620| .... | .... | 261,620
1892 | 320,859| .... | .... | 320,859
1893 | 334,341| .... | 12,000[1]| 346,341
1894 | 153,650| .... | .... | 153,650
1895 | 302,050| 74,992 | .... | 377,041
1896 | 291,561| 114,110 | .... | 405,671
1897 | 246,530| 206,029 | .... | 452,559
------+----------+----------------+-------------+------------
Total | 3,036,314| 395,131 | [17] |3,443,444
------+----------+----------------+-------------+------------
It is interesting to note that none of the mines are worked underground.
The ore outcrops on the sidehills, and the mining is in the nature of
quarrying. Daiquiri, the port of the Spanish-American Company, is the
point at which General Shafter's army landed; and the dock, pier,
mooring, buoys, and water supply of the place were of great value to the
army and to the vessels of the navy. The Spanish forces, who abandoned
Daiquiri when the United States troops landed, set fire to the shops,
roundhouse, docks, pier, warehouse, and cars of the company. Through the
efforts of the company's men, who were waiting in the hills and who
returned as soon as the bombardment ceased, the fire was partly
extinguished; but the locomotives, shops, some cars, and a number of
buildings were a total loss. The hospital buildings and a number of
dwellings at Daiquiri were afterwards burned by order of the United
States officers commanding. At Siboney, the Juragua Company's village, a
number of buildings were also burned by order of the United States
officers in command.
Rich deposits of iron ore of several varieties are found in the
provinces of Santa Clara and Puerto Principe, and some work has been
done in developing, but the war put an end to it.
The following list of the mining properties, all in the province of
Santiago, with the number of acres, condition, etc., may be useful as
reference:
Dorothea and Recrio 4 mines, 300 acres For sale
Carpintero 9 " 1300 " "
Bayamitas 5 " 925 "
Guama 6 " 950 "
Cuero 6 " 760 " For sale
De la Plata 9 " 975 " Sigua Company
Uvera and Jaqueca 12 " 1557 " 10 for sale
Berracoe 4 " 502 " $150,000 refused
Cajobaba 8 " ---- For sale
Economia 19 " 2650 " "
Providencia 3 " ---- "
Madalena 8 " 1000 " 4 "
Demajobo 1 " 150 " "
Juragua Group 17 " 2500 " 11 "
Sevilla 11 " 1300 " "
[Illustration: MINING CAMP AT FIRENEZA.]
All these mining properties are from two hundred to fifteen hundred feet
above the sea, and though the climate is hot, the region is not affected
by fevers or malaria, and it may be said to be the most healthful
section of the Island. This location is excellent for mining and
shipping also, being from five to sixty miles from Santiago; and nearly
all of the properties have excellent outlets to the sea or are
conveniently located to rail facilities. Nature as usual in Cuba has
done her share, except in the production of man, and the most serious
drawback to mining is the want of proper labour. The whites, except of
the Latin races, are not equal to the work, and the blacks are
inefficient as compared with the same class of labour in higher
latitudes. The labour problem here, as in all other Cuban industrial
fields, is the most serious which confronts capital, and its solution is
to be reached only after careful study and continued experiment. All
kinds of suggestions have been offered and many of them acted upon; but
so far the problem is unsolved, and now capital looks most to the Latin
races of Europe and the black race of the United States for assistance
out of its difficulties. What inducements new Cuba offers to these
people remains to be seen, but it is apparent that capital must do more
in Cuba for labour, if it will secure what is best, than is done for it
in those parts of the world where climate, disease, and social
environments do not lay additional burdens upon the "hewers of wood and
the drawers of water."
Manganese, which is an essential raw material in the manufacture of
Bessemer and open-hearth steel, is found in greater or less quantities
in the province of Santiago de Cuba. The deposits lie in the San Maestro
range on the south coast, extending over a distance of one hundred miles
between Santiago and Manzanillo. As the demand in the United States for
manganese was far in excess of the native supply, and the nearest known
mines were in the neighbourhood of the Black Sea in Europe and in the
northern part of South America, attention was at once drawn to the
Cuban deposits and one American company was formed, known as the Panupo
Iron Company, sixteen miles north of Santiago, with a railroad extending
to that point. Other companies also began work, and the shipments from
1890 to 1893 inclusive amounted to 62,601 tons. In 1894 there was none,
and in 1895-96 the total shipments were 750 tons. This decrease in
business was due, in some measure, to low prices and to other causes
than the insurrection and war, but that was the prime factor in the
cause of the decrease, because already, with the promise of peace,
mining has been resumed, with every prospect of continued increase and
prosperity. Though only comparatively small efforts have as yet been
made to develop the capacity of these mines, numerous properties have
been staked off, and it is estimated that there are eighty-eight
manganese mines in sight along the San Maestro range. The appended list
names some of them:
Hatillo 400 acres
Cobre 2 mines, 425 " $50,000 refused
Macio 4 " 4345 " Unopened
Ramas 3 " 330 " For sale
San Andres 5 " 440 "
Santa Filomena 2 " 300 "
Bueycito Manzanillo section Undeveloped
Portillo 8 mines, 700 acres Discontinued
Boniato 1 " 472 "
Dos Bocas 11 " 905 "
Margarita 4 " 1077 "
Quemado 5 " 322 "
Boston 10 " 665 "
San Juan
In the majority of these, no active mining operations have been carried
on. Whatever conditions of taxation, duties, and other expenses on the
production of manganese existed previously have been changed by the war,
and entirely new conditions are presented now for the continuance of the
work. It is believed that the mines are practically inexhaustible, and
that the metal, while varying considerably in quantity, is in the main
high grade and can be mined and shipped at prices which will extend the
industry until the United States steel manufacturers will get their
entire manganese supply from this nearest known manganese district.
Copper. It is believed that the natives mined copper long before
Columbus discovered the Island, for copper ornaments have been found,
not only in Cuba, but in Florida, long antedating 1492. Whatever may
have been true of prehistoric periods, it is known that the mines at
Cobre in the province of Santiago de Cuba were opened as early as 1524
and became the greatest copper-producing mines of the world. As high as
fifty tons of ore a day have been mined from them. Some of these mines
were sunk to the distance of nine hundred to twelve hundred feet. Before
the development of the great copper deposits in the United States, this
country received the output of the Cuban mines, which were worked by
English capital. From 1828 to 1840 between two million and three million
dollars' worth of copper was annually shipped to this country, besides
shipments to other countries. Owing to the fact that below three hundred
feet these mines were beneath the level of the sea, the pumping problem
was difficult of solution and expensive, and at last, in 1867, this
hindrance, combined with the development of copper deposits in the
United States, which cut prices materially, stopped work. The shafts
filled with water and have remained so. The only work that has been done
was an attempt by a Cuban company to work the copper found in solution
in the water. It is believed that there are still rich and valuable
deposits of copper in this section and that the time will come when the
red glory of Cobre will again be restored to its ancient prestige.
Gold and silver. Some discoveries of gold have been made in various
parts of Cuba and in the Isle of Pines, and some placer mining has been
done along a few of the rivers, but it is believed that the quantity
found will scarcely justify the opinion that Cuban gold will ever make
much of a showing in the world's product of the yellow metal. Silver
appears far better. Deposits have been found in the provinces of Santa
Clara, Puerto Principe, and Santiago. Some silver has also been found in
other parts of the Island and on the Isle of Pines. As early as 1827
silver was mined in the Manicaragua district, province of Santa Clara,
said to yield seventy-five ounces per ton; and near the town of Santa
Clara deposits yielding $200 per ton were prospected fifty years ago. In
the lead mines of Santiago de Cuba, some silver has been found yielding
nineteen ounces to the ton. More work was done in the Santa Clara mines
than elsewhere; in fact little has been done in any of them, but the
deposits in Santa Clara did not continue of sufficient richness to pay
for working them, and in recent years nothing has been done in Cuban
silver mining. Reaching a conclusion by way of the geology of Cuba and
of the other West Indian islands, it may be safely predicted that the
prosperity which is promised for Cuba, and which is sure to come soon,
will raise the Cuban silver mines to their former productiveness.
Lead. This metal, reported to exist in several localities, has had no
development save in Santiago de Cuba, where two or three mines have been
opened. One of them shows a twenty-inch vein, forty-six per cent.
copper, with some silver and zinc and a trace of gold. The mines so far
have been opened by American "boomers" for the purpose of bringing the
properties into notice.
Coal. A serious deficiency in Cuban products is mineral fuel; and
although coal is said to exist and, again, said not to exist on the
Island, Mr. Frederick W. Ramsden, late British Consul at Santiago, made
the following report in 1895:
"A deposit of coal has been found at five leagues of the Dos
Caminos railway station, or about fifteen leagues north-north-west
of Santiago. A sample sent to the United States analysed as
follows:
[Illustration: ORE BANK OF JURAGUA MINES.]
Per Cent. Remarks.
Moisture 13.20 Specific gravity 1.368.
Volatile combustible 49.20 One cubic yard weighs 2303 pounds.
Half sulphur 47.76
Fixed carbon 28.48 This sample is fairly black, and when powdered
it contains visible layers of pyrites
and no appreciable bitumen.
Half sulphur 27.04
Ash 9.12
Sulphur 2.88
"I understand, however, that since this sample was taken the mines
have been partially opened up and a better class of coal found
lower down. No estimate has been formed as to the quantity of coal
there, as no investigations have so far been made with this object.
I am informed, however, that the geological formation is
favourable."
Some of the coal reported in other sections of the Island proves to be
either a lignite or a hardened bitumen. Possibly workable deposits of
coal exist somewhere, and efforts will be made to explore thoroughly
every locality where there is the slightest coal prospect, as so much
depends in the development of manufacturing industries upon contiguous
and cheap fuel.
Asphaltum. Asphaltum appears to be a very general product of the Island
and of the water along its shores. Deposits of it show in every
province, in some localities in inexhaustible quantities; the deposits
at Cardenas and Santa Clara take the lead in development. As much as ten
thousand tons a year have been shipped from Santa Clara. At and near
Cardenas the deposits are found in the bottom of the bay, and the method
of securing it is peculiar. A shaft eighty feet or more in depth below
the surface extends into the sea-bottom; and into this the asphalt runs
or filters. It is supposed that the supply is brought from the interior
through the subterranean rivers which prevail in this locality,--from
which, indeed, Cardenas gets its water supply. Over this shaft the ship
is anchored; from her deck a heavy bar of iron attached to a rope is
dropped, and the asphalt is broken from the sides of the shaft and
falls to the bottom, where it is scooped up into a net and loaded into
the vessel. As this work has been going on for years and the asphalt
replenishes itself constantly, it is fair to suppose that the run will
go on for ever. It is of such quality as to be worth from $80 to $125
per ton in New York, and a ship has gathered as much as three hundred
tons in three weeks. This and two other mines, of not such good quality,
are immediately in the bay of Cardenas; and near Diana Key is the great
Constancia mine, covering a circumference of one hundred and fifty or
more feet, from which twenty thousand tons have been taken; yet there is
no diminution in the quality of the deposit. There are several other
smaller deposits in this locality. As asphalt is so general in Cuba and
the mines are so generous in their yield, even under the crude methods
adopted, it is only to be concluded that the asphaltum industry of the
Island has a bright outlook; and when it is understood what a fine
paving material asphalt is, and how greatly paving is needed in the
streets of Cuban towns, it seems to be almost providential that so sore
a need has healing so close at hand, demanding only enlightenment and
energy to apply it.
Quicksilver is known to exist, though in small quantities, and as yet
not enough has been found to pay for the working. Nickel is also said to
exist. Petroleum is found in several parts of the Island, and in and
near Manzanillo it comes out of the ground and rocks in a remarkably
pure state. Natural gas may yet be found, for a gasoline mine near Santa
Clara clearly indicates its presence. Marble of fine quality is reported
in the Isle of Pines and in a number of localities in Cuba, but its
superiority may be slightly doubted, as its grain is somewhat coarse and
it lacks the proper density. The same may be said of such building stone
as has been thus far produced. However, so very little has been done in
developing any of these products and giving them fair tests, that
definite conclusions as to quantity and quality cannot be justly reached
at present.
CHAPTER XXIII
AGRICULTURE AND STOCK
Data of any kind on the farming interests of Cuba are difficult to
collect, and those obtained are, as a rule, meagre, indefinite, and
unsatisfactory. Statements vary as to the acreage under cultivation,
estimates vary from 2,000,000 to 9,000,000 of acres. One writer says
there are 100,000 farms, plantations, and cattle ranches in the Island,
valued at $20,000,000; and Cabrera, in 1862, gives these figures: 18
cocoa plantations, 35 cotton plantations, 782 coffee plantations, 1523
sugar plantations, 1731 bee farms, 2712 stock farms, 6175 cattle
ranches, 11,541 tobacco plantations, 11,738 truck farms, and 22,748
produce farms, a total of 59,001. Spanish official figures show a total
of 37,702 farms, cattle ranches, sugar, tobacco, and coffee plantations.
What these properties may be worth or valued at now cannot be stated;
but before the war their value might be fairly estimated at from
$275,000,000 to $300,000,000.
The Cuban farmer, despite what nature had done for him in climate and
soil, was never equal to his opportunities. True, the mother country, by
taxation, had kept him over-burdened with debt, and by not giving him
the benefit of progressive ideas had forced him to use only the most
primitive implements and farm machinery. When he used these at all, they
were of Spanish manufacture, the worst in the world; but even under such
adverse circumstances he might have done much better than he did. That
he did not is due largely to himself, for indeed there are thrifty Cuban
farmers, who have good farms and do as well as farmers anywhere, all
things considered. But they are not in a majority. As one evidence of
the general lack of thrift, the Cubans imported from the United States
in 1893, a good year, animal products (largely hogs), worth $5,718,101;
bread stuffs, $3,164,541; provisions other than the foregoing,
$1,315,097; a total value of over $10,000,000, all of which except,
possibly, wheat flour, might have been raised at home, with a fair
amount of care and industry, under a decent government.
While all parts of the Island are not adapted to such agricultural
development as is found in higher latitudes, nearly all the products of
northern soil may be grown in Cuba. Our common corn is very generally
raised, on the uplands especially, and two crops of it will grow yearly.
It is smaller than the corn of the north, but is said to be more
nutritious. It is fed to stock in the ear and as fodder. Wheat growing
has never been attempted to any extent, and while the lowlands are
impossible for it, in the mountain regions, according to theory, it
might be accomplished successfully. However, all the chances are against
Cuba's entering the wheat market against Minnesota and the Dakotas. Oats
and barley are not in the list of Cuban products. A great deal of rice
is raised in the lowlands along the coast; but the Cubans are great rice
eaters and none is exported. A careful handling of the Cuban rice crop
would bring it into the markets of the United States.
Although, to insure good quality, seed potatoes must be brought to Cuba
each year from the United States, the crops raised are enormous, and
they come twice a year. We do not get new potatoes from Cuba in the
spring, but there is no reason why we should not, if the farmer will
raise them for export. The Cuban potato is worth considerably more in
Havana than those imported. The sweet potato grows everywhere and
anywhere, and is not only of great quantity but good quality. To Cuba it
is almost what the white potato is to Ireland. The yam, another and
larger form of the sweet potato, is prolific and prevalent. It is not
cultivated for exportation. In fact it can scarcely be said to be
cultivated at all in Cuba, so common is the growth.
Beans are an article of import into Cuba, and the people consume great
quantities of them, yet every variety of bean grows there rankly, and
that they are not grown not only to meet the home demands but for export
as well, is simply because of a lack of industry in their cultivation.
Asparagus may be grown and greatly improved, as that now produced is
small and inferior. Beets, as far as produced, show that by proper
cultivation they might become a leading product. Cabbage, too, is so
neglected that it is imported to meet the demand that Cuba easily could
supply. Watercress of good quality grows along most of the streams.
Spinach is found in the home market-gardens, but none is raised beyond
that. The sago palm, furnishing sago flour, is neglected though it grows
in profusion. Radishes grow all the year. Two crops a year of fine
peanuts might be produced, but not enough for export are raised. So far
the Cuban onion, though it flourishes with very little cultivation, is
not in competition with the Bermuda onion, so popular in American
markets. Lettuce is perennial and of the best quality. The cucumber is
another vegetable growing profusely but never exported. Yuca is a root
much used in place of potatoes. It is rendered palatable by pressure or
by cooking. The sweet variety is used raw as a table vegetable. Bitter
cassabe flour, made from yuca, when parched in pellets, is known as
tapioca, and is a popular edible in various forms of soups, puddings,
etc., in northern countries. Celery, which is found in the local
gardens, is inferior by reason of neglect. Millet is raised for local
fowl food.
Cotton, although it is mentioned as an agricultural product of Cuba, is
only a possibility, for its cultivation has been so slightly attempted
as scarcely to warrant an opinion of what may be done in its
cultivation. Sea-island cotton, which is of famous excellence in the
United States, may be raised along the Cuban coasts; and there is no
known reason why the general cultivation of cotton would not be fairly
profitable. Whether or not it may be developed under the new order
remains to be seen.
The indigo plant grows easily, but it has never been cultivated
profitably. The future may bring to its producers more knowledge and
better methods than the past has known.
Grasses grow rankly almost anywhere in the Island. In the province of
Pinar del Rio one variety grows to the height of six feet; another is a
bunch grass similar to our species. Of these two grasses stock is very
fond, but a third variety has such sharp edges that stock cannot eat it.
Little of this grass is used as hay, and the hay crop has not been of
especial significance in Cuban agricultural products, but it might well
be, if it were given proper cultivation and care.
The fibre plants of Cuba are numerous, and many of them are of the best
quality; moreover, they grow upon soil not very useful for any other
purpose. The best known of them are the henequin, lanseveria, and lengua
de vaca. The first produces from twenty-five to thirty leaves a year for
twelve years, each leaf from five to nine feet long, weighing from four
to seven pounds.
So far as Spanish statistics may be correct, there were in Cuba in 1891
a total of 2,485,768 cattle of all kinds; but at the close of the war in
August, 1898, it was estimated by American stockmen, who were apprised
of the condition of affairs throughout the Island, that not over 75,000
head were left. For a number of years past, owing to excessive import
duties and other exactions, shipments of cattle to Cuba have been kept
far below the demand, not only for working, but for slaughtering
purposes; and as the Cubans raised few cattle, though every natural
condition of climate, forage, and water was favourable to grazing, there
was never a surplus to meet any emergency. Therefore the result was
that, when the war came the ports were blockaded and no new supplies
could be brought in, the people, as well as the soldiers, had to be
fed, and the cattle were slaughtered indiscriminately. It should be
stated here that just prior to the war, cattle were admitted free, and
the imports, chiefly from South American countries, reached from 70,000
to 80,000 head per month. These were nearly all beef cattle. From
August, 1897, to May, 1898, 83,868 head of cattle were received at
Havana, of which 37,129 came from the United States. These cattle came
chiefly from Texas, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, and Louisiana, for
southern cattle are much better suited to the Cuban climate and
conditions than northern or western cattle. The fact that cattle are
bought by weight in the United States and sold by the head in Cuba has
been against the American stockmen.
[Illustration: AN OX CART.]
From a report of a dealer in Havana, under date of October 5, 1898,
these extracts are made:
"The average of cattle weighs about seven hundred pounds, for which
I get between $32 and $48. On these I have to pay all the freight
and customs charges, etc., so that by the time that the meat gets
into the butcher's shop, it is up to about 42 cents silver (say 38
cents gold) per pound, although it is the same that costs in the
United States from 3 to 3-1/2 cents. Cottonseed-fed steers give
between sixty-five and seventy per cent. of meat, nett; grass-fed
cattle from the United States only nett fifty per cent. Tampico
cattle give only about fifty per cent. There is no advantage in
selling good cattle in Cuba, as they buy these by the head. On my
St. Louis cattle I lost money, they weighing about fifteen hundred
pounds and costing in the United States about $65, and I sold them
for about $52. A good team (yoke) of oxen for working purposes is
worth between seven and eight onzas (an onza equalling $17), and I
give a statement of what it costs to get such a team into Cuba":
Cost in Texas for one team of oxen $90.00
Freight to Havana 14.00
Exchange 11.40
Duty 20.00
Risk, about five per cent. 5.00
--------
$140.40
"Milk cows in Cuba are worth from $60 to $80 each and cost as
follows:
Cow costs in United States, with calf $40.00
Freight for the two 8.50
Exchange 2.50
Duty: cow, $8, calf, $4 12.00
Risk 2.50
------
$65.50
"The food of cattle for the trip from the United States to Cuba
costs about fifteen cents a head. We pay an extra twenty-five cents
a head for the attention."
Though Cuban estimates of the Island's cattle capacity are fanciful and
unreliable (one estimate sets the "untilled land for cattle raising" at
28,300,000 acres, every acre of which when tilled will support at least
one head), it is an undeniable fact that within a few years, by ordinary
care in the selection and handling of stock, Cuba will be in a position
to export cattle. The fact is worthy of American stockmen's attention
that at least a million cattle of all kinds, for breeding, beef, and
work, are needed in Cuba, that the best cattle so far received in Cuba
have come from the United States, and that by contiguity and sentiment
the United States is first choice against all South and Central American
and Mexican competitors. It is as well worthy of the attention of the
Government authorities that in restocking the Island with cattle,
careful and scientific attention should be given to the class of cattle
used for breeding purposes in order that the very best results be
obtained. The estimate of a million head to meet the immediate demands
may seem to be large, but when we come to consider that one sugar
plantation of 3000 acres requires from 250 to 400 yoke of working
cattle, not to mention cows and beef cattle,--and that there are
thousands of sugar and tobacco plantations, besides other thousands of
farms of various kinds,--and ox-carts for general transportation all
over the Island, it will be seen that a million head will be scarcely
enough.
[Illustration: A FOWL VENDOR.]
"Jerked beef" has been an important article of import into Cuba, and it
may become still more so in the future, as Texas, with its millions of
cattle, has a climate peculiarly adapted to the preparation of this form
of beef product. On this subject a report made by Mr. Modesto Trelles of
Cienfuegos, under date of September 19, 1898, may be of more than
passing interest:
"The Island of Cuba has about twenty-eight million acres of land.
Under cultivation, producing sugar cane, there are 1,980,000 acres,
about 1,000,000 in roads, towns, etc., and 1,500,000 acres of
fallow land. The cattle here pay consumption duty of 5-1/2 cents
per kilo. The jerked beef pays $3.96 import duty, per hundred
kilos. The import duty on each head of cattle is $8. The
consumption tax $5.50 a head. Buenos Ayres has been sending about
500,000 head of cattle to Cuba in the shape of jerked beef. The
reason of this is a treaty between Spain and Buenos Ayres, obliging
the latter to take in Spanish wines, in lieu of which provision
Cuba was to import jerked beef. We have, therefore, been importing
jerked beef to the extent of 500,000 head of cattle, owing to the
advantages given Buenos Ayres. One of the secrets of this great
importation has been that in the first place, when the Cuban
merchant called for jerked beef, he went directly to Spain for it.
Certain Spaniards sent a ship from Barcelona to Buenos Ayres,
loaded with wine, etc., from which point the ship came here with a
cargo of jerked beef. It lands the cargo here, and then goes north
with a cargo of sugar; then takes a new cargo of cotton from New
York to Europe, and goes back to the first point of shipment. This
is one of the reasons why they had cheap rates on jerked beef.
"The whole thing has been done to chastise the cattle breeding in
Cuba, owing to this reciprocity treaty which Buenos Ayres had with
Spain. One of the greatest errors Spain has made has been in
killing the cattle breeding here by these great advantages given to
foreign meat markets. I wish to open your eyes in regard to this,
because if it remains as it is we will always be under the same
disadvantage of importing jerked beef to the detriment of the
cattle breeding. You must remember that jerked beef is a great
detriment to salubrity, due to being salt, and obliges the people
who eat it to drink large quantities of water which generally
brings on anæmia. Of 1,500,000 inhabitants 1,000,000 have eaten
jerked beef heretofore, and that is equivalent to the amount of
1600 head of cattle per day of three hundred pounds each, and
naturally Cuba very well could produce this number of cattle with
the utmost ease because the pastures are very good here. It will be
an economy of $5,000,000 or $6,000,000 a year of what we pay here
for the jerked beef to Buenos Ayres, and if the importation of this
jerked beef is avoided an equal amount could be grown, and we would
besides have the benefit of the hides, tallow, and the horns of the
cattle, which constitute a big industry in itself. Naturally, with
the breeding of cattle here, all this land which is now idle could
be used, and in addition would give employment to many cowboys,
etc. The people here are very fond of cattle raising. Under the
basis of having all these farms in a condition to produce cattle,
we could employ almost all our idle in this business."
In 1891 it was estimated that there were 531,416 horses in Cuba and
43,309 mules, yet a report dated as late as October, 1898, is to the
effect that there are practically no horses in the Island. The same
authority states that there is a great demand for cheap horses, and that
now, since the prohibitive duty of fifty dollars a head is gone with
other Spanish customs, the American "plug horse" would bring a quick
sale all over the Island. The Cuban horse, of Andalusian ancestry, is a
fair average animal for a low, hot country, but great improvement could
be made in the stock by careful selection and breeding. At present he is
a substantial, small horse of the cob style, is very easy under the
saddle, and does well in harness. Stallions and mares are needed, and
the surplus horse-flesh of the United States, increased by the
introduction of electricity as a street-car motor, might easily find
profitable use in this new country. The Cuban horse will hardly achieve
the proud position of the Arabian or Kentuckian, but he may be as useful
in his humbler fashion.
[Illustration: ROYAL PALMS, YUMURI VALLEY.]
The mule in Cuba as elsewhere, "without pride of ancestry or hope of
posterity," is a most patient and useful animal, and his virtues and his
scarcity make him more valuable than the horse. A fine mule commands a
fancy price, and a pair are worth from $600 to $800. What the mule
raisers of the United States can do in Cuba is left for them to
determine.
Sheep of good quality are among the impossibles to Cuba, for the climate
has the peculiar effect of straightening their wool into harsh hair,
like that of the goat.
Although Cuba has not only every facility for hog raising, including the
palm, the seed of which is one of the finest hog-fatteners on earth, and
although the people of the Island use more lard, bacon, hams, and
pickled pork than any other meat product, nevertheless, instead of
raising their own, they have received from the United States over
$35,000,000 worth of pork in the ten years from 1887 to 1896. Some hogs
are raised, but it is because of the energy of the hog, not of the
Cuban. Wild hogs (_jabali_) prevail in many parts of the Island, and the
boar hunts are sometimes exciting sport. The wild hog is merely the
domestic hog run away and grown up in the woods.
Poultry of all kinds similar to that found in the United States was
common all over the Island before the war. No attention is paid to its
cultivation, except in the matter of game-cocks. Cock-fighting is so
wide-spread and popular that the game-cock may be well called the
national bird of Cuba.
Humboldt has said that the bee is not native to Cuba and came from
Europe. However that may be, the busy little worker has found there a
land of flowers, and his products of honey and wax are among the
reliable exports of the Island. The value of honey shipped to the United
States in 1893 was $39,712, and of beeswax, $45,504. The best honey
comes from the uplands and the poorest from the swamp flowers.
Agriculture in Cuba promises rich results in the future.
CHAPTER XXIV
TIMBER AND FRUIT TREES
Of the approximately twenty-eight millions of acres in Cuba and its
islands, it is estimated that from thirteen to fifteen millions of acres
are covered with timber, the vastly larger portion of it yet untouched
by the axe. Of this, mahogany and cedar lead in value as lumber, though,
for the variety of its uses, the palm, of which there are thirty species
in the Island, easily takes precedence. A notable peculiarity of tree
growth in Cuba is the presence of the pine, a distinctively northern
product, yet here it is found growing side by side with the mahogany;
and on the Isle of Pines it is so plentiful as to have given the name to
the island. The province of Pinar del Rio (River of Pines) also receives
its name from the pines which are so numerous there.
[Illustration: SAGO PALM.]
Of the thirty varieties of palm, the first and foremost is the Palma
Real, or Royal Palm, called also the "Blessed Tree" because of its
manifold uses to man. This tree is common all over the Island, growing
alike on hills and in valleys; but it is most frequent in the west,
where the soil is generally richest and heaviest. It rises to a height
of from sixty to eighty feet, like a tall shaft of rough, grey marble,
and from its top springs a great tuft of green leaves. Its peculiar
growth does not make it especially valuable as a shade tree, but an
avenue of palms is unequalled in its impressive beauty. Of its uses in
other respects an inventory can scarcely be made. Its roots are said to
have medicinal virtues. The stem of its leaves, or _yagua_, often six
feet in length, is like a thin board and can be used as a dinner plate
by cutting it into shape; it may be folded like stiff paper when wet;
and is bent into a _catana_, or basin, or a pot, in which food may be
boiled, and there is sufficient salt in the wood to make the food
palatable; it serves also as a basket for carrying farm products; it is
said a dozen _catanas_ will produce a pound of salt. The seed of the
royal palm furnishes an excellent "mast" for fattening hogs. Good
weather-boarding is made from its trunk, and the lumber may also be made
into plain furniture; its leaves form the roofs of houses; fine canes
are made from the hard outside shell, which may be polished like metal;
the bud of the tuft is a vegetable food much like cauliflower in taste,
and is eaten raw and cooked; and hats, baskets, and even cloth may be
made from its leaves and fibre. What further uses may be found for it,
future Yankee ingenuity will develop.
Of the other palms, the guano and yarey are valuable for their fibre,
from which very fine hats and baskets are made for export; the guano de
cana produces the vanilla-bean parasite and makes the best roofing
material; the cocoanut palm is another variety, probably better known
abroad by its product than any other; the guano de costa is noted for
its elastic and waterproof wood.
Mahogany is the most valuable wood for export, although Cuban cedar is
probably better known, because so much more of it is shipped to the
United States; for example, in 1894, a good year, 12,051 mahogany logs
were received here, and 106,545 cedar logs. Cuban mahogany is the most
valuable known in the market. The common variety is worth from $110 to
$150 per 1000 feet, and the bird's-eye, or figured mahogany, commands
almost any price. Ordinary prices for it run from $400 to $600 per 1000
feet, with more than double that for fancy varieties. Mahogany cutting
in Cuba is done in the most primitive fashion and under numerous
difficulties, and thus far it has been carried on in only the easily
accessible places, leaving millions of feet yet standing in the dense
forests of the interior. To begin with, the mahogany tree does not grow
in groups, but takes its stand alone, a very monarch of the forest. Here
it is found by the hunter, who sights its peculiar foliage from his
lookout in some tall tree. Noting all the landmarks, he climbs down and
cuts a path through the jungle to his prize, "blazing the way" for his
companions. The trees are often large, sometimes thirty feet in
circumference, and when they are very wide at the roots, the cutters
build rude platforms of poles or saplings, called "barbecues," around
them, and from these platforms the tree is cut from ten to fifteen feet
up the trunk. Thus are wasted several hundred feet of the finest part of
the wood about the gnarled and curly roots. It is fair to suppose that
there are fortunes to-day in the mahogany "stumpage" of Cuba, and it is
in the most accessible portion of the Island. A day's work for a man is
to cut down two trees of from eight to ten feet in circumference; two
men will cut three larger trees, and when a giant of a quarter of a
hundred feet around is found, four men take the entire day, which is
very short in the dense jungle, to lay it low. Great care is taken in
felling the tree not to have it split or break and destroy its value.
When the tree is down, all of it that is available for market is
squared. It is hauled either to the nearest stream or to the coast or to
a railroad station, as may be. Three hundred trees, averaging 2000 feet
each, are a fair season's work for an ordinary camp. Notwithstanding the
poor methods of getting out mahogany timber, the shipments to the United
States alone since 1885 have been 235,000 logs, aggregating 35,700,000
feet, valued at upwards of $5,000,000. The following statement of the
shipments since 1894 will show the disastrous effects of the war.
1894 12,051 logs
1895 20,388 "
1896 3,607 "
1897 757 "
1898 (to December) 738 "
[Illustration: MAHOGANY CARRIED BY OXEN.]
Although the mahogany tree in the wilds, when it reaches its best
condition, reaches enormous growth, much of that coming to market is
comparatively small. Some logs are not over two feet in circumference,
but fine logs are five times that. It may be explained that the mahogany
which gives prestige to the Cuban product and which commands the highest
price, comes from the Santiago district. In other parts of the Island
the timber is smaller, but it is noted for its hardness.
The United States is most familiar with Cuban cedar in the form of cigar
boxes. The shipments of cedar since 1885 have exceeded 700,000 logs
containing over 70,000,000 feet, valued at $4,900,000, allowing $70 per
1000 as the average price in the market. Proportionately, cedar has
suffered equally with mahogany by the war, as will be seen by the
following table of shipments:
1894 106,545 logs
1895 61,888 "
1896 28,130 "
1897 4,055 "
1898 (to November) 5,204 "
Of the supposed forty varieties of hard woods in the Cuban forests,
lignum-vitæ is one of the hardest, and it grows fairly plentifully. Not
a great deal of it has been shipped, and it is worth from thirteen to
thirty dollars per ton according to quality. Cuban ebony is a fine wood
growing generally about the Island, and is noted for its blackness. The
majagua is a flourishing tree, forty feet in height at its best, and its
bark produces a fibre which is made into rope equal to much of the hemp
rope now in use. Its wood is also hard and durable. The baria is a
fragrant flowering tree of hard wood, and the granadillo, though only a
small tree of ten to twelve feet in height, produces a wood of great
hardness and fine colour, from which handsome canes are made. The acana,
roble blanco (white), roble amarillo (yellow), jique, and caiguaran are
hard and durable woods, the last being especially useful for fence
posts and other underground work, as it lasts like iron. The cuia is
durable in water, and is useful for dock timber and such purposes. The
caimitillo, yaya, moboa, and cuen are all useful woods in the making of
house frames, furniture, barrel hoops, handles, and carriage shafts. The
jaguey is a peculiar tree, beginning as a parasite on some other, from
which it sends shoots to the ground, where, taking root, they grow up
and choke out the parent tree, taking its place as a tree composed of
innumerable stems or vines. It bears a fruit of which bats are fond, and
they are thick in these trees in May. Its wood is used for
walking-sticks and other small articles.
The ceiba, cottonwood or silk-cotton tree, is a tree of beauty and size,
and of very general growth. It bears a pod filled with beautiful white
silk-cotton, used for stuffing pillows, but too short of fibre for
spinning. One of the notable trees of the world that travellers tell us
of is the great ceiba tree in the Plaza at Nassau, Jamaica. The rubber
tree has been introduced, in addition to some native gum-producing
trees, undeveloped; and though enough was done towards its cultivation
to prove that it could be grown successfully, the usual fate of new
industries in competition with the Spanish style of taxation proved too
much for it, and the business was ruined. The sand box receives its name
from the peculiar rattling of its pods as of dropping sand. The trumpet
tree is so called because of its hollow trunk which produces a
trumpet-like sound. The banyan tree is noticeable along the coasts,
where it generally prevails. One specimen, near Marianao just outside of
Havana, has hung its branches down and taken root until it covers four
or five acres, and is a great curiosity to the traveller.
Rosewood is plentiful in some parts of the Island, also logwood and
other dyewoods, but little or nothing has been done to develop business
in this direction, and they are holding their riches for the new
discoverers from the north who shall explore the Island in good time.
Concerning the practical side of the timber and lumber industry in
Cuba, Mr. Charles M. Pepper, journalist, writes as follows:
"I have heard a hint that some of the Pennsylvanians who know
something of lumber have got ahead of the Michigan and Wisconsin
lumbermen who were expecting to exploit the forests of the
interior. It is of no consequence who does it so long as the
industry is developed. A civil engineer came to me the other day to
ask some points about reaching a certain part of the Island. He
also wanted to know a good land-title lawyer. His plan was to take
the lawyer along and close up purchases of timber lands at once.
The men he represented must have had money or they would not have
indulged in the luxury of a lawyer to accompany them to the wilds
of the interior. But their idea was the right one. Their money is
in Havana banks. When they find timber lands which suit their
purpose they will buy the tracts instead of seeking options and
going back to the United States to sell these rights. Options on
land are hardly known in Cuba. Nobody is likely to make money by
that means.
"As to how far the woods can be cleared by native labor I asked the
opinion of Major Van Leer, the government engineer who is
superintending the construction of Colonel Hecker's little military
railroad across the bay at Guanabacoa. He has had experience in
South America, in Santo Domingo and in other parts of the West
Indies. 'Native labor,' he said, 'will do for most everything
except to boss the job and run the sawmills. They don't know much
about sawmills in these tropical countries, but they quickly learn
how to get out the timber. A few lumbermen from Michigan or
Pennsylvania would be able to handle the work without trouble.'
"The Cubans have already learned how to get out the mahogany,
though only the edges of the forests have been touched. They have
also learned something of sawmills, for in Pinar del Rio I have
seen the tracts which they cleared of pine and cedar.
"These remarks on lumber are a digression. They may be taken at
sawdust value by real lumbermen who have been brought up in
Wisconsin or Pennsylvania. They are made because some folks with
money have come to Cuba to buy timber lands. As long as it was only
promoters forming companies for the exploitation of an unknown
timber country it was not worth mentioning. Other phases of
investment are becoming live topics for the same reason."
Next in value to the lumber trees in Cuba are fruit-bearing trees of an
almost innumerable variety, some of which are universally known in the
United States. With a climate and soil peculiarly adapted to the highest
development of all kinds of tropical fruits little has as yet been done,
and what has been accomplished has not been by the natives. It is said
of too many of them that when they are too lazy to pick the fruit nature
so lavishly bestows upon them, they simply lie down under the trees and
wait for it to fall. Though all kinds of southern fruits grow
luxuriantly, the most valuable commercially thus far developed are
bananas, cocoanuts, lemons, oranges, limes, and pineapples, and the
north-eastern uplands seem to be, by climate and soil, especially
adapted to the highest development. While some degree of progress has
been made in the raising of bananas and cocoanuts, very little has been
done with the other fruits, and the possibilities are wonderful.
The banana, of which millions of bunches are shipped annually, easily
leads its competitors, in point of value. It is scarcely necessary to
comment upon a fruit so well known to every American. As usual with
fruits shipped out of the latitude of their growth, the banana of
commerce is not the banana of its native garden, although it suffers
much less by the transition than other fruits, as it ripens almost as
well off the tree as on. It is much more wholesome for the foreigner in
his own home than in Cuba. The banana has three stages of usefulness: in
the first, roasted or boiled, it is nourishing and a good substitute for
bread; at three-fourths of its growth it is sweeter, but not so
nourishing; and at last it takes on an acid, bitter taste, healthful and
palatable. Bananas of various kinds grow wild in many parts of the
Island, and the poorer people practically live upon them free of cost.
The fig banana, which is much more delicate than the common kind, is
used as a dessert everywhere, and is very fine, but it cannot be
shipped. During the past eight years, shipments of bananas from the four
ports handling the business were as follows:
Baracoa 7,570,547 bunches
Gibara 7,369,193 "
Banes 4,751,000 "
Cabonico 3,118,007 "
[Illustration: CUBAN FRUITS.]
The war wiped out the banana business at Baracoa. The shipments fell
from 1,552,700 bunches in 1894, to 2000 in 1896; but at the other ports
the effect was not so serious. Gibara sent away 1,305,000 bunches in
1896 to 1,671,000 in 1894; Banes, 755,000 in 1896, to 1,028,000 in 1894;
and Cabonico, 550,000 in 1896, to 643,000 in 1894. The plantain, another
variety, may be called the vegetable banana, and is of very general
local use as a food.
Cocoanuts are raised in the same north-eastern section, and Baracoa
handles, or did handle, the business; 27,430,413 were shipped from 1890
to 1896. Here, again, the war laid its heavy hand, and shipments fell
from 6,268,000 nuts in 1893 to 35,000 in 1896. Of cocoanut oil, 4672
barrels were shipped in 1890-1896, with the highest number of barrels,
1500, in 1896, as against 50 barrels in 1893. Shipments of cocoa in
1894-1896 were 2,930,445 pounds.
The cocoanut palm rises to a height of fifty feet or more. The nuts grow
in bunches in the tuft at the top of the trunk; bunches which often
weigh as much as three hundred pounds. The nut furnishes meat and drink
to the hungry native. The milk of the green cocoanut, a most palatable
drink, is said to have valuable medicinal qualities in kidney troubles.
A few other Cuban fruits are oranges, lemons, limes, mangoes, rose
apples, pineapples, pomegranates, _sapotes_, tamarinds, citrons, figs,
custard apples, guavas, and _aguacates_. Cuban oranges are considered by
many experts to be the best and sweetest in the world and they are the
favourite fruit of the better classes of Cubans. One orange and a cup
of coffee in the morning to a Cuban is what a chew of tobacco and a
drink of whiskey is said to be to a Kentuckian. Although little
attention has been paid to the cultivation of oranges, except for local
use, they still constitute the second most valuable fruit import from
the Island. The United States received $530,680 worth from 1887 to 1896.
The imports reached their greatest value ($97,078) in 1887; in 1896 the
imports amounted to $58,612. Cuban oranges are of the seedless variety
and are extremely cheap all over the Island. The possibilities of their
cultivation are limitless, and it is safe to say that within a few years
the production for export will be enormous.
The lemon tree, with its white flower and its varicoloured fruit, is one
of the prettiest trees to be found in Cuba. Its leaves are almost as
fragrant as are those of our lemon verbena. The yield is continuous.
Generally the fruit is of large size, though the finest lemons are
rather small, juicy, thin-skinned, and of full flavour. The larger
variety is thick-skinned. Little or no attention is paid to proper
cultivation and no lemons are exported. The same is true of the lime,
the fruit of which is very largely used, for its therapeutic qualities,
in beverages of various kinds.
The rose apple, or rose fruit, grows on a tree of remarkable symmetry,
with glossy leaves, and is as large as a good-sized peach,
smooth-skinned and cream-coloured; with an odour and taste of attar of
roses, so strong in fact as not always to be agreeable after the first
one is eaten. Cubans use it as flavour for soups and puddings. The
mammee, or mamey, is an odd fruit, growing on high trees. It is as large
as a muskmelon, with a firm texture and somewhat the taste of a peach.
It is of no commercial value. The natives eat it, but it is not
agreeable to foreign palates. The mango, of Oriental origin, flourishes
everywhere in Cuba, growing on a tree similar to our apple tree. It is
the size of a pullet's egg, yellow in colour, grows in long bunches, is
very juicy when fully ripe, and is agreeable to most tastes. The natives
are especially fond of it. Whether it can be grown for shipment remains
to be seen. Dates and figs find a genial climate and a good soil, but so
far they have been left to look out for themselves. The _sapotilla_ is a
fine tree with a bell-shaped white flower, as fragrant as apple
blossoms; and the fruit is the size of a peach, in a rough russet skin.
When ripe it is delicious and melts in the mouth. The custard apple
grows wild and is also cultivated. It is green in colour, tough-skinned,
acid in flavour, and full of small black seeds. It weighs as much as a
pound and a half, and is used for flavouring purposes. The star apple is
so called because, when cut in half, a star appears in the centre. The
meat is green in colour when the fruit is ripe. It is eaten out of the
skin with a spoon, and has the flavour of strawberries and cream. The
guava grows on a tree about like an American cherry tree, and though not
eaten in its natural state, it is of universal use in making the
well-known guava preserves and jelly. The guava has a peculiar odour
which will scent a room for hours after the fruit is cut.
The pomegranate is a bush fruit of handsome appearance not unknown in
American hothouses and in southern localities, and though not at its
best in Cuba, it is a great favourite, taking the place there that
apples take in this country. The well-known citron, with many other
Cuban fruits, is waiting for the care and attention that will make it a
valuable commercial product. The tamarind grows in a pod-shape on a
lofty shade tree, and when ripe is of the consistency of marmalade, and
quite as toothsome. It is a sweet acid, and is used in making a
favourite drink in tropic countries. The tamarind can be exported. The
wild or bitter orange is used for hedges, and the thick skin of the
fruit makes a sweetmeat of some commercial value. The _aguacate_, better
known to us as the alligator pear, is a vegetable fruit and is used as a
salad.
The _guanabana_ is a green-skinned fruit with white meat, and is used
chiefly for making a pleasant drink, although it can be eaten. Somewhat
similar to it is the _anon_, a pulpy and rich fruit in great favour.
Neither of these can be shipped out of the country. The bread-fruit is
not a native Cuban, having been brought in about a hundred years ago.
Little has been done in its cultivation. The cinnamon tree, introduced
by Las Casas, will grow well, but nothing has been done towards its
cultivation.
Humboldt mentions the fact that in the early times the Spaniards made
wine of Cuban wild grapes, but grape culture is not of any value, though
some fine varieties are grown. The water-and muskmelon and cantaloup
grow easily, but they need more care than they have to be equal in
flavour and popularity to those raised elsewhere.
The strawberry grows everywhere and produces two crops yearly, but the
natives are too lazy to give it any attention. Strawberry culture in
Cuba could be successfully carried on to supply the early markets of the
United States. The zapote is a fruit of brown colour similar to our
apple, and is not edible until it has rotted.
Last but not least is that delightful fruit, the pineapple. There are
several varieties growing wild in Cuba and cultivation greatly improves
them. The fruit grows out of a bunch of great leaves, eighteen inches or
two feet from the ground. Each plant bears one apple weighing from one
to four or five pounds. The fruit stem matures in about eighteen months
from planting, bears one apple, and will bear an apple annually after
that for three or four years. The plant is raised from slips. Pineapples
are chiefly grown in the Isle of Pines and Western Cuba. This latter
section, however, takes the lead in all fruit-growing. Thirty-two
thousand pineapples were shipped from Banes in 1894. As yet the Cuban
pineapple is a weak competitor of the Bahama fruit.
[Illustration: COFFEE MILL, SANTIAGO DE CUBA.]
As may be readily seen, fruit-raising in Cuba is yet in its infancy, and
inasmuch as there is no serious competitor in the American market, save
Florida and Porto Rico, there is no reason why the future development
should not be of the vastest proportions. Since the great frost in
Florida, which killed out the orange trees and slaughtered fruit and
vegetables generally, that garden spot has become more or less
unreliable; and as Cuba has never known a killing frost, is not much
farther from the markets than Florida, and has water communication from
all points, it must be accepted that Cuba will control the future fruit
supply of this country, and American capital will not be slow to avail
itself of the opportunities offered.
Authorities differ as to the introduction of coffee, which is not
indigenous to Cuban soil. One sets the date as 1742, and asserts that
the plant was imported from Haiti; another says it came in 1709 from
Martinique; but, whenever it came, coffee culture grew at once into a
flourishing industry, and in time Cuban coffee ranked with the best in
the world. Sugar-growing first lessened its field for profit by showing
larger returns with much less labour and care, always an object of first
consideration with Cubans; and in 1843 and 1846 disastrous hurricanes
destroyed many plantations. Later, Brazil and other coffee-producing
countries came into the market with a product grown under more
favourable circumstances of governmental liberality and new and improved
methods and machinery, and Cuban coffee practically disappeared from
foreign markets. Still there are several hundred coffee plantations,
supplying the local demand, and the business is profitable. The eastern
end of the Island is the coffee-producing section, and 14,048,490 pounds
were raised in the province of Santiago de Cuba in 1890-1896. Shipments
to Spain in 1891-1895 aggregated $322,266. There is no prettier sight
than a coffee plantation. The trees are set out in rows with wide alleys
between, where waggons may pass to receive the crop, and with other
trees, of various kinds, to furnish the shade needed for the proper
development of the berry. The berry or seed grows peculiarly. Instead of
hanging from the boughs of the tree, it gathers in clusters along the
trunk. The seed in its pod resembles some strange kind of parasite.
The harvest extends from July to December; the plant is in the full
glory of its blossom in February. Coffee-raising is a very pleasant
occupation, for the plantations are in the uplands where the climate is
good, and the work is much easier than that required either in sugar-or
tobacco-raising. Naturally the condition of labour is considerably above
the average, and a much better class of workmen is employed. All things
considered, it is fair to conclude that coffee culture will receive more
attention than sugar, tobacco, or fruit from the small farmers who
migrate to Cuba from the United States; and in future the industry will
be restored to the high place it once occupied, now that the burden of
Spanish taxation is removed, and every encouragement will be given to
all who undertake its cultivation.
CHAPTER XXV
TRANSPORTATION
Though it has as poor a system of railway and waggon-road transportation
as could be imagined, Cuba is by nature fitted for the very best system
possible. With a length of over seven hundred miles a main stem of
railway from end to end of the Island would have control of every
shipping point on both coasts, by the extension of short branches to
such of the harbours on either side (at the farthest not more than fifty
miles away) as seem capable of development. With such a system of
railways, the tributary waggon roads could be built at comparatively
small cost, because at no point would long stretches of highway be
necessary.
But no such transportation facilities have been developed in Cuba; and,
although there are about one thousand miles of railway and some few
waggon roads, they are totally inadequate, even if they were of the
highest type. As a rule, they are wretchedly poor, and the Island has
suffered more, industrially, from bad roads than from any other cause
except Spanish domination. Under the new régime, the necessity of a
railway from one end of the Island to the other is so urgent, and its
value as an investment is so apparent, that capital stands waiting to
complete it at the very earliest opportunity.
The waggon-road system of the Island, if there be any system, comprises
a number of government roads, or "royal highways," which are royal
chiefly in name. The best known is the _Camino Central_, or Central
Road, extending from Havana to Santiago de Cuba, a distance of about
six hundred miles. Most of it is little better than a very bad specimen
of "dirt road," and none of it is _calzada_, or paved road (turnpike),
except in the immediate vicinity of the better class of towns through
which it passes. It has branches to the north and south, usually worse
than the parent road. It is the national turnpike of Cuba, navigable
only by mules in the wet season. It is said these sagacious creatures
know the road so well that in particularly bad places they get out and
walk along the stone walls by the roadside. Of the paved roads, or
_calzadas_, other than mere local roads, leading out of the towns a
short distance into the country, one from Coloma to Pinar del Rio is
fifteen miles in length; one, the Western _Calzada_, from Havana to San
Cristobal, sixty miles; Havana to Bejucal, the Southern _Calzada_,
fifteen miles; Batabano to the beach, two miles and a half; Havana to
Güines, the South-eastern _Calzada_, thirty miles; Havana to Santa Maria
del Rosario, fifteen miles; Luyano to Guanabacoa, twelve miles; Nuñez to
La Canoa, twenty-six miles; San Cristobal to Pinar del Rio, the
South-western _Calzada_, thirty miles; Pinar del Rio to Colon, fifteen
miles. This list includes all the roads in the Island, except those
local outlets before mentioned, of which, though some are really good
roads, the most are in bad repair.
Of the country roads, known as "dirt roads" in our country, Cuba has
specimens which, but for the patient mule, would not for weeks during
the rainy season feel the weight of a passenger; and even the mule is
barred at times. There is a legend to the effect that once upon a time a
mule kicked over a Spanish saint, and, as a penance, he was sent to
serve as a beast of travel on Cuban roads. Inasmuch as the mule was the
only possible carrier for these roads, and as the worse the mud the
greater would be his penance, it came to be deemed sacrilege by the
pious Spaniards to improve the dirt roads of Cuba. Hence their
condition. These roads are really not roads; they are nothing better
than unpaved strips of the public domain in its natural state; in the
wet season they are impassable by reason of the mud, and in the dry
season are impossible by reason of the dust. Travellers who have tried
these roads say they are worse than the yellow fever, because they are
more lingering.
[Illustration: A CONVOY IN THE HILLS.]
Of wheeled vehicles on Cuban roads, the heavy, wooden-wheeled, primitive
style, slow-going ox-and mule-carts take precedence as freighters, and
for passenger transportation the _volante_ (flyer) takes rank of all
others. Indeed, no other vehicle would be possible on many of the roads,
not only because modern carriage building has not devised a vehicle
strong enough to stand the strain, and light enough to be hauled, but
because endurance in any of them for any distance would be impossible.
The _volante_, drawn by one, two, or three horses, according to the
exigencies of the highways, is the only possible form of vehicular
travel. This vehicle consists of a two-seated bed, swung low on leather
straps from the axle of two very large wheels, very wide apart, with
shafts fifteen feet long. This peculiar gearing relieves the jolting,
removes the danger of upsetting, and makes _volante_ riding really
endurable on rough roads, and a languorous luxury where the roads are
good and meander among the waving palms and tropical vegetation of the
gently rolling valleys.
The only street railways are to be found in Puerto Principe, where a
short mule motor line exists, and in Havana, which has about
twenty-seven miles of track, say about one hundred miles less than a
city of over 200,000 population should have. Its power is principally
horse, one route steam, and although it is badly managed, poor in
service, and always in bad condition, its annual receipts are about
$500,000. Under the new régime the opportunities for investment of
American capital in street-railway building will be especially
excellent, not only in the city of Havana, but in most of the towns of
the Island. In the same field, on a more extended scale, will be the
development of trolley lines through the interior, to take the place of
the miserable roads which serve to retard the progress of the Island.
There are, in round numbers, one thousand miles of steam railroad in
Cuba, almost all of which is standard gauge, and the most of which is
owned and controlled by English and Spanish companies. There is no great
central system; the lines are independent, short roads. The leading
combination is the United Railways Company, with five lines out of
Havana: (1) to Matanzas, fifty-five miles; (2) to Batabano, thirty-six
miles; (3) to Guanajay, thirty-five miles; (4) to La Union,
seventy-seven miles; (5) to Jovellanos, eighty-eight miles; a parallel
line runs between Matanzas and Empalme, joining the line again at
Güines. These lines are in the main well built and ballasted, having
steel rails, stone culverts, and iron bridges, and they pass through
rich sections of agricultural and grazing country.
The second in importance is the Western Railway, running to Pinar del
Rio, 106 miles, and traversing the famous Vuelta Abajo tobacco district.
The line next in importance is the Cardenas and Jucaro Railway,
extending from Cardenas to Santa Clara, 110 miles, with branches to
Montalvo from Jovellanos, twenty-seven miles; to Aguada from Cardenas,
fifty-nine miles, to Itabo, thirteen miles; from Artemisal to Macagua,
seventeen miles. These lines traverse a rich agricultural country,
chiefly devoted to sugar-growing.
[Illustration: A CUBAN VOLANTE.]
The Matanzas Railway, from Matanzas to Cumanayagua, seventy-three miles,
is a well-built road, through a rich sugar district. The Navajas-Jaguey
branch extends from the main line at Montalvo, twenty-five miles, to
Murga in the interior. The Sagua la Grande Railway extends from Concha,
the seaport of Sagua, to Cruces, forty-eight miles, where it connects
with the Cienfuegos and Santa Clara Railway. This is a generally
stone-ballasted road through a rich agricultural and fruit-growing
section. The Cienfuegos and Santa Clara Railway extends from Cienfuegos
to Santa Clara, forty-two miles. A portion of the country along the
line is rough, but there are many fine sugar farms. The Caibarien
Railway Company has a local line extending to Placetas, thirty-three
miles. The Puerto Principe and Nuevitas Railway, forty-five miles in
length, connects Puerto with Nuevitas, its seaport. This railroad has
paid the extraordinary dividends of fifteen to twenty per cent. The
Guantanamo Railway is a profitable road, four miles long, connecting
Guantanamo with Caimanera, its seaport. The Marianao Railway is a
suburban line, eight and a half miles long, connecting Havana with
Marianao and La Plaza. It carries about 800,000 passengers annually at a
thirty-cent fare. The Regla and Guanabacoa Railway is a local line, two
and a half miles long, connecting the two towns, and is owned by the
proprietor of one of the ferries between Regla and Havana. It has
valuable terminal facilities in Regla. The Encrucijada Railway extends
from Sitiecito, on the main stem of the Havana line, to Encrucijada, a
distance of twenty miles, through a rich sugar and stock district. The
San Cayetano and Viñales Railway is a two-and-a-half-foot gauge road,
fifteen miles long, from the port of San Cayetano to Viñales. The
Casilda and Fernandez Railway extends from the seaport of Trinidad to
Fernandez, twenty-two miles. The Las Tunas Railway extends from Zaza to
Valle, twenty-four miles, and was built to connect Sancti Spiritus with
the seaboard, though it is not yet completed. The Zaza Railway, of
three-foot gauge, is a private road, and parallels the Caibarien United
Railways to Placetas, twenty-one and a half miles. The Jucaro-Morón
Railway is a military road on the line of the Jucaro Trocha, connecting
Jucaro on the south coast with Estero on the north, passing through
heavy forests of fine timber for nearly its entire length. The
Gibara-Holguin Railway connects Gibara with Auras, a small town in the
interior, nine and a half miles. It runs through a very rich fruit
district and is intended to extend to Holguin.
Penetrating thirty-three miles into the rich mineral and agricultural
districts to the north of Santiago de Cuba, is the Sabanilla and Maroto
Railway, a well-built standard-gauge road. A short branch extends to El
Caney, famous in war history, and at Morón, twelve miles from Santiago,
a new line branches to the north-east, passing through several
unimportant villages and terminating at Sabanilla, six or eight miles
away. The old line goes to San Luis, thirty-three miles from Santiago,
passing Enramadas, twenty-one miles out; and from this point, or San
Luis, it is proposed to extend the line to Manzanillo, a thriving town
of 9000 people, the seaport for Bayamo and Jiguani, and the centre of a
large lumber and sugar trade, as well as headquarters for the celebrated
Yara tobacco leaf, grown along the Yara River, which empties into the
sea a mile from the town.
The Ponupo Mining and Transportation Company, which is practically the
Juragua Mining Company, an organisation which has done more towards the
industrial development of Eastern Cuba than all other agencies combined,
proposes to assume all the responsibility and expense of building,
equipping, and running a first-class road from Santiago to Manzanillo, a
distance of 110 miles. Leaving Enramadas, or San Luis, the road will
pass through the towns and villages of Paso del Corralillo, Palma
Soriano, Arroyo Blanco, Fray Juan, Baire Abajo, Las Piedras, Jiguani,
Santa Rita, San Antonio, Bayamo, Jucaibana, Barrancas, Jara, Palmas
Altas, and thence to Manzanillo. At each of these points a substantial
station will be built; all bridges will be of iron, and the entire
construction will be on the best lines of modern railway building.
The route extends through an almost undeveloped country, rich in the
possibilities of wealth-producing. Fine grazing lands abound; the soil
in many places is of the finest for cane-growing; much of the territory
is covered with mahogany, cedar, and other hard woods; near Baire are
iron and manganese deposits; at Guisa are thermal springs, famed for
their medicinal virtues; about Bayamo, a city of 15,000 people, there
are coffee and cocoa lands and manganese and zinc deposits; eight miles
from Manzanillo are the broad fields where the famous tobacco grows,
known as the Yara leaf, and in the vicinity of the city eight or ten
large sugar plantations are in operation. Several rivers are crossed on
the route, from which a vast water power may be secured for application
to any kind of manufacture, and as the country is virtually new, the
opportunities for settlers are unusually good. The company proposes to
complete the road within five years at a cost of $2,100,000, and the
facts that it has for a long time been successfully conducting the
original road and that it is willing to spend its money in building the
new line, are ample evidence that the road will fill a long-felt want
and be a productive investment. Its construction should be encouraged in
every way consistent with the best interests of all concerned, and that
it will soon be a substantial fact, as well as a long step towards the
consummation of a great trunk line running the entire length of the
Island, goes without saying. The author visited the country along the
line of this road and speaks from his own personal observation.
Generally speaking, these roads are fairly well built, but are in poor
condition, owing to neglect growing out of the war. They are largely
equipped with American locomotives and cars, usually of lighter
construction than those in the United States. Indeed the passenger cars
are built for summer travel, with wicker seats and plenty of
ventilation. While some heavy steel rail is used, sixty to eighty
pounds, there is much lighter rail put down, with the result that riding
on some of the Cuban roads is nearly as painful to the passenger as is
riding on the dirt roads. Fair time is made on the best roads, and the
service is much better than might be expected. The stations of the
railways in the cities are often creditable in architecture and
conveniences, but those in the small towns and the country need to be
improved.
It is more than possible that an earlier and more noticeable progress in
Cuban railway matters will be made than in any other important
department of industry in the Island. In addition to the railways
herein noted, there are numerous private railways on sugar estates,
ranging from one to forty miles in length. These are chiefly used in
conveying cane to the mill, but in some instances they extend beyond the
limit of the farm and serve a useful purpose in local transportation.
These roads are not elaborately constructed or equipped, but they are
ordinarily satisfactory to the owners and patrons. There are also a
number of short lines in the mining district, connecting the mines with
the seaboard or other shipping point.
What margin of profit there may be in the railroad business of Cuba is
not definitely known, as figures are not always accessible, though ten
per cent. dividends and even higher have not been unheard of in the
past. A table from which calculations may be made is presented below,
covering the railways of the western part of the Island:
Cuba has over 6,500 miles of coast-line, counting all the undulations of
the coast, much of which is practically inaccessible from the outside by
reason of long stretches of low-lying coral reefs; but within these
natural breakwaters what is virtually inland navigation may be and is
carried on by small coastwise vessels of all kinds. There are, however,
many miles of open coast, and land-locked harbours, not excelled
elsewhere, are frequent. There are fifty-four harbours in all. The best
on the north coast are Bahia Honda, Cabanas, Havana, Matanzas, Sagua,
Nuevitas, Gibara, Nipe, and Baracoa; and on the south, Guantanamo,
Santiago de Cuba, Manzanillo, Trinidad, and particularly Cienfuegos,
which has one of the finest harbours in the world. With so favourable a
coast-line, added to the long and narrow shape of the Island, which
brings points in the interior so near to the coasts, transportation by
water is naturally given precedence, and the shipping trade is one of
the most flourishing in the Island. Twelve hundred vessels, steam and
sail, clear from Havana alone every year, while the tonnage of Havana
and eight other ports in 1894 was 3,538,539 tons, carried in 3181
vessels. And yet with such a showing the policy of the Island with
reference to its neighbouring islands has been such that if one wishes
to go from Cuba to a near-by island, say a distance of seventy-five to
one hundred miles, he must first go to New York, and reship to the point
of destination. An account of the lines that connect Cuba with other
countries and the ports of Cuba with one another appears in the
following chapter on navigation.
----------------+-------+-----------------------------------------------------------------
| | TRAFFIC.
|Length +---------+---------+---------+--------+---------+--------+-------
NAME OF ROAD. |in | |Number of| Number |Number |Number | |
|Kilo- |Number of| Locomo- |Passenger|Goods |Passen- |Sugar, |Tobacco,
|metres |Stations.| tives | Coaches.|Waggons.|gers. |Tons. |Tons.
----------------+-------+---------+---------+---------+--------+---------+--------+-------
The Western | | | | | | | |
Railways | | | | | | | |
of Havana, Ld. | 175| 26 | 19 | 20 | 237 | 300,000| 10,000| 10,000
| | | | | | | |
United Railways | | | | | | | |
of Havana and | | | | | | | |
Regla Warehouse,| | | | | | | |
Ld. | 396| 56 | 80 | 73 | 1,738 | 688,000| 150,000| 5,800
| | | | | | | |
Compania del | | | | | | | |
Ferro Carril | | | | | | | |
de Matanzas. | 230| 26 | 47 | 21 | 984 | 292,000| 130,000| ....
| | | | | | | |
Empresa Unida | | | | | | | |
de los C. de | | | | | | | |
H. de Cardenas | | | | | | | |
y Jucaro. | 339| 35 | 49 | 40 | 1,123 | 360,000| 120,000| ....
| | | | | | | |
Compania del | | | | | | | |
Ferro Carril | | | | | | | |
de Sagua la | | | | | | | |
Grande. | 137| 15 | 22 | 25 | 482 | 230,000| 70,000| 2,100
| | | | | | | |
Compania de | | | | | | | |
F. C. de | | | | | | | |
Cienfuegos | | | | | | | |
a S. Clara | 101| 13 | 19 | 28 | 438 | 220,000| 63,000| 1,600
| | | | | | | |
Compania Unida | | | | | | | |
de los F. C. de | | | | | | | |
Caibarien. | 89| 11 | 17 | 24 | 583 | 200,000| 60,000| 2,800
----------------+-------+---------+---------+---------+--------+---------+--------+-------
| 1,467| 182 | 253 | 231 | 5,585 |2,290,000 603,000 22,300
----------------+-------+---------+---------+---------+--------+---------+--------+-------
FISCAL STATEMENT
----------------+------------+-------------+----------+-------+-----------+----------+--------+
| | |Proportion| | | |Interest|
| Products. | Expenses. | of |Number | Share |Loans and | on |
NAME OF ROAD. | | | Expenses.|Shares.| Capital. |Debenture.| Loans |
----------------+------------+-------------+----------+-------+-----------+----------+--------+
| | | | | | | |
The Western | | | | | | | |
Railways | | | | | | | |
of Havana, Ld. | $500,000 | $300,000 | 60% | 60,000| £600,000| £390,000| 6% |
| | | | | | | |
United Railways | | | | | | | |
of Havana and | | | | | | | |
Regla Warehouse,| | | | | | | |
Ld. |2,792,000[1]|1,557,000[18]| 53% |154,000| 1,540,000|1,950,000 | 5% |
| | | | | | | |
Compania del | | | | | | | |
Ferro Carril | | | | | | | |
de Matanzas. | 1,250,000 | 610,000 | 49% | 10,000| $5,000,000| 50,000 | 6% |
| | | | | | | |
Empresa Unida | | | | | | | |
de los C. de | | | | | | | |
H. de Cardenas | | | | | | | |
y Jucaro. | 1,470,000 | 870,000 | 59% | 15,582| 7,791,070| .... | ....
| | | | | | | |
Compania del | | | | | | | |
Ferro Carril | | | | | | | |
de Sagua la | | | | | | | |
Grande. | 700,000 | 350,000 | 50% | 6,000| 3,000,000| 6,400 | 7% |
| | | | | | | |
Compania de | | | | | | | |
F. C. de | | | | | | | |
Cienfuegos | | | | | | | |
a S. Clara | 600,000 | 400,000 | 66% | 5,000| 2,500,000| $795,000|7 and 8%|
| | | | | | | |
Compania Unida | | | | | | | |
de los F. C. de | | | | | | | |
Caibarien. | 450,000 | 310,000 | 69% | 4,542| 2,271,124| 285,000| 7% |
----------------+------------+-------------+----------+-------+-----------+----------+--------+
| | | | | £2,140,000|£2,396,400| |
| $7,762,000 | $4,397,000 | 56% |255,124+-----------+----------+ |
| | | | |$20,562,194|$1,080,000| |
----------------+------------+-------------+----------+-------+-----------+----------+--------+
[Illustration: CUBAN MULE CART.]
Notwithstanding the dangers of navigation among the keys, there are only
nineteen lighthouses on the entire coast, or one for every three hundred
and fifty miles, a scarcity that is too dangerous to be allowed to
continue. Many of the harbours are badly neglected, being permitted to
fill up with sediment; and where there is one good wharf, well
conditioned and adequate to the demands upon it, there are a hundred
which are not so. In this respect improvement is greatly needed, and
American capital should make it.
Although Cuba possesses hundreds of running streams, generally known as
rivers, the narrowness of the Island necessarily curtails their length,
and the longest, the Cauto, is but one hundred and fifty miles from its
source to the sea. Others are considerably shorter than the Cauto; many
of them are scarcely more than estuaries putting in from the ocean. The
Cauto is navigable for light-draught boats over about six miles of its
course, and some of the others will permit short navigation by light
craft. The usefulness of these streams as means of communication and
traffic with the sugar, tobacco, and other farms of the interior, and
with the timber districts, may be greatly enhanced by proper attention
from modern engineers and a more extensive acquaintance with River and
Harbour Appropriations legislation.
The lakes of the Island, which are numerous, are usually small, and if
they are used at all for transportation purposes, it is by hunters and
pleasure seekers, in canoes and small boats; though where it is possible
to utilise them in rafting timber it is done.
[Illustration: A CURVE ON THE YAGUAJAY RAILROAD.]
As to the extent of the telegraph lines of Cuba, figures vary from
2300 to 2500 miles, but the latest Spanish report is to the effect that
there are 2300 miles, with 153 offices, doing a business of 360,000
public messages a year. The lines have been controlled by the
Government, and telegraphing has not been popular in Cuba, owing to the
strict and annoying censorship of the Spanish authorities.
There are about one thousand miles of submarine cable connecting Cuban
towns; the International Ocean Telegraph Company has a line from Havana
to Florida, connecting with the Western Union Telegraph Company; the
Cuba Submarine Telegraph Company has a line from Havana to Santiago and
Cienfuegos; the West India and Panama Telegraph Company connects Havana
with Santiago, Jamaica, Porto Rico, the Lesser Antilles, and the Isthmus
of Panama; the French Submarine Cable Company connects Havana with
Santiago, Haiti, Santo Domingo, Venezuela, and Brazil. Nearly all of
these cables were cut by the Americans during the war.
The telephone system of Cuba, like the telegraph, is in Government
hands, with the exception of the lines in Havana, which are leased by a
private company, the Red Telefonica de la Habana. Telephones have been
in use for some time, and they exist in many of the towns, but their use
through the interior has not become general, for the long-distance
telephone is scarcely known as yet, and American capital may have the
opportunity of introducing and developing the system without fear of
Government interference to control the business.
It may be said, in explanation, in concluding this chapter, that the
statistics herein presented refer to the time before the
Hispano-American war, which naturally affected steamships, railways, and
telegraphs more than any other business of the Island, owing to their
semipublic character. Very radical changes may be made in the conditions
hitherto existing, but it is safe to say that those changes will result
in a vast improvement and extension of all these public conveniences and
essentials to progress.
CHAPTER XXVI
NAVIGATION
Navigation, with Cuba, may be considered under three division:
_a_--Navigation between Cuba and foreign countries other than the United
States.
_b_--Navigation between Cuba and the United States, including Porto
Rico.
_c_--Navigation between Cuban ports.
The most delicate problem connected with merchant shipping in Cuba
during the military administration of the affairs of the Island by the
United States, has been the regulation of the coasting trade. Under
Spanish administration, transportation by sea from one port in the
Island to any other Cuban port was restricted to vessels under the
Spanish flag and of Spanish register. Some modification of this
regulation became necessary immediately upon American occupation, for,
after Spanish evacuation of the Island, the obligatory display of the
Spanish flag in Cuban ports would have been obviously intolerable to the
residents. Three courses were open to the authorities of the United
States: first, the coasting trade of the Island could have been thrown
open to the vessels of all nations without reserve; second, the coasting
trade of the Island could have been restricted to vessels of the United
States; and third, a temporary expedient could have been employed which
would reserve the adoption of a navigation policy for Cuban decision,
when an independent government shall have been established and its flag
and sovereignty recognised.
The first course involved the most radical departure from both the
policy which always has obtained in Cuban ports and the policy which has
always obtained in the United States, which had undertaken to restore
stable government on the Island. Had the coasting trade of the Island
been thrown open temporarily to vessels of all nations, a reversal of
that policy in the future could be effected only with difficulty and
would certainly provoke complaint from commercial nations, eager to
insist that a temporary privilege, be it enjoyed for never so short a
time, becomes a vested right. An independent Cuban government will
undoubtedly decree that the coasting trade of the Island shall be
confined to vessels of the Cuban flag. Such a measure is the easiest and
quickest method to begin the creation of a national merchant marine,
which will be a necessity to the insular republic. It is equally certain
that in the event of the ultimate annexation of Cuba to the United
States, the coasting trade of the Island will be confined to vessels of
American register, in pursuit of the traditional policy of this country.
The first course open was accordingly rejected.
The proposition to confine the coasting trade of the Island to vessels
of American register was entirely out of consonance with the declared
purposes of the United States in going to war with Spain. That
proposition would, not unnaturally, have been construed as notice to the
world and to the Cubans themselves that it was our purpose to exploit
the Island for the benefit of our own trade, a purpose entirely opposite
to the views which have inspired the Administration and the great mass
of the American people throughout all the stages of discussion and
action upon the Cuban situation. Military exigencies made it necessary
to provide that American vessels should engage in carrying, from one
port in Cuba to another, in order to move men, supplies, and mails. In
the restoration of trade to its ordinary channels, the employment of
some shipping to fill the place vacated by Spanish shipping withdrawn
was a necessity; and the shipping of the nation which had liberated and
assumed tutelage of the Cubans was properly drawn upon for this
purpose. More than this the authorities of the United States have not
asked of the Island in the way of navigation privileges; less than this
could not have been taken consistently with the purpose to restore order
and normal trade conditions, necessarily preliminary to the
establishment of an independent government.
The regulation actually adopted and in force since the 1st of January
contains the germs of a Cuban merchant marine. It is provided that any
resident of Cuba, who owns a vessel, no matter where built, or under
what flag, upon renouncing his allegiance to the King of Spain or any
other foreign prince, state, or sovereignty whatever, may obtain from
the military authorities of the United States in Cuba a permit entitling
the vessel to engage in the coasting trade of the Island. It is thus
within the power of any resident of the Island, who purposes to become a
citizen of the future republic, to own as many ships as he has the money
and inclination to buy. For the time being these ship-owners occupy the
anomalous position of being men not without a country, but without an
established form of government to which they can take allegiance. How
long this anomalous condition shall continue rests to a very great
extent with the Cubans themselves. Their shipping, too, is virtually
without a flag. Yet in the designation of a distinctive signal--the blue
flag with a white union--the authorities of the United States have more
closely consulted historic and heraldic proprieties than did the Cubans
themselves. The colours chosen are those adopted in different forms by
Argentina, Uruguay, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua, the former
Spanish colonies on the Atlantic which won and have maintained
independence. The cynical student of history cannot point to a lone
star, and croak that we have imposed it on Cuba as a sign that the
history of Texas is to be repeated.
[Illustration: THE HAVANA FLOATING DOCK.]
The same just policy, the same desire to consult the probable wishes of
a future independent government, the same willingness to forego
selfish advantages, have characterised the formulation of navigation
regulations for the foreign trade as for the coasting trade of Cuba.
Under the war power, as construed by the courts, the President could,
without doubt, have so framed regulations as to divert forcibly to the
United States, and to vessels of the United States, a large share of the
commerce of the Island which now seeks other channels. Direct taxation
is not the only form in which commerce can be made to pay its
contributions toward the expenses of war. Disregarding narrow advice to
create opportunities for American profit out of the Cuban situation, the
President and his advisers have so framed the navigation regulations for
foreign trade that not only is there no discrimination among nations in
trade with Cuba, but also the opportunities for trade between the Island
and Spain are greater even than they were under Spain's own rule; and
the navigation and port charges imposed on ships and their cargoes have
been materially reduced.
These are the general features of the navigation policy which has been
in force in Cuba since the 1st of January. It is believed that the
history of colonies and dependencies furnishes no other instance where
the governing power has asked less for itself, has sought more carefully
to furnish every opportunity for the development of an independent
mercantile marine and the extension of an independent foreign trade. The
people of Cuba have it easily within their power to have within a year a
national shipping as great as that of Argentina after ninety years of
independence.
Many ships, foreign and coastwise, ply between the ports of Cuba and
every port of the world, especially American ports, and a number of
lines have been long established, the most prominent of these being the
New York and Cuba Mail Steamship Company, better known as the "Ward
Line," from its founder, James E. Ward. This company, which is
incorporated under the laws of the State of New York, was organised in
July, 1881. Its authorised capital stock is $2,500,000, of which
$2,200,000 has been issued and paid in. At the time of organisation, the
following steamers were bought of James E. Ward & Co., and operated:
_Newport_ 2735 tons _Niagara_ 2265 tons
_Saratoga_ 2820 " _Santiago_ 2359 "
The following steamers have been acquired since organisation:
_Cienfuegos_ 2332 tons _Seguranca_ 4115 tons
_City of Washington_ 2684 " _Seneca_ 2729 "
_City of Alexandria_ 2915 " _Vigilancia_ 4115 "
_Yumuri_ 3497 " _Matanzas_ 3094 "
_Orizaba_ 3497 " _Havana_ 5667 "
_Yucatan_ 3525 " _Mexico_ 5667 "
with a number of auxiliaries, etc., in list hereafter.
The following have been lost and sold:
_City of Alexandria_ Lost
_Cienfuegos_ "
_Newport_ Sold to Pacific Mail Steamship Company
_Yumuri_ Taken by United States Government
_Niagara_ Sold to United States Government
The _Newport_ was sold in March, 1886, to the Pacific Mail Steamship
Company.
In June, 1888, the vessels owned by the Alexandria Line, which operated
steamers to Cuba and Mexico, were purchased and added to the fleet. The
vessels were the _City of Alexandria_, lost in 1893, and the _City of
Washington_, which was thoroughly overhauled, renovated, and in which
were installed new boilers and engines in 1889. In 1890 the _Yumuri_,
_Orizaba_, and _Yucatan_, all three of about equal dimensions and
tonnage, were built and placed in the service. In July, 1893, the
_Seneca_ was purchased of the Old Dominion Steamship Company and added
to the fleet. In January, 1894, the _Seguranca_ and the _Vigilancia_,
sister ships, built in 1890 for the Brazil Line, were purchased and
added to the fleet. In 1897 contracts were awarded to the Messrs. Cramp
& Sons, of Philadelphia, for the construction of two vessels of over
5000 tons each. One of the vessels, the _Havana_, has just been
completed, made 18.46 knots on her trial trip in January, 1899, and is
now in commission. The other, the _Mexico_, will be soon launched,
completed, and placed on the regular route. Both of these vessels are
built under the provisions of the Subsidy Act of March 3, 1891; both are
of the second class, available as auxiliary cruisers, etc., and exceed
in speed and tonnage the requirements of such class. In August, 1898,
the Spanish steamer _Guido_, captured during the war with Spain, was
purchased of the Government, renamed the _Matanzas_, and, under American
register, placed in the service as an auxiliary steamer. In April, 1898,
the steamer _Niagara_ was purchased by the Government for use as an
auxiliary to the navy, and soon after the steamer _Yumuri_ was taken by
the Government under the provisions of the Subsidy Act, to be converted
into an auxiliary cruiser.
The company has contracted with the British, Mexican, and United States
Governments for service to and from and between ports in the Bahamas,
Mexico, Cuba, and the United States. The contracts with the United
States were entered into with the Post-Office Department in 1892. These
contracts call for regular service of ships, which under test come under
the provisions of the Act of March 3, 1891, as third-class ships, to
ports in Cuba and Mexico. Under the provisions of the Act above cited,
American crews are employed and certain conditional requirements
fulfilled. This especial service has been maintained uninterruptedly
except during the Spanish war.
In addition to its regular express service, the company operates a fleet
of modern freight and combined freight and passenger steamers, which
touch at the principal ports of the various routes, according to the
demand of traffic. The line maintains a service on each of the following
routes:
New York to Havana, thence to Tampico, and return, via Havana, to
New York.
New York to Tuxpan, via Havana, Progreso, and Vera Cruz, returning
via Frontera, Campeche, Progreso, and Havana to New York.
New York to Nassau, thence to Guantanamo, Santiago, Manzanillo and
Cienfuegos, returning via Santiago and Nassau.
The sailing on these routes is on fixed schedule, as follows:
To Havana and Tampico Saturdays
To Havana and Mexico Wednesdays
To Nassau and South Coast of Cuba alternate Thursdays
Additional sailings are frequently made to the above ports by express
ships, and it is contemplated to make such additional sailings fixed
ones, subject to schedule, so that--so far as Cuba hereafter is
concerned--in the near future, the south coast will have at least a
weekly service, and Havana a tri-weekly service of fast express
steamships. The principal ports of call in Cuba have been enumerated.
Other calls are made from time to time when traffic demands it.
The company operates, in addition to its Atlantic fleet, a number of
steamers of suitable tonnage and speed to act as feeders to and from
smaller ports in the Gulf of Mexico. These vessels act in combination
with the larger ones of the fleet with which they connect, and in
addition maintain a coastwise service.
Lighterage plants at Havana, Santiago, Vera Cruz, Tampico, Progreso, and
tugs at the principal ports, complete the list of floats, the property
of the company. Their auxiliary vessels are the following:
_Hidalgo_ 1128 tons _Atlantica_ (transfer)
_Cometa_ 1151 " _Delenfeu_ (tug)
_Manteo_ 584 " _Moran_ (tug)
_Bailey_ 238 " _Francke_ (tug)
The rates may vary, but slightly. The present rates, or rates now in
force, are named in following tariff.
[Illustration: A CUBAN FERRY.]
EFFECTIVE FROM OCTOBER 17, 1898
First Class. First Class, Second Class.
Excursion.
To Havana $40 $ 70 20
" Progreso 55 95 35
" Vera Cruz 60 105 35
" Tuxpan 65 115 45
" Tampico 60 105 35
" Campeche 75 130 45
" Frontera 75 130 45
" Laguna 75 130 45
" Mexico City 65 115 45
" Guantanamo 60 100 30
" Santiago de Cuba 60 100 30
" Manzanillo 60 100 30
" Cienfuegos 60 100 30
" Nassau 40 70 20
These rates are for rooms on main deck. An extra charge of five dollars
per berth will be made for all hurricane-deck rooms taken in any
direction. "Stop-over" privilege, five dollars for each port.
Children 3 to 12 years of age, half rates
Children under 3 years of age, free
Servants accompanying employers pay half rates.
Another leading line is the Companía Transatlántica Español (Spanish
Transatlantic Company), whose list of ships, taken from the British
Lloyd's Register, 1898-99, including those vessels sailing to and from
Spanish ports as well, is as follows:
Net Net
Tonnage. Tonnage.
_Alfonso XII_ 3418 _Columbia_ 2299
_Alfonso XIII_ 3585 _Covadonga_ 3523
_Alicante_ 2865 _Don Alvaro de Basan_ 2898
_Antonio Lopez_ 2238 _Fernando Po_ 151
_Buenos Aires_ 3765 _Habana_ 1573
_Cataluña_ 2247 _Isla de Luzon_ 2580
_Ciudad Condal_ 1616 _Isla de Mindanao_ 3036
_Ciudad de Cadiz_ 1845 _Isla de Panay_ 2460
_Colon_ 3935 _Joaquin Piélago_ 390
_Larache_ 1009 _P. de Satrustegui_ 5090
_Léon XIII_ 3950 _Rabat_ 514
_Manuel L. Villaverde_ 951 _Reina Maria Cristina_ 3634
_Mexico_ 1366 _Reina Mercedes_ 2074
_Mogador_ 323 _San Agustin_ 1554
_Montserrat_ 2306 _San Francisco_ 1672
_Monte Video_ 3673 _San Ignacio de Loyola_ 2299
_Normannia_ 3054
This line runs its steamers from New York to Havana direct on the 10th,
20th, and 30th of each month. The Compania Transatlantica, which has
always manifested a progressive spirit, will, as soon as the differences
in the Spanish-American war are definitely settled, immediately begin
the extension of its lines in the development of commerce between the
West Indies and the Americas, and will seriously entertain the
establishment of a line connecting the Philippines with San Francisco;
and, as it has a sufficient number of steamers to meet the requirements,
it will be prepared to inaugurate the service at once, especially if the
United States Government will enter into an arrangement to grant it a
mail service. This additional service will in no-wise affect the service
between Spain and Cuba, which must continue for at least ten years,
under a contract entered into with the Spanish Government.
A third company is the Munson Steamship Line, which carries on an
extensive and general transportation business in chartered steamers.
Every Saturday a ship carrying passengers and freight leaves New York
for Cuban ports, and others go at irregular intervals, carrying freight
to every port of any importance in Cuba. The Munson vessels go from
Philadelphia and Baltimore, carrying coal; others carry cattle from
Mobile, Galveston, and other American ports, and a steamer goes once a
month from Halifax. This line does the bulk of the cattle business to
Cuba. Its general offices are in New York.
There are a few unimportant, irregular lines, in addition to the three
leading lines named, but they carry freight chiefly, and take their
cargoes as they can get them. A large number of "tramp steamers" do
business between various American and Cuban ports, coming and going as
their work demands. In addition to ships from American ports, there are
lines from Havana to Spanish ports; a monthly steamer between Vera Cruz
and Southampton calling at St. Thomas and Havana; a French line runs
from St. Nazaire to Havana, stopping at Santander; lines from Havana to
Sisal and Vera Cruz; from Havana to Colon, calling at Nuevitas and
Gibara; from Havana to Porto Rico, calling at all Cuban ports on the
north coast; a French line from Havana to Vera Cruz and New Orleans; a
German line from Havana to Hamburg; and the little steamers _Olivette_
and _Mascotte_ of the Plant Line, best known to Americans, who go from
Tampa to Havana twice a week.
In 1894, 1309 foreign vessels, having a tonnage of 1,794,597 tons,
entered the port of Havana. Of these 603 were American and 409 Spanish,
with a tonnage, respectively, of 776,229 and 677,907. Coastwise steamers
are not included in these figures. These are numerous, and the service
between Havana and other Cuban ports is much better than might be
expected, due very largely to the fact that communication by road and
rail between Cuban towns is so far below the standard, and in many
instances entirely lacking by rail and practically lacking by highways.
Since the occupation of Cuban ports by the United States authorities
amended customs and port regulations have been adopted to meet the
changed conditions of affairs in the Island. The following port
regulations are taken from the latest report on the subject issued by
the Treasury Department:
"CUSTOMS PORTS: The port of Habana has been duly designated as the
chief customs port of Cuba, and the following have been declared to
be subports, viz.: Matanzas, Cardenas, Cienfuegos, Sagua,
Caibarien, Santiago, Manzanillo, Nuevitas, Guantanamo, Gibara,
Baracoa, Trinidad, Santa Cruz, Zaza, and Batabano, in the Island of
Cuba, and the officer of the Army duly assigned to each of said
ports as collector, will have general jurisdiction of the
collection of customs at such ports respectively. Every collector
stationed at a subport will make weekly reports to the collector at
Habana of all transactions at his subport, with copies of all
entries of merchandise duly certified, and all moneys collected at
subports must be deposited with the duly designated officer, whose
receipt therefor must be taken in duplicate. Any questions arising
at any subport will be referred to the collector at Habana for his
decision, from which there shall be no appeal, except in such cases
as he may refer for decision to the Secretary of War.
"ENTRANCE AND CLEARANCE OF VESSELS: Every vessel shall, on arrival,
be placed under customs control until duly discharged. Passengers
with no dutiable property in their possession may be permitted to
land without detention.
"If, upon the unlading of any cargo, there shall be found goods,
wares, or merchandise not duly declared on the manifest, such
articles in excess shall be required to pay additional duties of 25
per cent. on the regular duties. Should any packages or articles
named on the manifest be missing on the arrival of the vessel, the
latter shall pay a penalty of $1 per ton measurement, unless such
deficiency shall be satisfactorily explained or accounted for.
"Within twenty-four hours after the arrival of any vessel the
master must, under a penalty for failure of $1 per ton registry
measurement, produce to the proper officer a manifest of her cargo,
with the marks, numbers, and description of the packages and the
names of the respective consignees, which manifests, if the vessel
be from a port in the United States, shall be certified by the
collector of the port of sailing. If the vessel be from any other
than a United States port, her manifest must be certified by the
United States consul or commercial agent at such port; if there be
no United States consul or commercial agent at such port, then by
the consul of any nation at peace with the United States; and the
register of the vessel shall, upon her arrival in Cuba, be
deposited with the consul of the nation to which she may belong, if
any there be; otherwise with the collector of the port, until the
master shall have paid such tonnage taxes and other port charges as
may be due under these regulations.
[Illustration: PIER OF THE JURAGUA IRON CO., LTD.]
"No vessel shall be allowed to clear for another port until all her
cargo shall be landed or accounted for. All goods not duly entered
for payment of duty within ten days after their arrival in port
shall be landed and stored, the expense thereof to be charged
against the goods.
"Prior to the departure of any vessel from any of the ports herein
designated, the master shall deposit with the proper officer a
manifest of the outward cargo of such vessel, specifying the marks
and numbers of packages, a description of their contents, with
names of shippers and consignees, with a statement of the value of
each separate lot; also names of passengers and their destination.
A clearance will then be granted to the vessel. No prohibited or
contraband goods shall be exported.
"TONNAGE DUES: At all ports or places in Cuba there shall be levied
the following tonnage dues, until further orders:
Per
Net Ton.
(_a_) On entry of a vessel from a port or place not in Cuba $0.20
(_b_) On entry of a vessel from another port or place in Cuba, engaged at
time of entry in the coasting trade of Cuba .02
(_c_) The rate of tonnage dues on a vessel which enters in ballast shall be
one half of the rate imposed by subdivision (_a_) or (_b_), and one
half the tonnage dues imposed on a vessel entering with cargo
shall be refunded if the vessel clears in ballast.
(_d_) A vessel which has paid the tonnage tax imposed on entry from a
port or place not in Cuba shall not be liable to tonnage tax on
entering another port or place in Cuba during the same voyage
until such vessel again enters from a port or place not in Cuba.
(_e_) The tonnage tax on entries of a vessel from a port or place not in
Cuba shall not exceed in the aggregate $2 per net ton in any one
year, beginning from the date of the first payment.
The tonnage tax on entries of a vessel from other ports or
places in Cuba, engaged at the time of entry exclusively in the
coasting trade of Cuba, shall not exceed 40 cents per net ton in
any one year, beginning from the date of the first payment.
"The following shall be exempt from tonnage dues:
"A vessel belonging to or employed in the service of the Government
of the United States; or a vessel of a neutral foreign government
not engaged in trade; a vessel in distress; or a yacht belonging to
an organised yacht club of the United States or of a neutral
foreign nation.
"The tonnage of a vessel shall be the net or register tonnage
expressed in her national certificate of registry.
"LANDING CHARGES: The tax of $1 on each ton of merchandise imported
or exported, hitherto imposed as a substitute for tonnage taxes, is
abolished.
"The present exemption of coal from this tax is continued.
"The present export tax of 5 cents per gross ton on ore is
abolished.
"SPECIAL CHARGES AT SANTIAGO:[19] The harbour improvement taxes at
Santiago de Cuba will continue to be levied, as at present, as
follows:
Each steamer entering $8.50
Each sailing vessel entering 4.25
Each ton of cargo landed from a steamer .25
Each ton of cargo landed from a sailing vessel .125
Each ton of coal landed from a steamer .125
Each ton of coal landed from a sailing vessel .10
"COASTING TRADE OF CUBA: To facilitate the occupation and control
of Cuba by the military forces of the United States and the
restoration of order, the laws now in force restricting the
coasting trade of the Island to Spanish vessels are hereby modified
as follows:
"(_a_) Vessels of the United States may engage in the coasting
trade of the island of Cuba.
"(_b_) The officer of the Army of the United States in command at
any port of Cuba in possession of the United States is empowered to
issue a permit to a resident of Cuba who owns a vessel, which shall
entitle such vessel to engage in the coasting trade of the Island:
_Provided_, That the owner and master of such vessel shall upon
oath before such officer entirely renounce and abjure all
allegiance and fidelity to the King of Spain or to any other
foreign prince, state, or sovereignty whatever.
"Such permits shall first be approved by the general in command of
the forces of the United States in Cuba.
"Vessels entitled under this paragraph to engage in the coasting
trade of Cuba shall carry a distinctive signal, which shall be a
blue flag and the union of the flag shall be a white field.
"The form and manner of the issue of permits provided for in this
paragraph shall be prescribed by the Secretary of War."
The following table of distances is given for reference:
Key West to Havana 93 miles
" " " nearest point on Cuban coast 86 "
New York to Havana 1413 "
New Orleans to Havana 475 "
Cape San Antonio to Cape Catoche, Yucatan 125 "
Santiago to Kingston, Jamaica 200 "
Santiago to Greytown (entrance Nicaragua Canal) 700 "
CHAPTER XXVII
EDUCATION AND RELIGION
Whatever the Cuban people may have thought of Spain and her methods, it
is plain that in one regard, at least, the child deemed its mother a
pattern of excellence and followed her example far beyond the
pattern,--and that regard was education. Spain has always been at the
head of the ignorant list among European countries, but Cuba is far
worse, for she has the sloth of climate against her, in addition to
other handicaps, and the people are slow to avail themselves of even
such opportunities as they have. Indeed, the opportunities seem not to
be lacking for a great many, for there are laws for general education,
even compulsory education, and there are schools and colleges; but
neither those for whose benefit the laws were made nor those to whom
their execution is entrusted care to work any harder than is necessary,
and the result is that the proportion of scholars to population,
including all kinds of schools, is as 1 to 40. The rates in the United
States are 1 to 4.39, except in the South, where they are 1 to 8.
Nowhere in rural Cuba does the country schoolhouse prevail as we know it
and feel its influence all over the United States, and possibly, quite
surely indeed, it will never exist there as it does with us; but a great
deal of improvement can be made, and to the 300,000 children of school
age in Cuba who do not yet know their a, b, c's, may be given an
opportunity to get, at least, a little sip at the fountain of learning.
Although the country schoolhouse was entirely absent, in the city there
was a pretence of having so-called "common schools," but their teachers
were usually selected by politicians, and the pay was so small and
precarious that even the political "scum" did not become school-teachers
until every other chance was gone. What these teachers were like may be
guessed at nearly. On the subject of common-school education, Mr.
Charles M. Pepper, in a newspaper letter from Cuba, says:
"It is tolerably clear that military control will not be able to do
much for Cuba in the way of education. The most that can be done
will be to encourage the reopening of municipal schools and to
sustain the local authorities in rigorously enforcing the laws
against truancy. The reconcentration has left large numbers of
children on the streets. After a time, when homes are found for
them, it will be important that they shall go to school. Before
that the various towns will have to get the schools opened and
provide means for keeping them open. That will come when the
municipal revenues again appear, and these revenues will be slow in
making their appearance. As for the teachers, there is little
prospect for those from the United States. It is a common delusion
that the need of Cuba is a school system of which the basis is the
English language. One tongue is all that the mass of the children
can use during their primary schooling, and that is the tongue
which is heard all around them. Reading, writing, and arithmetic
can be taught in Castilian as well as in English. The first two are
taught the easier because in Spanish every syllable is pronounced
as written.
"A large number of young Cubans who have been educated in the
United States are now wondering what they will do to earn a living.
Most of them are thinking of getting office. The best office that
they could seek would be that of schoolmaster. If any educational
system can be provided under which they will find employment, their
energies and their knowledge will not go amiss. Most of them are
full of sentimental patriotism. They want to help raise their
people above the plane to which Spanish rule had degraded the mass
of the inhabitants. The schoolroom is the place in which to do it,
and it is the only place. These educated young Cubans will be
better employed in teaching than in talking politics or in fretting
about the independence of the Island.
"This is said only of the municipal schools. I do not know when a
system of country schools can be established in Cuba. The present
problem is to get what is left of the reconcentrado population back
into homes in the country, and to raising crops which will support
them. Some progress has been made. Next year they may all be back
on their farms and on the plantations. Then it will be possible to
plan schooling for the children of the fields. In the meantime the
education of the few Cuban youths at American colleges does not
solve the question. That is praise-worthy in its way, but the mass
of children in Cuba cannot be transferred in a body to the States,
nor is it desirable that they should be taken away. They have got
to be given their schooling in the midst of the surroundings to
which they are born. That can only be done by planting the
schoolhouse. It will not be a little red one, most likely will not
be painted at all, for the bamboo frames and the palm thatching do
not need to be painted. When the country schoolmaster (or perhaps
under the new conditions it will be the country schoolma'am)
becomes part of the rural life of Cuba the future will no longer be
blank."
While it scarcely seems necessary to comment upon matters of the past,
which will soon undergo such changes as scarcely to be recognisable,
still history is interesting, and a short description of the University
of Havana, the chief educational agency of the Island, its purpose and
its future, by Dr. Joaquin Lastres, will not be inappropriate. It may be
said of the University that it has branches in all the provinces, and
numbered before 1898 about 3000 students, 1800 of whom were in Havana.
Dr. Lastres writes as follows, under date of September, 1898, in Havana:
[Illustration: OLD ARCH OF THE JESUIT COLLEGE, HAVANA.]
"The University of Havana, which is the highest institution of
instruction in the Island of Cuba, has, ever since its foundation
in 1721, had a personality of its own, and consequently it has
never been considered a property, or dependency of the State; but,
like municipalities and deputations, has constituted an
institution, self-supporting as regards the State. Since its
foundation it has occupied buildings that have not been State
property. At the beginning, its own property and income
maintained it; but in 1842, without removing its own judicial
individuality, the State undertook its maintenance in exchange for
the confiscation of its property and income. The _Instituto de 2ª
Enseñanza_ (The Institution of Elementary Instruction) is only a
dependency of the University under the same judicial conception,
owing to its having substituted the old College of the University,
which in its turn was formed of several schools teaching different
branches of learning, which were within the sphere of the
University's jurisdiction at the time of its foundation in 1721.
Consequently, this elementary school has to-day the same judicial
character as the University.
"The property and estate seized by the State in exchange for the
obligation to maintain this institution were numerous and
important; a full statement is to be found in the Treasury
Department of this city. Among the properties may be mentioned
quit-rents in favour of the University, the building occupied by
the old College of Pharmacy, the building occupied by the
University 'Instituto,' the important sums of money delivered to
the State when it undertook the maintenance of the College, and
several other effects. Some of this property has been already
expropriated by the State partially or totally.
"By the law of the 24th of March, 1883, published in the _Gacota de
la Habana_ on the 5th of the following May, it was decided to
construct a new University, the necessary funds to be raised by the
sale of the building occupied by the University and Instituto, the
sale of State property not yet expropriated originally occupied by
the old city walls, provided this property be free of all
incumbrances, the sale of other lands in Havana belonging to the
State not yet disposed of, gifts and subscriptions that may be
obtained for this object by the Governor-General of the Island, and
the amount annually fixed in the budget of the Island as an
appropriation to this end. The subscription was never started, nor
was any appropriation made for it. The same law that assigned the
means of raising the funds declared it a public benefit and liable
to compulsory appropriation.
"The royal decree of the 7th of July, 1883, ordered the
Governor-General of this Island to commence the construction of the
University building, and blocks eight and nine of the old city
walls were chosen by the State architect. The corner-stone of this
building was solemnly laid at 9 o'clock A.M. of the 23d of January,
1884, his Excellency, the Governor-General Don Ignacio-Maria del
Castillo y Gil de la Torre, as President, in the presence of the
authorities, corporations, civil functionaries, and a number of
invited guests. This stone remains in the corner where it was
placed in the grounds chosen for the new University.
"By decree of the 9th of August, 1886, the Botanical Gardens of
this city were ordered to be a dependency of this University, as
they continue to be.
"The scant scientific material of this University, and the valuable
collections of the Havana _Instituto_, and also the modest
appurtenances of the Matanzas Institution are all the exclusive
property of the colleges in which they are, as they have been
acquired by the same and they have the legal right to their
possession.
"The library belongs to the University, as nearly all the books
came from the Pontifical Library; the appropriation made by the
State in the annual budget for the University Library has scarcely
sufficed to provide for its care. A good proportion of the books
are donations of professors and private individuals, and are mostly
valuable acquisitions.
"As all the present furniture of the University is new and has been
paid for with the proceeds of the academical dues of the different
faculties, in other words, with the University funds, it must be
considered as University property. The archives of the secretary's
department referring to the files of those graduated from the
University should be retained as the University has an
individuality of its own, and these documents being purely of a
personal character can have no interest for outsiders. Files of an
administrative character and those relating to examinations and
degrees should certainly be kept in the University archives. Those
professors who decide to remain in Cuba should have their files
kept in the secretary's department of this University; those who
may wish to be changed to some university in Spain, or who may not
renounce the Spanish citizenship, may obtain at their own expense a
certified copy of their files or a certificate of their services
duly legalized, the originals to be kept in the archives of this
University so long as its individuality be retained.
[Illustration: OLD CATHOLIC CHURCH AT LA COPERA.]
"Such titles as may have been given during Spanish sovereignty in
the West Indies should be respected, both in Spain and in Cuba and
Porto Rico, without in any way interfering with such rights as may
be acquired by those obtaining titles given after the cessation of
Spanish sovereignty in Cuba, which will depend upon the laws which
may be applied to both countries in this connection.
"Cuban students, who have commenced their studies in Spanish
universities, whether in Cuba or in Spain, after cessation of
Spanish sovereignty, should be given credit for the courses of
study followed whether in Cuba or in Spain, adapting their future
studies, as much as possible, to any new plans adopted. It would be
well to give a maximum limit of five years to those who may have
commenced their studies under old plans, in which to finish them,
whether such studies be elementary or superior.
"All professors remaining in this Island should have all their
rights respected, including promotions, prizes, and
superannuations, which they may be entitled to, including
_excedencia_. The Spanish sovereignty should also respect the
rights of all professors who may go to other universities of the
kingdom, whatever institution of this Island they may come from in
order of antiquity."
Dr. JOAQUIN LASTRES.
Of more interest and of more future potency, scope, and applicability is
the "Industrial School of Havana," by Director Fernando Aguado y Rico,
who goes into details which are here given in full to show how elaborate
are Spanish educational laws and details of instruction, and how very
little more work in that line will have to be done by whatever American
talent may be called upon to conduct an educational advance along these
and other lines in Cuba. The Director says:
"In regard to the origin of the school, one of the originators
proposed to the city to establish this school, which proposition
was accepted. We first began with night courses and then day and
night classes and some workshops. We have not been able to keep the
workshops going owing to lack of funds, but I think this school is
a nucleus from which to enlarge this work.
"We do not graduate civil engineers from our school, and our aim
is to teach these boys carpentering, mechanical pursuits, and
industrial chemistry, though the laboratories have not yet been
established. There is a great lack of elementary schools here with
industrial applications. This is something like a manual-training
school, and like the one of arts and trades in Paris. I studied
systems in France, Belgium, and the United States, and so far as
possible have applied the best of these systems here. I graduated
in 1881 in physical chemistry in the Department of Science in the
University here, and the next year I commenced teaching.
"It does not cost the pupil anything to attend this school. There
is an absolute lack of anything between the higher engineer and the
ordinary labourer. Mechanics, agriculturists, and industrial
chemists are most needed here, and the aim of the school is to
supply these. There are a good many architects here who build
houses but know nothing about mechanics, and a good many engineers
who do not know anything about a steam-engine, being merely copies
of what they have seen other men do. There are absolutely no
draughtsmen here, though there is a great demand for them. The
school will be extended as soon as we have the means.
"_The School of Arts and Trades_ is a public institution of
instruction, depending on the Provincial Deputation of Havana,
consistent with the rights which these institutions are entitled to
by Article 147 of the present Plan of Studies (Educational Law).
"The courses of instruction of this school are divided into two
sections--day classes and night classes. Instruction is absolutely
free and only day-scholars are allowed.
"The day classes comprise:
"Preparatory instruction for admission.
"Technical industrial instruction.
"The night classes are intended to give workmen opportunities to
improve themselves in their trades, acquiring technical knowledge
of their work.
"These are divided into:
"Oral instruction and drawing classes.
"Graphical, numerical, and analytical exercises in connection with
the above.
"Assays, analysis, and manipulation.
"Practical work in the shops of the school, giving instruction of a
practical character and in connection with the theoretical courses,
besides giving the ways of judging the quality of the raw
materials; names, description, and use of different utensils and
tools.
"DAY CLASSES--PREPARATORY INSTRUCTION
Writing
Religion and Morals.
Spanish Grammar and Spelling.
Arithmetic.
Geography and Spanish History.
Elements of Geometry and Geometrical Drawing.
"The foreign studies are adapted to those to be followed by the
students in the other courses and which constitute the main object
of the school. The students of these courses do some simple work in
the shops.
"To be admitted to the preparatory courses at the request of
fathers, tutors, or trustees, it is necessary:
"(1) To be at least eleven years old on the 1st of September.
"(2) To know how to read and write well.
"The admission term will be during all September.
"The number of inscriptions for preparatory courses will be limited
to 100, the most promising being selected from such as may apply,
preference being given to the children of artisans.
"Vacancies up to the end of December to be covered as they occur.
"Examinations to take place during the last ten days of June.
"Vacations will last from the end of the examinations to the 31st
day of August.
"In September, students who may have failed in previous
examinations, those not yet examined, and new scholars will attend
the courses.
"Those who may have studied and passed the examinations in the
school of the preparatory courses will be entitled to commence the
technical courses.
"TECHNICAL INDUSTRIAL INSTRUCTION
"Young men wishing to be admitted to the courses of Technical
Industrial Instruction at the request of their fathers, tutors, or
trustees must:
"(1) Be at least twelve years old on October 1st.
"(2) Have followed the preparatory courses.
"Examinations for admission to this section will take place on the
26th of September at 12 M.
"Petitions for admission should be addressed to the Director, and
will be received up to the previous day.
"Both spoken and written exercises will be given in these
examinations.
"The written exercises will consist in:
"(1) Dictation.
"(2) A problem in Arithmetic.
"(3) A problem in Geometry, applying the metric system.
"(4) Free-hand croquis with boundaries.
"The written exercises will be the same for all the applicants, and
will be all on the same day and hour, which will be duly announced
beforehand.
"The Board of Examiners for admission will be constituted by the
Director of the schools, the President, the Professors of Grammar,
Geography, and History, one of Mathematics, one of Drawing, and the
Instructor of the preparatory course, who will act as secretary.
"Technical instruction will be divided into general and special for
Constructors, Mechanics, and Industrial Chemists.
"General instruction comprises the theory of the following subjects
applied to Industrial Arts and the apprenticeship in the shops:
"Spanish Grammar; Geography and History; Arithmetic; Geometry;
Elementary Algebra; Trigonometry; Applied Geometry; Completion of
Mathematics; Descriptive Geometry; Elements of Physics, with
practical applications; Elementary Chemistry, with experiments;
Elementary Mechanics, with practical applications; Elements of
Hygiene; Notions of Accounting and Industrial Economy; Geometrical,
Mechanical, and Applied Drawing; Ornamental and Decorative Drawing.
"Woodwork: Carpenter's work and turning; models.
"Metal-work: Mechanics; forge; adjusting.
"The special studies comprise a separate course each as follows:
[Illustration: THE CATHEDRAL, HAVANA.]
{ Applied Mechanics.
Civil Constructors { Construction and Architecture.
{ Industrial Mechanics.
Mechanics { Steam-Engines and Elements of Machine Construction.
{ Industrial Physics.
Industrial Chemists { Industrial Chemistry Chemical Analysis.
"The tuition of each special course is complemented with graphical
work, applied drawing, plans, and practices.
"Special studies cannot be followed unless the general courses have
been studied.
"The courses will commence on the first Monday of October and will
close on the eve of the examinations, which will take place in June
on the days and hours that may be chosen.
"July and August are vacation months, but a limited amount of work
in the shops will be continued, as may be determined by the Board
of Professors. In September the extra examinations will take place.
"NIGHT CLASSES
"To be admitted to the night classes, it is necessary:
"(1) To be at least twelve years old.
"(2) To know how to read and write well and the rudiments of
Grammar, Arithmetic, and Geometrical Drawing.
"Those under fifteen must call accompanied by their fathers or
tutors when applying for admittance.
"Admittance examinations will take place in September.
"The night classes comprise the following courses:
Written exercises.
Grammar.
Arithmetic.
Geometry with practical applications.
Elementary Algebra.
Physics with practical applications.
Chemistry with practical applications.
Mechanics with practical applications.
Geometrical and Mechanical Drawing.
Geometrical and Applied Drawing.
Ornamental and Decorative Drawing.
"In studying these courses the following rules shall be observed:
"(1) Arithmetic and Geometry with practical applications shall
precede all the oral courses, excepting Grammar.
"(2) Geometrical Drawing shall precede Mechanical and Applied
Drawing.
"The term for inscribing in the night courses shall be during all
September.
"All persons soliciting matriculation in the night courses shall be
admitted free of charge.
"REGULATIONS:
"All courses shall be public and anyone is entitled to attend with
the sanction of the Director. No dues are charged for matriculation
or the examinations that may be necessary to get a diploma.
"New students are entitled to inscribe in the higher courses prior
to payable examinations, once they show having followed the
elementary courses in some other institution.
"During the college term the classes will be suspended only on
Sundays, holidays, Saints'-days, and birthdays of the King and
Queen, All-Souls Day, from December 23d to January 2d, the three
days of Carnival, Ash Wednesday and the last four days of Holy
Week, Easter, and Pentecost.
"The matriculation term shall be all of September. Applicants will
solicit the same in printed forms furnished by the school, together
with this prospectus.
"DUTIES OF STUDENTS: Students will attend the courses punctually
and with decorum; they will endeavour to benefit by the lessons of
the professors, doing the work assigned to them in connection with
their studies and the trade they may be following. They will use a
special suit for working in the shops, a model of which will be
furnished by the school.
"Due respect will be shown the Director, professors, and the shop
instructors. The file of each student will show the prizes he may
be given, as well as the punishment he may receive.
"Should a student commit some offence deserving special
punishment, either the Director will be charged to administer it,
or a 'Council of Discipline' as specified in the present Laws of
Public Instruction.
"The fathers, tutors, trustees of the students, will attend to
being informed every month of the behaviour and progress of their
charges, calling at the secretary's department where the
information on the subject will be exposed for inspection.
"EXAMINATIONS: Examinations for passing to higher classes are
divided into ordinary and extraordinary. The former to take place
in June, the latter in September.
"In June such students will be examined as the professors may
consider deserving it. Those failing to go to the examinations when
called upon, may do so the next time the examiners meet if they
justify their previous absence.
"In September may be examined:
"(1) Those included in these lists by the professors.
"(2) Those who may have been absent at the June examinations.
"(3) Those failing to pass in June.
"(4) Those wishing to improve their record in the June
examinations.
"PRIZES: To encourage students, the School will distribute prizes
every year, consisting of medals, books, instruments, tools, etc.
"One prize will be given for every 25 students; "honourable
mention" will besides be made of others.
"Only those rated first-class in each course may be awarded prizes.
"There will be extraordinary prizes, awarded by competition, during
the first fortnight of September.
"DIPLOMAS: Students will be given at the end of the third year a
certificate or diploma of general instruction and apprenticeship of
the trade they may have followed, if their practical work of the
three years' course is considered satisfactory.
"Those finishing a special course are entitled to a diploma, after
a theoretical and practical examination. These examinations may be
solicited at any time excepting during July and August. Those
failing in their first examinations will have to wait at least two
months before being examined again.
"A certificate of the studies followed and practical work done by
each student will accompany every diploma.
"The Director,
"FERNANDO AGUADO Y RICO.
"HAVANA, August, 1898.
"SCHOOL: _Diputacion Provincial_, 32 Empedrado St.
"SHOPS: Belascoain St., between Maloja and Sitios Sts."
The following figures indicate what amount of public money goes to the
cause of education in Cuba:
University $120,650
Department of Secretary of Public Instruction 58,300
Professional School 18,300
Drawing and Fine Arts School 8,750
Normal School for Schoolmasters and Schoolmistresses 25,147
--------
Total $231,147
The municipalities in all the Island pay $775,646 for 888 schools for
boys and girls (1893), four per cent. on all municipal taxes taken from
this.
The Provincial Elementary State Schools are paid by the _Diputaciones
Provinciales._ (Paid out of _cedula_ tax.)
In 1893 they (the _Diputaciones Provinciales_) paid:
Havana $ 37,550
Pinar del Rio (closed) 12,650
Matanzas 14,650
Santa Clara 15,900
Puerto Principe 14,650
Santiago de Cuba 15,900
--------
Total $110,400
The religion of the Island is Roman Catholic, and no other religious
bodies are permitted to exercise their belief in public, although no
interference has ever been attempted with individual belief so long as
the individual was careful not to interfere with the established
religion. There are no churches of any kind except Catholic and Baptist.
[Illustration: THE CATHEDRAL, SANTIAGO DE CUBA.]
From the beginning until 1788 the Island consisted of a single diocese
with the seat of the bishop at Santiago de Cuba, which has always been
the religious centre; but in that year the diocese of Havana was
created, with a bishop in charge, and Santiago was erected into a
bishopric with an archbishop. The religious festivals and celebrations
at Santiago are observed with an attempt at magnificence nowhere else
approached on the Island.
The priests of the Island are appointed by the archbishop and bishop,
and as a rule the Captain-General has not interfered to any extent with
religious matters. Generally speaking, the Cuban men, outside of the
profession of the Church, do not pay much attention to religious
observances, leaving that duty mainly to the women.
The Church has always been a State institution and receives its regular
annual allowance in the budget, in addition to its private income, which
is not small. In 1894 the amount given by the Government amounted to
$385,588. Under the new order there will be no union of Church and
State, neither will there be any interference with the religious belief
and practice of the people. Every denomination will have equal rights in
New Cuba.
CHAPTER XXVIII
A VISIT TO GENERAL GOMEZ
"The following account of the author's official visit to General Gomez
has an important bearing on the future of the Island, and is deemed of
enough importance to insert here in full.
WASHINGTON, D. C.,
February 6, 1899.
_Hon. Lyman F. Gage,
Secretary of the Treasury,
Washington, D.C._
SIR:
Acting in accordance with your instructions, and after consulting,
as you suggested, the President, Secretary of State, and Secretary
of War, I proceeded on the afternoon of Friday, January 27th, to
Havana. Arriving in Havana Monday morning, January 30th, I called
upon Major-General John R. Brooke, Governor-General and Commander
of the United States forces in Cuba, and presented the following
letter from the Secretary of War:
"WAR DEPARTMENT,
"WASHINGTON, D.C.,
"January 27, 1899.
"DEAR SIR:
"Hon. Robert P. Porter, Commissioner appointed by the President to
investigate and report upon the general tax questions of the Island
of Cuba, goes to Cuba to investigate those matters further, and
also to confer with you upon matters that he will suggest to you.
"Mr. Porter has the entire confidence of the President, who directs
that any subject he may bring to your attention shall receive your
careful and immediate attention and co-operation.
"Very truly yours,
"R. A. ALGER,
"Secretary of War.
"Major-General J. R. Brooke,
"Military Governor and Division Commander,
"Havana, Cuba."
General Brooke was informed that the President wished to bring about an
informal and friendly conference between the commander of the United
States army in Cuba and General Maximo Gomez, commander-in-chief of the
Cuban forces, for the purpose of promoting harmony, disbanding the Cuban
army, and aiding the people of the Island, now under arms, to return
again to their peaceful occupations. General Brooke was furthermore
informed that the sum of $3,000,000 was available for the relief of the
Cuban army as soon as some practical plan could be arranged for its
distribution; and that in this distribution it was the President's wish
that General Gomez should be consulted. The question of the payment of
the Cuban troops had been brought before your Commissioner by a
commission of Cuban gentlemen, December 14th, and a report made thereon
to you January 13th.[20] This report, together with the following
memoranda left with the Secretary of War by the Secretary of the Cuban
Commission, was submitted to General Brooke.
"MEMORANDA
"Suggestions presented by Colonel J. R. Villalon of the Cuban
Commission regarding the distribution of funds appropriated and to
be expended on behalf and for the relief of the Cuban army.
"1. A Cuban officer should co-operate with the American disbursing
officer for the distribution of funds.
"2. The $100 to be paid per person is to be in part payment of his
dues.
"3. Cubans shall surrender their arms to the Cuban Assembly or its
appointed representatives.
"4. Immediate action is necessary.
"WASHINGTON, D. C.
"January 26, 1899."
It was explained to General Brooke that the President did not wish this
money or any part thereof to be paid out as part payment of salaries or
dues, but simply as a relief to the army and an assistance to those
willing to lay down their arms and return to peaceful pursuits. General
Brooke entered cordially into these plans and said he would be glad to
welcome General Gomez to Havana and avail himself of the General's
co-operation in the manner suggested. To this end General Brooke gave
your Commissioner the following letter of introduction to General Gomez:
"HEADQUARTERS DIVISION OF CUBA.
"HAVANA, January 30, 1899.
_"General Maximo Gomez,
"General-in-Chief of the Cuban Army._
"GENERAL:--I desire to introduce to you Honourable Robert P.
Porter, Special Commissioner of the United States to Cuba, who
desires to meet you and will explain his mission to you in person.
"When you feel that you can find it convenient to come this way I
shall be most happy to see you.
"I am, General,
"Very respectfully,
(Signed) "JOHN R. BROOKE,
"Major-General."
General Brooke offered one or more members of his staff as escorts, and
the services of Captain J. A. Campbell were accepted. With General
Leonard Wood, who was in Havana, your Commissioner also had an informal
conference, and was glad to learn that General Wood heartily approved
of the plan of co-operation with General Gomez to aid in disbanding the
army and in the reconstruction of Cuba. Lieutenant Hanna, of General
Wood's staff, was also assigned to your Commissioner and instructed to
convey the good wishes of the Governor of Santiago Province to the Cuban
General. Tuesday morning, January 31st, at six o'clock, accompanied by
Señor Gonzalo de Quesada, Cuban agent in Washington, and the
representatives of General Brooke and General Wood, your Commissioner
started for Remedios, the headquarters of the Cuban army. The manager of
the United Railroads of Havana and Regla Warehouses, Ltd., Mr. Albert de
Ximeno, kindly placed a special car at the disposal of the party, which
enabled us to save considerable time and go through without change.
From Havana to St. Domingo, nearly two hundred miles, your Commissioner
went over the same route as that traversed last September; the
difference, however, between the condition of the country now and the
condition then is very marked. In September, the whole distance was one
prolonged scene of desolation. There were literally no signs of life,
human or animal, except at the railway stations, which swarmed with
starving humanity. These unfortunate victims of misrule and war crowded
into the cars in search of alms, and almost tore each other to pieces to
obtain the small change and coppers thrown to them by sympathising
travellers. Never was so much abject misery seen as then. To-day
conditions have improved. There are beggars of the chronic sort, they
are few, however, compared with the desperate starving women and
children in all these towns at the close of the war. A decided change
for the better is noticeable in the country itself. The people are
beginning to work again. The quick-growing crops have been planted and
some are ready for harvest. The sugar cane is being cut and taken to the
centrals. Many fields of tobacco may be seen, especially in the Remedios
district. Fields are in course of preparation for next year's crop.
During ten hours of travel on this railroad in September but one yoke
of oxen was seen. To-day draft-oxen, cows, and cattle are visible all
along the route, and in some fields large herds of several hundred
greeted the eye. This is the surest sign that Cuba is pacified, and that
only a little friendly co-operation between the United States military
authorities and the Cubans, who have manfully borne the heat and burden
of this terrible and devastating war, is needed to bring about normal
conditions. Sugar-houses have been restored, in some cases repainted and
put in excellent condition, as though the owners were satisfied of a
stable government.
After a long journey of fourteen hours we arrived at Remedios, the
centre of one of the richest sugar and tobacco sections of the Island.
We were met by some of General Gomez's staff, and also by Major John A.
Logan and a party of American officers who had thoughtfully made such
arrangements as the place afforded for our comfort. The reception
accorded Señor Quesada along the entire route demonstrated how much he
is beloved by his countrymen. Word had been telegraphed in advance from
Havana, and some of the railway stations were densely crowded by people
anxious to see the second most popular of Cubans; for, next to General
Gomez, Señor Quesada has undoubtedly the largest share of the affection
of the people. At Remedios messages were received from General Gomez
that he was with the Cuban army a few miles from town, but that he would
be in Remedios early next morning to greet his old and trusted friend
Quesada, and to meet the representatives of the President, of General
Brooke, and of General Wood.
The next morning, Wednesday, February 1st, General Gomez came into the
town on horseback, escorted by a body-guard of about one hundred mounted
men. He immediately repaired to a house he occupied in Remedios, and
sent a social invitation for breakfast to his friend, Señor Quesada, and
an invitation for your Commissioner to see him at twelve o'clock. A
little before the appointed hour Señor Quesada and two of General
Gomez's officers came over to the hotel and escorted the party to
General Gomez's house, where we were cordially received by General
Gomez and invited up-stairs to his private apartments, which consisted
of a commodious front parlour opening into a comfortable bedroom, upon
the immaculate white bed of which lay the General's hat, sword, and
gauntlets.
The interview, which lasted about an hour and a half, was agreeable and
to the point. It opened by General Gomez assuring your Commissioner that
he was welcome and that he had fully sympathised with the work of
commercial and industrial reconstruction of the Island which had been
carried on since the signing of the protocol of peace last August. He
said he was completely identified in all and with all concerning it. On
his side he was working in the same sense and doing all he could for the
immediate reconstruction of the country, "Its wounds," he said, "will
heal with the rapid promotion of work. This is the battle we are now
fighting, and all men of good will should join us in our struggle. I
avail myself of this opportunity to tender my services."
General Gomez said he was all ready to see your Commissioner and discuss
industrial matters last fall, but owing to the illness in the family of
the Cuban gentleman who had promised to take your Commissioner to meet
him, the visit was indefinitely postponed. After some other conversation
of a general character, General Gomez was informed that the President
had instructed your Commissioner to see General Gomez, express his
friendly feeling, and to ascertain if the General was willing to
co-operate in a friendly spirit with the United States in the
pacification and upbuilding of the Island. To this General Gomez
answered that he received your Commissioner in precisely the same
friendly spirit in which he knew the President had sent him thither. He
said that his friend, Señor Quesada, had explained to him the true
attitude of President McKinley and the people of the United States
towards Cuba, and he was satisfied that many of the rumours afloat were
without foundation and absurd; that he had never entertained toward the
United States anything but feelings of the most profound gratitude and
admiration; that far from any desire to estrange himself and his
followers from the United States, his sole desire was a closer union of
friendship and co-operation; that now he was aware of the President's
wishes, he was pleased and would gladly do anything in his power to
promote them; that he was sure a friendly conference or getting together
of the United States and Cuban officers would aid in making things go
all right, and for his part he would willingly co-operate in such manner
as the President might direct for the general welfare of Cuba.
Thanking him for this assurance of confidence in the wisdom and
intention of the President, your Commissioner directed attention to the
present condition of Cuba with a view of emphasising the necessity of
patience and forbearance on the part of all concerned. It was suggested
that within only a few weeks the deadening hand of Spanish misrule had
been lifted from this fair Island. That already he would see along the
route between Remedios and Havana a great difference in the condition of
the country now, compared with its condition last September. Then all
was desolation: now people were more cheerful, and a glimmering of
sunshine was visible, penetrating the drab skies of depression, ruin,
and starvation which had so long enveloped the Island. It was true that
some restless and impatient people were asking where was the promised
liberty, where was the Cuban freedom, etc. The answer to this was that
Cuba now possessed absolute commercial and industrial freedom. In
framing the new tariff, the President and yourself directed that no
discrimination in favour of the United States should be made; that you
had repeatedly said the new tariff must be made in the interest of Cuba
and not in the interest of the United States. Spain, on the contrary,
had by outrageous discriminating duties compelled Cuba to purchase all
sorts of commodities of her which could have been bought cheaper and
better in other markets. All these changes, looking to a better
condition, were promptly inaugurated on the day the United States
began its military occupancy. Much of the criticism was unjust, not only
to the Administration but to the military officials of the United
States, who had undertaken the gigantic task of reorganising the
country, of reforming its iniquitous tax system, of improving its
sanitary condition, of building up its destroyed industries. Our
military authorities had found Cuba without capital, with hundreds of
thousands of people on the verge of starvation, to whom rations had to
be furnished, and with the incubus of Spanish rule resting upon all
branches of its government, municipal, provincial, judicial, and
general. It was a great task, and one that must take time. There were
still from twenty thousand to twenty-five thousand Spanish troops at
Cienfuegos who had not gone home.
[Illustration: SPANISH FORT ON RAILROAD TO JURAGUA MINES.]
The President's idea, General Gomez was informed, was to build up the
new government from the foundation by first organising the
municipalities, and policing the Island, and that in all this work,
including the judiciary, only Cubans would be employed. Under such
conditions, your Commissioner frankly told General Gomez that the
President needed and was entitled to the friendly co-operation of all
interested in the future welfare of Cuba, and to his (General Gomez's)
co-operation above all others, because the first problem to be
confronted was the immediate disbandment of the Cuban army and the
return of the men to work.
To all this General Gomez listened with thoughtful attention, and
replied that he realised the situation fully and appreciated all that
had been said as to the condition of the country, and was willing to aid
in any way the President might wish.
The special mission, namely, the disbanding of the army, and the aid to
Cuban soldiers willing to lay down their arms and go to work, was then
discussed. A brief history of the facts was presented and the attention
of General Gomez called to the report made to you, January 13, 1899, and
submitted herewith. He was informed that the President would like his
aid in the work of disbanding the Cuban army, in the distribution of the
fund appropriated for the relief of that army, and in suggesting the
most practical and efficient manner of policing the country. General
Gomez said he would gladly aid in this manner and would go to Havana as
soon as possible and confer with General Brooke to that end.
He said that the amount was too small; but that was not his fault; that
he was willing to co-operate in the distribution and make it go as far
as possible. It was like the miracle of the loaves and fishes, and he
would aid in making the most of it. Your Commissioner informed General
Gomez that no man in military history had done so much with such small
resources as he, and hence his co-operation with General Brooke in this
matter would bring good results. He (General Gomez) especially impressed
upon your Commissioner that the money itself must be placed to the order
of General Brooke. This General Gomez repeated three times, and he was
evidently desirous of impressing your Commissioner that while he was
willing to aid in any way possible in the distribution of the money, he
did not wish to take personal responsibility for the money itself.
The next question taken up was the method of distribution, and while
General Gomez and your Commissioner reached no written agreement, the
general plan verbally agreed upon was as follows:
"Memoranda regarding the distribution of funds appropriated by the
United States Congress to be expended on behalf of and for the relief of
the Cuban army, as discussed at Remedios, February 1, 1899, by General
Maximo Gomez and Robert P. Porter.
1. That a Cuban officer shall be appointed in each province to
co-operate with the American officers in the distribution of funds; and
furthermore, General Maximo Gomez, as commander-in-chief of the Cuban
forces, is hereby named to confer with Major-General Brooke, U.S.A., in
the selection of this committee on distribution.
2. That these officers shall immediately meet at some convenient point
and decide as to how, when, and where this fund shall be distributed,
and such other details as will assure a prompt distribution.
3. That the sum paid each man shall not be regarded as part payment of
salary or wages due for services rendered, but to facilitate the
disbandment of the army, and as a relief for the suffering, and an aid
in getting the people to work again.
4. That Cubans shall surrender their arms to the Cuban Assembly, or its
appointed representatives, or make such other distribution of the same
as may be agreed upon by the aforesaid committee on distribution.
5. That the committee shall use its best endeavours in the payment of
this fund to distribute the military population of the Island so that
all may secure work and the wounds of war be healed as rapidly as
possible.
6. That the money thus appropriated ($3,000,000) shall be placed subject
to the order of the Governor-General, U.S.A., of the Island of Cuba.
Immediate action is necessary."
The appointment of a Cuban and a United States officer from each
province will be necessary, because no fair distribution of this fund
can possibly be made without a knowledge of local conditions and a
personal acquaintance with the troops. In Santiago, for example, no two
persons would be so well qualified to advise with General Brooke as
Major-General Leonard Wood and General Castillo, and officers of similar
experience in both armies will of course be called in from the other
provinces. Another advantage of such a committee, and one which appealed
to General Gomez, and subsequently, on your Commissioners returning to
Havana, to General Brooke, is that the question of policing the Island
can be taken up at the same time, and a plan agreeable to all concerned
agreed upon. The men called together to deal with the disbandment of the
army will be able to supply considerable information in relation to
local conditions and to the needs of each community. This is a problem
upon which General Brooke is at the moment seeking enlightenment, and a
Cuban general from each province will be a valuable addition to his own
sources of information. The utter impossibility of considering the
payment offered by the United States, to help the Cuban army to disband
and get to work, as part payment of salary or wages due for services
rendered was explained by your Commissioner, and in response General
Gomez said he understood the attitude of the President on that subject,
and could make no objection. Other phases of the question were
discussed, such as the advisability of making the payment absolutely on
the per capita plan, or only to those who needed help. For example, many
of the soldiers have already been provided for, notably in Santiago, and
later in Havana, on the police force. These men are drawing good
salaries from the municipality and are not the objects of State aid.
There is no necessity to include such cases. This will leave more for
those who must be helped back to the land. These questions of detail,
however, it was finally agreed, should be properly left to the
committee. As a matter of fact, the Cuban Commission only claimed 30,000
privates. The total pay earned by these privates, according to the
Commission's report,--based on the same rate of pay as United States
soldiers receive,--was a trifle over $9,000,000. It is not likely,
however, that the committee to be called together by General Brooke will
find anything like this number of soldiers who need the assistance
herewith proffered. There is no controversy over the other paragraphs of
the memoranda.
The actual basis of distribution will undoubtedly be the most
troublesome question to be adjusted by General Brooke and General Gomez
and the officers of both armies called in to advise. It can be settled,
however, with the proper local information, and settled to much greater
advantage, in the opinion of your Commissioner, to the Island than by a
payment of one hundred dollars all around. If, however, the committee
cannot see their way clear to a more equitable distribution they can, of
course, resort to the original proposition of the late General Garcia to
the President of one hundred dollars all around to the privates; or, if
the silver dollar is used--and that is still the basis of payment in
Cuba for day labour--the $3,000,000 will take in all, including the
commissioned officers.[21] The above was the sum and substance of the
conference. General Gomez was exceedingly gracious, and several times
said he had no doubt of the friendly attitude of the President toward
Cuba and toward him personally, which good feeling, he said, was
reciprocated. He sent the President and yourself his cordial wishes and
thanks for the courtesy extended and said he would telegraph the
President and General Brooke direct, and would accept the latter's
invitation to see him in Havana at an early date. He wished your
Commissioner to assure the President he would do all in his power to aid
in the work of reconstruction of Cuba. Turning to Captain Campbell, he
said:
"Tell General Brooke that I am coming to Havana to see him, and
that I will co-operate with him in every way in the world for the
general welfare of Cuba--especially in getting these men disarmed,
in aiding them in going to work, and in establishing law and order
in every part of the Island."
In concluding the interview, General Gomez said to your Commissioner:
"Your visit has thrown light in our way, and all that we have said
encourages me to approach Havana, that by coming to an
understanding with General Brooke the affairs of this unsettled
country may be better directed.
"Please express to the President my gratitude for his attentions,
informing him that I will do my utmost to maintain order,
contributing to the definite constitution of the Republic, that
Cuba may be really free and independent, thereby helping to your
desires, which are mine."
In response, your Commissioner thanked General Gomez for his offer to
thus aid in the difficult work the United States had in hand in Cuba,
and ventured to hope that the conference would result in a more complete
understanding between the people of Cuba and the people of the United
States. His cordial and prompt response to the wishes of the President
he was told would be appreciated in Washington and was a good omen for
the future prosperity of Cuba.
General Gomez is a man of strong personality and great force. He is
resourceful, clear-headed, and direct in dealing with men, and will make
as potent a force in the civil work of government as he has been in the
military. His word is his bond and must never be doubted. The only
occasion in the conference when he showed the slightest feeling was on
being asked to make his visit to Havana as soon as possible.
"Do you doubt my activity?" he exclaimed.
"Your enemies never did, General, and I come on a friendly errand," was
the answer.
When General Gomez was asked if your Commissioner might cable the
President his promise of co-operation, he promptly answered:
"I will cable both the President and General Brooke myself."
Copies of the cable and letter in question were afterward sent over in
the original Spanish to the hotel, and when translated read as follows:
(1--CABLE)
"REPUBLIC OF CUBA,
"HEADQUARTERS OF THE ARMY.
"_President McKinley_, _Washington_:
"It has afforded me great pleasure to have conferences with your
Commissioner, Porter, introduced by my friend Quesada, and I am
informed of and satisfied with your wishes. In a short time I will
go to Havana to have conferences with General Brooke, that all may
run smoothly, following your advices and gladly contributing to the
reconstruction of Cuba.
"MAXIMO GOMEZ.
"REMEDIOS, February 1, 1899."
(2--CABLE)
"REPUBLIC OF CUBA,
"HEADQUARTERS OF THE ARMY.
"_General Brooke_, _Havana_:
"The conference with Mr. Porter, Commissioner for President
McKinley, encourages me to proceed soon to Havana to come to an
understanding with you and solve matters for the good of this
country. I avail myself of this opportunity to inform you that you
may rely on my consideration and distinguished affection.
"GENERAL MAXIMO GOMEZ.
"REMEDIOS, February 1, 1899."
(3--LETTER TO GENERAL BROOKE)
"REPUBLIC OF CUBA,
"HEADQUARTERS OF THE ARMY,
"REMEDIOS, February 1, 1899.
"_Major-General John R. Brooke_, _Havana_:
"GENERAL,--Your courteous letter was presented to me by Hon. Robert
P. Porter, Commissioner of President McKinley, and although I have
telegraphed you that the conference with Mr. Porter encourages me
to go to Havana in a short time and confer with you and resolve
whatever be best for this country, I do it again through this
letter.
"I will be highly pleased to meet you soon. Meantime, I remain,
"Respectfully yours,
"GENERAL M. GOMEZ."
In the afternoon word was sent over by General Gomez that arrangements
had been made for a speech at the theatre by Señor Quesada, a reception
to your Commissioner and the officers accompanying him, and a ball to
which the representatives of the best families of Remedios had been
invited. In the evening the little theatre was crowded. The boxes and
orchestra were occupied by ladies in evening dress, and the other parts
of the house were packed by earnest, intelligent people, intensely
interested in the orator of the evening. In the middle of the stage a
sort of pulpit had been placed, completely covered with the most
beautiful tropical flowers. When Señor Quesada ascended the pulpit a
shower of flowers fell from all parts of the house and covered the
entire stage. General Gomez escorted your Commissioner to a box, and the
General remained throughout an interested but silent spectator. The
oration of Señor Quesada was an eloquent one and was devoted to an
explanation of the real feeling of the United States towards Cuba. He
thoroughly disillusionised the audience of any idea that the United
States desired to annex Cuba against the will of the people, and assured
them of the friendship of President McKinley and his advisers. These
sentiments were loudly applauded, and it was evident the audience was at
heart with the speaker. After the speaking came a reception, and then
all adjourned to the ballroom, where General Gomez led off in the dance,
and the festivities were kept up until the early morning hours. These
facts are given for the purpose of showing the cordiality of the
reception given the representative of the United States and as
indicating that General Gomez more than met the informal overture of our
Government in the spirit in which the recognition on our part was
offered. On parting with your Commissioner General Gomez offered the
services of Lieutenant Cornill, a brilliant young officer of his staff,
as escort to Havana.
Returning to Havana, all these facts were laid before General Brooke,
and he expressed himself pleased with the results of the conference. The
memoranda discussed and all despatches were placed in General Brooke's
hands, and he desired your Commissioner to say he will be ready to take
up the matter of distribution of the army relief fund next week with
General Gomez in the manner herewith submitted. General Chaffee now has
in hand the complete scheme for policing the Island, and the delay in
carrying it out is partly due to the lack of funds and partly to the
innumerable details necessary to meet the varied conditions of each
province. It is more than probable that the convening of such an army
relief committee as suggested in this report will have the effect of
crystallising these plans and securing a general plan for the rural
policing of the Island by native Cuban troops.
The excellent condition of the Island throughout the most trying ordeal
it has undergone--the passing of the Spanish control--has encouraged our
military officials in the belief that the solution of the problem is
local policing by Cuban troops. The present situation may be thus
briefly summarised. Senator Proctor of Vermont, just up from the most
western province, Pinar del Rio, says he has been with General Davis,
who reports the most perfect order as being maintained by native troops,
and that this has been done without money and without price. In fact,
all the police work is now done by Cubans.
In Havana Province General Lee has the entire confidence of the people,
while a Cuban police force under General Menocal is being formed for
Havana. This force is now drilling every day in the public square of
Havana, and they appear to be a fine body of men. In Matanzas Province
it was your Commissioner's good fortune to meet General Pedro
Betancourt, who says all is tranquil throughout that province, a fact
certified to by General Wilson in a despatch published Saturday. In
Santa Clara Province General Monteagudo, in command of the Cuban forces,
boarded the train, and in a conversation lasting nearly two hours
explained the conditions in that province. He had nearly three thousand
men who since January 1st have kept order and policed the entire
province. He has a complete scheme for continuing this work with about
half the number of men. This plan has been laid before General Bates,
and by him referred to General Brooke at Havana. General Chaffee has
the plan now before him with all the other plans, and it will be
immediately considered and acted upon. In Puerto Principe the Cuban army
has disbanded, law and order prevail, and the people are rapidly getting
to work again. In Santiago General Leonard Wood and the Cuban General
Castillo are masters of the situation. So great is General Gomez's
confidence in General Wood that he expressed a hope to your Commissioner
that General Wood would be in Havana at the conference of United States
and Cuban officers, because he (General Gomez) wanted to consult him in
relation to matters in that province. The situation may change, but the
above represents the conditions at the present moment. Some of the
leaders will object, for various reasons, some perhaps selfish ones, to
the present attitude of General Gomez, but it is not likely that their
views will prevail if once the United States and Cuban military leaders
in each province can get together and meet around a table with General
Brooke and General Gomez. If this can be brought about at an early date
all outside opposition will surely disappear and the Cuban problem will
be in a fair way of solution.
The following message was sent to your Commissioner at Remedios, and was
translated into Spanish and submitted to General Gomez:
"_Hon. Robert P. Porter_, _Havana_:
"The President sends his hearty congratulations and thanks for your
despatch. Convey his cordial greetings to General Gomez and his
grateful appreciation of the General's frank and friendly message.
The co-operation of General Gomez in the pacification of Cuba will
be of the greatest value for both peoples.
"JOHN HAY,
"Secretary of State."
It is respectfully suggested, in view of the facts above given,
that the sum of money ($3,000,000) assigned by the President for
the relief of the Cuban troops and to aid in the disbandment of
the army be at once placed at the disposal of General Brooke,
Governor-General in command of the United States forces in Cuba.
All of which is respectfully submitted,
ROBERT P. PORTER,
Special Commissioner for the United
States to Cuba and Porto Rico.
This chapter may be fittingly concluded with a few words as to the
personality of General Gomez, who in appearance is as absolutely unlike
the photographs of him as his manner and action toward strangers are
unlike the accounts we have so often heard of him. The photographs
published--and there is nothing General Gomez dislikes so much as having
his photograph taken--are invariably harsh and belligerent looking;
whereas the man himself, while in manner and expression a soldier, has a
sympathetic side to him which makes him altogether a different being to
the one so often pictured. This side came out at the ball, to which
reference was made in the foregoing pages, when he was talking to twenty
or thirty children prettily dressed, who carried bouquets of flowers and
walked around the room. He had something to say to all these little
misses, and was most affable to them. General Gomez is very fond of
dancing; in fact, it is his chief recreation. He dances well and with
great agility, enjoying it fully. The people of Remedios, men and women,
are very fond of him, and his social side, which can be studied to
advantage there, gives quite a new light to his character.
CHAPTER XXIX
CONCLUSION--A LOOK AHEAD
In the opening chapters of this volume we have seen Cuba as it is and
speculated on what it should have presented to the world at the close of
the present century. The past, it is to be hoped, is a closed book. The
future is more hopeful, perhaps, but replete with difficult problems and
many dangers. The war has emancipated the people of Cuba from Spain,
made them a self-governing people protected by a great nation, the flag
of which is a symbol of freedom and a guaranty of the fruits of
individual endeavour. The fate of Cuba and the Cubans no longer rests in
the hands of a small cabal of mediæval and selfish statesmen at Madrid,
intent only upon enriching the mother country. It rests with the people
of the United States who are to-day actively and impartially discussing
the future of the Island. The question is not how much the United States
can make out of Cuba, but how best to make a prosperous, peaceful, and
useful neighbour of an island within a hundred miles from the shores of
the Great Republic. The people of Cuba must disabuse themselves of the
idea that the future of their native land is in the hands of some one
man or any set of men. They must comprehend, on the contrary, that it
has been committed to the care of a liberty-loving people as jealous of
popular rights as those Cuban patriots who, like Marti and Gomez and
Maceo and Garcia and Quesada, risked their lives to make their country
free. That the people of the United States will deal justly and fairly
with the people of Cuba does not admit of doubt, and the closer the
people of the two countries come together on a platform of mutual trust
and confidence, the sooner a stable government will be established. It
may be well for our Cuban friends to remember that a considerable number
of the seventy-five millions in the American Republic have, themselves,
exchanged for the Stars and Stripes flags that mean as much to them as
the Cuban flag to the most patriotic Cuban, and around which cluster as
tender memories as those which the flag of the Cuban Republic suggests.
The great newspaper press of the United States is discussing all sides
of the Cuban question as intelligently and vigorously, and as fairly and
honestly towards Cuban interests, as it does our own important domestic
questions, and no Cuban need for a moment fear that the conclusions
reached will be other than for the best interests of all concerned. If,
at the conclusion of military occupation, Cuba is made an independent
republic, it will be because the people of Cuba and the people of the
United States, acting jointly, so decide. If, on the contrary, the
future of Cuba shall lie in the still greater independence of American
Statehood, it will be by the mutual consent of the people of the two
countries. There are no other possibilities in the final solution of the
political future of Cuba.
The more stable the government of Cuba, the more certain the industrial
development. The closer and stronger the ties which bind Cuba to the
United States, the greater the prosperity and the more rapid the
reconstruction of the Island. To the outside world Cuba has become part
of the United States, and the arrangements in respect of the government
of the Cuban people a domestic affair. Whether the present government be
termed Military Protectorate, Military Occupancy, or Statehood, the fact
remains that the strength of Cuba to-day is in its close alliance with
the United States. Commercially and industrially, as has been repeatedly
shown in this volume, the two countries fit perfectly. The products Cuba
produces can all find a market in the United States, while the needs of
Cuba can all be supplied by its continental neighbour. The Cubans have
had a taste of the prosperity which followed reciprocal commercial
relations with the United States. The golden possibilities of absolute
free intercourse between Cuba and the United States must be apparent to
the more intelligent Cubans. That sentiment for a flag and a country is
natural and laudable cannot be denied, but in the final and mutual
coming together of Cuba and the United States, the single Star becomes
not less bright by reason of association or companionship with the other
Stars, together making an harmonious whole and representing all that is
best and most hopeful for mankind.
A great change has already taken place in Cuba in the six weeks of
United States occupancy. The author has had opportunity to study three
stages in the recent history of Cuba. He visited the four western
provinces soon after the signing of the Protocol of Peace and before the
Spanish had relinquished control. He was in Santiago after six months of
American occupancy, and in the chapter on that province has made note of
the good work inaugurated by Major-General Leonard Wood, Governor of the
province. Again after six weeks of American control he travelled over
much the same ground as in September and October, and has noted in the
preceding chapter the improved condition. A good deal of honest and
intelligent work has already been done by the United States for Cuba.
A new tariff has been framed and put in operation by the War Department,
aided by experienced officers from the Treasury Department. The
Post-Office Department has inaugurated an improved mail service. The
telegraph lines are rapidly being put in order. The United States
sanitary authorities are laying their plans for a vigorous campaign
against epidemic disease this summer. The governors of cities are as
rapidly as possible cleaning up the streets and preparing plans for
modern sewerage and drainage. Under the direction of General Brooke and
the immediate supervision of General Chaffee, a complete system for
policing the rural districts of the Island with Cuban police is in
progress of organisation. For this purpose the Cuban army will be
utilised as far as possible. The United States has abolished many
onerous taxes, stopped the draining away to Spain of the resources and
revenues of Cuba, and rigorously applied all available methods and
instruments to build up the Island and to improve the condition of the
people. It has endeavoured to establish the principle that the Island
should be governed in the interest of Cuba, by Cubans, for the people of
Cuba.
There still remains a great deal of work to do. The thin end of the
wedge of the stronger civilisation has been inserted, but time and
patience and strength will all be required to drive it home. The
programme mapped out is a long and expensive one and more money than is
at present in sight will be required to carry it through. The building
of public roads, the establishment of public schools, and the
inauguration of sanitary work are three branches of the civil government
that must be pressed forward with all possible vigour, immediately after
the scheme for policing Cuba has been completed. The importance of
teaching English in all Cuban public schools must not be overlooked,
because the Cuban people will never understand the people of the United
States until they appreciate our institutions. A complete reform of the
judiciary must follow. The laws relating to ownership and transfer of
property must be revised, safeguards added to the laws relating to
mortgages, and some of the old customs repealed. Savings banks must also
be established, for no people can become permanently prosperous where
thrift is unknown and where there are no opportunities for saving the
surplus earnings of the population. The Government of the United States,
acting in conjunction with the Cuban people, has a serious and important
work to perform.
The Government, however, cannot be depended upon to do it all. The
people must get to work again themselves and help in every possible way
in the work of reconstruction. To be successful this work should be
begun in the right way from the foundation up, or it will become
top-heavy, and the second condition of the Cuban people will be worse
and more helpless than the first. The population must be got to work
again in its strong industries and the fields must be made to yield in
abundance before enterprises, of which so much is heard, and the success
of which depends so largely upon the prosperity of the people, can be
made to pay. In the chapters on Sugar, Tobacco, Mining, Agriculture,
Timber, Fruit-Production, and Miscellaneous Industries the reader may
learn the true source of Cuban wealth. The industrial and commercial
future of Cuba depends upon how thoroughly and how persistently these
industries are worked, and not upon distribution of foreign capital in
enterprises which in the end must be fed by the wealth coming from the
soil. For judicious investment there is opportunity in Cuba, but the
scramble for franchises of various kinds has inflated values, and unless
conservatism prevails there is danger of repeating in Cuba some of the
follies with which the New South is strewn. The basic industries must be
vigorously worked in Cuba. Unless this is done the author sees only
trouble and disaster ahead.
To do this successfully the labour market must be enlarged by
immigration, and to attract immigration the condition of the labourer
must be improved. The chapter on Labour aims to give an idea of Cuban
labour as it is. The picture is not attractive. Where is the labour to
come from to build up the wasted fields of Cuba? It is a hard question
to answer. Efforts are being made by those who best know the needs of
Cuba to entice labour thither. They should be encouraged, for unless
more labourers can be found the return of prosperity will be painful and
prolonged over many years.
The opportunities for American labour in Cuba are circumscribed. If the
climate were more temperate and the dangers of disease less there would
undoubtedly be an influx of labour from the United States. Just as the
restless and hopeful population of the Eastern States has migrated
westward and to some extent southward in our own country, so it would
find its way to Cuba if conditions allowed of extensive settlement and
home-making. In the opinion of the author they do not, and hence the
industrial rehabilitation of Cuba must rely upon other sources than the
United States for its supply of labour. Of course Americans will settle
in Cuba and do business in Cuba and possibly make their fortunes in
Cuba. Not in the way they have settled up our own unsettled area by
purchasing farms and building homes, but in projecting and pushing
enterprises. In Cuba, sugar production has become two distinct
industries: one the sugar factory and the other the _colonia_, or
cane-raising farm, or estate. The central, or sugar factory, often owns
large areas of land, but does not depend wholly upon its own acres for
cane. Some factories depend more largely upon the colonias, or small
farms which supply the cane. This cane the central brings to the
sugar-house by the aid of narrow-gauge railways, extending over the
estate and into adjoining farms. There are opportunities for farm
labourers who can withstand a tropical climate, to settle on small areas
of land and raise sugar cane. Every possible encouragement will be given
this class of immigrants. Mr. J. White Todd, who lived twenty years in
Cuba, has informed the author that in his opinion industrious immigrants
from Southern Italy and Southern Spain will find ample opportunities in
Cuba to establish homes and make a profitable living raising cane for
the sugar factories. If they are willing to work, the owners of the
centrals or factories will gladly secure them the land and tide them
over the first crop. This class of labour and the Canary Islanders are
the only ones likely to take up and work small sugar farms in Cuba.
Heretofore the experience with the negroes has not been satisfactory,
though under a better system of government it may be different. The
success of the sugar factory depends so largely upon the available sugar
cane of the district that the central is always glad to aid a labourer
likely to become a thrifty _colono_.
In coffee and tobacco there are possibilities on a small scale, and also
in fruit-growing, when roads and highways have been sufficiently
improved to get the product to market. Herein lies the only feasible
opportunity for small American capitalists who desire to live in a
tropical climate. It is true, only a small portion of this wonderful
Island is under cultivation. In time it might all be utilised, the
larger part, of course, in sugar. In the chapter on Sugar the
possibilities of this crop and its relation to the sugar-production of
the world have been fully discussed. When continental Europe tires of
paying a bounty for producing sugar, Cuba must take its place as the
first sugar-producing country of the world; a place it would never have
lost had it not been for misgovernment, war, and failure promptly to
adopt modern methods when beet-sugar first became a factor in the
world's supply.
The particular lines in which the enterprise, ingenuity, and capital of
the United States can be utilised in Cuba will undoubtedly be in the
establishment of public and semi-public works and in the improvement of
methods of production. Here are some of the enterprises likely to be
taken up by American and English capitalists:
Sanitary Improvements and Water-works.
Street Railways and light railway transportation in suburban districts.
Gas-works and Electric Lighting.
Unifying and extension of railway system.
Establishment of better facilities for coastwise transportation.
Navigation between Cuba and the United States.
Wharfage, Lighterage, and Public Warehouses.
Telegraphic and Telephone Services.
Public Roads and Highways.
Savings Banks and Financial Institutions to aid commerce and industry.
Places of Amusement, Tropical Gardens, and Hotels.
The directing hand of American enterprise will be soon felt in these
branches of modern endeavour, and the effect must be an improved
condition of life and of morals. To make these enterprises profitable,
however, the real productive forces of the Island must first be revived,
and if possible increased. The strength of the building of our own
nation lies in the fact that our productive powers were developed first
and the modern improvements and conveniences have been gradually coming
along in the proper order. Nothing could be more unfortunate for Cuba
than a wild and speculative plunge in the above direction before the
real strength of the Island is again concentrated and put in vigorous
working order. In the first place, it would temporarily take away the
working forces from the land. In the second place, these enterprises
cannot be made self-sustaining until normal productive conditions are
restored. The effect, therefore, would be loss of capital and
disappointment. The objective and immediate point for good work should
be the land. If the new industrial impetus shall be in this direction
the Cuban problem will be simplified and the future of Cuba full of
promise.
INDEX
Acana wood, 341
Adams, Charles Francis, 43
Agricultural products, imports of, from United States, 330
Agriculture and stock, 329-337
Aguacate, population, 124
_Aguacates_, 345
Aguado y Rico, Fernando, School of Arts and Trades, 150, 151;
Industrial School. 381-388
Alameda of Havana, 153
Albarran, Dr., 97
Albear, Colonel, 168
Albertini, 97
Alcala, José Anton, statement in regard to taxes other than customs duties, 249
Alexandria Line of steamers, 366
Alfonsino, Spanish, value of, 23
Alfonso XII., population, 123
Alger, Hon. R. A., letter to Maj.-Gen. John R. Brooke, 390, 391
Alianza Bank, 198
Almendares River, 178
Alonso Rojos, population, 124
Alquizar, population, 123
Alto Songo, population, 124
Amaro, population, 124
Amended Cuban tariff, official, 221-247.
Americans in Santiago, 62-72
American Mall S.S. Co., 47
Amusements, 100
Annexation, 32-36
_Anon_ fruit, 347
Annual deaths in Havana, table, 165
Antomarchi, physician of Napoleon, 129
Apezteguia, Marquis de, on future of Cuba, 37-42; 43, 47, 60, 115
Ariza and Herrara, 167, 168, 171
_Arroba_, 83
Arroyo Navanijo, population, 123
Artemisa, population, 123;
description, 132
Asphaltum, 327, 328
Atkins, E. F., statement in regard to sugar, 287
Atkins & Co., Messrs. E., 284
Atkinson, Edward. 43
Autonomist party, 8
Auxiliary vessels N. V. and Cuba Mail S. S. Co., 368
Average production of tobacco of world (table), 316
_Bagasse_, 286, 287, 297
Bahia Honda, population, 123;
description, 132
Bainoa, population, 124
Baker, Capt. L. D., 47, 53
Bananas, production of Santiago province, 67, 344;
shipments of, 345
"Banco Hispano-Colonial," of Barcelona, 257
Banes, description, 136;
exports of fruit, 136;
shipments of bananas, 345;
exports of pineapples, 348
Bank of Commerce, 198
Banking, history of, 199, 200
Banks and Currency, 190-203
Banks of Havana, list of, 198
Banyan tree, 342
Baracoa, population, 123;
capital removed from, 129;
description, 136;
shipments of bananas, 345;
production of cocoanuts, 345
Barbadoes, cost of Muscovado sugars at, 286
Barbour, Maj. George M., 62, 119
Baria wood, 341
_Barracones_, 80
_Barrios_, 173
Batabano, sanitary condition, 120;
population, 123;
description, 133, 140
Bates, General, 405
_Batey_, 82
Bayamitas iron mines, 322
Bayamo, population, 123;
description, 137
Beal, P. M., statement in regard to sugar farms, 284, 285
Beal & Co., 284
Beans, 331
Beaulieu, Paul Leroy, on Cuban debt, 258, 261
Bees, 337
Beet-sugar competition, 76;
production of, 283;
comparative value, 288;
imports from Europe into United States, 289
Bejucal, population, 123;
description, 134
Belen Church of Havana, 152
Bemba (_see_ Jovellanos)
Berracoe iron mines, 322
Betancourt, Gen. Pedro, 405
Bock, Gustavo, on production, manufacture, and
necessities of tobacco in Cuba, 307-316
Bolondron, population, 123
Boniato manganese mines, 324
Bonnet, Wm., statement in regard to sugar, 291-294
Boston Fruit Company, 53;
manganese mines, 324
Botanical Gardens of Havana, 146
Brazil Line of steamers, 367
British Colonial Government, article on, by Hon. Joseph Chamberlain, 48, 50, 51
British Consul-General at Havana on reciprocity, 273, 274
Brooke, Maj.-Gen. John R., 69;
letter from Secretary Alger to, 390, 391, 399;
letter and cable from General Gomez, 403
Brooks, Mr. (of Brooks & Co.), 193
Bueycito manganese mines, 324
Building stone, 328
Butler, Maj.-Gen. M. C., 44;
on future of Cuba, 45, 46
Caballeria, 83, 310
Cabañas, fort of Havana, 141
Cabañas, population, 124;
description, 133
Cabonico, shipments of bananas, 345
Cabrera, 329
Caibarien, population, 123;
description, 131
Caibarien Railway, 355
Caiguaran wood, 341
Caimitillo wood, 342
Caja de Ahorros, 198
Cajobaba iron mines, 322
Calabazar, population, 124
Calaboya, population, 124;
description, 135;
River, 135
_Calzada_, 352
Camaguey (Puerto Principe), 126
Camarones, population, 124
_Camino Central_ (Central Road), 351
Campbell, Capt. J. A., 392, 401
Campo de Marte of Havana, 146
Canada, sugar exported from Cuba to, 1893-1897, 294
Canary Islanders, value as labourers, 78-80
Canasi, population, 124
Candelaria, population, 124
Cane, yield of, per _caballeria_, 83;
theoretical sugar contents of one hundred pounds of, 286;
theoretical pure sugar contents of one hundred pounds, 287
Caney, population, 124
Cannau River, 114
Canovas, Prime Minister, invented name "realidad nacional," 12
Capdevilla, 149
Capital, American and English, enterprises for, 414, 415
Capital, inducement to, and revival of credit, necessary
to reconstruction of tobacco industry, 309
Cardenas, sanitary condition, 117;
population, 123;
description, 130;
exports and imports, 130;
minerals, 130;
deposits of asphaltum, 327, 328
Cardenas and Jucaro Railway, 354
Carnegie, Andrew, 43
Carpintero iron mines, 322
Cartagena, population, 124
Casa Blanco, suburb of Havana, 152
Casilda, seaport of Trinidad, 127
Casilda and Fernandez Railway, 355
Castillo, General, 399, 406
Catalina, population, 124
_Catana_, 339
Cattle, 332, 334;
cost of importing, 333;
export possibilities, 334
Causes of unfortunate situation of sugar industry, 299
Cauto River, 131, 360
Caves, of Bellamar, 126;
of Arcos de Carguanabo, 133
Cayajabos, population, 124
Cayo Romano, 138
Cedar, 341, shipments, 341
"Cedula" or head tax, 27
Ceiba del Agua, population, 124
Ceiba wood, 342
_Celador_, 173
_Century Magazine_, series of articles on slave trade in, 74
Cereals, 330
Cerro of Havana, 152;
salubrity, 167
Cervantes, population, 123
Chadwick, Edwin, 159
Chaffee, General, 405, 406-410
Chamber of Commerce of Santiago, memorial to President, 192
Chamberlain, E. T., on navigation, 31
Chamberlain, Hon. Joseph, article on British Colonial Government, 48, 50, 51
Characteristics of people, 97-100
Chavez Creek, 162
Chinamen, comparative value of, as labourers, 83
Chinese coolie labour, 77
Chinese immigration prohibited, 84
Chorreta Vedado of Havana, 152;
salubrity, 167
Church of the Merced, of Havana, 152
Cidra, population, 124
Ciego de Avila, population, 124
Cienfuegos, sanitary condition, 113;
population, 123;
description, 127;
harbour, 358
Cienfuegos and Santa Clara Railway, 354
Cigarettes, value of manufacture of, per annum, 313
Cigars, exports from Havana, 306
Cigars, cigarettes, and packages of smoking tobacco for home consumption, 312
Cigars, exportation of, decrease from 1889 to 1897 (table), 314
Cigars, number manufactured in 1889 for exportation and local consumption, 313
Cimarrones, population, 124
Cities and towns, 122-138
_City of Alexandria_, 366
_City of Washington_, 366
City property, face value of tax receipts on, 1886-1898, 252;
actual amount of taxes collected on, 253
Civil Guards, 261
Clark, William J., 285, 286
Coal, 326; analysis of, 327
Coasting trade, regulation of, 362
Coast line, 358
Cobre, description, 137, 318, 325
Cobre manganese mines, 324
Cocoa shipments, 345
Cocoanuts, 345
Cocoanut-oil shipments, 345
Coffee, 349, 350
Coins, gold, value of, 23, 190-192
Cojimar, description, 134
Collection of taxes other than customs duties by Spanish Bank, 252, 254
Colón, population, 123;
description,135;
market, 162
_Colonia_, 284
Colonia Guabairo, 284
Colonial government, Jamaica, 48
Columbus, Christopher, place of burial, 142;
discovery of tobacco, 302
Commerce, 267-280;
value of, 267
_Commercial Cuba_, quotation from, 285
"Commercial relations between Cuba and the United States,"
by E. Sherman Gould, 274-280
Commission of Cuban officers on payment of insurgent soldiers, 204
Compania del Ferro Carril de Cienfuegos a Santa Clara,
traffic and fiscal statement (table), 359
Compania del Ferro Carril de Matanzas, traffic and fiscal
statement (table), 359
Compania del Ferro Carril de Sagua la Grande, traffic and fiscal statement, 359
Compania Transatlantica, 261
Compania Transatlantica Español, 369, 370
Compania Unida de los Ferro Carril de Caibarien, traffic
and fiscal statement (table), 359
Comparative value of cane sugar as against beet sugar, 288
Concha (_see_ La Isabela)
Conclusion--a look ahead, 408-415
Conditions which confront us, 14-31
Consolacion del Sur, population, 123;
description, 133
Constancia mine, 328
Construction of roads necessary to reconstruction of tobacco industry, 309
"Consumption Tax," 26
Coolie labour, 76;
imported from China, 77
Copper, 325
Cornill, Lieutenant, 404
Corral Nuevo, population, 123
Cortes, district of, 307
Cortez, F., 128
Cost, average, of production of German raw sugar, 288
Cost of farming, 83
Cost of production of sugar in Cuba, 289
Cotton, 331, 332
Cramp & Sons, 367
Cuban debt, statement of (table), 259-261
Cuba Submarine Telegraph Company, 361
Cuen wood, 342
Cuero iron mines, 123
Cuevitas, population, 123
Cuia wood, 342
Currency question, 21-26
Custom-House receipts, 213;
1886 to 1897, inclusive, by custom-house districts (table), 218;
during 1895-96, specifying taxes (table), 220
Customs of living, 98-100
Daiquiri, 322
Daiquiri Bay, 320
Davis, Captain, 110
Davis, General, 405
Davis, Surgeon, 162, 163
Death-rate of Havana, 145, 154
Deaths in Havana, first eleven months 1898, 110;
rate in Havana compared with other cities, 111;
table, 165
Debt of Cuba, 259-261
Debt of the city of Havana, 180-183;
compared with United States cities, 182
Decline of Cuban tobacco industry, cause of, 314
De la Plata iron mines, 322
Delinquent taxes, total and percentage, 1886-98, 253;
percentage of each year, 253
Demajobo iron mines, 322
Density of population of Havana, 169, 171
De Soto, 140
Destruction of tobacco industry, causes of, 307, 308
Diana Key, 328
Disbanding of army, discussion with General Gomez, 395, 398
Diseases, principal, 111
Distances, table of, 375
Distribution of fund for relief of army, memorandum between
General Gomez and Robert P. Potter, 398, 399
Donaldson, W. A., 69, 71
Dorothea and Recrio iron mines, 322
Dos Bocas manganese mines, 324
Drainage of Havana, 168
Ducasse, General, 106
Dudley, D. E., report on Cienfuegos, 113-115
Duelling, 99
Dumois family in banana business, 67
Ebony, 341
Economic condition at time of signing of protocol, Aug. 12, 1898, 1-13
_Economiste Français_, article by Paul Leroy Beaulieu on Cuban debt, 258
Economia iron mines, 322
Education, public money for, 388
Education and religion, 376-389
Education under Spanish rule, 28
"_Emancipados_," 74
Empresa Unida de los C. de H. de Cardenas y Jucaro, traffic
and fiscal statement (table), 359
Encrucijada Railway, 355
_Engineering Magazine_, article by E. Sherman Gould on
"Commercial relations between Cuba and the
United States," 274
England, sugar exported from Cuba to, 1893-97, 294
English in Jamaica, 47, 61
Enterprises for American and English capital, 414, 415
Equipment of railroads, 357
"Evangelist Island" (_see_ Isle of Pines), 138
Expenditure, annual, of sugar estates, 297, 298
Expenditures of Cuba, analysis of, 256-263;
methods suggested, 265, 266
Expenditures of Jamaica, 57
Expense of producing one hundred bales of tobacco, 310
Expenses, sovereignty (table), 256
Expenses of Havana, 184-186;
for salaries of police department, 174, 175
Exportation of tobacco to United States, 1889-97, 315
Export duty on leaf tobacco to be maintained, 315
Export price of German sugar, 288
Exports, from Cuba to the United States, 1893 (table), 268;
from United Stales to Cuba, 1893 (table), 268;
from United States to Cuba in 1889 and 1893, value of (table), 275, 276;
of sugar to United States, Canada, Spain, and England. 294
Exports and reshipments, 1885-96, values of (table), 217
Face value of tax receipts handed to Spanish Bank for
collection, 1886-98 (table), 252
Farm labour on _colonia_, 79-85
Fibre plants, 332
Figueras, Fran, on annexation, 33, 264
Fire department of Havana, organisation, 179;
expense, 180
Firmeza, iron mines in, 320
Fiscal statement of railways of Western Cuba, 359
Foreign population, 100
Foreign tonnage of Havana, 371
Fortifications of Havana, 141
Free importation of cattle necessary to reconstruction of
tobacco industry, 308, 309
French lines of steamships, 371
French Submarine Cable Company, 361
Fruit-bearing trees, 344-349
Fruit trees and timber, 338-350
Gage, Hon. Lyman J., order in relation to currency, 195;
report in relation to visit to General Gomez, 390-407
Garcia, Dr., invented "cold box" in yellow fever, 118
Garcia, General, 204, 401, 408
Genuineness of Cuban tobacco, protection and guarantee of, 310
Geological formation of Havana, 167
German sugar, average cost of production of, 288;
export price, 288
Gibara, population, 123;
description, 137;
shipments of bananas, 345
Gibara-Holguin Railway, 355
Gibara or Mayari tobacco, 305
Gold and silver, 325, 326
Gold coins, value of, 23
Gollan, British Consul-General at Havana, estimate of factory
cost of sugar, 285
Gomez, General José Miguel, 204
Gomez, General Maximo, sympathy with United States, 16;
letter from, 17;
visit to, 390-407;
letter from General Brooke, 392;
memorandum regarding distribution of funds for relief of army, 398;
cable from Secretary Hay, 406;
personality of, 407, 408
Gomez de Avellanda, Dona Gertrudis, birthplace of, 129
Gould, Hon. Charles W., 249
Gould, E. Sherman, article on "Commercial relations between
Cuba and the United States," 274-280
Granadillo wood, 341
Grasses, 332
Greene, General F. R., report on condition of Havana,
160-163, 172-175, 177, 182, 186
Grifa, district of, 307
Guama iron mines, 322
Guana, population, 123
Guanabacoa, sanitary condition, 120;
population, 123;
description, 134, 152;
high death-rates, 166
_Guanabana_, 347
Guanajay, population, 123;
description, 133
Guanajayabo, population, 123
Guane, district of, 307
Guane, town of, population, 124
Guano palm, 339
Guantanamo, sanitary condition, 119;
population, 123;
description, 137
Guantanamo Railway, 355
_Guarda Civil_, 173
Guaurabo River, 127
Guido, steamer, 367
Güines, sanitary condition, 120;
population, 123;
description, 134
Guira, population, 123
Guira de Melena, population, 123
Hanabanilla River, 114
Hanna, Lieutenant, 393
Harbour of Havana, cleansing of, 168
Harbours of Cuba, 358
Hard woods, varieties, 341
Hatillo manganese mines, 324
Havana, possibilities of, 3;
sanitary condition, 109-113;
population, 123;
chapter on, 139-153;
commercial importance, 140;
history, 140;
harbour, 141;
churches, 142;
parks, 143;
street railways, 143;
sewerage, 144;
water supply, 144;
telephone system, 144;
fire department, 145;
death-rate, 145, 154;
commerce, 145;
education, 146-151;
hotels, 151;
theatres, 152;
suburbs, 152;
weather observations, 152;
municipal problems, 172-189
Havana Commercial Company, 306
Havana province, area and population, 122;
tobacco production of, 304
_Havana_, steamer, 367
Hay, Hon. John, cable to General Gomez, 406
Hecker, Colonel, 343
Henequin, 332
Henry Clay and Bock Company Limited, 306, 307
Heredia, José Maria, birthplace of, 129
Hill, Mr. G. Everett, report on sanitary condition of Havana, 154-158, 160
Hill, Robert T., on population, 101-105
Hogs, 337
Holguin, population, 123;
description, 137
Home consumption of tobacco, 312
Horses, 336
Hospitality, 98
Immigration, promotion of, necessary to reconstruction of tobacco industry, 309
Imports and exports, 1886-97, receipts from, by custom-house
districts, average, 219
Imports from United States, agricultural products, 330
Imports of merchandise, value of in 1895, 214;
value of by tariff classes, for 1895-96, 217
Indigo plant, 332
Industrial Bank, 198
Industrial School, 381-388
Ingleterra Hotel of Havana, 152
Insurgent troops, disposal of, 89;
payment of, 204-210; 390-407
Internal revenue, receipts from taxes (table), 254
Internal revenue taxes, collection of, 203
Internal taxes, 248-255
International Ocean Telegraph Company, 361
Iron ore, production of in Santiago, 321
Iron-ore mining, when begun, 318;
history, 318-321;
mining properties, 322
Islands of Cuba, 138
Isle of Pines, description, 138;
gold and silver, 325;
production of pineapples, 348
Izquierdo, Colonel Luis Ramos, 285
Izquierdo, José M., in regard to street-sweeping contracts, 112, 113
Jagua, bay of, 127
Jaguey wood, 342
Jamaica, English in, 47, 61
Jamaica, revenue, 55, 56;
expenditures, 57;
roads, 58, 59;
tariff, 59, 60
Jamaica negro, value as labourer, 84
Jaruco, population, 123;
description, 134
"Jerked beef," 335, 336
Jesus del Monte, 152;
salubrity and altitude, 167
Jibacoa, population, 124
Jicota River, 114
Jiguani, population, 124;
description, 137
Jique wood, 341
Johnston, Dr. James, 47
Jovellanos, population, 123;
description, 135
Jover, Dr. Antonio, 194, 195
Jucaro Morón Railway, 355
Juragua Group iron mines, 322
Juragua Iron Company, 319-322, 356
Keys, 138
La Boca (_See_ La Isabela), population, 124
La Cienaga of Havana, 152
La Cruces, population, 123;
description, 135
La Esperanza, population, 123
La Estrella of Santiago, 130
La Isabela, population, 123;
seaport of Sagua, 131;
description, 135
La Plaza of Batabano, 133
La Socapa of Santiago, 130
La Vija, 127
Labour, outlook for, 73-89;
increased demand for, 86;
for mining, 323;
opportunities for, 412, 413
Lagunillas, population, 124
Lakes, 360
Lampton. W. J., 139
Land and professional taxes, 248
Lane, Ralph, discovery of tobacco, 302
Lanuza, Dr. José Gonzales, 204
Las Casas, 140
Las Tunas Railway, 355
Lastres, Dr. Joaquin, on University of Havana, 378-381
Lead, 326
Lee, General, 405
Lemons, 346
Lengua de vaca, 332
Lighthouses, 360
Lignum vitæ, 341
Limonar, population, 124
Llave del Nuevo Mundo, 140
Logan, Major John A., 394
Los Tres Reyes of Havana, 141
Louvre Hotel of Havana, 152
Ludlow, General, 144, 172, 174
McCullough, ex-chief of police of New York, 174
McKinley, President, 43;
order in regard to currency, 196;
cable from General Gomez, 402, 403
McKinley Tariff law, reciprocity of, 273
Macagua, population, 123;
description, 135
Maceo, General, inaugurated revolution, 137, 408
Macio manganese mines, 324
Macurijes, population, 123
Madalena iron mines, 322
Madruga, population, 124;
description, 134
Mahogany, 339, 341;
shipments to United States, 340
Majagua wood, 341
Mamey, 346
Managua, population, 124
Manganese, 323, 324;
mines, list of, 324
Mangar, population, 124
Manicaragua district, silver in, 326
Mantua, population, 124
Manufacture of tobacco; importance and prospects, 313;
number of workmen employed in Havana, 313;
decrease, 314
Manufactures under Spanish rule, 29
Manufacturing establishments of tobacco owned by English,
French, and German companies, 306
Manzanillo, sanitary condition, 119;
population, 123;
description, 131;
exports of lumber, 132;
petroleum in, 328
Marble, 328
Margarita manganese mines, 324
Marianao, sanitary condition, 120;
population, 124;
description, 134, 152
Marianao Railway, 355
Mariel, population, 123
Maritime Security Bank, 198
Marti, 408
_Mascotte_, steamer, 371
Matanzas, sanitary condition, 116, 117;
population, 123;
description, 125
_Matanzas_, steamer, 367
Matanzas Province, area and population, 122
_Matanzas_ Railway, 354
Mayari y Gibara tobacco, 305;
production of, estimate, 311
Melena del Sur, population of, 124
Menocal, General, 176, 405
_Mexico_, steamer, 367
Milanes, birthplace of, 129
Mineral Springs of Madruga, 134;
of San Antonio de los Banos, 135
Mines and mining, 318-328
Mining properties in Santiago, list of, 322
Moboa wood, 342
Monteagudo, General, 405
Montoro, Marquis Rafael, 91, 211, 212, 214
Moret law, 76, 77
Morion, population, 123
Morro, of Santiago, 130;
of Havana, 141
Mules, 336, 337
Municipal problems in Havana, 172-189
Muñoz del Monte, Adolfo, 36;
article in _Revista de Agriculture_, 295-299
Munson Steamship Line, 370
Muscovado sugars, cost of, 286, 295
Ñañigos, 101
Napoleon, French, value of, 23
Nassau, sugar exported from Cuba to, 1897, 294
Natural gas, 328
Navigation, 362-375
Navajas-Jaguey Railway, 354
Navigation policy of United States, 364, 365
Negro, Cuban, characteristics of, 101
_Newport_, steamer, 366
New York and Cuba Mail Steamship Company, 365;
list of steamers, 366, 368;
routes, 368;
rates, 369
_Niagara_, steamer, 367
Nickel, 328
Nueva Gerona, 138
Nueva Paz, population, 123
Nuevitas, population, 123;
description, 136;
exports, 136
Oath for police force, 176
Obstacle to Cuban commerce, 269
Officers and soldiers of the Cuban army, number of, 208
Old Dominion Steamship Company, 366
_Olivette_, steamer, 371
Oranges, 345, 346
_Orden Publico_, 173
_Orizaba_, steamer, 366
Pacific Mail Steamship Company, 366
Palma Real, 338
Palmillas, population, 124
Palmira, population, 123
Panupo Iron Company, 324
Parque Central of Havana, 143
Parque de Isabela of Havana, 153
Partagos Company, 306
Partidos leaf, 303, 304
Partido tobacco, production of, estimate, 311
Pasaje Hotel of Havana, 152
Paseo de Carlos III. of Havana, 146
Paseo de Tacon of Havana, 143
Patti, Adelina, first appearance, 129
Payment of insurgent soldiers, 204, 210;
suggestions in relation to, 391, 392
Peace Commission, 258
Pelaez, Philip, 264
Pepper, Charles M., on negroes of Cuba, 105-107;
in regard to timber and lumber in Cuba, 343;
on education, 377, 378
Perez de Montes de Oca, Dona Luisa, birthplace of, 129
Perna, Dr. Luis, on tuberculosis, 115, 116
Petroleum, 328
Philip I., 281
Pinar del Rio, sanitary condition, 119;
population, 123;
description, 132
Pinar del Rio Province, area and population, 122;
tobacco production, 304, 307;
grasses of, 332
Pinar del Rio (River of Pines), 338
Pineapple, export of, 348
Placido, 129
Plant Line, 371
Playa de Marianao of Havana, 152
Plaza de Armas of Havana, 153
Policy of United States toward Cuba, 15
Political condition at time of signing of protocol, August 12, 1898, 1-13
Political future of Cuba, 32-46
Ponupo Mining and Transportation Company, 356
Population, 90-107;
1774-1899 (table), 92;
estimated, 93;
total census, 1887, 94;
by colour, 94;
density of, 94;
by sex, 95, 96; census, 1877, 96;
of cities and towns (table), 123
Portillo manganese mines, 324
Port regulations, amended 371-374
Potatoes, 330
Poultry, 337
Prado of Havana, 143, 153
Price of sugar, average, 298
Proctor, Hon. R., 405
Production of iron ore in province of Santiago (table), 321
Prohibition of importing and reimporting all tobacco should be maintained, 316
Providencia iron mines, 322
Provinces, population and area, 122, 123
Public money for education, 388
Public works needed in Havana, 176
Puerto Principe, sanitary condition, 117;
population, 123;
description, 126
Puerto Principe, street railways in, 353
Puerto Principe and Nuevitas Railway, 355
Puerto Principe Province, area and population, 122;
tobacco production of, 305;
iron ore in, 322;
silver in, 326
Puertos Grandes, suburb of Havana, 152
Quemado manganese mines, 324
Quemados de Guines, population, 123
Quesada, Señor Gonzalo de, 204, 393, 408
Quicksilver, 328
Quivican, population, 123
Railroads, steam, 354-358
Railways of Western Cuba, traffic and fiscal statement, 359
Railway supplies, obtained from United States, 280
Railway system, under Spanish rule, 30
Rainfall of Havana, 164
Raleigh, Sir Walter, 302
Ramas manganese mines, 324
Ramsden, Frederick W., on coal, 326
Rancho Velez, population, 124
Ranchuelo, population, 123
Rates, New York and Cuba Mail Steamship Company, 369
Rations, farm labourers', 81
Rebellion of 1895-98, effect of, on sugar industry, 282
Receipts and expenditures of the Budget of the Island of
Cuba for 1898-99 (table), 211
Reciprocity, British Consul-General at Havana on, 273, 274
Reconstruction of tobacco industry, what is necessary for, 308-310
Red Telefonica de la Habana, 144, 361
Regla, population, 123;
description, 134, 141, 152
Regla and Guanabacoa Railway, 355
Regulations for labourers, 81, 82
Relative importance of sugar-producing countries of the world, 301
Religion, 388, 389
Religion and education, 376-389
Remates, district of, 307
Remedios, population, 123;
description, 135
Remedios leaf, 305
Remedios tobacco, production of, estimate, 311
Revenue, customs tariff, 211-220
Revenue, how spent, 256-266
Revenue of Cuba, internal taxes, 248-255
Revenue of Havana, 183, 184
Revenue of Jamaica, 55, 56
_Revista de Agriculture_, article by Adolfo Muñoz del Monte, 295-299
Rivers, 360
Roads, waggon, 351-353
Roads in Jamaica, 58, 59
Roble amarillo wood, 341
Roble blanco wood, 341
Rodriguez, General, sympathy with United States, 16
Roque, population, 124
Rosewood, 342
Routes of New York and Cuba Mail Steamship Company, 368
Royal Commission, report on condition of West Indies, 52, 53
Rubens, Horatio S., 204
Rural police, establishment of corps of, necessary to
reconstruction of tobacco industry, 309, 310
Rural real estate, face value of tax receipts on, 1886-98, 252;
actual amount collected, 253
Sabalo, district of, 307
Sabanilla and Maroto Railway, 356
Sabanilla del Encomendador, population, 123
Sagua de Tanamo, population, 124
Sagua la Grande, population, 123;
description, 131
Sagua la Grande Railway, 354
Salaries paid Cuban and United States armies per month, 209
Salud, population, 124
Sampson, Admiral, 149
Sancti Spiritu, population, 123;
description, 135
San Andres manganese mines, 324
San Antonio de Cabezas, population, 124
San Antonio de las Vegas, population, 124
San Antonio de los Banos, population 123;
description, 135
San Antonio de Rio Blanco del Norte, population, 124
San Cayetano and Vinales Railway, 355
San Cristobal, population, 123;
description, 133
San Cristobal de la Habana (_see_ Havana)
San Diego de los Banos, description, 133
San Diego del Valle, population, 124
San Felipe, population, 123
San Jose Bank, 198
San Jose de las Lajas, population, 123
San Jose de los Remos, population, 124
San Juan de las Yeras, population, 123
San Juan manganese mines, 324
San Juan y Martinez, population, 123
San Luis, population, 123
San Maestro range, 323, 324
San Matias de Rio Blanco, population, 124
San Miguel, population, 124
San Nicolas, population, 124
San Vincente mineral springs, 133
Sanguily, Colonel Manuel, 204
Sanitary conditions, rural, 121
Sanitary report of Colonel Waring, 154-171
Sanitary work in Cuba, 108-121
Santa Ana, population, 124
Santa Clara, sanitary condition, 120;
population, 123;
description, 128
Santa Clara Province, area and population, 122;
tobacco production of, 304, 305;
iron ore in, 322;
silver in, 326;
asphaltum, 327
Santa Cruz, population, 123
Santa Cruz del Sur, population, 124
Santa Domingo, population, 123
Santa Fe, 138
Santa Filomena manganese mines, 324
Santa Isabel, population, 123;
description, 136
Santa Maria del Rosario, population, 124
Santiago, Americans in, 62-72;
Custom-House receipts, estimate of, 71
Santiago, Chamber of Commerce, memorial to President, 192
Santiago, iron mines near, 319
Santiago, sanitary condition, 117;
population, 123;
description, 128;
fortifications, 130
Santiago de las Vegas, population, 123
Santiago Province, area, 122;
population, 123;
tobacco production of, 305;
manganese in, 323;
copper in, 325;
silver in, 326;
lead in, 326
Santo Domingo, Church of, Havana, 152
Santo Espiritu (_see_ Sancti Spiritu)
_Sapotilla_, 347
_Sapotes_, 345
Savings banks in Cuba, 199
School of Arts and Trades, 382
Schuman, Mr., 192
_Scribner's Magazine_, article Hon. Jos. Chamberlain, 48
_Seguranca_, steamer, 366
_Semilleros_ (planting beds), 305
_Seneca_, steamer, 366
Sevilla iron mines, 322
Sheep, 337
Siboney, 322
Sierra Maestre range, iron mines in, 319, 323, 324
Sigua Bay, 320
Sigua Iron Company, 319-322
Silver, Spanish, value of, 24
Slave-trade, horrors of, 74
Smith Key of Santiago, 130
Sores, Jacob, 141
South-eastern _Calzada_, 352
Southern _Calzada_, 352
South-western _Calzada_, 352
Spain, sugar exported from Cuba to, 1893-97, 294
Spain's policy toward Cuba in relation to commerce, 272
Spanish-American Iron Company, 319-322
Spanish army, mortality, 1897 (table), 165
Spanish Bank of the Island of Cuba, 198, 199;
branches of, 251
Spanish imports into Cuba, 1896 (table), 270, 271
Spanish peasants, value as labourers, 78
Steam railroads, 354-358
Steamers of Compania Transatlantica Español, 369, 370
Steamers of New York and Cuba Mail Steamship Company, list of, 366
_S. S. Admiral Sampson_, 47
Sternberg, Surgeon-General, 111
Stock, 329-337
Strawberry, 348
Street railways, 353
Streets of Havana, paving of, 169
Street-sweeping contracts, J. M. Yzquierdo in regard to, 112, 113
Sugar, production of,
1869-98 (table), 292;
1879-98 (table), 293;
prices of, 293;
local consumption, 1893-97, 294;
distribution of crops, 1893-97, 294;
classes made during thirty years before 1884, 295;
left in store December 1, 1897, 295;
history and future outlook, 281-301;
total production of the world (table), 300;
producing countries of the world, relative importance of, 301;
beet, competition of, 293
Sugar, beet and cane, total production in 1893-94, 283
Surgirdero of Batabano, 133
Tacon market, 162
Tacon Theatre of Havana, 152
Tapaste, population, 124
Tariff, amended, how framed, 216;
amended official rates, 221-247
Tariff of Jamaica, 59, 60
Tariff, Spanish, actuating principle of, 18
Tariff, Spanish, 215
Tax receipts delivered for collection to the Spanish Bank
of the Island of Cuba (tables), 201, 202
Tax receipts handed to Spanish Bank for collection, 1886-98,
face value of (table), 252
Taxes in Cuba, classification, 212
Taxes collected during 1894-95, by provinces, per cent., 250
Taxes collected by the Spanish Bank, 1886-93, actual amount
of (table), 253
Taxes and Imposts (table), 248
Taxes, minor, face value of receipts, 252;
actual amount collected 1886-98, 253
Taxes other than customs duties, statement of José Anton
Alcala, chief of tax bureau of Spanish Bank, 24
Taxes on professions, trades, etc., 1886-98, face value
of receipts on, 252;
actual amount collected, 1886-98, 253
Taylor, A. H., 169
Telegraph lines, 360, 361
Telephones, 361
Temperature of Havana, 164
Theoretical sugar contents of 100 pounds cane, 286
Timber and fruit trees, 338-350
Tobacco, 302-316
Tobacco, exports of, percentage shipped by Havana, 306;
decrease in shipments to United States in 1897, 307
Tobacco, United States imports, from Cuba, 312
Tobacco, history of cultivation, 302, 303
Tobacco, leaf, exportation of, increase, 314
Tobacco manufacturing companies, list of, 306
Tobacco manufactories of Havana, 145
Tobacco production, report by provinces, grade, amount
consumed, and amount exported, 304, 305;
in eastern provinces, estimate, 311;
in Havana Province, estimate, 311;
in Pinar del Rio, estimate, 311;
in Las Villas Sta. Clara, estimate, 311;
in normal times, by provinces, estimate, 311;
of the world, average (table), 316
Tobacco raising, methods of, 305, 306
Tobacco, yield per acre, 306;
number of persons engaged in cultivating, 306
Todd, J. White, on labour, 413
Tonnage of Havana, foreign, 371
Tonnage of Havana and other ports, 358
Total delinquent taxes, 202
Trade of Cuban ports, 218
Traffic of railways of Western Cuba, 359
Tramways of Havana, 176, 177
Transportation, 351, 361
Treaty of Vienna, 73
Trelles, Modesto, statement in regard to "jerked beef," 335, 336
Trinidad, cost of Muscovado sugars at, 286
Trinidad, population, 123;
description, 127;
exports, 128
Tunas de Zaza, population, 124;
description, 136;
exports, 136
Union Bridge Company of New York, 276
United Railways Company, 354
United Railways of Havana and Regla Warehouse, Ld., traffic
and fiscal statement (table), 359
United States, sugar exported from Cuba to, 1893-97, 294
University of Havana, 148, 378, 381
Uplands, climate of, 121
Upmann & Company, H., 306
Uvera and Jaqueca iron mines, 322
Values of sugar in Cuba, on what dependent, 289
Van Leer, Major, 343
Vegetables, 331
Velasquez, Diego, 127, 129, 140
Vereda Nueva, population, 124
Vienna, treaty of, 73
_Vigilancia_, steamer, 366
Villalon, Colonel José Ramon, 204, 206;
regarding payment of army, 391, 392
Vinales, population, 124; description, 133
_Volante_, 353
Vuelta Abajo, tobacco district, 132
Vuelta Abajo tobacco, production of, e stimate, 303, 304, 308, 310-313, 315
Wages, farm labourers', 80, 81, 85
Waggon roads, 351-353
War, causes of, 7, 8
War debt, 257, 259
Ward, James E., 365, 366
"Ward Line," 365
Waring, Colonel George E., 144;
sanitary report, 154-171
Water supply of Havana, 156, 177-179
Western _Calzada_, 352
Western Railway, 354
Western Railways of Havana, Ld., 276;
traffic and fiscal statement (table), 359
West India and Panama Telegraph Company, 361
Willet & Gray, Messrs., total sugar production of the world
(year 1895), (table), 299, 300
Wood, Major-General Leonard, 63-66, 68, 69, 392, 399, 408
Wyman, Dr., 111
Ximeno, Mr. Albert de, 393
Yaba wood, 342
_Yagua_, 338
Yarey palm, 339
Yellow fever commission, Havana, extracts from report of, 164-171
Yuca, 331
_Yucatan_, steamer, 366
Yumuri River, 125; cañon of, 126
_Yumuri_, steamer, 366, 367
Yzquierdo, José M., on street-sweeping contracts, 112
Zanjon, peace of, 8, 76
Zapote, 348
Zaza Railway, 355
* * * * *
Typographical errors corrected by the etext transcriber:
Banco Espanol de la Isla de Cuba=> Banco Español de la Isla de Cuba {pg
22}
deadly miasms=> deadly miasmas {pg 121}
neither chiselled, carved, inalid=> neither chiselled, carved, inlaid
{pg 239}
better know abroad=> better known abroad {pg 339}
for fancy varietes=> for fancy varieties {pg 339}
Wisconsin or Pennyslvania=> Wisconsin or Pennsylvania {pg 343}
Compania Transatlantica Español=> Companía Transatlántica Español {pg
369}
(_f_) The tonnage tax on entries=> (_e_) The tonnage tax on entries {pg
373}
Yumuri River, 125; canon of, 126=> Yumuri River, 125; cañon of, 126
{index}
Yzquierdo, Jose M., on street-sweeping contracts, 112=> Yzquierdo, José
M., on street-sweeping contracts, 112 {index}
FOOTNOTES:
[1] The following shows the precise value of both the Spanish Alfonsino
and the French Napoleon, with the inflated value. It also shows the cost
of Spanish silver in Havana in September, 1898. These facts are
necessary to a complete view of the subject of Cuban currency:
STATEMENT SHOWING VALUE OF UNITED STATES GOLD IN COMPARISON WITH SPANISH
AND FRENCH GOLD AT ACTUAL LEGAL-TENDER VALUE
Spanish Alfonsino $5.30
French Napoleon 4.24
Spanish Alfonsino, value in Havana $5.30
Value in United States mint ($4.80 less shipping
expenses) 4.776
------
$0.524
Exchange 10-31/32%
French Napoleon, value in Havana $4.24
Value in United States mint ($3.84 less shipping
expenses) 3.8208
-------
$0.4192
Exchange 10-31/32%
Value of $5, less 1/2% shipping expenses $4.975. At 10-31/32% .....$5.53
[2] Taking into account the weight of gold contained in the United
States gold ten-dollar piece and in the Spanish Alfonsino or centen
(5.30 Cuban dollars), the value of the American eagle is exactly 10.9875
Cuban dollars, or practically 11 Cuban dollars. There is a shade of
difference, namely, $5.53, which would equal $11.06, for the American
eagle in the estimate given in the former footnote, but the exchange is
included in the calculation. As the matter now stands in Cuba, a
ten-dollar American gold piece is worth 11 Spanish dollars in gold.
[3] In this year there was no expenditure for this purpose.
[4] Includes Market Dues and Pounds.
[5] In this year there was no expenditure for these purposes.
[6] Half-year.
[7] A cable despatch to the New York _Sun_, dated Santiago, December
19th, a week after the author left Santiago, contains the information
that General Wood has now completed his scheme of local taxation, and
that the local machinery will soon be in running order. The despatch
says:
"A committee of the Chamber of Commerce met General Wood at the
palace to-day and agreed to accept the scheme of municipal taxation
arranged by the committee of American officers and Cubans. The
scheme in operation the first year will yield annually $240,000, or
sixty per cent. under the Spanish schedule. It is not retroactive.
General Wood decided to-day, after consultation, that it will be
impossible to make many merchants pay the back tax without
litigation. The city loses nearly $100,000 by the ruling."
[8] The amended Cuban tariff, prepared under the direction of the author
of this book, went into force in all ports in Cuba, January 1, 1899.
Elsewhere in the present volume will be found an epitome of the tariff,
and also of the other forms of Cuban taxation.
[9] Barracones are the buildings occupied by the working people.
[10] Batey is the space occupied by the buildings.
[11] A caballeria contains 324 cordeles or 33-1/3 acres.
[12] An arroba is twenty-five pounds.
[13] It is not certain that the remains of Columbus were in this
Cathedral at the time of the supposed removal that lately took place;
there are strong reasons to believe that his body is still at San
Domingo.
[14] In Cuba you must use stamped paper in writing to government
officials. The higher the official, the more expensive the stamped paper
to be used, and as only a certain number of words are allowed per sheet,
correspondence with those in authority may become expensive.
[15] The two hurricanes of October, 1870, were the cause of the short
crop of 1871.
[16] Since this chapter was written an American syndicate known as the
Havana Commercial Co. has been formed. This company has absorbed some
fourteen factories in Cuba.
[17] Complete figures not obtainable.
[18] Including the Regla Warehouses.
[19] Since this chapter was written these charges have been extended to
all Cuban ports.
[20] See Chapter XIV.
[21] The estimate of the Cuban Commission, as given to Commissioner
Porter, aggregated, for commissioned officers, non-commissioned
officers, and privates, 45,031 men, which, at 100 silver dollars each at
the value established by order of the President (60 of U. S.), would
aggregate 2,701,860 U. S. dollars, or nearly $300,000 less than the
amount appropriated by Congress.
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