initial commit of ebook 11464HEADmain

1 files changed, 6144 insertions, 0 deletions

diff --git a/11464-0.txt b/11464-0.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..b9fa943
--- /dev/null
+++ b/11464-0.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,6144 @@
+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 11464 ***
+
+[Illustration: TOWER OF LA FUERZA
+
+_Havana_]
+
+CUBA
+
+OLD AND NEW
+
+BY
+
+ALBERT G. ROBINSON
+
+1915.
+
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+
+CHAPTER
+
+I.    OLD CUBA
+
+II.   NEW CUBA
+
+III.  THE COUNTRY
+
+IV.   THE OLD HAVANA
+
+V.    THE NEW HAVANA
+
+VI.   AROUND THE ISLAND
+
+VII.  AROUND THE ISLAND (_Continued_)
+
+VIII. THE UNITED STATES AND CUBA
+
+IX.   CUBA'S REVOLUTIONS
+
+X.    INDEPENDENCE
+
+XI.   FILIBUSTERING
+
+XII.  THE STORY OF SUGAR
+
+XIII. VARIOUS PRODUCTS AND INDUSTRIES
+
+XIV.  POLITICS, GOVERNMENT, AND COMMERCE
+
+
+
+LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
+
+
+Tower of La Fuerza, Havana
+The Morro, Havana
+A Planter's Home, Havana Province
+Iron Grille Gateway, El Vedado, suburb of Havana
+Watering Herd of Cattle, Luyano River, near Havaria
+Royal Palms
+Custom House, Havana
+Balconies, Old Havana
+Street in Havana
+Street and Church of the Angels, Havana
+A Residence in El Vedado
+The Volante (now quite rare)
+A Village Street, Calvario, Havana Province
+Street and Church, Camaguey
+Cobre, Oriente Province
+Hoisting the Cuban Flag over the Palace, May 20,1902
+A Spanish Block House
+Along the Harbor Wall, Havana
+Country Road, Havana Province
+Street in Camaguey
+Palm-Thatched Roofs
+A Peasant's Home
+
+
+
+
+CUBA
+
+OLD AND NEW
+
+
+
+
+I
+
+_OLD CUBA_
+
+
+Christopher Columbus was a man of lively imagination. Had he been an
+ordinary, prosaic and plodding individual, he would have stayed at home
+combing wool as did his prosaic and plodding ancestors for several
+generations. At the age of fourteen he went to sea and soon developed an
+active curiosity about regions then unknown but believed to exist. There
+was even then some knowledge of western Asia, and even of China as
+approached from the west. Two and two being properly put together, the
+result was a reasonable argument that China and India could be reached from
+the other direction, that is, by going westward instead of eastward.
+
+In the early autumn of the year 1492, Columbus was busy discovering islands
+in the Caribbean Sea region, and, incidentally, seeking for the richest
+of the group. From dwellers on other islands, he heard of one, called
+Cubanacan, larger and richer than any that he had then discovered. A
+mixture of those tales with his own vivid imagination produced a belief
+in a country of wide extent, vastly rich in gold and gems, and already a
+centre of an extensive commerce. Cruising in search of what he believed to
+be the eastern coast of Asia, he sighted the shore of Cuba on the morning
+of October 28, 1492. His journal, under date of October 24, states: "At
+midnight I tripped my anchors off this _Cabo del Isleo de Isabella_, where
+I was pitched to go to the island of Cuba, which I learn from these people
+is very large and magnificent, and there are gold and spices in it, and
+large ships and merchants. And so I think it must be the island of Cipango
+(Japan), of which they tell such wonders." The record, under date of
+Sunday, 28th of October, states: "Continued for the nearest land of Cuba,
+and entered a beautiful estuary, clear of rocks and other dangers. The
+mouth of the estuary had twelve fathoms depth, and it was wide enough for a
+ship to work into." Students have disagreed regarding the first Cuban port
+entered by Columbus. There is general acceptance of October 28 as the
+date of arrival. Some contend that on that day he entered Nipe Bay, while
+others, and apparently the greater number, locate the spot somewhat to the
+west of Nuevitas. Wherever he first landed on it, there is agreement that
+he called the island Juana, in honor of Prince Juan, taking possession "in
+the name of Christ, Our Lady, and the reigning Sovereigns of Spain."
+
+His record of the landing place is obscure. It is known that he sailed some
+leagues beyond it, to the westward. While on board his caravel, on his
+homeward voyage, he wrote a letter to his friend, Don Rafael Sanchez,
+"Treasurer of their most Serene Highnesses," in which the experience is
+described. The original letter is lost, but it was translated into Latin
+and published in Barcelona in the following year, 1493. While the Latin
+form is variously translated into English, the general tenor of all is the
+same. He wrote: "When I arrived at Juana (Cuba), I sailed along the coast
+to the west, discovering so great an extent of land that I could not
+imagine it to be an island, but the continent of Cathay. I did not,
+however, discover upon the coast any large cities, all we saw being a few
+villages and farms, with the inhabitants of which we could not obtain any
+communication, they flying at our approach. I continued my course, still
+expecting to meet with some town or city, but after having gone a great
+distance and not meeting with any, and finding myself proceeding toward
+the north, which I was desirous, to avoid on account of the cold, and,
+moreover, meeting with a contrary wind, I determined to return to the
+south, and therefore put about and sailed back to a harbor which I had
+before observed." That the actual landing was at or near the present port
+of Nuevitas seems to be generally accepted.
+
+Columbus appears to have been greatly impressed by the beauty of the
+island. In his _Life of Columbus_, Washington Irving says: "From his
+continual remarks on the beauty of scenery, and from his evident delight in
+rural sounds and objects, he appears to have been extremely open to those
+happy influences, exercised over some spirits, by the graces and wonders
+of nature. He gives utterance to these feelings with characteristic
+enthusiasm, and at the same time with the artlessness and simplicity of
+diction of a child. When speaking of some lovely scene among the groves, or
+along the flowery shores of these favored islands, he says, "One could
+live there forever." Cuba broke upon him like an elysium. "It is the most
+beautiful island," he says, "that ever eyes beheld, full of excellent ports
+and profound rivers." A little discount must be made on such a statement.
+Granting all that is to be said of Cuba's scenic charms, some allowance is
+to be made for two influences. One is Don Cristobal's exuberance, and the
+other is the fact that when one has been knocking about, as he had been,
+for nearly three months on the open sea and among low-lying and sandy
+islands and keys, any land, verdure clad and hilly, is a picture of
+Paradise. Many people need only two or three days at sea to reach a similar
+conclusion. In his letter to Luis de Santangel, Columbus says: "All these
+countries are of surpassing excellence, and in particular Juana (Cuba,),
+which contains abundance of fine harbors, excelling any in Christendom, as
+also many large and beautiful rivers. The land is high, and exhibits chains
+of tall mountains which seem to reach to the skies and surpass beyond
+comparison the isle of Cetrefrey (Sicily). These display themselves in all
+manner of beautiful shapes. They are accessible in every part, and covered
+with a vast variety of lofty trees which it appears to me never lose their
+foliage. Some were covered with blossoms, some with fruit, and others in
+different stages according to their nature. There are palm trees of six or
+eight sorts. Beautiful forests of pines are likewise found, and fields of
+vast extent. Here are also honey and fruits of thousand sorts, and birds of
+every variety."
+
+Having landed at this indefinitely located point, Columbus, believing that
+he had reached the region he was seeking, despatched messengers to the
+interior to open communication with some high official of Cathay, in which
+country he supposed himself to be, the idea of Cipango apparently having
+been abandoned. "Many at the present day," says Washington Irving, "will
+smile at this embassy to a naked savage chieftain in the interior of Cuba,
+in mistake for an Asiatic monarch; but such was the singular nature of this
+voyage, a continual series of golden dreams, and all interpreted by the
+deluding volume of Marco Polo." But the messengers went on their journey,
+and proceeded inland some thirty or forty miles. There they came upon a
+village of about fifty huts and a population of about a thousand. They were
+able to communicate only by signs, and it is quite certain that the replies
+of the natives were as little understood by the messengers as the questions
+were by the natives. The messengers sought something about which the
+natives knew little or nothing. The communications were interpreted through
+the medium of imagination and desire. Nothing accomplished, the commission
+returned and made its disappointing report. Washington Irving thus
+describes the further proceedings: "The report of the envoys put an end to
+the many splendid fancies of Columbus, about the barbaric prince and his
+capital. He was cruising, however, in a region of enchantment, in which
+pleasing chimeras started up at every step, exercising by turns a power
+over his imagination. During the absence of the emissaries, the Indians
+had informed him, by signs, of a place to the eastward, where the people
+collected gold along the river banks by torchlight and afterward wrought it
+into bars with hammers. In speaking of this place they again used the words
+Babeque and Bohio, which he, as usual, supposed to be the proper names of
+islands or countries. His great object was to arrive at some opulent and
+civilized country of the East, with which he might establish commercial
+relations, and whence he might carry home a quantity of oriental
+merchandise as a rich trophy of his discovery. The season was advancing;
+the cool nights gave hints of approaching winter; he resolved, therefore,
+not to proceed farther to the north, nor to linger about uncivilized places
+which, at present, he had not the means of colonizing, but to return to the
+east-south-east, in quest of Babeque, which he trusted might prove some
+rich and civilized island on the coast of Asia." And so he sailed away for
+Hispaniola (Santo Domingo) which appears to have become, a little later,
+his favorite West Indian resort.
+
+[Illustration: THE MORRO _Havana_]
+
+He began his eastward journey on November 12th. As he did not reach Cape
+Maisi, the eastern point of the island, until December 5th, he must have
+made frequent stops to examine the shore. Referring to one of the ports
+that he entered he wrote to the Spanish Sovereigns thus: "The amenity of
+this river, and the clearness of the water, through which the sand at the
+bottom may be seen; the multitude of palm trees of various forms, the
+highest and most beautiful that I have met with, and an infinity of other
+great and green trees; the birds in rich plumage and the verdure of the
+fields, render this country of such marvellous beauty that it surpasses all
+others in charms and graces, as the day doth the night in lustre. For which
+reason I often say to my people that, much as I endeavor to give a complete
+account of it to your majesties, my tongue cannot express the whole truth,
+nor my pen describe it; and I have been so overwhelmed at the sight of so
+much beauty that I have not known how to relate it."
+
+Columbus made no settlement in Cuba; his part extends only to the
+discovery. On his second expedition, in the spring of 1494, he visited and
+explored the south coast as far west as the Isle of Pines, to which he gave
+the name _La Evangelista_. He touched the south coast again on his fourth
+voyage, in 1503. On his way eastward from his voyage of discovery on the
+coast of Central America, he missed his direct course to Hispaniola, and
+came upon the Cuban shore near Cape Cruz. He was detained there for some
+days by heavy weather and adverse winds, and sailed thence to his unhappy
+experience in Jamaica. The work of colonizing remained for others. Columbus
+died in the belief that he had discovered a part of the continent of Asia.
+That Cuba was only an island was determined by Sebastian de Ocampo who
+sailed around it in 1508. Baron Humboldt, who visited Cuba in 1801 and
+again in 1825, and wrote learnedly about it, states that "the first
+settlement of the whites occurred in 1511, when Velasquez, under orders
+from Don Diego Columbus, landed at Puerto de las Palmas, near Cape Maisi,
+and subjugated the Cacique Hatuey who had fled from Haiti to the eastern
+end of Cuba, where he became the chief of a confederation of several
+smaller native princes." This was, in fact, a military expedition composed
+of three hundred soldiers, with four vessels.
+
+Hatuey deserves attention. His name is not infrequently seen in Cuba today,
+but it is probable that few visitors know whether it refers to a man, a
+bird, or a vegetable. He was the first Cuban hero of whom we have record,
+although the entire reliability of the record is somewhat doubtful. The
+notable historian of this period is Bartolome Las Casas, Bishop of Chiapa.
+He appears to have been a man of great worth, a very tender heart, and an
+imagination fully as vivid as that of Columbus. His sympathies were aroused
+by the tales of the exceeding brutality of many of the early Spanish
+voyagers in their relations with the natives. He went out to see for
+himself, and wrote voluminously of his experiences. He also wrote with
+exceeding frankness, and often with great indignation. He writes about
+Hatuey. The inference is that this Cacique, or chieftain, fled from Haiti
+to escape Spanish brutality, and even in fear of his life. There are other
+translations of Las Casas, but for this purpose choice has been made of one
+published in London about the year 1699. It is given thus:
+
+"There happened divers things in this island (Cuba) that deserve to be
+remarked. A rich and potent Cacique named Hatuey was retired into the Isle
+of Cuba to avoid that Slavery and Death with which the Spaniards menaced
+him; and being informed that his persecutors were upon the point of landing
+in this Island, he assembled all his Subjects and Domestics together, and
+made a Speech unto them after this manner. "You know, (said he) the Report
+is spread abroad that the Spaniards are ready to invade this Island, and
+you are not ignorant of the ill usage our Friends and Countrymen have met
+with at their hands, and the cruelties they have committed at Haiti (so
+Hispaniola is called in their Language). They are now coming hither with
+a design to exercise the same Outrages and Persecutions upon us. Are
+you ignorant (says he) of the ill Intentions of the People of whom I am
+speaking? We know not (say they all with one voice) upon what account they
+come hither, but we know they are a very wicked and cruel People. I'll tell
+you then (replied the Cacique) that these Europeans worship a very covetous
+sort of God, so that it is difficult to satisfy him; to perform the Worship
+they render to this Idol, they will exact immense Treasures of us, and will
+use their utmost endeavors to reduce us to a miserable state of Slavery,
+or else put us to death." The historian leaves to the imagination and
+credulity of his readers the task of determining just where and how he got
+the full details of this speech and of the subsequent proceedings. The
+report of the latter may well be generally correct inasmuch as there were
+Spanish witnesses present, but the account of this oration, delivered prior
+to the arrival of the Spanish invaders, is clearly open to a suspicion that
+it may be more or less imaginary. But the historian continues: "Upon this
+he took a Box full of Gold and valuable Jewels which he had with him, and
+exposing it to their view: Here is (said he) the God of the Spaniards, whom
+we must honor with our Sports and Dances, to see if we can appease him and
+render him propitious to us; that so he may command the Spaniards not to
+offer us any injury. They all applauded this Speech, and fell a leaping and
+dancing around the Box, till they had quite tired and spent themselves.
+After which the Cacique Hatuey resuming his Discourse, continued to speak
+to them in these terms: If we keep this God (says he) till he's taken away
+from us, he'll certainly cause our lives to be taken away from us; and
+therefore I am of opinion it will be the best way to cast him into the
+river. They all approved of this Advice, and went all together with one
+accord to throw this pretended God into the River."
+
+But the Spaniards came and encountered the resistance of Hatuey and his
+followers. The invaders were victorious, and Hatuey was captured and burned
+alive. Las Casas relates that while the poor wretch was in the midst of the
+flames, tied to a stake, "a certain Franciscan Friar of great Piety and
+Virtue, took upon him to speak to him of God and our Religion, and to
+explain to him some Articles of Catholic Faith, of which he had never
+heard a word before, promising him Eternal Life if he would believe and
+threatening him with Eternal Torment if he continued obstinate in his
+Infidelity. Hatuey reflecting on the matter, as much as the Place and
+Condition in which he was would permit, asked the Friar that instructed
+him, whether the Gate of Heaven was open to Spaniards; and being answered
+that such of them as were good men might hope for entrance there: the
+Cacique, without any farther deliberation, told him that he had no mind to
+go to heaven for fear of meeting with such cruel and wicked Company as
+they were; but he would much rather choose to go to Hell where he might be
+delivered from the troublesome sight of such kind of People." And so died
+the Cacique Hatuey. Four hundred years later, the Cuban Government named a
+gunboat _Hatuey_, in his honor.
+
+The Velasquez expedition, in the following year, founded Baracoa, now a
+small city on the northern coast near the eastern extremity of the island.
+It is a spot of exceeding scenic charm. It was established as the capital
+city, but it held that honor for a few years only. In 1514 and 1515,
+settlements were established at what is now Santiago, at Sancti Spiritus,
+Trinidad, and Batabano. The latter was originally called San Cristobal de
+la Habana, the name being transferred to the present city, on the north
+coast, in 1519. It displaced the name Puerto de Carenas given to the
+present Havana by Ocampo, who careened his vessels there in 1508. Baracoa
+was made the seat of a bishopric, and a cathedral was begun, in 1518. In
+1522, both the capital and the bishopric were transferred to Santiago, a
+location more readily accessible from the new settlements on the south
+coast, and also from Jamaica which was then included in the diocese.
+Cuba, at about this period, was the point of departure for an important
+expedition. In 1517, de Cordoba, with three vessels and 110 soldiers,
+was sent on an expedition to the west for further and more northerly
+exploration of the land discovered by Columbus in 1503. The coast from
+Panama to Honduras had been occupied. The object of this expedition was to
+learn what lay to the northward. The result was the discovery of Yucatan.
+Cordoba returned to die of wounds received in a battle. A second and
+stronger expedition was immediately despatched. This rounded the peninsula
+and followed the coast as far as the present city of Vera Cruz. In 1518,
+Hernan Cortez was _alcalde_, or mayor, of Santiago de Cuba. On November 18,
+of that year, he sailed from that port in command of an expedition for
+the conquest of Mexico, finally effected in 1521, after one of the most
+romantic campaigns in the history of warfare. All that, however, is a story
+in which Cuba has no place except that of the starting point and base of
+the expedition. There is another story of the same kind, a few years later.
+The first discovery of Florida is somewhat uncertain. It appears on an old
+Spanish map dated 1502. Following the expedition of Ponce de Leon, in 1513,
+and of Murielo, in 1516, Narvaez headed an expedition from Cuba in 1528
+with some three hundred freebooters. They landed in Florida, where almost
+the entire band was, very properly, destroyed by the Indians. In 1539, de
+Soto sailed from Havana, with five hundred and seventy men and two hundred
+and twenty-three horses, for an extended exploration. They wandered for
+three years throughout what is now the southern part of the United States
+from Georgia and South Carolina westward to Arkansas and Missouri. After a
+series of almost incredible experiences, de Soto died in 1542, on the banks
+of the Mississippi River at a point probably not far from the Red River.
+These and other expeditions, from Cuba and from Mexico, to what is now
+territory of the United States, produced no permanent results. No gold was
+found.
+
+Of the inhabitants of Cuba, as found by the Spaniards, comparatively little
+is recorded. They seem to have been a somewhat negative people, generally
+described as docile, gentle, generous, and indolent. Their garments were
+quite limited, and their customs altogether primitive. They disappear
+from Cuba's story in its earliest chapters. Very little is known of their
+numbers. Some historians state that, in the days of Columbus, the island
+had a million inhabitants, but this is obviously little if anything more
+than a rough guess. Humboldt makes the following comment: "No means now
+exist to arrive at a knowledge of the population of Cuba in the time of
+Columbus; but how can we admit what some otherwise judicious historians
+state, that when the island of Cuba was conquered in 1511, it contained a
+million inhabitants of whom only 14,000 remained in 1517. The statistical
+information which we find in the writings of Las Casas is filled with
+contradictions." Forty years or so later the Dominican friar, Luis Bertram,
+on his return to Spain, predicted that "the 200,000 Indians now in the
+island of Cuba, will perish, victims to the cruelty of the Europeans." Yet
+Gomara stated that there was not an Indian in Cuba after 1553. Whatever the
+exact truth regarding numbers, it is evident that they disappeared rapidly,
+worked to death by severe task-masters. The institution of African slavery,
+to take the place of the inefficient and fast disappearing native labor,
+had its beginning in 1521. Baron Humboldt states that from that time until
+1790, the total number of African negroes imported as slaves was 90,875.
+In the next thirty years, the business increased rapidly, and Humboldt
+estimates the total arrivals, openly entered and smuggled in, from 1521 to
+1820, as 372,449. Mr. J.S. Thrasher, in a translation of Humboldt's work,
+issued in 1856, added a footnote showing the arrivals up to 1854 as
+644,000. A British official authority, at the same period, gives the total
+as a little less than 500,000. The exact number is not important. The
+institution on a large scale, in its relation to the total number of
+whites, was a fact.
+
+It is, of course, quite impossible even today to argue the question of
+slavery. To many, the offence lies in the mere fact; to others, it lies in
+the operation of the system. At all events, the institution is no longer
+tolerated in any civilized country. While some to whom the system itself
+was a bitter offence have found much to criticize in its operation in Cuba,
+the general opinion of observers appears to be that it was there notably
+free from the brutality usually supposed to attend it. The Census Report of
+1899, prepared under the auspices of the American authorities, states that
+"while it was fraught with all the horrors of this nefarious business
+elsewhere, the laws for the protection of slaves were unusually humane.
+Almost from the beginning, slaves had a right to purchase their freedom or
+change their masters, and long before slavery was abolished they could own
+property and contract marriage. As a result, the proportion of free colored
+to slaves has always been large." Humboldt, who studied the institution
+while it was most extensive, states that "the position of the free negroes
+in Cuba is much better than it is elsewhere, even among those nations which
+have for ages flattered themselves as being most advanced in civilization."
+The movement for the abolition of slavery had its beginning in 1815, with
+the treaty of Vienna, to which Spain was a party. Various acts in the same
+direction appear in the next fifty years. The Moret law, enacted in 1870 by
+the Spanish Cortes, provided for gradual abolition in Spain's dominions,
+and a law of 1880, one of the results of the Ten Years' War, definitely
+abolished the system. Traces of it remained, however, until about 1887,
+when it may be regarded as having become extinct forever in Cuba.
+
+For the first two hundred and fifty years of Cuba's history, the city of
+Havana appears as the special centre of interest. There was growth in other
+sections, but it was slow, for reasons that will be explained elsewhere.
+In 1538, Havana was attacked and totally destroyed by a French privateer.
+Hernando de Soto, then Governor of the island, at once began the
+construction of defences that are now one of the special points of interest
+in the city. The first was the Castillo de la Fuerza. In 1552, Havana
+became the capital city. In 1555, it was again attacked, and practically
+destroyed, including the new fortress, by French buccaneers. Restoration
+was effected as rapidly as possible. In 1589, La Fuerza was enlarged, and
+the construction of the Morro and of La Punta, the fortress at the foot of
+the Prado, was begun. The old city wall, of which portions still remain,
+was of a later period. Despite these precautions, the city was repeatedly
+attacked by pirates and privateers. Some reference to these experiences
+will be made in a special chapter on the city. The slow progress of the
+island is shown by the fact that an accepted official report gives the
+total population in 1775 as 171,620, of whom less than 100,000 were white.
+The absence of precious metals is doubtless the main reason for the lack of
+Spanish interest in the development of the country. For a long time after
+the occupation, the principal industry was cattle raising. Agriculture, the
+production of sugar, tobacco, coffee, and other crops, on anything properly
+to be regarded as a commercial scale, was an experience of later years. The
+reason for this will be found in the mistaken colonial policy of Spain, a
+policy the application of which, in a far milder manner, cost England its
+richest colony in the Western Hemisphere, and which, in the first quarter
+of the 19th Century, cost Spain all of its possessions in this half of the
+world, with the exception of Cuba and Porto Rico.
+
+
+
+
+II
+
+_NEW CUBA_
+
+
+While there is no point in Cuba's history that may be said to mark a
+definite division between the Old Cuba and the New Cuba, the beginning of
+the 19th Century may be taken for that purpose. Cuba's development dragged
+for two hundred and fifty years. The population increased slowly and
+industry lagged. For this, Spain's colonial policy was responsible. But it
+was the policy of the time, carried out more or less effectively by all
+nations having colonies. England wrote it particularly into her Navigation
+Acts of 1651, 1660, and 1663, and supported it by later Acts. While not
+rigorously enforced, and frequently evaded by the American colonists, the
+system at last proved so offensive that the colonists revolted in 1775.
+Most of Spain's colonies in the Western Hemisphere, for the same reason,
+declared and maintained their independence in the first quarter of the
+19th Century. At the bottom of Cuba's several little uprisings, and at the
+bottom of its final revolt in 1895, lay the same cause of offence. In those
+earlier years, it was held that colonies existed solely for the benefit
+of the mother-country. In 1497, almost at the very beginning of Spain's
+colonial enterprises in the New World, a royal decree was issued under
+which the exclusive privilege to carry on trade with the colonies was
+granted to the port of Seville. This monopoly was transferred to the port
+of Cadiz in 1717, but it continued, in somewhat modified form in later
+years, until Spain had no colonies left.
+
+While Santiago was the capital of the island, from 1522 to 1552, trade
+between Spain and the island could be carried on only through that port.
+When Havana became the capital, in 1552, the exclusive privilege of trade
+was transferred to that city. With the exception of the years 1762 and
+1763, when the British occupied Havana and declared it open to all trade,
+the commerce of the island could only be done through Havana with Seville,
+until 1717, and afterward with Cadiz. Baracoa, or Santiago, or Trinidad,
+or any other Cuban city, could not send goods to Santander, or Malaga, or
+Barcelona, or any other Spanish market, or receive goods directly from
+them. The law prohibited trade between Cuba and all other countries, and
+limited all trade between the island and the mother-country to the port of
+Havana, at one end, and to Seville or Cadiz, according to the time of the
+control of those ports, at the other end. Even intercolonial commerce was
+prohibited. At times, and for brief periods, the system was modified to
+the extent of special trade licences, and, occasionally, by international
+treaties. But the general system of trade restriction was maintained
+throughout all of Spain's colonial experience. Between 1778 and 1803, most
+of Cuba's ports were opened to trade with Spain. The European wars of the
+early years of the 19th Century led to modification of the trade laws, but
+in 1809 foreign commerce with Spanish American ports was again prohibited.
+A few years later, Spain had lost nearly all its American colonies. A new
+plan was adopted in 1818. Under that, Spain sought to hold the trade of
+Cuba and Porto Rico by tariffs so highly favorable to merchandise from
+the mother-country as to be effectively prohibitive with regard to many
+products from other countries. This, in general outline, is the cause of
+Cuba's slow progress until the 19th Century, and the explanation of its
+failure to make more rapid progress during that century.
+
+Naturally, under such conditions, bribery of officials and smuggling became
+active and lucrative enterprises. It may be said, in strict confidence
+between writer and reader, that Americans were frequently the parties of
+the other part in these transactions. In search through a considerable
+number of American histories, I have been unable to find definite
+references to trade with Cuba, yet there seems to be abundant reason for
+belief that such trade was carried on. There are many references to trade
+with the West Indies as far back as 1640 and even a year or two earlier,
+but allusions to trade with Cuba do not appear, doubtless for the reason
+that it was contraband, a violation of both Spanish and British laws. There
+was evidently some relaxation toward the close of the 18th Century.
+There are no records of the commerce of the American colonies, and only
+fragmentary records between 1776 and 1789. The more elaborate records of
+1789 and following years show shipments of fish, whale oil, spermaceti
+candles, lumber, staves and heading, and other articles to the "Spanish
+West Indies," in which group Cuba was presumably included. The records of
+the time are somewhat unreliable. It was a custom for the small vessels
+engaged in that trade to take out clearance papers for the West Indies. The
+cargo might be distributed in a number of ports, and the return cargo might
+be similarly collected. For the year 1795, the records of the United States
+show total imports from the Spanish West Indies as valued at $1,740,000,
+and exports to that area as valued at $1,390,000. In 1800, the imports were
+$10,588,000, and the exports $8,270,000. Just how much of this was trade
+with Cuba, does not appear. Because of the trade increase at that time,
+and because of other events that, soon afterward, brought Cuba into more
+prominent notice, this period has been chosen as the line of division
+between the Old and the New Cuba.
+
+Compared with the wonderful fertility of Cuba, New England is a sterile
+area. Yet in 1790, a hundred and seventy years after its settlement, the
+latter had a population a little exceeding a million, while the former, in
+1792, or two hundred and eighty years after its occupation, is officially
+credited with a population of 272,300. Of these, 153,559 were white and
+118,741 were colored. Several forces came into operation at this time, and
+population increased rapidly, to 572,363 in 1817, and to 704,465 in 1827.
+In 1841, it was a little more than a million. But the increase in colored
+population, by the importation of African slaves, outstripped the increase
+by the whites. In 1841, the population was divided into 418,291 whites and
+589,333 colored. The importation of slaves having declined, the year 1861
+shows a white preponderance, since continued and substantially increased.
+Among the forces contributing to Cuba's rapid growth during this period
+were a somewhat greater freedom of trade; the revolution in the neighboring
+island of Haiti and Santo Domingo, that had its beginning in 1791 and
+culminated, some ten years later, in the rule of Toussaint L'Ouverture; and
+an increased demand for sugar. One result of the Haitian disorder was the
+arrival, in eastern Cuba, of a large number of exiles and emigrants who
+established extensive coffee plantations. During the first hundred and
+fifty years of Cuba's history, the principal industry of the island was
+cattle raising, aside from the domestic industry of food supply. The
+proprietors lived, usually, in the cities and maintained their vast estates
+in the neighborhood. To this, later on, were added the production of
+honey and wax and the cultivation of tobacco. With the period now under
+consideration, there came the expansion of the coffee and sugar industries.
+The older activities do not appear to have been appreciably lessened; the
+others were added on.
+
+Europe and the Western Hemisphere were at that time in a state of general
+upheaval and rearrangement. Following the American Revolution, there came
+the French Revolution; the Napoleonic Wars; the war of 1812 between the
+United States and England; and the general revolt of the Spanish colonies.
+The world was learning new lessons, adopting new policies, in which the
+Spanish colonial system was a blunder the folly of which Spain did not
+even then fully realize. Yet from it all, by one means and another, Cuba
+benefited. Spain was fortunate in its selection of Governors-General sent
+out at this time. Luis de Las Casas, who arrived in 1790, is credited with
+much useful work. He improved roads and built bridges; established schools
+and the _Casa de Beneficencia_, still among the leading institutions in
+Havana; paved the streets of Havana; improved as far as he could the
+commercial conditions; and established the _Sociedad Patriotica_, sometimes
+called the _Sociedad Economica_, an organization that has since contributed
+immeasurably to Cuba's welfare and progress. He was followed by others
+whose rule was creditable. But the principal evils, restricted commerce
+and burdensome taxation, were not removed, although world conditions
+practically compelled some modification of the commercial regulations. In
+1801 the ports of the island were thrown open to the trade of friendly and
+neutral nations. Eight years later, foreign commerce was again prohibited.
+In 1818, a new system was established, that of a tariff so highly favorable
+to merchandise from Spain that it was by no means unusual for goods to
+be shipped to that country, even from the United States, and from there
+reshipped to Cuba. Changes in the rates were made from time to time, but
+the system of heavy discrimination in favor of Spanish goods in Spanish
+ships continued until the equalization of conditions under the order of the
+Government of Intervention, in 1899.
+
+In his book published in 1840, Mr. Turnbull states that "the mercantile
+interests of the island have been greatly promoted by the relaxation of
+those restrictive regulations which under the old peninsular system bound
+down all foreign commerce with the colonies of Spain, and laid it prostrate
+at the feet of the mother-country. It cannot be said that the sound
+principles of free trade, in any large or extended sense of the term,
+have been recognized or acted upon even at the single port of Havana. The
+discriminating duties imposed by the supreme government of Madrid on the
+natural productions, manufactures, and shipping of foreign countries, in
+contradistinction to those of Spain, are so stringent and so onerous as
+altogether to exclude the idea of anything approaching to commercial
+freedom. There is no longer, it is true, any absolute prohibition, but in
+many cases the distinguishing duties are so heavy as to defeat their own
+object, and, in place of promoting the interests of the mother-country,
+have had little other effect than the establishment of an extensive and
+ruinous contraband." Under such conditions as those existing in Cuba,
+from its beginning practically until the establishment of its political
+independence, industrial development and commercial expansion are more than
+difficult.
+
+One of the natural results of such a system appeared in the activities of
+smugglers. The extent to which that industry was carried on cannot, of
+course, be even guessed. Some have estimated that the merchandise imported
+in violation of the laws equalled in value the merchandise entered at
+the custom houses. An official publication (American) states that "from
+smuggling on a large scale and privateering to buccaneering and piracy is
+not a long step, and under the name of privateers French, Dutch, English,
+and American smugglers and buccaneers swarmed the Caribbean Sea and the
+Gulf of Mexico for more than two centuries, plundering Spanish _flotas_
+and attacking colonial settlements. Among the latter, Cuba was the chief
+sufferer." Had Cuba's coasts been made to order for the purpose, they could
+hardly have been better adapted to the uses of smugglers. Off shore, for
+more than half its coast line, both north and south, are small islands
+and keys with narrow and shallow passages between them, thus making an
+excellent dodging area for small boats if pursued by revenue vessels.
+Thoroughly familiar with these entrances and hiding places, smugglers could
+land their goods almost at will with little danger of detection or capture.
+
+Another heavy handicap on the economic progress of the island appears in
+the system of taxation. Regarding this system, the Census of 1899 reports
+as follows:
+
+"Apart from imports and exports, taxes were levied on real and personal
+property and on industries and commerce of all kinds. Every profession,
+art, or manual occupation contributed its quota, while, as far back as
+1638, seal and stamp taxes were established on all judicial business and
+on all kinds of petitions and claims made to official corporations, and
+subsequently on all bills and accounts. These taxes were in the form of
+stamps on official paper and at the date of American occupation the paper
+cost from 35 cents to $3 a sheet. On deeds, wills, and other similar
+documents the paper cost from 35 cents to $37.50 per sheet, according to
+the value of the property concerned. Failure to use even the lowest-priced
+paper involved a fine of $50.
+
+"There was also a municipal tax on the slaughter of cattle for the market.
+This privilege was sold by the municipal council to the highest bidder,
+with the result that taxes were assessed on all animals slaughtered,
+whether for the market or for private consumption, with a corresponding
+increase in the price of meat.
+
+"Another tax established in 1528, called the _derecho_ _de averia_,
+required the payment of 20 ducats ($16) by every person, bond or free,
+arriving in the island. In 1665 this tax was increased to $22, and
+continued in force to 1765, thus retarding immigration, and, to that
+extent, the increase of population, especially of the laboring class.
+
+"An examination of these taxes will show their excessive, arbitrary, and
+unscientific character, and how they operated to discourage Cubans from
+owning property or engaging in many industrial pursuits tending to benefit
+them and to promote the material improvement of the island.
+
+"Taxes on real estate were estimated by the tax inspector on the basis
+of its rental or productive capacity, and varied from 4 to 12 per cent.
+Similarly, a nominal municipal tax of 25 per cent was levied on the
+estimated profits of all industries and commerce, and on the income derived
+from all professions, manual occupations, or agencies, the collector
+receiving 6 per cent of all taxes assessed. Much unjust discrimination was
+made against Cubans in determining assessable values and in collecting the
+taxes, and it is said that bribery in some form was the only effective
+defense against the most flagrant impositions."
+
+Some of the experiences of this period will be considered in special
+chapters on Cuba's alleged revolutions and on the relations of the United
+States to Cuba and its affairs. One point may be noted here. The wave of
+republicanism that swept over a considerable part of Europe and over the
+Western Hemisphere, from 1775 to 1825 had its direct influence in Spain,
+and an influence only less direct in Cuba. In 1812, Spain became a
+constitutional monarchy. It is true that the institution had only a
+brief life, but the sentiment that lay beneath it persisted and had been
+repeatedly a cause of disturbance on the Peninsula. Something of the
+same sentiment pervaded Cuba and excited ambitions, not for national
+independence, but for some participation in government. A royal decree, in
+1810, gave Cuba representation in the Cortes, and two deputies from the
+island took part in framing the Constitution of 1812. This recognition of
+Cuba lasted for only two years, the Constitution being abrogated in 1814,
+but it was restored in 1820, only to cease again three years later.
+Representatives were again admitted to the Cortes in 1834, and again
+excluded in 1837. The effect of all this was, perhaps, psychological rather
+than practical, but it gave rise to a new mental attitude and to some
+change in conduct. The effect appears in the numerous recurrences of open
+protest and passive resistance in the place of the earlier submission.
+Writing in 1855, Mr. J.S. Thrasher stated that "the essential political
+elements of the island are antagonistic to those of the mother-country.
+While the Cortes and the crown have frequently declared that Cuba does not
+form an integral part of the Spanish monarchy, but must be governed by
+special laws not applicable to Spain, and persist in ruling her under the
+erroneous and unjust European colonial system, the growing wealth and
+increasing intelligence of the Cubans lead them to aspire to some share in
+the elimination of the political principles under which their own affairs
+shall be administered. A like antagonism exists in the economic relations
+of the two countries. While the people of Cuba are not averse to the
+raising of such revenue as may be required for the proper wants of the
+State, in the administration of which they may participate, they complain,
+with a feeling of national pride, that fiscal burdens of the most onerous
+kind are laid upon them for the expressed purpose of advancing interests
+which are in every sense opposed to their own. Thus, Spain imposes taxes to
+support a large army and navy, the principal object of which is to prevent
+any expression of the public will on the part of the people of Cuba.
+Another class of impositions have for their object the diversion of
+the trade of Cuba to channels which shall increase the profits of the
+agriculturists and mariners of Spain without regard to the interests of the
+people of the island."
+
+[Illustration: A PLANTER'S HOME _Havana Province_]
+
+Yet in spite of these severe restrictions and heavy burdens, Cuba shows a
+considerable progress during the first half of the century. It is far from
+easy to reach fair conclusions from contemporaneous writings. Naturally,
+Spanish officials and Spanish writers strove to make the best possible case
+for Spain, its policies and its conduct. The press of the island was either
+under official control or stood in fear of official reprisals. The Cuban
+side, naturally partisan, appears to have been presented chiefly by
+fugitive pamphlets, more or less surreptitiously printed and distributed,
+usually the product of political extremists. Among these was a man of
+marked ability and of rare skill in the use of language. He was Don Antonio
+Saco, known in Cuba as the "Immortal Saco." In a letter written to a
+friend, in 1846, he says, "The tyranny of our mother-country, today most
+acute, will have this result--that within a period of time not very remote
+the Cubans will be compelled to take up arms to banish her." That British
+observers and most American observers should take the side of the Cubans is
+altogether natural. Writing in 1854, Mr. M.M. Ballou, in his _History of
+Cuba_, says: "The Cubans owe all the blessings they enjoy to Providence
+alone (so to speak), while the evils which they suffer are directly
+referable to the oppression of the home government. Nothing short of a
+military despotism could maintain the connection of such an island with a
+mother-country more than three thousand miles distant; and accordingly we
+find the captain-general of Cuba invested with unlimited power. He is, in
+fact, a viceroy appointed by the crown of Spain, and accountable only to
+the reigning sovereign for his administration of the colony. His rule is
+absolute; he has the power of life and death and liberty in his hands. He
+can, by his arbitrary will, send into exile any person whatever, be his
+name or rank what it may, whose residence in the island he considers
+prejudicial to the royal interest, even if he has committed no overt act.
+He can suspend the operation of the laws and ordinances, if he sees fit to
+do so; can destroy or confiscate property; and, in short, the island may be
+said to be perpetually in a state of siege."
+
+The student or the reader may take his choice. On one side are Spanish
+statements, official and semi-official, and on the other side, Cuban
+statements no less partisan. The facts appear to support the Cuban
+argument. In spite of the severe restrictions and the heavy burdens, Cuba
+shows a notable progress during the 19th Century. Governors came and went,
+some very good and others very bad. There were a hundred of them from 1512
+to 1866, and thirty-six more from 1866 to 1899, the average term of service
+for the entire number being a little less than three years. On the whole,
+the most notable of the group of 19th Century incumbents was Don Miguel
+Tacon, who ruled from June 1, 1834, until April 16, 1838. His record would
+seem to place him quite decidedly in the "reactionary" class, but he was a
+man of action who left behind him monuments that remain to his credit even
+now. One historian, Mr. Kimball, who wrote in 1850, describes him as one
+in whom short-sightedness, narrow views, and jealous and weak mind, were
+joined to an uncommon stubbornness of character. Another, Mr. M.M. Ballou,
+says that "probably of all the governors-general that have filled the post
+in Cuba none is better known abroad, or has left more monuments to his
+enterprise, than Tacon. His reputation at Havana (this was written 1854) is
+of a somewhat doubtful character; for, though he followed out with energy
+various improvements, yet his modes of procedure were so violent that he
+was an object of terror to the people generally, rather than of gratitude.
+He vastly improved the appearance of the capital and its vicinity, built
+the new prison, rebuilt the governor's palace, constructed a military road
+to the neighboring forts, erected a spacious theatre and market house,
+arranged a new public walk, and opened a vast parade ground without the
+city walls, thus laying the foundation of the new city which has now sprung
+up in this formerly desolate suburb. He suppressed the gaming houses and
+rendered the streets, formerly infested with robbers, as secure as those of
+Boston or New York." Another writer, Mr. Samuel Hazard, in 1870, says: "Of
+all the governors who have been in command of the island Governor Tacon
+seems to have been the best, doing the most to improve the island, and
+particularly Havana; making laws, punishing offences, and establishing some
+degree of safety for its inhabitants. It is reported of him that he is
+said, like the great King Alfred, to have promised the Cubans that they
+should be able to leave their purses of money on the public highway without
+fear of having them stolen. At all events, his name is cherished by every
+Cuban for the good he has done, and _paseos_, theatres, and monuments bear
+his great name in Havana." The Tacon theatre is now the Nacional, and the
+Paseo Tacon is now Carlos III. The "new prison" is the _Carcel_, or jail,
+at the northern end of the Prado, near the fortress of La Punta. Don Miguel
+may have been disliked for his methods and his manners, but he certainly
+did much to make his rule memorable.
+
+There is no reliable information that shows the progress of the island
+during the 19th Century. Even the census figures are questioned. A reported
+432,000 total population in 1804 is evidently no more than an estimate, yet
+it is very likely not far from the actual. Concerning their distribution
+throughout the island, and the number engaged in different occupations,
+there are no records. There are no acceptable figures regarding the
+respective numbers of whites and blacks. Nor is there any record of the
+population in 1895, the year of the war for independence. From the definite
+tabulation, under American auspices, in 1899, showing 1,576,797, it has
+been estimated that the number in 1895, was a little less than 1,800,000,
+the difference being represented by the disasters of the war, by the result
+of reconcentration, and by departures during the disturbance. The general
+result seems to be that the population was practically quadrupled. A
+somewhat rough approximation would show the blacks as multiplied by three,
+to an 1899 total of 505,000, with the whites multiplied by four, to a total
+of 1,067,000. Nor are there figures of trade that afford any proper clue
+to the growth of industry and commerce. There are records of imports
+and exports from about 1850 onward, but before that time the matter of
+contraband trade introduces an element of uncertainty. An American official
+pamphlet on Cuban trade carries the statement, "the ascertainment of full
+and exact details of the commerce of Cuba prior to the close of Spanish
+dominion in the island is an impossibility. The Spanish authorities, as
+a rule, published no complete returns of Cuban trade, either foreign or
+domestic. Except with regard to Spain and the United States, most of the
+existing commercial statistics of Cuba, prior to 1899, are fragmentary
+and merely approximative. Spain and the United States have always kept a
+separate and distinct trade account with Cuba; but the United Kingdom,
+France, Germany, and other European countries excepting Spain, formerly
+merged their statistics of trade with Cuba in one general item embracing
+Cuba and Porto Rico, under the heading of "Spanish West Indies." Since
+1899, however, all the Powers have kept separate accounts with Cuba,
+and the statistics of the Cuban Republic have been reasonably full and
+accurate."
+
+[Illustration: IRON GRILLE GATEWAY _El Vedado, Suburb of Havana_]
+
+Cuba's recorded imports in 1894 show a total value of $90,800,000, and
+exports show a value of $102,000,000. Writing about the year 1825, Humboldt
+says: "It is more than probable that the imports of the whole island, licit
+and contraband, estimated at the actual value of the goods and the slaves,
+amount, at the present time, to fifteen or sixteen millions of dollars, of
+which barely three or four millions are re-exported." The same authority
+gives the probable exports of that time as about $12,500,000. The trade at
+the beginning of the century must have been far below this. The official
+figures for 1851 show total imports amounting to $34,000,000, and exports
+to $33,000,000, but the accuracy of the figures is open to question. The
+more important fact is that of a very large gain in population and in
+production. The coffee industry, that assumed important proportions during
+a part of the first half of the century, gradually declined for the reason
+that sugar became a much more profitable crop. Now, Cuba imports most of
+its coffee from Porto Rico. Because of its convenience as a contraband
+article, there are no reliable figures of the tobacco output. Prior to
+1817, the commodity was, for much of the time, a crown monopoly and, for
+the remainder of the time, a monopoly concession to private companies. In
+that year, cultivation and trade became free, subject to a tax on each
+planter of one-twentieth of his production.
+
+As we shall see, in another chapter, Cuba at last wearied of Spanish
+exactions and revolted as did the United States, weary of British rule and
+British exactions and restrictions, more than a hundred years earlier.
+
+
+
+
+III
+
+_THE COUNTRY_
+
+
+Description of the physical features of a country seldom makes highly
+entertaining reading, but it seems a necessary part of a book of this kind.
+Some readers may find interest if not entertainment in such a review. The
+total area of the island, including a thousand or more adjacent islands,
+islets, and keys, is given as 44,164 square miles, a little less than the
+area of Pennsylvania and a little more than that of Ohio or Tennessee.
+Illustration of its shape by some familiar object is difficult, although
+various comparisons have been attempted. Some old Spanish geographers gave
+the island the name of _La Lengua de Pajaro_, "the bird's tongue." Mr. M.M.
+Ballou likened it to "the blade of a Turkish scimitar slightly curved back,
+or approaching the form of a long, narrow, crescent." Mr. Robert T. Hill
+holds that it "resembles a great hammer-headed shark, the head of which
+forms the straight, south coast of the east end of the island, from which
+the sinuous body extends westward. This analogy is made still more striking
+by two long, finlike strings of keys, or islets, which extend backward
+along the opposite coasts, parallel to the main body of the island." But
+all such comparisons call for a lively imagination. It might be likened to
+the curving handles of a plow attached to a share, or to any one of a dozen
+things that it does not at all clearly resemble. Regarding the Oriente
+coast, from Cape Cruz to Cape Maisi, as a base, from that springs a long
+and comparatively slender arm that runs northwesterly for five hundred
+miles to the vicinity of Havana. There, the arm, somewhat narrowed, turns
+downward in a generally southwestern direction for about two hundred miles.
+The total length of the island, from Cape Maisi on the east to Cape San
+Antonio on the west, is about seven hundred and thirty miles. Its width
+varies from a maximum, in Oriente Province, of about one hundred and sixty
+miles, to a minimum, in Havana Province, of about twenty-two miles. It has
+a general coast line of about twenty-two hundred miles, or, following all
+its sinuosities, of about seven thousand miles. Its north coast is, for
+much of its length, steep and rocky. Throughout the greater part of the
+middle provinces, there is a border of coral reefs and small islands. At
+the western end, the north coast is low, rising gradually to the eastward.
+At the eastern end, the northern coast is abrupt and rugged, rising in a
+series of hills to the elevations in the interior. Westward from Cape Maisi
+to Cape Cruz, on the south coast, and immediately along the shore line,
+runs a mountain range. From here westward, broken by an occasional hill or
+bluff, the coast is low and marshy.
+
+Probably the best description of the topography and the orography of the
+island yet presented is that given by Mr. Robert T. Hill, of the United
+States Geological Survey. In his book on Cuba and other islands of the West
+Indies, Mr. Hill says:
+
+"As regards diversity of relief, Cuba's eastern end is mountainous, with
+summits standing high above the adjacent sea; its middle portion is wide,
+consisting of gently sloping plains, well-drained, high above the sea, and
+broken here and there by low, forest-clad hills; and its western third is
+a picturesque region of mountains, with fertile slopes and valleys, of
+different structure and less altitude than those of the east. Over the
+whole is a mantle of tender vegetation, rich in every hue that a flora of
+more than three thousand species can give, and kept green by mists and
+gentle rains. Indenting the rock-bound coasts are a hundred pouch-shaped
+harbors such as are but rarely found in the other islands and shores of the
+American Mediterranean.
+
+"But, at the outset the reader should dispossess his mind of any
+preconceived idea that the island of Cuba is in any sense a physical unit.
+On the contrary, it presents a diversity of topographic, climatic, and
+cultural features, which, as distributed, divide the island into at least
+three distinct natural provinces, for convenience termed the eastern,
+central, and western regions. The distinct types of relief include regions
+of high mountains, low hills, dissected plateaus, intermontane valleys, and
+coastal swamps. With the exception of a strip of the south-central coast,
+the island, as a whole, stands well above the sea, is thoroughly drained,
+and presents a rugged aspect when viewed from the sea. About one-fourth of
+the total area is mountainous, three-fifths are rolling plain, valleys, and
+gentle arable slopes, and the remainder is swampy.
+
+"The island border on the north presents a low cliff topography, with a
+horizontal sky-line from Matanzas westward, gradually decreasing from five
+hundred feet at Matanzas to one hundred feet on the west. The coast of the
+east end is abrupt and rugged, presenting on both the north and south sides
+a series of remarkable terraces, rising in stair-like arrangement to six
+hundred feet or more, representing successive pauses or stages in the
+elevation of the island above the sea, and constituting most striking
+scenic features. About one-half the Cuban coast is bordered by keys, which
+are largely old reef rock, the creations of the same coral-builders that
+may now be seen through the transparent waters still at work on the modern
+shallows, decking the rocks and sands with their graceful and many colored
+tufts of animal foliage."
+
+Mr. Hill summarizes the general appearance of the island, thus: "Santiago
+de Cuba (now called Oriente) is predominantly a mountainous region of high
+relief, especially along the coasts, with many interior valleys. Puerto
+Principe (now Camaguey) and Santa Clara are broken regions of low mountain
+relief, diversified by extensive valleys. Matanzas and Havana are vast
+stretches of level cultivated plain, with only a few hills of relief. Pinar
+del Rio is centrally mountainous, with fertile coastward slopes." The
+notable elevations of the island are the Cordilleras de los Organos, or
+Organ Mountains, in Pinar del Rio, of which an eastward extension appears
+in the Tetas de Managua, the Arcas de Canasi, the Escalera de Jaruco,
+the Pan de Matanzas, and other minor elevations in Havana and Matanzas
+Provinces. In Santa Clara and Camaguey, the range is represented by crest
+lines and plateaus along the north shore, and finally runs into the hill
+and mountain maze of Oriente. In the south-central section of the island, a
+somewhat isolated group of elevations appears, culminating in El Potrerillo
+at a height of nearly 3,000 feet. In Oriente, immediately along the south
+coast line, is the precipitous Sierra Maestra, reaching its greatest
+altitude in the Pico del Turquino, with an elevation of approximately
+8,500 feet. Another elevation, near Santiago, known as La Gran Piedra, is
+estimated at 5,200 feet. All these heights are densely wooded. From the
+tops of some of them, east, west, and central, the views are marvellously
+beautiful, but the summits of most are reached only with considerable
+difficulty. One of the most notable of these view points, and one of the
+most easily reached, is the height immediately behind the city of Matanzas,
+overlooking the famous Yumuri valley. The valley is a broad, shallow bowl,
+some five or six miles in diameter, enclosed by steeply sloping walls of
+five to six hundred feet in height. Through it winds the Yumuri River. It
+is best seen in the early forenoon, or the late afternoon, when there come
+the shadows and the lights that are largely killed by the more vertical
+rays of a midday sun. At those hours, it is a scene of entrancing
+loveliness. There are views, elsewhere, covering wider expanses, but none,
+I think, of equal beauty.
+
+The vicinity of Matanzas affords a spectacle of almost enchantment for the
+sight-seer, and of deep interest for the geologist. Somewhat more than
+fifty years ago, an accident revealed the beautiful caves of Bellamar, two
+or three miles from the city, and easily reached by carriage. Caves ought
+to be cool. These are not, but they are well worth all the perspiration it
+costs to see them. They are a show place, and guides are always available.
+In size, the caverns are not comparable with the caves of Kentucky and
+Virginia, but they far excel in beauty. They are about three miles in
+extent, and their lower levels are said to be about five hundred feet
+from the surface. The rock is white limestone, in which are chambers and
+passage-ways, stalactites and stalagmites innumerable. These have their
+somewhat fantastic but not unfitting names, such as the Gothic Temple, the
+Altar, the Guardian Spirit, the Fountain of Snow, and Columbus' Mantle.
+The place has been called "a dream of fairyland," a fairly appropriate
+description. The colors are snow-white, pink, and shades of yellow, and
+many of the forms are wonderfully beautiful. There are many other caves in
+the island, like Cotilla, in the Guines region not far from Havana, others
+in the Cubitas Mountains in Camaguey Province, and still others in Oriente,
+but in comparison with Bellamar they are little else than holes in the
+ground. The trip through these remarkable aisles and chambers occupies some
+three or four hours.
+
+Cuba is not big enough for rivers of size. There are innumerable streams,
+for the island generally is well-watered. The only river of real importance
+is the Cauto, in Oriente Province. This is the longest and the largest
+river in the island. It rises in the hills north of Santiago, and winds a
+devious way westward for about a hundred and fifty miles, emptying at last
+into the Gulf of Buena Esperanza, north of the city of Manzanillo. It
+is navigable for small boats, according to the stage of the water, from
+seventy-five to a hundred miles from its mouth. Numerous smaller streams
+flow to the coast on both north and south. Some, that are really estuaries,
+are called rivers. Very few of them serve any commercial purposes. There
+are a few water areas called lakes, but they are really little other than
+ponds. On the south coast, directly opposite Matanzas, lies a vast swamp
+known as the Cienega de Zapata. It occupies an area of about seventy-five
+miles in length and about thirty miles in width, almost a dead flat, and
+practically at sea-level. Here and there are open spaces of water or
+clusters of trees, but most of it is bog and quagmire and dense mangrove
+thickets. Along the coast are numerous harbors, large and small, that are
+or, by dredging, could be made available for commercial purposes. Among
+these, on the north coast, from west to east, are Bahia Honda, Mariel,
+Havana, Matanzas, Nuevitas, Nipe Bay, and Baracoa. On the south, from east
+to west, are Guantanamo, Santiago, Manzanillo, Cienfuegos, and Batabano. At
+all of these, there are now cities or towns with trade either by steamers
+or small sailing vessels. Among the interesting physical curiosities of
+the island are the numerous "disappearing rivers." Doubtless the action
+of water on limestone has left, in many places, underground chambers and
+tunnels into which the streams have found an opening and in which they
+disappear, perhaps to emerge again and perhaps to find their way to the sea
+without reappearance. This seems to explain numerous fresh-water springs
+among the keys and off-shore. The Rio San Antonio quite disappears near San
+Antonio de los Banos. Near Guantanamo, a cascade drops three hundred feet
+into a cavern and reappears a short distance away. Such disappearing rivers
+are not unknown elsewhere but Cuba has several of them.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The Census Report of 1907, prepared under American auspices, states that
+"the climate of Cuba is tropical and insular. There are no extremes of
+heat, and there is no cold weather." This is quite true if the records of a
+thermometer are the standard; quite untrue if measured by the sensations of
+the human body. It is true that, in Havana, for instance, the thermometer
+seldom exceeds 90° in the hottest months, and rarely if ever goes below 50°
+in the coldest. But a day with the thermometer anywhere in the 80s may seem
+to a northern body very hot, and a day with the thermometer in the 50s
+is cold for anyone, whether a native or a visitor. There is doubtless a
+physical reason for the fact that a hot day in the north seems hotter than
+the same temperature in the south, while a day that seems, in the north,
+only pleasantly cool, seems bitterly cold in the tropics. When the
+thermometer drops below 60° in Havana, the coachmen blanket their horses,
+the people put on all the clothes they have, and all visitors who are
+at all sensitive to low temperature go about shivering. Steam heat and
+furnaces are unknown, and fireplaces are a rarity. Yet, in general, the
+variations are not wide, either from day to day or when measured by
+seasons. The extremes are the infrequent exceptions. Nor is there wide
+difference between day and night. Taking the island as a whole, the average
+mean temperature for July, the hottest month, is about 82°, and for
+January, the coolest month, about 71°. The mean for the year is about 77°,
+as compared with 52° for New York, 48° for Chicago, 62° for Los Angeles,
+and 68° for New Orleans. There are places that, by reason of exposure to
+prevailing winds, or distance from the coast, are hotter or cooler than
+other places. Havana is one of the cool spots, that is, relatively cool.
+But no one goes there in search of cold. The yearly range in Havana, from
+maximum to minimum, rarely if ever exceeds fifty degrees, and is usually
+somewhat below that, while the range in New York, Chicago, and St. Louis
+is usually from one hundred to one hundred and twenty-five degrees. The
+particular cause of discomfort for those unused to it, is the humidity that
+prevails throughout the greater part of the year. The worst season for
+this, however, is the mid-year months when few people visit the island. The
+winter months, locally known as the "_invierno_," a term to be associated
+with our word "vernal" and not with "infernal," are almost invariably
+delightful, bringing to northern systems a pleasurable physical laziness
+that is attended by a mental indifference to, or satisfaction with, the
+sensation.
+
+[Illustration: WATERING HERD OF CATTLE _Luyano River near Havana_]
+
+The rainfall varies so widely in different parts of the island, and from
+year to year, that exact information is difficult. Taken as a whole, it is
+little if at all greater than it is in most places in the United States. We
+have our arid spots, like El Paso, Fresno, Boise, Phoenix, and Winnemucca,
+where only a few inches fall in a year, just as Cuba has a few places where
+the fall may reach sixty-five or seventy inches in a year. But the average
+fall in Havana, Matanzas, Cienfuegos, and Santiago, is little if any
+greater than in Boston, New York, or Washington. A difference appears in
+the fact that about three-quarters of Cuba's precipitation comes between
+the first of May and the first of October. But the term "wet season" does
+not mean that it rains all the time, or every day, any more than the term
+"dry season" means that during those months it does not rain at all. At
+times during the winter, or dry season, there come storms that are due to
+unusual cold in the United States. These are known in Cuba, as they are in
+Texas, as "northers." High winds sweep furiously across the Gulf of Mexico,
+piling up huge seas on the Cuban coast, and bringing what, in the island,
+is the substitute for cold weather, usually attended by rain and sometimes
+by a torrent of it. The prevailing wind in Cuba is the northeast
+trade-wind. In summer when the sun is directly overhead this wind is
+nearly east, while in winter it is northeast. The proper way to avoid such
+discomfort as attends humidity accompanying a thermometer in the 80s, is to
+avoid haste in movement, to saunter instead of hurrying, to ride instead of
+walking, to eat and drink in moderation, and where-ever possible, to keep
+in the shade. Many of those who eat heartily and hurry always, will,
+after a few days, be quite sure that they have yellow fever or some
+other tropical disorder, but will be entirely mistaken about it. Modern
+sanitation in Cuba has made yellow fever a remote possibility, and the
+drinking water in Havana is as pure as any in the world.
+
+Most of the official descriptions of the flora of Cuba appear to be copied
+from Robert T. Hill's book, published in 1898. As nothing better is
+available, it may be used here. He says: "The surface of the island is clad
+in a voluptuous floral mantle, which, from its abundance and beauty, first
+caused Cuba to be designated the Pearl of the Antilles. In addition
+to those introduced from abroad, over 3,350 native plants have been
+catalogued. The flora includes nearly all characteristic forms of the
+other West Indies, the southern part of Florida, and the Central American
+seaboard. Nearly all the large trees of the Mexican _Tierra Caliente_, so
+remarkable for their size, foliage, and fragrance, reappear in western
+Cuba. Numerous species of palm, including the famous royal palm, occur,
+while the pine trees, elsewhere characteristic of the temperate zone and
+the high altitudes of the tropics, are found associated with palms and
+mahoganies in the province of Pinar del Rio and the Isle of Pines, both
+of which take their name from this tree. Among other woods are the
+lignum-vitae, granadilla, the coco-wood, and the _Cedrela Odorata_
+(fragrant cedar) which is used for cigar boxes and the lining of cabinet
+work."
+
+In quoting the number of native plants, Mr. Hill uses a report somewhat
+antiquated. Later estimates place the number as between five and six
+thousand. Flowers are abundant, flowers on vines, plants, shrubs, and
+trees, tall stalks with massive heads, and dainty little blossoms by the
+wayside. Brilliant flowering trees are planted to line the roadsides. Among
+all the tree-growths, the royal palm is notable. Scoffers have likened it
+to "a feather duster stood on end," but it is the prominent feature in most
+of Cuba's landscape, and it serves many purposes other than that of mere
+decoration. From its stem the Cuban peasant builds his little cottage which
+he roofs with its leaves. Medicinal qualities are claimed for its roots.
+From different parts of the tree, a wide variety of useful articles is
+made, plates, buckets, basins, and even a kettle in which water may be
+boiled. The huge clusters of seeds are excellent food for animals, and I
+have heard it said, though without proper confirmation, that "a royal palm
+will keep a hog." Almost invariably, its presence indicates a rich soil, as
+it rarely grows in areas of poor land. The forest area of the island is not
+known with exactness, and is variously estimated at from about six thousand
+square miles to about sixteen thousand. The difference probably represents
+the opinion of individual investigators as to what is forest. About
+one-third of the total is reported as in Oriente, another third in
+Camaguey, and the remainder scattered through the four remaining provinces.
+A part of it is "public land," that is, owned by the central government,
+but a greater part is of private ownership under old Spanish grants. Much
+of it is dense jungle through which a way can be made only by hacking,
+almost foot by foot. A good deal of it has already been cut over for its
+most valuable timber. Most of the woods bear names entirely unfamiliar to
+us. Some are used as cabinet woods, and some for tanning, for oils, dyes,
+gums, or fibres.
+
+Cuba has few four-footed native wild animals. There are rabbits, but their
+nativity is not quite certain. There are deer, but it is known that their
+ancestors were brought from some other country. There are wild dogs, wild
+cats, and wild pigs, but all are only domestic animals run wild.
+
+Perhaps the only animal of the kind known to be native is the _jutia_,
+sometimes spelled, as pronounced, _hutia_. Some observers have referred to
+it as a rat, but it climbs trees and grows to the size of a woodchuck,
+or groundhog. It is sometimes eaten and is said to be quite palatable.
+Reptiles are fairly common, but none of them is dangerous. The best known
+is the _maja_, a snake that grows to a length, sometimes, of twelve or
+fifteen feet. The country people not infrequently make of it a kind of
+house pet. When that is done, the reptile often makes its home in the
+cottage thatch, living on birds and mice. They are dull and sluggish in
+motion. While visiting a sugar plantation a few years ago one of the hands
+asked if I should be interested by their _maja_. He dipped his hand into a
+nearby water-barrel in the bottom of which two of them were closely coiled.
+He dragged out one of perhaps ten or twelve feet in length and four or five
+inches in diameter, handling it as he would the same length of hawser. He
+hung it over the limb of a tree so that I could have a good chance for
+a picture of it. The thing squirmed slowly to the ground and crawled
+sluggishly away to the place from which it had been taken. Of bird-life
+there is a large representation, both native and migratory. Among them
+are some fifty species of "waders." In some parts of the island, the very
+unpleasant land-crab, about the size of a soup-plate, seems to exist in
+millions, although thousands is probably nearer the actual. The American
+soldiers made their acquaintance in large numbers at the time of the
+Santiago campaign. They are not a proper article of food. They have a
+salt-water relative that is most excellent eating, as is also the lobster
+_(langosta)_ of Cuban waters. In the swamp known as the Cienega de Zapata
+are both alligators and crocodiles, some of them of quite imposing
+dimensions.
+
+[Illustration: ROYAL PALMS]
+
+The insect life of the island is extensive. From personal experience,
+particularly behind the search-light of an automobile that drew them
+in swarms, I, should say that the island would be a rich field for the
+entomologist. There are mosquitos, gnats, beetles, moths, butterflies,
+spiders, and scorpions. The bites of some of the spiders and the stings of
+the scorpions are, of course, uncomfortable, but they are neither fatal nor
+dangerous. With the exception of an occasional mosquito, and a perhaps more
+than occasional flea, the visitor to cities only is likely to encounter
+few of the members of these branches of Cuban zoology. There is one of
+the beetle family, however, that is extremely interesting. That is
+the _cucullo_, which Mr. Hazard, in his book on Cuba, calls a "bright
+peripatetic candle-bearer, by whose brilliant light one can not only walk,
+but even read." They are really a kind of glorified firefly, much larger
+than ours, and with a much more brilliant light. I do not know their
+candle-power, but Mr. Hazard exaggerates little if at all in the matter of
+their brilliancy.
+
+While those referred to in the foregoing are the most notable features
+in this particular part of the Cuban field, there are others, though of
+perhaps less importance, to which reference might be made. Among them would
+be the sponge fisheries of the coast in the neighborhood of Batabano,
+and the numerous mineral springs, some of them really having, and others
+supposed to have, remarkable curative qualities. A half century or so ago,
+a number of places not far from Havana were resorts to which rich and
+poor went to drink or to bathe in springs hot or cold or sulphurous or
+otherwise, for their healing. Among these were the baths at San Diego, near
+the Organ Mountains in Pinar del Rio; Santa Rita, near Guanabacoa in Havana
+Province; others near Marianao, on the outskirts of the city; and San
+Antonio, also in Havana Province. Most of these places now appear to have
+lost their popularity if not their medicinal virtues. Some, like those
+at Madruga, not far from Havana, still have a considerable patronage.
+Something may also be said of earthquakes and hurricanes. The former
+occur, on a small scale, more or less frequently in Oriente, and much less
+frequently and of less severity in Havana. The latter come from time
+to time to work disaster to Cuban industries and, sometimes but not
+frequently, to cause loss of life and the destruction of buildings. They
+rarely occur except in the late summer and the autumn.
+
+Nearly a hundred years ago, Alexander Humboldt, a traveller and a
+scientist, wrote thus of the island of Cuba: "Notwithstanding the absence
+of deep rivers and the unequal fertility of the soil, the island of Cuba
+presents on every hand a most varied and agreeable country from its
+undulating character, its ever-springing verdure, and the variety of its
+vegetable formations."
+
+
+
+
+IV
+
+_THE OLD HAVANA_
+
+
+Among the many pictures, stored away in the album of my memory, there are
+two that stand out more vividly than any others. The subjects are separated
+by half the world's circumference. One is the sunsets at Jolo, in the
+southern Philippines. There the sun sank into the western sea in a blaze
+of cloud-glory, between the low-lying islands on either hand with the rich
+green of their foliage turned to purple shadows. The other is the sunrise
+at Havana, seen from the deck of a steamer in the harbor. The long, soft
+shadows and the mellow light fell on the blue and gray and green of the
+buildings of the city, and on the red-tiled roofs, with the hills for a
+background in one-half of the picture, and the gleaming water of the gulf
+in the background of the other half. I had seen the long stretch of the
+southern coast of the island, from Cape Antonio to Cape Maisi, while on an
+excursion with a part of the army of occupation sent to Porto Rico in the
+summer of 1898, and had set foot on Cuban soil at Daiquiri, but Havana in
+the morning light, on January 2, 1899, was my first real Cuban experience.
+It remains an ineffaceable memory. Of my surroundings and experiences aside
+from that, I have no distinct recollection. All was submerged by that one
+picture, and quickly buried by the activities into which I was immediately
+plunged. I do not recall the length of time we were held on board for
+medical inspection, nor whether the customs inspection was on board or
+ashore. I recall the trip from the ship to the wharf, in one of the little
+sailboats then used for the purpose, rather because of later experiences
+than because of the first one. I have no purpose here to write a history
+of those busy days, filled as they were with absorbing interest, with much
+that was pathetic and not a little that was amusing. I have seen that
+morning picture many times since, but never less beautiful, never less
+impressive. Nowadays, it is lost to most travellers because the crossing
+from Key West is made in the daytime, the boat reaching Havana in the
+late-afternoon. Sometimes there is a partial compensation in the sunset
+picture, but I have never seen that when it really rivalled the picture at
+the beginning of the day.
+
+The visitor to Cuba, unfamiliar with the island, should take it leisurely.
+It is not a place through which the tourist may rush, guide book in hand,
+making snapshots with a camera, and checking off places of interest as they
+are visited. Picturesqueness and quaintness are not at all lacking, but
+there are no noble cathedrals, no vast museums of art and antiquity, no
+snow-clad mountains. There is a charm of light and shade and color that
+is to be absorbed slowly rather than swallowed at a single gulp. It is
+emphatically a place in which to dawdle. Let those who are obliged to do
+so, work and hurry; the visitor and the traveller should take it without
+haste. It is far better to see Havana and its vicinity slowly and
+enjoyably, and look at pictures of the rest of the country, than it is to
+rush through the island merely for the sake of doing so. In his essay on
+_The Moral of Landscape_, Mr. Ruskin said that "all travelling becomes dull
+in exact proportion to its rapidity." Nowhere is that more true than it
+is in Cuba. There is very little in all the island that cannot be seen in
+Havana and its immediate vicinity. It is well to see the other places if
+one has ample time, but they should not be seen at the expense of a proper
+enjoyment of Havana and its neighborhood. In Havana are buildings as old
+and buildings as beautiful as any in the island. In its vicinity are sugar
+plantations, tobacco fields, pineapples, cocoanuts, mangoes, royal palms,
+ceibas, peasants' homes, typical towns and villages, all the life of the
+people in the city and country. The common American desire to "see it all"
+in a few days, is fatal to the greatest enjoyment, and productive mainly
+of physical fatigue and mental confusion. It is the misfortune of most
+travellers that they carry with them only the vaguest of ideas of what they
+want to see. They have heard of Cuba, of Havana, the Morro, the Prado, of a
+sunny island in the midst of a sapphire sea. While it is true that almost
+everything in Cuba is worth seeing, it is best to acquire, before going,
+some idea of the exhibition. That saves time and many steps. The old city
+wall, La Fuerza, and La Punta, are mere piles of masonry, more or less dull
+and uninteresting unless one knows something of their history. The manners
+and customs of any country become increasingly interesting if one knows
+something about them, the reason for them.
+
+It is only a short trip to the Castillo del Principe, the fortress that
+crowns the hill to the west of the city. From that height, the city and the
+harbor are seen below, to the eastward. Across the bay, on the heights at
+the entrance, are the frowning walls of Morro Castle surmounted by the
+towering light-house, and the no less grim walls of La Cabaña. The
+bay itself is a sprawling, shapeless body of water with a narrow neck
+connecting it with the Florida Straits. Into the western side of the bay
+the city thrusts itself in a shape that, on a large map, suggests more than
+anything else the head and neck of an over-fed bulldog. Into this bay, in
+1508, came Sebastian Ocampo, said to be the first white man to visit the
+spot. He entered for the purpose of careening his little vessels in order
+to remove the barnacles and accumulated weed-growth. It is possible that
+the spot was discovered earlier, but there is no record of the discovery
+if such was made. Ocampo gave it the name of Puerto de Carenas. The next
+record is of its occupation, in 1519. Four years earlier, Diego Velasquez
+had left a little colony near what is now called Batabano, on the south
+coast. He gave the place the name of San Cristobal de la Habana, in memory
+of the illustrious navigator and discoverer. Habana, or Havana, is a term
+of aboriginal origin. It proved to be an uncomfortable place of residence,
+and in 1519 the people moved across the island to the Puerto de Carenas,
+taking with them the name given to the earlier settlement, and substituting
+it for the name given by Ocampo. After a time, all was dropped except the
+present title, Habana, or more commonly by English-speaking people, Havana.
+It was not much of a place for a number of years, but in 1538 it was sacked
+and burned by a French pirate, one of the many, of different nations, who
+carried on a very lively buccaneering business in those and in later years
+in West Indian waters. Hernando de Soto was then governor of the island,
+with headquarters at the then capital city, Santiago de Cuba. He proceeded
+at once to the scene of destruction. On his arrival, he ordered the
+erection of a fortress. Some of the work then done still remains in the
+old structure near the Palace, at the foot of Calle O'Reilly, known as La
+Fuerza. A few years before this time, Hernan Cortes had conquered Mexico,
+then called New Spain, and a business between Old Spain and New Spain soon
+developed. The harbor of Havana made a convenient halting-place on the
+voyages between the two, and the settlement assumed a steadily increasing
+importance. A new governor, Gonzales Perez de Angulo, who arrived in 1549,
+decided to make it his place of residence. The year 1552 is generally given
+as the time of the creation of Havana as the capital city. It was at that
+time made the residence city of the Governors, by their own choice, but
+it was not officially established as the capital until 1589. The fortress
+erected by order of de Soto proved somewhat ineffective. In 1554, another
+French marauder attacked and destroyed the town. The principal industry of
+those early days was cattle-raising, a considerable market being developed
+for export to Mexico, and for the supply of vessels that entered the harbor
+for food and water.
+
+The continuance of incursions by pirates made necessary some further
+provision for the defence of the city. In 1589, La Fuerza was enlarged and
+strengthened, and the construction of Morro Castle was begun. To this
+work was added La Punta, the little fortress on the western shore of
+the entrance, at the point of the angle now formed by the Prado and the
+Malecon. These ancient structures, of practically no value whatever in
+modern warfare, are now among the most picturesque points of interest in
+the neighborhood. Another, in the same class, of which only a little now
+remains, is of a later time. This is the old city wall, the construction
+of which was begun in 1671. Following the simile of the bull-dog's head,
+a tract of land, formerly known as the Arsenal yard, and now the central
+railway station, lies tucked away immediately under the animal's jaw. From
+there to a point on the north shore, near La Punta, in a slightly curving
+line, a high wall was erected for the purpose of defence on the western
+or landward side. The old city lay entirely in the area defined by this
+western wall and the shore of the harbor. At intervals, gates afforded exit
+to the country beyond, heavy gates that could be closed to exclude any
+possible attacking party. The fortifications erected from time to time were
+supposed to afford a system of effective defence for the city. They are now
+little else than picturesque features in the landscape, points of interest
+for visitors. Taking the chain in its order, El Morro stands on the point
+on the eastern side of the entrance to the harbor. Just beyond it is La
+Cabaña. About a half a mile to the east of this was the stone fort on the
+hill of San Diego. Three miles east of the Morro, on the shore at Cojimar,
+is a small and somewhat ancient fortification. This group constituted the
+defence system on the east. At the head of the bay, on an elevation a
+little to the south of the city, stands El Castillo de Atares, begun in
+1763, immediately after the capture and occupation of the city by the
+British. This is supposed to protect the city on the south, as Castillo del
+Principe is supposed to defend it on the west. This stands on a hill on
+the western outskirts, a somewhat extensive structure, begun in 1774 and
+completed about twenty years later. A little further to the west, at the
+mouth of the Almendares river, stands a little fort, or tower, called
+Chorrera, serving as a western outpost as Cojimar serves as an eastern
+outpost. Both were erected about the year 1650. On the shore generally
+north of Principe was the Santa Clara battery, and between that and La
+Punta, at the foot of the Calzada de Belascoain, stood the Queen's battery.
+From any modern point of view, the system is little more than military
+junk, better fitted for its present use as barracks, asylums, and prisons
+than for military defence. But it is all highly picturesque.
+
+In the beginning, most of the buildings of the city were doubtless of wood,
+with palm-thatched roofs. In time, these gave place to rows of abutting
+stone buildings with tiled roofs. Most of them were of one story, some were
+of two stories, and a few "palaces" had three. The city within the wall
+is today very much as it was a century and more ago. Its streets run,
+generally but not accurately, at right angles, one set almost due east and
+west, from the harbor front to the line of the old wall, and the other set
+runs southward from the shore of the entrance channel to the shore of the
+inner harbor. Several of these streets are practically continuous
+from north to south or from east to west. But most of them are rather
+passage-ways than streets. The houses come to their very edges, except
+for a narrow strip hardly to be classed as a sidewalk, originally left,
+presumably, only for the purpose of preventing the scraping of the front of
+the building by the wheels of passing carts and carriages. It is a somewhat
+inconvenient system nowadays, but one gets quite used to it after a little,
+threads the narrow walk a part of his way, takes to the street the rest
+of the way, and steps aside to avoid passing vehicles quite as did the
+carriageless in the old days. One excellent way to avoid the trouble is to
+take a carriage and let the other fellow step aside. Riding in the _coche_
+is still one of the cheapest forms of convenience and entertainment in the
+city, excepting the afternoon drive around the Prado and the Malecon. That
+is not cheap. We used to pay a dollar an hour. My last experience cost me
+three times that.
+
+[Illustration: CUSTOM HOUSE, HAVANA _Formerly Franciscan Convent Begun_
+1574, _finished_ 1591]
+
+Much of the old city is now devoted to business purposes, wholesale,
+retail, and professional. But there are also residences, old churches, and
+old public buildings. On the immediate water-front, and for many years used
+as the custom house, stands the old Franciscan convent, erected during the
+last quarter of the 16th Century. It is a somewhat imposing pile, dominated
+by a high tower. I have not visited it for a number of years and do not
+know if its interior is available for visitors without some special
+introduction, but there is much worth seeing inside its walls, the flying
+buttresses of the super-structure, some old and interesting frescoes, and
+a system of dome construction that is quite remarkable. To the latter, my
+attention was first called by General Ludlow, a distinguished engineer
+officer of the United States Army, then acting as governor of the city. To
+him belongs, although it is very rarely given, the credit for the cleansing
+of Havana during the First Intervention. He frequently visited the old
+convent just to see and study that interior dome construction. Immediately
+behind the Palace is the old convent of the Dominicans, less imposing but
+of about the same period as the Franciscan structure. It is now used as
+a high-school building. The Cathedral, a block to the northward of the
+Dominican convent building, is of a much later date, having been begun as
+recently as 1742. It was originally the convent of the Jesuits, but became
+the Cathedral in 1789. Many have believed, on what seems to be acceptable
+evidence, that here for more than a hundred years rested the bones of
+Christopher Columbus. He died in Valladolid in 1506, and was buried there.
+His remains were removed to the Carthusian Monastery, in Seville, in 1513.
+From there they are said to have been taken, in 1536, to the city of Santo
+Domingo, where they remained until 1796, when they were brought to Havana
+and placed in a niche in the walls of the old Cathedral, there to remain
+until they were taken back to Spain in 1898. There is still an active
+dispute as to whether the bones removed from Santo Domingo to Havana were
+or were not those of Columbus. At all events, the urn supposed to contain
+them was in this building for a hundred years, below a marble slab showing
+a carving of the voyager holding a globe, with a finger pointing to the
+Caribbean. Beneath this was a legend that has been thus translated:
+
+  OH! REST THOU, IMAGE OF THE GREAT COLON,
+  THOUSAND CENTURIES REMAIN, GUARDED IN THE URN,
+  AND IN THE REMEMBRANCE OF OUR NATION.
+
+In this neighborhood, to the east of the Plaza de Armas, on which the
+Palace fronts, is a structure known as _El Templete_. It has the appearance
+of the portico of an unfinished building, but it is a finished memorial,
+erected in 1828. The tradition is that on this spot there stood, in 1519,
+an old ceiba tree under which the newly arrived settlers celebrated their
+first mass. The yellow Palace, for many years the official headquarters and
+the residence of successive Governors-General, stands opposite, and speaks
+for itself. In this building, somewhat devoid of architectural merit, much
+of Cuba's history, for the last three-quarters of a century, has been
+written. The best time to see all this and much more that is to be seen,
+is the early morning, before the wheels begin to go around. The lights and
+shadows are then the best, and the streets are quieter and less crowded.
+The different points of interest are easily located by the various guide
+books obtainable, and the distances are not great. A cup of _cafe con
+leche_ should precede the excursion. If one feels lazy, as one is quite
+apt to feel in the tropics and the sub-tropics, fairly comfortable open
+carriages are at all times available. With them, of course, a greater
+area can be covered and more places seen, though perhaps seen less
+satisfactorily. There is much to be seen in the early morning that is best
+seen in those hours, and much that is not seen later in the day. In all
+cities there is an early morning life and Havana is no exception. I confess
+to only a limited personal knowledge of it, but I have seen enough of it,
+and heard enough about it, to know that the waking-up of cities, including
+Havana, is an interesting process. I have, at least, had enough personal
+experience to be sure that the early morning air is delicious, the best of
+the day. I am not speaking of the unholy hours preceding daybreak, but
+of six to eight o'clock, which for those of us who are inclined to long
+evenings is also the best time to be in bed. The early morning church bells
+are a disturbance to which visitors do not readily adjust their morning
+naps. Mr. Samuel Hazard, who visited Cuba about the year 1870, and wrote
+quite entertainingly about it, left the following description of his
+experience in Havana:
+
+"Hardly has the day begun to break when the newly arrived traveller is
+startled from his delightful morning doze by the alarming sound of bells
+ringing from every part of the town. Without any particular concert of
+action, and with very different sounds, they ring out on the still morning
+air, as though for a general conflagration, and the unfortunate traveller
+rushes frantically from his bed to inquire if there is any hope of safety
+from the flames which he imagines, from the noise made, must threaten the
+whole town. Imagine, O reader! in thy native town, every square with its
+church, every church with its tower, or maybe two or three of them, and
+in each particular tower a half-dozen large bells, no two of which sound
+alike; place the bell-ropes in the hands of some frantic man who pulls
+away, first with one hand and then the other, and you will get a very faint
+idea of your first awakening in Havana. Without apparent rhyme or reason,
+ding, dong, ding they go, every bell-ringer at each different church
+striving to see how much noise he can make, under the plea of bringing the
+faithful to their prayers at the early morning mass."
+
+[Illustration: BALCONIES IN OLD HAVANA STREET IN HAVANA]
+
+The only conceivable advantage of these early bells is the fact that they
+turn out many a traveller at the hour when Havana is really at its best.
+Yet, as I read the descriptive tales left by those who wrote forty, fifty,
+and sixty years ago, I am struck by the fact, that, after all, the old
+Havana has changed but little. There are trolley lines, electric lights,
+and a few other so-called modern improvements, but there is still much of
+the old custom, the old atmosphere. The old wall, with its soldier-guarded
+gates, is gone, and there are a few modern buildings, but only a few, for
+which fact I always feel thankful, but the old city is much what it was
+when Mr. Ballou, and Mr. Dana, and Mr. Kimball, and numerous others wrote
+about it soon after 1850, and when Mr. Hazard wrote about it in 1870. The
+automobile is there now in large numbers, in place of the old volante, and
+there are asphalted streets in place of cobble-stones. The band plays in
+the evening in the Parque Central or at the Glorieta, instead of in the
+Plaza de Armas, but the band plays. The restaurants are still a prominent
+feature in Havana life, as they were then. The ladies wear hats instead
+of _mantillas_, but they buy hats on Calle Obispo just as and where their
+mothers and grandmothers bought _mantillas_. Bull-fighting is gone,
+presumably forever, but crowds flock to the baseball grounds. The midday
+suspension of business continues, generally, and the afternoon parade, on
+foot and in carriages, remains one of the important functions of the day.
+There are many who know Havana, and love it, who pray diligently that it
+may be many years before the city is Americanized as, for instance, New
+Orleans has been.
+
+Most of the life of the city, as it is seen by most visitors, is outside
+the old city, and probably few know that any distinction is made, yet the
+line is drawn with fair clearness. There is a different appearance in both
+streets and buildings. While there are shops on San Rafael and Galiano and
+elsewhere, the principal shopping district is in the old city, with Calle
+Obispo as its centre. They have tried officially, to change the name of the
+street, but the old familiar name sticks and seems likely to stick for a
+long time yet. Far be it from a mere man to attempt analysis or description
+of such a place. He might tell another mere man where to buy a hat, a pair
+of shoes, or eyeglasses, or a necktie, or where to find a lawyer, but the
+finer points of shopping, there or elsewhere, are not properly for any
+masculine description. The ladies may be trusted to learn for themselves,
+and very quickly, all that they need or want to know about that phase of
+Havana's commerce. I am leaving much to the guide books that can afford
+space for all necessary information about churches, statues, and other
+objects of interest for visitors. Havana's retail merchants have their own
+way of trading, much as they do in many foreign countries, and in not a few
+stores in our own country. Prices are usually a question of the customer's
+ability to match the commercial shrewdness of the dealer. Much of the trade
+of visitors is now confined to the purchase of such articles as may be
+immediately needed and to a few souvenirs. One of the charms of the place
+is the cheap transportation. If you are tired, or in a hurry, there is
+always a coach near at hand that will take you where you wish to go, for a
+peseta, or a quarter, if within certain officially prescribed bounds. If
+you desire to go beyond those bounds, make a bargain with your driver or
+be prepared for trouble. Down in the old city are to be found several
+restaurants that are well worth visiting, for those who want good food. I
+shall not advertise the particular places, but they are well known. As the
+early morning is the best time to see the old city, the forenoon is the
+best time for shopping. Such an expedition may well be followed by the
+_almuerzo_, the midday breakfast or lunch, whichever one sees fit to call
+it, at one of these restaurants. After that, it is well to enjoy a midday
+_siesta_, in preparation for the afternoon function on the Prado and the
+Malecon.
+
+
+
+
+V
+
+THE NEW HAVANA
+
+
+The new Havana, the city outside the old wall, is about as old as Chicago
+but not nearly as tall. There is no reason why it should be. Here are wide
+streets and broad avenues, and real sidewalks, some of them about as wide
+as the entire street in the old city. About 1830, the region beyond the
+wall was held largely by Spaniards to whom grants of land had been made
+for one reason or another. These tracts were plantations, pastures, or
+unimproved lands, according to the fancy of the proprietor who usually
+lived in the city and enjoyed himself after the manner of his kind. Here
+and there, a straggling village of palm-leaf huts sprang up. The roads were
+rough tracks. To Governor-General Tacon seems due much of the credit for
+the improvement beyond the walls. During his somewhat iron-handed rule
+several notable buildings were erected, some of them by his authority.
+The most notable feature of the district is the renowned Prado, a broad
+boulevard with a park between two drive-ways, running from the water-front,
+at the entrance to the harbor, southward for about a mile. A few years ago,
+rows of trees shaded the central parkway, but they were almost entirely
+wrecked by the hurricanes in 1906 and 1910.
+
+A half mile or so from its northern end, the Prado runs along the west side
+of the Parque Central, the most notable of the numerous little squares of
+walks and trees and flowers. A block or two further on is a little park
+with an excellent statue, known as La India. Opposite that is another
+really beautiful park, from the western side of which runs a broad street
+that leads to the Paseo de Carlos Tercero, formerly the Paseo de Tacon, one
+of the monuments left to his own memory by one of Cuba's most noted Spanish
+rulers. The Paseo runs westward to El Castillo del Principe, originally a
+fortress but now a penitentiary. The Prado stops just beyond the companion
+parks, La India and Colon. These originally formed the Campo de Marte, laid
+out by General Tacon and, in his time, used as a military parade ground.
+In a way, the Parque Central is the centre of the city. It is almost that,
+geographically, and perhaps quite that, socially. In its immediate vicinity
+are some of the leading hotels and the principal theatres. One of the
+latter, facing the park on its western side, across the Prado, is now known
+as the Nacional. Formerly it was the Tacon, a monument to that notable man.
+There is quite a story about that structure. It is somewhat too long for
+inclusion here, but it seems worth telling. The following is an abridgment
+of the tale as it is told in Mr. Ballou's _History of Cuba_, published in
+1854. Tacon was the Governor of the island from 1834 to 1838. At that time,
+a certain man named Marti was eminent in the smuggling and piracy business,
+an industry in which many others were engaged. But Marti seems to have
+stood at the top of his profession, a man of skill and daring and evidently
+well supplied with brains. Tacon's efforts to capture him, or to break up
+his business, were entirely unsuccessful, and a large reward was offered
+for his body, alive or dead. Mr. Ballou tells the story in somewhat
+dramatic manner:
+
+"It was a dark, cloudy night in Havana, a few months after the announcement
+of the reward, when two sentinels were pacing backward and forward before
+the main entrance to the Governor's palace. A little before midnight, a man
+was watching them from behind a statue in the park, and after observing
+that the sentinels paced their brief walk so as to meet each other, and
+then turned their backs as they separated, leaving a brief moment in the
+interval when the eyes of both were turned away from the entrance, seemed
+to calculate upon passing them unobserved. It was an exceedingly delicate
+manoeuvre, and required great care and dexterity to effect it; but, at
+last, it was adroitly done, and the stranger sprang lightly through the
+entrance, secreting himself behind one of the pillars of the inner court.
+The sentinels paced on undisturbed. The figure which had thus stealthily
+effected an entrance, now sought the broad stairs that led to the
+Governor's suite, with a confidence that evinced a perfect knowledge of the
+place. A second guard-post was to be passed at the head of the stairs; but,
+assuming an air of authority, the stranger offered a cold military salute
+and passed forward, as though there was not the most distant question of
+his right to do so; and thus avoiding all suspicion in the guard's mind, he
+boldly entered the Governor's reception room unchallenged, and closed the
+door behind him."
+
+In his office, alone, the stranger found Tacon, who was naturally surprised
+at the appearance of an unannounced caller. He demanded to know who the
+visitor was, but a direct answer was evaded. After referring to the matter
+of the reward offered for the discovery of Marti, and the pledge of
+immunity to the discoverer, the caller demanded and obtained a verbal
+endorsement of the promise of immunity, under the Governor's word of honor,
+whatever might be the circumstances of his revelation. He then announced
+himself as the much-sought pirate and smuggler, Marti. Tacon was somewhat
+astounded, but he kept his word. Marti was held overnight, but "on the
+following day," the Ballou account proceeds, "one of the men-of-war that
+lay idly beneath the guns of Morro Castle suddenly became the scene of the
+utmost activity, and, before noon, had weighed her anchor, and was standing
+out into the gulf stream. Marti the smuggler was on board as her pilot;
+and faithfully did he guide the ship on the discharge of his treacherous
+business, revealing every haunt of the rovers, exposing their most valuable
+depots; and many a smuggling craft was taken and destroyed. The amount of
+money and property thus secured was very great." The contemptible job
+of betraying his former companions and followers being successfully
+accomplished, Marti returned with the ships, and claimed his reward from
+Tacon. The General, according to his word of honor, gave Marti a full
+and unconditional pardon for all his past offences, and an order on the
+treasury for the amount of the reward offered. The latter was declined but,
+in lieu of the sum, Marti asked for and obtained a monopoly of the right
+to sell fish in Havana. He offered to build, at his own expense, a public
+market of stone, that should, after a specified term of years, revert to
+the government, "with all right and the title to the fishery." This
+struck Tacon as a good business proposition; he saved to his treasury
+the important sum of the reward and, after a time, the city would own a
+valuable fish-market. He agreed to the plan. Marti thereupon went into
+the fish business, made huge profits, and became, so the story goes, the
+richest man in the island. After a time, being burdened with wealth, he
+looked about for means of increasing his income. So he asked for and
+obtained a monopoly of the theatre business in Havana, promising to build
+one of the largest and finest theatres in the world. The result of the
+enterprise was the present Nacional theatre, for many years regarded as
+second only to the Grand theatre in Milan. But it was named the Tacon. Its
+special attraction was internal; its exterior was far from imposing. It has
+recently been considerably glorified. Having thus halted for the story of
+the theatre, we may return to the Prado on which it fronts. Here, Havana
+society used to gather every afternoon to drive, walk, and talk. The
+afternoon _paseo_ was and still is the great event of the day, the great
+social function of the city. At the time of my first visit, in 1899, there
+was no Malecon drive along the shore to the westward. That enterprise
+was begun during the First Intervention, and continued by succeeding
+administrations. In the earlier days, the route for driving was down the
+east side of the Prado, between the Parque Central and the _Carcel_, and
+up the west side, around and around, up and down, with bows and smiles to
+acquaintances met or passed, and, probably, gossip about the strangers.
+Many horsemen appeared in the procession, and the central promenade was
+thronged with those who walked, either because they preferred to or because
+they could not afford to ride around and around. In the Parque Central were
+other walkers, chatting groups, and lookers-on. Some days the band played.
+Then the Prado was extended to the water-front; the _glorieta_ was erected;
+and that became another centre for chatterers and watchers. The building of
+the Malecon extended the range of the driveway. This afternoon function is
+an old established institution and a good one. It may not compare favorably
+with the drive in some of our parks in this country, but it is the best
+substitute possible in Havana. Indulgence in ices, cooling drinks,
+chocolate, or other refections, during this daily ceremony, is fairly
+common but by no means a general practice. The afternoon tea habit has not
+yet seized upon Havana. The ices are almost invariably excellent. Some of
+them are prepared from native fruit flavors that are quite unknown here.
+The _guanabana_ ice is particularly to be recommended. All such matters are
+quite individual, but a decoction called _chocolate Espanol_ is also to be
+recommended. It is served hot, too thick to drink, and is to be taken with
+a spoon, to the accompaniment of cake. It is highly nourishing as well as
+palatable. There is a wide variety of "soft drinks," made with oranges,
+limes, or other fruits, and the _orchata_, made from almonds, and the
+products of American soda fountains, but there is little use of the
+high-ball or the cocktail except by Americans.
+
+[Illustration: STREET AND CHURCH OF THE ANGELS _Havana_]
+
+The Cubans are an exceedingly temperate people. Wine is used by all
+classes, and _aguadiente_, the native rum, is consumed in considerable
+quantity, but the Cuban rarely drinks to excess. I recall an experience
+during the earlier years. I was asked to write a series of articles on the
+use of intoxicants in the island, for a temperance publication in this
+country. My first article so offended the publishers that they declined
+to print it, and cancelled the order for the rest of the series. It was
+perhaps somewhat improper, but in that article I summed up the situation
+by stating that "the temperance question in Cuba is only a question of how
+soon we succeed in converting them into a nation of drunkards." Beer is
+used, both imported and of local manufacture. Gin, brandy, and anisette,
+cordials and liqueurs are all used to some but moderate extent, but
+intoxication is quite rare. One fluid extract I particularly recommend,
+that is the milk of the cocoanut, the green nut. Much, however, depends
+upon the cocoanut. Properly ripened, the "milk" is delicious, cooling and
+wholesome, more so perhaps on a country journey than in the city. The nut
+not fully ripened gives the milk, or what is locally called the "water," an
+unpleasant, woody taste. I have experimented with it in different parts of
+the world, in the Philippines, Ceylon, and elsewhere, and have found it
+wholesome and refreshing in all places.
+
+The houses in the new Havana are, on the whole, vastly more cheerful
+than are the dwellings in the old city. They are of the same general
+architectural type, but because of the wider streets, more air and sunshine
+gets into them. Some of the best and most costly are along the Prado.
+A Cuban house interior generally impresses an American as lacking in
+home-like quality. Some of the best are richly adorned, but there is a
+certain bareness and an absence of color. As is usual with customs unlike
+our own, and which we are therefore prone to regard as inferior to ours,
+there are excellent reasons for Cuban interior decoration, or rather the
+lack of it. A little experience, or even a little reflection, shows clearly
+the impossibility of anything resembling American house decoration in
+such a climate as that of Cuba. Our warm colors, hangings, upholstered
+furniture, rugs, and much else that we regard as essential in northern
+latitudes, would be utterly unendurable in Cuba. There, the marble or tiled
+floors, the cool tones of wall and ceiling, and the furniture of wood and
+cane, are not only altogether fitting but as well altogether necessary. Our
+glass windows would only serve to increase heat and shut out air. As some
+barrier is necessary to keep passers, even Americans, from intrusive
+entrance by the windows whose bottoms are at floor level, the system of
+iron bars or elaborate grille work is adopted. Few Americans see much, if
+anything, of Cuban home life except as they see it through these barriers
+as they pass. It is not the custom of the country to invite promiscuous or
+casual acquaintances to call. It is even less the custom there than it is
+with us. A book about Cuba, published a few years ago, gives a somewhat
+extended account of what is called "home life," but it is the home life of
+workmen and people who do laundry work to eke out a meagre living. It is
+not even the life of fairly paid artisans, or of people of modest but
+comfortable income. It is no more a proper description of the domestic life
+of the island than would be a presentation of the life in the palaces of
+the wealthy. Such attempts at description are almost invariably a mistake,
+conveying, whether from purpose or from indifference to truth, a false
+impression. Domestic economy and household management vary in Cuba as
+they vary in the United States, in France, England, Japan, or Mexico. The
+selection of an individual home, or of several, as a basis for description,
+in Cuba or anywhere else, can only result in a picture badly out of drawing
+and quite misleading.
+
+There are Cuban homes, as there are American homes, that are slatternly and
+badly managed, and there are Cuban homes that are as spick and span and as
+orderly in their administration as any home in this country. Their customs,
+as are ours, are the result of environment and tradition. To some of us, a
+rectangle of six or eight rocking-chairs, placed in the centre of a room,
+in which family and visitors sit and rock while they talk, may seem
+curious, but it is a custom that we may not criticize either with fairness
+or common decency. The same may be said of the not uncommon custom of using
+a part of the street floor of the house as a stable. It is an old custom,
+brought from Spain. But I have wandered from description to incident. I
+have no intention to attempt a description of Cuban home life, beyond
+saying that I have been a guest in costly homes in the city and in the
+little palm-leaf "shacks" of peasants, and have invariably found in both,
+and in the homes of intermediate classes, only cordial hospitality and
+gracious courtesy. Those who have found anything different have carried it
+with them in their own attitude toward their hosts. Many of us, probably
+most of us, in the United States, make a sort of fetich of the privacy of
+what we call our home life. We are encased in walls of wood or masonry,
+with blinds, curtains, or shades at our windows. It might be supposed that
+we wanted to hide, that there was something of which to be ashamed. It
+might at least be so interpreted by one unfamiliar with our ways. It is
+only, like the open domestic life in Cuba, a custom, a habit of long
+standing. Certainly, much of the domestic life of Cuba is open. The
+mistress of the house chides a servant, rebukes or comforts a child, sits
+with her embroidery, chaffers with an itinerant merchant or with the
+clerk from a store, all in plain sight and hearing of the passer-by. What
+everyone does, no one notices. The customs of any country are curious only
+to those from other countries where customs are different. Our ways of life
+are quite as curious to others as are their ways to us. We are quite
+blind to that fact chiefly because of an absurd conviction of the
+immense superiority of our ways. We do not stop to consider reasons for
+differences. A cup of coffee on an American breakfast table usually
+consists of about four parts coffee and one part milk or cream. Most Cubans
+usually reverse these percentages. There is a good reason for it. In
+our climate, we do not need the large open doors and windows, the high
+ceilings, and the full and free ventilation that make life endurable
+in tropical and sub-tropical countries. Their system here would be as
+impossible as would be our system there. Houses in Cuba like those of an
+American city or town would make life a miserable burden. The publicity, or
+semi-publicity, of Cuban home life is a necessary result of conditions.
+It is, naturally, more in evidence in the city proper, where the houses,
+abutting immediately on the street, as do most of our city houses, are
+built, as ours are, in solid rows. We avoid a good deal of publicity by
+piling our homes on top of each other, and by elevators and stair-climbing.
+
+The location of a residence in Havana gives no special idea of the wealth
+or the social standing of those who occupy it. Not a few well-to-do people
+still live in the old city, where the streets are narrow and where business
+is trying to crowd out everything except itself. The home in that quarter
+may be in a block in which a number of buildings are residences, or it
+may stand with a warehouse on one side and a workshop on the other. A few
+people, of unquestionable social position still live in buildings in which
+the street floor is a store or an office. There is nothing curious about
+this. In many American cities, old families have clung to old homes, and
+not a few new families have, from one reason or another, occupied similar
+quarters. Such a residence may not conform to modern social ideas and
+standards, but there are Americans in this country, as well as Cubans and
+Spaniards in Havana, who can afford to ignore those standards. The same is
+true of many who live in the newer city, outside the old walls. There as
+here, business encroaches on many streets formerly strictly residential.
+This holds in the newer part of the city as well as in the old part. A
+number of streets there are, for a part of their length, quite given over
+to business. Even the Prado itself is the victim of commercial invasion.
+What was once one of the finest residences in the city, the old Aldama
+place fronting on the Campo de Marte, is now a cigar factory. A little
+beyond it is the Tacon market, occupying an entire block. Stores and shops
+surround it. The old avenue leading to the once fashionable Cerro, and
+to the only less fashionable Jesus del Monte, is now a business street.
+Another business street leads out of the Parque Central, alongside the
+former Tacon theatre. The broad Calzada de Galiano, once a fashionable
+residence street, is now largely commercial. While less picturesque than
+some parts of the old city within the walls, the most attractive part of
+Havana is undoubtedly the section of El Vedado, the westward extension
+along the shore. Here are broad streets, trees, gardens, and many beautiful
+and costly dwellings. This is really the modern Havana. A part of it is
+only a little above sea-level, and behind that strip is a hill. A few years
+ago, only a small number of houses were on the hillside or the hilltop.
+Now, it is well built over with modern houses. The architectural type is
+generally retained, and it is rather a pity that there should be even
+what variation there is. El Vedado is the region of the wealthy and the
+well-to-do, with a large percentage of foreigners. It has its social ways,
+very much as other places have, in this country, in France, Hong Kong, or
+Honolulu. They are not quite our ways, but they are a result of conditions,
+just as ours are.
+
+On the hill, a little back of El Vedado, are two "points of interest" for
+visitors; the old fortress, el Castillo del Principe, and the cemetery.
+In the latter are some notable monuments. One is known as the Firemen's
+Monument. For many years, Havana has had, supplementary to its municipal
+organization, a volunteer firemen's corps. In various ways the latter
+resembles a number of military organizations in the United States. It is at
+once a somewhat exclusive social club and a practical force. Membership
+is a social distinction. If you are in Havana and see men in admirably
+tailored, uniforms and fire helmets, rushing in a particular direction in
+cabs, carriages or automobiles, you may know that they are members of the
+_Bomberos del Comercio_ on their way to a conflagration. Most excellent
+real work they have done again and again in time of fire and flood. On
+parade, they look exceedingly dapper with their helmets, uniforms, boots
+and equipment, somewhat too dandified even to suggest any smoke other than
+that of cigars or cigarettes. But they are the "real thing in smoke-eaters"
+when they get to work. They have a long list of heroic deeds on their
+records. The monument in Colon Cemetery commemorates one of those deeds.
+In an extensive and dangerous fire, in May, 1890, thirty of these men
+lost their lives. A few years later, this beautiful and costly shaft was
+erected, by private subscription, as a tribute to their valor and devotion.
+Another shaft, perhaps no less notable, commemorates a deplorable and
+unpardonable event. A number of medical students, mere boys, in the
+University of Havana, were charged with defacing the tomb of a Spanish
+officer who had been killed by a Cuban in a political quarrel. At
+its worst, it was a boyish prank, demanding rebuke or even some mild
+punishment. Later evidence indicates that while there was a demonstration
+there was no defacement of the vault. Forty-two students were arrested as
+participants, tried by court-martial, and sentenced to be shot. Eight of
+them were shot at La Punta, at the foot of the Prado near the sea-front,
+and the remainder sentenced to imprisonment for life. All of these, I
+believe, were afterward released. The Students' Monument expresses the
+feeling of the Cubans in the matter, a noble memorial. There are numerous
+other shafts and memorials that are notable and interesting. A number of
+Cuba's leaders, Maximo Gomez, Calixto Garcia, and others, are buried in
+this cemetery.
+
+[Illustration: A RESIDENCE IN EL VEDADO]
+
+Further on, to the southeast, are other sections of the new Havana, the
+districts of Cerro and Jesus del Monte. El Vedado has largely supplanted
+these neighborhoods as the "court end" of the city. Many of the fine old
+residences of forty or fifty years ago still remain, but most of them are
+now closely surrounded by the more modest homes of a less aristocratic
+group. A few gardens remain to suggest what they were in the earlier days.
+Still further out, in the west-and-south quarter-circle, are little towns,
+villages, and hamlets, typically Cuban, with here and there the more
+imposing estate of planter or proprietor. But, far the greater number of
+visitors, perhaps with greater reason, find more of charm and interest
+in the city itself than in the suburbs or the surrounding country. The
+enjoyment of unfamiliar places is altogether personal. There are many who
+really see nothing; they come away from a brief visit with only a confusion
+of vague recollections of sights and sounds, of brief inspection of
+buildings about which they knew nothing, of the big, yellow Palace, of this
+church and that, of the Morro and the harbor, of sunny days, and of late
+afternoons along the Prado and the Malecon. To me, Havana is losing its
+greatest charm through an excess of Americanization, slowly but steadily
+taking from the place much of the individuality that made it most
+attractive. It will be a long time before that is entirely lost, but
+five-story office buildings, automobiles in the afternoon parade, steaks
+or ham and eggs at an eight or nine o'clock breakfast, and all kinds of
+indescribable hats in place of dainty and graceful _mantillas_, seem to
+me a detraction, like bay-windows and porticos added to an old colonial
+mansion.
+
+
+
+
+VI
+
+_AROUND THE ISLAND_
+
+
+A hundred years ago, the Cubans travelled from place to place about the
+island, just as our ancestors did in this country, by water and over rough
+trails few of which could, with any approach to correctness, be described
+as roads. It was not until about a hundred years ago that we, in this
+country, began to build anything even remotely resembling a modern highway.
+Our towns and cities were on the seaboard or on the banks of rivers
+navigable for vessels of size sufficient for their purposes. Commodities
+carried to or brought from places not so located were dragged in stoutly
+built wagons over routes the best of which was worse than the worst to be
+found anywhere today. Because real road-making in Cuba is quite a modern
+institution, an enterprise to which, in their phrase, the Spanish
+Government did not "dedicate" itself, the Cuban wagons and carts of today
+are chiefly those of the older time. They are heavy, cumbrous affairs with
+large wheels, a diameter necessitated by the deep ruts through which a
+passage was made. A smaller wheel would soon have been "hub-deep" and
+hopelessly stuck. So, too, with the carriages of the nabobs. The poorer
+people, when they travelled at all, went on foot or on horseback, as our
+ancestors did. The nabobs had their _volantes_, still occasionally, but
+with increasing rarity, seen in some parts of the island. Forty years ago,
+such vehicles, only a little changed from the original type, were common
+enough in Havana itself. About that time, or a few years earlier, the
+four-wheeler began to supplant them for city use.
+
+There is a technical difference between the original type of _volante_ and
+its successor which, though still called a _volante_ was properly called a
+_quitrin_. The only real difference was that the top of the _quitrin_ was
+collapsible, and could be lowered when desirable, while the top of
+the _volante_ was not. I have ridden in these affairs, I cannot say
+comfortably, over roads that would have been quite impossible for any other
+wheeled vehicle. At the back, and somewhat behind the body were two wheels,
+six feet in diameter. From, the axle, two shafts projected for a distance,
+if memory serves me, of some twelve or fifteen feet. A little forward of
+the axle, the body, not unlike the old-fashioned American chaise, was
+suspended on stout leather straps serving as springs. Away off in front, at
+the end of the shafts, was a horse on which the driver rode in a heavy and
+clumsy saddle. For long-distance travel, or for particularly rough roads,
+a second horse was added, alongside the shaft horse, and sometimes a third
+animal. The motion was pleasant enough over the occasional smooth places,
+but the usual motion was much like that of a cork in a whirlpool, or of a
+small boat in a choppy sea. Little attention was paid to rocks or ruts; it
+was almost impossible to capsize the thing. One wheel might be two feet or
+more higher than the other, whereupon the rider on the upper side would be
+piled on top of the rider or riders on the lower side, but there was always
+a fair distribution of this favor. The rocks and ruts were not always on
+the same side of the road. The safety from overturn was in the long shafts
+which allowed free play. In the older days, say sixty or seventy years
+ago, the _volante_ or the _quitrin_ was an outward and visible sign of a
+well-lined pocket-book. It indicated the possessor as a man of wealth,
+probably a rich planter who needed such a vehicle to carry him and his
+family from their mansion in the city to their perhaps quite as costly home
+on the plantation. The _calisero_, or driver, was dressed in a costume
+truly gorgeous, the horses were of the best, and the vehicle itself
+may have cost two thousand dollars or more. The operation of such a
+contrivance, extending, from the rear of the wheels to the horse's nose,
+for twenty feet or more, in the narrow streets of the old city, was a
+scientific problem, particularly in turning corners.
+
+Cuba was early in the field with a railway. In 1830, the United States
+had only thirty-two miles of line, the beginning of its present enormous
+system. Cuba's first railway was opened to traffic in November, 1837. It
+was a forty-five mile line connecting Havana with the town of Guines,
+southeast of the city. While official permission was, of course, necessary
+before the work could be undertaken, it was in fact a Cuban enterprise, due
+to the activity of the _Junta de Fomento_, or Society for Improvement. It
+was built with capital obtained in London, the construction being in charge
+of Mr. Alfred Cruger, an American engineer. Ten years later there were
+nearly three hundred miles of line. At the beginning of the American
+occupation, in 1899, there were about nine-hundred and fifty miles. There
+are now more than 2,000 miles of public service line in operation, and in
+addition there are many hundreds of miles of private lines on the sugar
+estates. Several cities have trolley lines. For some years after the
+American occupation, as before that experience, there was only a
+water-and-rail connection, or an all-water route, between the eastern and
+western sections of the island. The usual route from Havana to Santiago
+was by rail to Batabano or to Cienfuegos, and thence by steamer. The
+alternative was an all-water route, consuming several days, by steamer
+along the north coast, with halts at different ports, and around the
+eastern end of the island to the destination. It is now an all-rail run of
+twenty-four hours. The project for a "spinal railway" from one end of
+the island to the other had been under consideration for many years. The
+configuration lent itself excellently to such a system, and not at all
+well to any other. A railway map of such a system shows a line, generally,
+through the middle of the island along its length, with numerous branch
+lines running north and south to the various cities and ports on the coast.
+The plan, broadly, is being carried out. A combination of existing lines
+afforded a route to the city of Santa Clara. From these eastward, the Cuba
+Company, commonly known as the Van Home road, completed a through line in
+1902. In its beginning, it was a highly ambitious scheme, involving the
+building of many towns along the way, the erection of many sugar mills, and
+the creation of a commercial city, at Nipe Bay, that would leave Havana in
+the back-number class. All that called for a sum of money not then and not
+now available. But the "spinal railroad" was built, and from it a number of
+radiating lines have been built, to Sancti Spiritus, Manzanillo, Nipe
+Bay, and to Guantanamo. About the only places on the island, really worth
+seeing, with the exception of Trinidad and Baracoa, can now be reached by a
+fairly comfortable railway journey.
+
+[Illustration: THE VOLANTE _Now quite rare_]
+
+In most of the larger cities of the island, a half dozen or so of them, the
+traveller is made fairly comfortable and is almost invariably well fed. But
+any question of physical comfort in hotels, more particularly in country
+hotels, raises a question of standards. As Touchstone remarked, when in the
+forest of Arden, "Travellers must be content." Those who are not ready to
+make themselves so, no matter what the surroundings, should stay at home,
+which, Touchstone also remarked, "is a better place." If the standard is
+the ostentatious structure of the larger cities of this country, with its
+elaborate menu and its systematized service, there will doubtless be cause
+for complaint. So will there be if the standard is the quiet, cleanly inn
+of many towns in this country and in parts of Europe. The larger towns and
+villages of the island have a _posada_ in which food and lodging may be
+obtained; the smaller places may or may not have "a place to stay." Cuba
+is not a land in which commercial travellers swarm everywhere, demanding
+comfort and willing to pay a reasonable price for it. However, few
+travellers and fewer tourists have any inclination to depart from known
+and beaten paths, or any reason for doing so. Nor does a fairly thorough
+inspection of the island necessitate any halting in out-of-the-way places
+where there is not even an imitation of an inn. All that one needs to see,
+and all that most care to see, can be seen in little tours, for a day, from
+the larger cities. Yet if one wants to wander a little in the by-paths, it
+is easy enough to do so.
+
+What one sees or does in Cuba will depend mainly upon the purpose of the
+visit, and upon the violence of the individual mania for seeing as many
+places as possible. If the object is merely an excursion or an escape from
+the rigors of a northern winter, there is no occasion for wandering out of
+sight of the capital city. There is more to see and more to do in Havana
+than there is in all the rest of the island. Nor is there much to be seen
+elsewhere that cannot be seen in the immediate vicinity of that city. This,
+of course, does not cover the matter of scenery. There are no mountains,
+no forest jungles in that neighborhood, but forests in Cuba are not
+particularly interesting, and even the mountains of Oriente are no more
+beautiful or majestic than are our own summits, our own White Hills of New
+Hampshire, the Adirondacks, the Blue Ridge, the Alleghenies, the Rockies,
+and the Sierras. The charm of Cuba, and it is extremely charming, is not
+its special "points of interest." It is rather a general impression, a
+combination of soft and genial climate with varying lights and shades and
+colors. Even after much experience there, I am not yet quite ready either
+to admit or to deny that the island, taken as a whole, is either beautiful
+or picturesque, and yet there is much of both. Attention is rarely
+challenged by the sublime or the majestic, but is often arrested by
+some play of light and shade. Cuban villages, with few exceptions, are
+unattractive, although there is not infrequently some particular building,
+usually a church, that calls for a second look or a careful examination.
+Most of these little communities consist of a row of low and ungraceful
+structures bordering the highway. They are usually extended by building on
+at the ends. If the town street gets undesirably long, a second street or a
+third will be made, on one or both sides of the main street, and thus the
+town acquires breadth as well as length. The houses are built immediately
+upon the roadside, and sidewalks are quite unusual. Nor, until the place
+becomes a large town or a small city, is there, in most cases, any attempt
+at decoration by means of shade trees. A tree may be left if there happened
+to be one when the village was born, but rarely do the inhabitants turn
+their streets into tree-shaded avenues. There would be an excellent
+opportunity for the activities of Village Improvement Societies in Cuba, if
+it were not for the fact that such tree-planting would involve pushing all
+the houses ten or fifteen feet back from the roadside.
+
+I have never studied the system of town building in the island, yet it is
+presumable that there was some such system. In the larger places, there is
+usually a central park around which are arranged the church, the public
+buildings, and the stores. Whether these were so constructed from an
+original plan, or whether they are an evolution, along a general plan, from
+the long, single street, I do not know. I am inclined to believe that the
+former was the case, and that it followed the location of a church. The
+custom is, of course, of Spanish origin, and is common throughout the
+greater part of Latin America. It finds a fair parallel in our own country
+custom, by no means infrequent, of an open "green" or common in front
+of the village church and the town hall. Tree-setting along the Cuban
+highways, more particularly in the neighborhood of the cities, is not at
+all unusual, and some of these shaded roads are exceedingly charming. Some
+are entirely over-arched by laurel trees and the gorgeous _flamboyan_,
+making long tunnels of shade "through whose broken roof the sky looks in."
+Evidently the Spanish authorities were too much interested in making money
+and enjoying themselves in the cities to care very much for what happened
+to the Cubans in the villages, as long as they paid the money that filled
+the official pocket and paid for the official entertainment, and the Cubans
+were too busy getting that money to have much time for village improvement.
+The Spaniards, following their home custom, might decorate a military
+highway to some extent, but the rough trail over which the peasant carried
+his little crop did not concern them. That was quite the business of the
+peasant who had neither the time nor money to do anything about it.
+
+The question of good roads in Cuba is very much what it is in this country.
+Cuba needs more good roads than its people can afford to build; so does the
+United States. At the time of the American occupation, in 1899, there were
+only 160 miles of improved highway in the entire island. Of this, 85 miles
+were in Havana Province, and 75 miles in Pinar del Rio. The remainder of
+the island had none. Some work was done during the First Intervention
+and more was done under the Palma government. At the time of the Second
+Intervention, there were about 380 miles. That is, the United States and
+the Cuban Republic built, in six years, nearly 40 per cent, more highway
+than the Spanish authorities built in four hundred years. During the Palma
+regime, plans were drawn for an extensive road system, to be carried out
+as rapidly as the financial resources permitted. Not unlike similar
+proceedings in this country, in river and harbor work and public
+buildings, politics came into the matter and, like our own under similar
+circumstances, each Congressman insisted that some of such work as could
+immediately be undertaken, some of the money that could be immediately
+spent, should benefit his particular district. The result was that what was
+done by the Cubans was somewhat scattered, short stretches built here and
+there, new bridges built when there might or might not be a usable road to
+them. The Cuban plan involved, for its completion, a period of years and
+a large appropriation. It called for comparatively small yearly
+appropriations for many roads, for more than four hundred different
+projects. Then came the Second Intervention, in 1906, with what has seemed
+to many of us an utterly unwise and unwarranted expenditure for the
+completion of certain selected projects included in the Cuban plan. It may
+be granted that the roads were needed, some of them very much needed, but
+there are thousands of miles of unconstructed but much needed roads in
+the United States. Yet, in this country, Federal, State, county, and town
+treasuries are not drained to their last dollar, and their credit strained,
+to build those roads. From the drain on its financial resources, the island
+will recover, but the misfortune appears in the setting of a standard for
+Federal expenditure, in its total for all purposes amounting to about
+$40,000,000 a year, far beyond the reasonable or proper bearing power of
+the island. But the work was done, the money spent, and the Cubans were
+committed to more work and to further expenditure. I find no data showing
+with exactness the mileage completed by the Magoon government, which came
+to an end in January, 1909, but a Cuban official report made at the end of
+1910 shows that the combined activities of the respective administrations,
+Spanish, American, and Cuban, had given the island, at that time,
+practically a thousand miles of improved highway, distributed throughout
+the island.
+
+To see the real Cuba, one must get into the country. Havana is the
+principal city, and for many it is the most interesting place on the
+island, but it is no more Cuba than Paris is France or than New York is the
+United States. The real Cuba is rural; the real Cuban is a countryman, a
+man of the soil. If he is rich, he desires to measure his possessions in
+_caballerias_ of 33-1/3 acres; if poor, in _hectareas_ of 2-1/2 acres. I do
+not recall any Cuban cartoon representing the Cuban people that was not a
+picture of the peasant, the _guajiro_. Cuba, as a political organism, is
+shown as a quite charming _senorita_, but _el pueblo Cubano_, the Cuban
+people, are shown as the man of the fields. With the present equipment
+of railroads, trolley lines, automobile busses, and highways, little
+excursions are easily made in a day. The railways, trolleys, and automobile
+busses are unsatisfactory means of locomotion for sight-seeing. The
+passenger is rushed past the very sights that would be of the greatest
+interest. To most of us, a private hired automobile is open to the very
+serious objection of its expensiveness, an item that may sometimes be
+reduced by division. It has been my good fortune in more recent years to be
+whirled around in cars belonging to friends but my favorite trip in earlier
+days is, I presume, still open to those who may care to make it. I have
+recommended it to many, and have taken a number with me over the route.
+
+It is an easy one-day excursion of about sixty miles, by rail to Guanajay,
+by carriage to Marianao, and return to Havana by rail. Morning trains
+run to Guanajay, through a region generally attractive and certainly
+interesting to the novice, by way of Rincon and San Antonio de los Banos, a
+somewhat roundabout route, but giving a very good idea of the country, its
+plantations, villages, and peasant homes. At Guanajay, an early lunch, or a
+late breakfast, may be obtained at the hotel, before or after an inspection
+of the town itself, a typical place with its little central park, its old
+church, and typical residences. Inquiry regarding the transportation to
+Marianao by carriage should not be too direct. It should be treated as a
+mere possibility depending upon a reasonable charge. I have sometimes spent
+a very pleasant hour in intermittent bargaining with the competitors for
+the job, although knowing very well what I would pay and what they would
+finally accept. Amiably conducted, as such discussions should be in
+Cuba, the chaffering becomes a matter of mutual entertainment. A bargain
+concluded, a start may be made about noon for a drive over a good road,
+through a series of typical villages, to Marianao, in time for a late
+afternoon train to Havana, reaching there in ample time for dinner. Along
+the road from Guanajay to Marianao, Maceo swept with ruthless hand in
+1896, destroying Spanish property. Here the Spaniards, no less ruthless,
+destroyed the property of Cubans. It is now a region of peaceful industry,
+and little or nothing remains to indicate its condition when I first saw
+it. The little villages along the way were in ruins, the fields were
+uncultivated, and there were no cattle. At intervals there stood the walls
+of what had been beautiful country estates. Only one of many was left
+standing. At intervals, also, stood the Spanish blockhouses. All along that
+route, in 1906, were the insurrectos of the unfortunate experience of that
+year. In the village of Caimito, a short distance from Guanajay, along that
+road, I visited Pino Guerra at his then headquarters when he and his
+forces so menaced Havana that Secretary Taft, in his capacity of Peace
+Commissioner, ordered their withdrawal to a greater distance. The trip by
+rail and road, exhibits most of Cuba's special characteristics. There are
+fields of sugar cane and fields of tobacco, country villages and peasant
+homes, fruits and vegetables, ceiba trees, royal palms, cocoanut palms, and
+mango trees. There is no other trip, as easily made, where so much can be
+seen. But there are other excursions in the vicinity, for many reasons best
+made by carriage or by private hired automobile. Within fifteen miles or so
+of the city, are places like Calvario, Bejucal, and Managua, all reached
+by good highways through interesting and typical country, and all well
+illustrating the real life of the real Cubans. It was in the vicinity of
+those places that Maximo Gomez operated in 1895 and 1896, terrorizing
+Havana by menacing it from the south and the east while Maceo threatened it
+from the west. Another short and pleasant trip can be made around the head
+of the harbor to Guanabacoa, and thence to Cojimar. Another interesting and
+easily reached point is Guines, a good example of places of its size and
+class.
+
+Of Cuba's larger cities, there are a score that would demand attention in a
+guide-book. Just as there is a certain similarity in most American cities,
+in that they are collections of business and residence buildings of
+generally similar architecture, so is there a certain sameness in most of
+Cuba's cities. To see two or three of them is to get a general idea of all,
+although each has its particular features, some particular building, or
+some special charm of surroundings. The most difficult of access are
+Baracoa, the oldest city of the island, and Trinidad, founded only a few
+years later. Glancing at some of these places, in their order from west
+to east, the first is Pinar del Rio, a comparatively modern city, dating
+really from the second half of the 18th Century. It owes its past and its
+present importance to its location as a centre of the tobacco region of the
+_Vuelta Abajo_. From comfortable headquarters here, excursions can be made,
+by rail or road, through what is perhaps the most attractive, and not
+the least interesting section of the island. To the north are the Organ
+Mountains and the picturesque town of Vinales, one of the most charming
+spots, in point of scenery, in Cuba. To the west, by rail, is Guane, the
+oldest settlement in western Cuba, and all around are beautiful hills and
+cultivated valleys. Eastward from Havana, the first city of importance is
+Matanzas. Here is much to interest and much to charm, the city itself, its
+harbor, its two rivers, the famous valley of the Yumuri, and the caves of
+Bellamar. The city, founded in 1693, lies along the shore of the bay and
+rises to the higher ground of the hills behind it. It lies about sixty
+miles from Havana, and is easily reached by rail or by automobile. The
+next city in order, also on the north coast, is Cardenas, a modern place,
+settled in 1828, and owing its importance to its convenience as a shipping
+port for the numerous sugar estates in its vicinity, an importance now
+somewhat modified by the facilities for rail shipment to other harbors.
+Seventy-five miles or so further eastward is Sagua la Grande, another point
+of former convenience as a shipping point for sugar. The city itself is
+located on a river, or estuary, some ten or twelve miles from its mouth.
+Forty miles or so further on are Remedies and Caibarien, a few miles apart,
+the latter on the coast and the former a few miles inland. Caibarien, like
+Cardenas and Sagua, is chiefly notable as a sugar port, while Remedios is
+the centre of one of the great tobacco districts, producing a leaf of good
+quality but generally inferior to the _Partidos_ of Havana Province, and
+quite inferior to the famous _Vuelta Abajo_. Southward of this region, and
+about midway the width of the island, somewhat more than two hundred miles
+eastward of Havana, is the city of Santa Clara, better known in the island
+as Villa Clara. The city dates its existence from 1689. It lies surrounded
+by rolling hills and expansive valleys, but in the absence of extensive
+plantations in its immediate environs, one is led to wonder just why so
+pleasant a place should be there, and why it should have reached its
+present proportions. For the tourist who wants to "see it all," it is an
+excellent and most comfortable central headquarters.
+
+[Illustration: A VILLAGE STREET _Calvario, Havana Province_]
+
+From Villa Clara it is only a short run to Cienfuegos, the "city of a
+hundred fires," a modern place, only about a hundred years old. There is
+every probability that Columbus entered the harbor in 1494, and perhaps
+no less probability that Ocampo entered in 1508, on his voyage around the
+island. The harbor extends inland for several miles, with an irregular
+shore line, behind which rises a border line of hills. The city itself
+is some four or five miles from the entrance to the harbor. It came into
+existence, and still exists, chiefly by reason of the sugar business. It
+is an important outlet for that industry, and many estates are in its near
+vicinity. The old city of Trinidad is reached, by boat, from Cienfuegos, or
+rather its port city, Casilda, is so reached. Presumably, it was the port
+city that Velasquez founded in 1514, a location a few miles inland
+being chosen later, as being less exposed to attacks by the pirates and
+freebooters who infested the Caribbean Sea for many years. It is said that
+Cortes landed here and recruited his forces on his way to Mexico, in 1518.
+The city itself stands on the lower slopes of the hills that form its
+highly effective background. Its streets are narrow and tortuous. Like most
+of the cities of the island, and most of the cities of the world, it has
+its humble homes of the poor, and its mansions of the rich. Immediately
+behind it stands a hill with an elevation of about nine hundred feet above
+sea-level. Its name indicates the reason for its application, _La Vigia_,
+the "lookout," or the "watch-tower." From its summit, we may assume that
+the people of earlier times scanned the horizon for any sign of approaching
+pirates by whom they might be attacked. It serves a more satisfactory
+purpose nowadays in that it affords one of the loveliest panoramic views to
+be found anywhere in Cuba. Not far away, and accessible from the city, is
+the Pico de Potrerillo, about 3,000 feet elevation, the highest point in
+Central Cuba. Northeast of Trinidad, and reached by rail from Villa Clara,
+is Sancti Spiritus, Trinidad's rival in antiquity, both having been
+founded, by Velasquez, in the same year. Here also are narrow, crooked
+streets in a city of no mean attractions, although it lacks the picturesque
+charm of its rival in age. It is an inland city, about twenty-five miles
+from the coast, but even that did not protect it from attack by the
+pirates. It was several times the victim of their depredations.
+
+
+
+
+VII
+
+_AROUND THE ISLAND: Continued_
+
+
+The next city, eastward, is Camaguey, in many ways doubtless the best
+worth a visit, next to Havana, of any city on the island. It is a place
+of interesting history and, for me personally, a place of somewhat mixed
+recollections. The history may wait until I have told my story. I think
+it must have been on my third visit to the island, early in 1902. On my
+arrival in Havana, I met my friend Charles M. Pepper, a fellow laborer in
+the newspaper field. He at once informed me that he and I were to start the
+next morning for a three or four weeks' journey around the island. It was
+news to me, and the fact that my baggage, excepting the suitcase that I
+carried, had failed to come on the boat that brought me, led me to demur.
+My objections were overruled on the ground that we could carry little
+baggage anyway, and all that was needed could be bought before starting, or
+along the way. The next morning saw us on the early train for Matanzas. We
+spent a week or ten days in that city, in Cardenas, Sagua, Santa Clara, and
+Cienfuegos, renewing former acquaintance and noting the changes effected by
+the restoration from the war period. That was before the completion of the
+Cuba Railway. To get to Camaguey, then known as Puerto Principe, we took
+the steamer at Cienfuegos and journeyed along the coast to Jucaro. There,
+because of shallow water, we were dropped into a shore boat some four or
+five miles from the coast, and there our troubles began. Fortunately, it
+was early morning. We got something to eat and some coffee, which is almost
+invariably good in Cuba, but when we meet nowadays we have a laugh over
+that breakfast at Jucaro. I don't know, and really don't care, what the
+place is now. After some hours of waiting, we secured passage in an
+antiquated little car attached to a freight train carrying supplies and
+structural material to Ciego de Avila, for use by the railway then being
+built in both directions, eastward and westward from that point. The line
+that there crosses the island from north to south was built in the time
+of the Ten Years' War (1868-1878) as a barrier against the revolutionists
+operating in eastern Cuba. It was restored for use in the revolution of
+1895, but its blockhouses at every kilometre, and its barbed wire tangles,
+were entirely ineffective against Gomez and Maceo and other leaders, all of
+whom crossed it at their own sweet will, although not without an occasional
+vicious little contest. We reached Ciego de Avila soon after noon, and had
+to wait there over night for a further advance. The place is now a thriving
+little city, but it was then a somewhat sprawling village with a building
+that was called a hotel. But we got food and drink and beds, all that is
+really necessary for experienced campaigners. For the next two days, Old
+Man Trouble made himself our personal companion and did not lose sight of
+us for a single minute.
+
+Through personal acquaintance with the railway officials, we obtained
+permission to travel over the line, on any and all trains, as far as it was
+then built, some forty miles or so toward Camaguey. Through them, also, we
+arranged for saddle horses to meet us at railhead for the remainder of the
+journey. There were no trains except construction trains carrying rails,
+ties, lumber, and other materials. We boarded the first one out in the
+morning. We had our choice of riding on any of those commodities that we
+might select. There was not even a caboose. We chose a car of lumber as the
+most promising. For four or five hours we crawled through that country,
+roasting and broiling on that pile of planks, but the ties and the rails
+were even hotter. The only way we could keep a place cool enough to sit on
+was by sitting on it. I once occupied a stateroom next to the steamer's
+funnel. I have seen, day after day, the pitch bubble between the planks of
+a steamer's deck in the Indian Ocean. I have been in other places that I
+thought plenty hot enough, but never have I been so thoroughly cooked as
+were my companion and I perched on the lumber pile. On top of that, or
+rather on top of us, there poured a constant rain of cinders from the
+locomotive puffing away a few cars ahead of us. The road-bed was rough, and
+at times we had to hang on for our very lives. We can laugh about it now,
+but, at the time, it was no joke. At last we reached the end of the line,
+somewhere in a hot Cuban forest, but there were no horses. We watched the
+operation of railway building, and took turns in anathematizing, in every
+language of which we had any knowledge, the abandoned ruffian who failed to
+appear with those horses. Before night, we were almost ready to wish that
+he had died on the way. At last he came. Our baggage was loaded on a
+pack-horse; we mounted and rode gallantly on our way. We had about thirty
+miles to cover by that or some other means of locomotion. Before we had
+gone a mile, we developed a clear understanding of the reasons for the sale
+of those horses by the Government of the United States, but why the United
+States Army ever bought them for cavalry mounts we could not even imagine.
+There was no road. Most of the way we followed the partly constructed
+road-bed for the new railway, making frequent detours, through field or
+jungle, to get around gaps or places of impossible roughness. Before we had
+covered two miles, we began to wish that the man who sent those horses, a
+Spaniard, by the way, might be doomed to ride them through all eternity
+under the saddles with which they were equipped. We were sorry enough for
+the poor brutes, but sorrier still for ourselves. For several days, I
+limped in misery from a long row of savage blisters raised on my leg
+by rawhide knots with which my saddle had been repaired. An hour after
+starting, we were overtaken by a heavy thunder-shower. At nightfall, after
+having covered about fifteen wretched miles, we reached a construction camp
+where an American nobleman, disguised as a section-boss, gave us food and
+lodging in the little palm-leaf shack that served as his temporary home. It
+was barely big enough for one, but he made it do for three.
+
+[Illustration: STREET AND CHURCH _Camaguey_]
+
+Early in the morning, we resumed our journey, plodding along as best we
+could over a half-graded "right-of-way." A couple of hours brought us to
+a larger construction camp where we halted for such relief as we could
+secure. We then were some twelve or fourteen miles from our destination. We
+discussed the wisdom of making the rest of the way on foot, as preferable
+to that particular kind of saddle-work, leaving our baggage to come along
+with the horses when it might. But fortune smiled, or it may have been just
+a grimace. Word came that a team, two horses and a wagon, would go to the
+city that afternoon, and there would be room for us. We told our pilot,
+the man with the horses, just what we thought of him and all his miserable
+ancestors, gave him a couple of _pesos_, and rejoiced over our prospects of
+better fortune. But it proved to be only an escape from the fire into
+the frying-pan. I have driven over many miles of South African _veldt_,
+straight "across lots," in all comfort, but while the general topography of
+Camaguey puts it somewhat into the _veldt_ class, its immediate surface
+did not in the least remind me of the South African plateau. The trip was
+little short of wonderful for its bumpiness. We got to Camaguey sore and
+bruised but, as far as we could discover, physically intact, and, having
+arrived, may now return to its history and description. May no "gentle
+reader" who scans these pages repeat our experience in getting there. It
+is supposed that here, or immediately here-about, was the place of "fifty
+houses and a thousand people" encountered by the messengers of Columbus,
+when he sent them inland to deliver official letters of introduction to the
+gorgeous ruler of the country in which he thought he was. Different writers
+tell different stories about the settlement of the place, but there is no
+doubt that it was among the earliest to be settled. Columbus gave to a
+harbor in that vicinity, in all probability the Bay of Nuevitas, the name
+Puerto del Principe, or Port of the Prince. He called the islands of the
+neighborhood the Gardens of the King. On that bay, about 1514, Diego
+Velasquez founded a city, probably the present Nuevitas, which he is said
+to have called Santa Maria. Somewhere from two to ten years later, an
+inland settlement was made. This developed into the city that was afterward
+given the name of Santa Maria del Puerto del Principe, now very properly
+changed to the old Indian name of Camaguey.
+
+If the idea of an inland location was, as it is said to have been,
+protection against pirates and buccaneers, it was not altogether a
+success. The distinguished pirate, Mr. Henry Morgan, raided the place very
+effectively in 1668, securing much loot. In his book, published in 1871,
+Mr. Hazard says: "Puerto Principe (the present Camaguey) is, probably, the
+oldest, quaintest town on the island,--in fact, it may be said to be a
+finished town, as the world has gone on so fast that the place seems a
+million years old, and from its style of dress, a visitor might think he
+was put back almost to the days of Columbus." There have been changes
+since that time, but the old charm is still there, the narrow and crooked
+streets, forming almost a labyrinth, the old buildings, and much else that
+I earnestly hope may never be changed. There is now an up-to-date hotel,
+connected with the railway company, but if I were to go there again and the
+old hotel was habitable, I know I should go where I first stayed, and where
+we occupied a huge barrack-like room charged on our bill as "_habitaciones
+preferentes_," the state chamber. It had a dirty tiled floor, and was the
+home of many fleas, but there was something about it that I liked. I do not
+mean to say that all of Camaguey, "the city of the plain," is lovely, or
+picturesque or even interesting. No more is all of Paris, or Budapest,
+or Amsterdam, or Washington. They are only so in some of their component
+parts, but it is those parts that remain in the memory. The country around
+the city is a vast plain, for many years, and still, a grazing country, a
+land of horses and cattle. The charm is in the city itself. If I could see
+only one place outside of Havana, I would see Camaguey. A little less than
+fifty miles to the north is Nuevitas, reached by one of the first railways
+built in Cuba, now if ever little more than the port city for its larger
+neighbor. Columbus became somewhat ecstatic over the region. Perhaps it was
+then more charming, or the season more favorable, than when I saw it. I
+do not recall any feeling of special enthusiasm about its scenic charms.
+Perhaps I should have discovered them had I stayed longer. Perhaps I should
+have been more impressed had it not been for the impressions of Camaguey. I
+saw Nuevitas only briefly on my way eastward on that memorable excursion by
+construction train and saddle. The only route then available was by boat
+along the north shore, and it was there that we caught the steamer for
+Santiago.
+
+That sail along the coast would have afforded greater pleasure had it
+lacked the noisy presence of an itinerant opera company whose members
+persisted, day and night, in exercising their lungs to the accompaniment of
+an alleged piano in the cabin. I have a far more pleasant recollection, or
+rather a memory because it stays with me, of music in those waters. The
+transport on which I went to Porto Rico, in the summer of 1898, carried,
+among other troops, a battery of light artillery. It had an unusually good
+bugler, and his sounding of "taps" on those soft, starlit nights remains
+with me as one of the sweetest sounds I have ever heard. The shrieks,
+squalls, and roars of those opera people were in a wholly different class.
+About seventy-five miles east of Nuevitas is Gibara, merely a shipping port
+for the inland city of Holguin. The former is only one of a number of such
+places found along the coast. Most of them are attractive in point of
+surrounding scenery, but little or not at all attractive in themselves,
+being mere groups of uninteresting structures of the conventional type.
+Holguin is perhaps two hundred years old, quite pleasantly situated, but
+affording no special points of interest for the tourist. The city is now
+easily reached by a branch of the Cuba Railway. It is worth the visit of
+those who "want to see it all." Beyond Gibara is Nipe Bay, not improbably
+the first Cuban harbor entered by Columbus. Nipe Bay and its near neighbor,
+Banes Bay, are the centres of what is now the greatest industrial activity
+of any part of the island. Here, recent American investment is measured in
+scores of millions of dollars. Here, in the immediate neighborhood, are
+some of the largest sugar plantations and mills on the island, the Boston
+and the Preston. A little to the west of Gibara are two others, Chaparra
+and Delicias. Hitherto, the western half of the island has been, the great
+producing district, but present indications point to a not distant time
+when the eastern district will rival and, it may be, outstrip the section
+of older development. The foundation is already laid for an extensive
+enterprise. Nature has afforded one of the finest land-locked harbors in
+the world at Nipe, and another, though smaller, a few miles away, at Banes.
+The region now has railroad connection with practically all parts of the
+island. Around those bays are sugar lands, tobacco lands, fruit lands, and
+a few miles inland are the vast iron ore beds that, as they are developed,
+will afford employment for an army of workmen. Nipe Bay is the natural
+commercial outlet for a vast area of richly productive soil. At present,
+the region affords nothing of special interest except its industrial
+activities, its miles and miles of sugar cane, its huge mills, and the
+villages built to house its thousands of workmen.
+
+Seventy-five miles or so eastward of Nipe, lies one of the most charming
+and interesting spots on the island. This is old Baracoa, the oldest
+settlement on the island, now to be reached only by water or by the
+roughest of journeys over mountain trails. The town itself does not amount
+to much, but the bay is a gem, a little, circular basin, forest-shaded to
+its border, its waters clear as crystal. Behind it rise the forest-clad
+hills, step on step, culminating in _el Yunque_, "the anvil," with an
+elevation of about eighteen hundred feet. Baracoa is supposed to be the
+place about which Columbus wrote one of his most glowing and extravagant
+eulogies. Whether it is really worth the time and the discomfort of a
+special trip to see it, is perhaps somewhat doubtful. It is a place of
+scenery and sentiment, and little else. There is an old fort on a hilltop,
+not particularly picturesque, and an old church in which is a cross quite
+doubtfully reported as having been furnished by Columbus. Sometime, years
+hence, there will be easier communication, and the fertile hillsides and
+still more fertile valleys will supply various produces for consumption in
+the United States. About twenty-five miles east of Baracoa is the end of
+the island, Cape Maisi. Swinging around that, the coasting steamers turn
+due west along the shore to Santiago, passing the harbor of Guantanamo,
+with its United States naval station. That place is reached by rail from
+Santiago, a highly picturesque route through the Guantanamo valley. Besides
+the naval station, the place is a shipping port, affording nothing of
+special interest to the traveller who has seen other and more easily
+accessible cities of its type. It always seems to me that Santiago, or more
+properly Santiago de Cuba, would be more engaging if we could forget the
+more recent history of this city, known to most Cubans as Cuba (pronounced
+Cooba). No doubt, it is a much better place in which to live than it was
+twenty years ago, and much of its old charm remains. Its setting cannot
+be changed. It is itself a hillside town, surrounded by hills, with real
+mountains on its horizon. The old cathedral, a dominant structure, has
+been quite a little patched up in recent years, and shows the patches. The
+houses, big and little, are still painted in nearly all the shades of the
+spectrum. But there is a seeming change, doubtless psychological rather
+than physical. One sees, in imagination, Cervera's squadron "bottled up" in
+the beautiful harbor, while Sampson's ships lie outside waiting for it to
+come out. It is difficult to forget San Juan Hill and El Caney, a few
+miles behind the city, and remember only its older stories. A good deal of
+history has been made here in the last four hundred years. Its pages
+show such names as Velasquez, Grijalva, Hernan Cortes, and Narvaez, and
+centuries later, Cespedes, Marti, and Palma. Here was enacted the grim
+tragedy of the _Virginius_, and here was the conflict that terminated
+Spain's once vast dominion in the western world. My own impression is
+that most of its history has already been written, that it will have no
+important future. As a port of shipment, I think it must yield to the new
+port, Nipe Bay, on the north coast. It is merely a bit of commercial logic,
+the question of a sixty-mile rail-haul as compared with a voyage around the
+end of the island. Santiago will not be wiped from the map, but I doubt its
+long continuance as the leading commercial centre of eastern Cuba. It is
+also a fairly safe prediction that the same laws of commercial logic will
+some day operate to drain northward the products of the fertile valley of
+the Cauto, and the region behind old Manzanillo and around the still older
+Bayamo.
+
+[Illustration: COBRE _Oriente Province_]
+
+Except the places earlier mentioned, Jucaro, Trinidad and Cienfuegos, there
+are no southern ports to the west until Batabano is reached, immediately
+south of, and only a few miles from, the city of Havana. It is a shallow
+harbor, of no commercial importance. It serves mainly as the centre of a
+sponge-fishing industry, and as a point of departure for the Isle of Pines,
+and for ports on the south coast. The Isle of Pines is of interest for a
+number of reasons, among which are its history, its mineral springs, its
+delightful climate, and an American colony that has made much trouble
+in Washington. Columbus landed there in 1494, and gave it the name _La
+Evangelista_. It lies about sixty miles off the coast, almost due south
+from Havana. Between the island and the mainland lies a labyrinth of islets
+and keys, many of them verdure-clad. Its area is officially given as 1,180
+square miles. There seems no doubt that, at some earlier time, it formed a
+part of the main island, with which it compares in geologic structure and
+configuration. It is now, in effect, two islands connected by a marsh; the
+northern part being broken and hilly, and the southern part low, flat, and
+sandy, probably a comparatively recently reclaimed coralline plain. The
+island has been, at various times, the headquarters of bands of pirates, a
+military hospital, a penal institution, and a source of political trouble.
+It is now a Cuban island the larger part of which is owned by Americans. It
+is a part of the province of Havana, and will probably so remain as long as
+Cuba is Cuba. My personal investigations of the disputed question of the
+political ownership of the island began early in 1899. I then reached a
+conclusion from which I have not since seen any reason to depart. The
+island was then, had always been, and is now, as much a part of Cuba as
+Long Island and Key West have been and are parts of the United States.
+
+Just who it was that first raised the question of ownership, none of us who
+investigated the matter at the time of its particular acuteness, was
+able to determine satisfactorily, although some of us had a well-defined
+suspicion. The man is now dead, and I shall not give his name. Article I,
+of the Treaty of Paris, of December 10, 1898, presumably disposes of the
+Cuban area; Article II refers to Porto Rico; and Article III refers to the
+Philippines. The issue regarding the Isle of Pines was raised under
+Article II, presumably referring only to Porto Rico. A slight but possibly
+important difference appears in the Spanish and the English versions. The
+English text reads that "Spain cedes ... the island of Porto Rico and other
+islands now under Spanish sovereignty" etc. The Spanish text, literally
+translated runs: "Spain cedes ... the island of Porto Rico and the others
+that are now under its sovereignty." The obvious reference of the article
+is to Mona, Viequez, and Culebra, all small islands in Porto Rican waters.
+But the question was raised and was vigorously discussed. An official map
+was issued showing the island as American territory. Americans jumped
+in, bought up large tracts, and started a lively real estate boom. They
+advertised it widely as American territory, and many put their little
+collections of dollars into it. The claim of Spanish cession was afterward
+denied in the very document that served to keep the issue alive for a
+number of years. Article VI of the Platt Amendment, which the Cubans
+accepted with marked reluctance, declared that the island was omitted from
+the boundaries of Cuba, and that the title and ownership should be left to
+future adjustment by treaty. But no alternative appears between cession and
+no cession. Had the island become definitely American territory by cession,
+its alienation, by such a step, would not have been possible. When we left
+Cuba, in 1902, the official instructions from Washington were that the Isle
+of Pines would remain under a _de facto_ American government. President
+Palma, accepting the transfer, expressed his understanding that it would
+"continue _de facto_ under the jurisdiction of the Republic of Cuba." In
+some way, the departing American authority failed to leave any agent or
+representative of the _de facto_ government of the United States, and the
+Cubans included the island in their new administration, very properly. When
+the treaty proposed by the Platt Amendment came before the United States
+Senate, it hung fire, and finally found lodgment in one of the many
+pigeon-holes generously provided for the use of that august body. There it
+may probably be found today, a record and nothing more. Why? For the very
+simple reason that some of the resident claimants for American ownership
+sent up a consignment of cigars made on the island from tobacco grown on
+the island, and refused to pay duty on them. The ground of refusal was that
+they were a domestic product, sent from one port in the United States to
+another port in the same country, and therefore not dutiable. The case of
+Pearcy _vs_ Stranahan, the former representing the shippers, and the latter
+being the Collector of the Port of New York, came before the Supreme Court
+of the United States, and that final authority decided and declared that
+the Isle of Pines was Cuban territory and a part of Cuba. The question is
+settled, and the Isle of Pines can become territory of the United States
+only by purchase, conquest, or some other form of territorial transfer.
+
+While the American settlers in the Isle of Pines, and the several
+real-estate companies who seek purchasers for their holdings, own a large
+part of the territory, they still constitute a minority of the population.
+Many of the settlers, probably most of them, are industrious and persistent
+in their various productive activities. Their specialty is citrus fruits,
+but their products are not limited to that line. More than a few have tried
+their little experiment in pioneering, and have returned to their home land
+more or less disgusted with their experience. Those who have remained,
+and have worked faithfully and intelligently, have probably done a little
+better than they would have done at home. The great wealth for which all,
+doubtless, earnestly hoped, and in which many, doubtless, really believed,
+has not come. This settlement is only one of many speculative exploitations
+in Cuba. Some of these have been fairly honest, but many of them have been
+little better than rank swindles. Many have been entirely abandoned, the
+buyers losing the hard-earned dollars they had invested. Others, better
+located, have been developed, by patience, persistence, and thrift, into
+fairly prosperous colonies. I do not know how many victims have been
+caught by unscrupulous and ignorant promoters in the last fifteen years,
+principally in the United States and in Canada, but they are certainly
+many, so many that the speculative industry has declined in recent years.
+Many of the settlers who have remained have learned the game, have
+discovered that prosperity in Cuba is purchased by hard work just as it is
+elsewhere. In different parts of the island, east, west, and centre, there
+are now thrifty and contented colonists who have fought their battle, and
+have learned the rules that nature has formulated as the condition of
+success in such countries. Whether these people have really done any better
+than they would have done had they stayed at home and followed the rules
+there laid down, is perhaps another question. At all events, there are
+hundreds of very comfortable and happy American homes in Cuba, even in the
+Isle of Pines, where they persist in growling because it is Cuba and not
+the United States.
+
+In a review of a country including forty-four thousand square miles of
+territory, condensed into two chapters, it is quite impossible to include
+all that is worth telling. Moreover, there is much in the island of which
+no adequate description can be given. There is much that must be seen if it
+if to be fairly understood and appreciated.
+
+
+
+
+VIII
+
+_THE UNITED STATES AND CUBA_
+
+
+IN his message to Congress, on December 5, 1898, President McKinley
+declared that "the new Cuba yet to arise from the ashes of the past must
+needs be bound to us by ties of singular intimacy and strength if its
+enduring welfare is to be assured."
+
+Probably to many of the people of the United States, the story of our
+relations with Cuba had its beginning with the Spanish-American war.
+That is quite like a notion that the history of an apple begins with its
+separation from the tree on which it grew. The general history of the
+island is reviewed in other chapters in this volume. The story of our
+active relations with Cuba and its affairs runs back for more than a
+hundred years, at least to the days of President Thomas Jefferson who,
+in 1808, wrote thus to Albert Gallatin: "I shall sincerely lament Cuba's
+falling into any other hands but those of its present owners." Several
+other references to the island appear at about that time. Two great
+movements were then going on. Europe was in the throes of the Napoleonic
+disturbance, and for more than twenty-five years both France and England
+schemed, sometimes openly and sometimes secretly, for the possession of
+Cuba. The other movement was the revolution in Spain's colonies in the
+Western Hemisphere, a movement that cost Spain all of its possessions in
+that area, with the exception of Cuba and Porto Rico. The influence of the
+revolutionary activities naturally extended to Cuba, but it was not until
+after 1820 that matters became dangerously critical. From that time until
+the present, the question of Cuba's political fate, and the question of our
+relations with the island, form an interesting and highly important chapter
+in the history of the United States as well as in the history of Cuba.
+
+In his book on the war with Spain, Henry Cabot Lodge makes a statement that
+may seem curious to some and amazing to others. It is, however, the opinion
+of a competent and thoroughly trained student of history. He writes thus:
+
+"The expulsion of Spain from the Antilles is merely the last and final step
+of the inexorable movement in which the United States has been engaged for
+nearly a century. By influence and by example, or more directly, by arms
+and by the pressure of ever-advancing settlements, the United States drove
+Spain from all her continental possessions in the Western Hemisphere, until
+nothing was left to the successors of Charles and Philip but Cuba and Porto
+Rico. How did it happen that this great movement stopped when it came to
+the ocean's edge? The movement against Spain was at once national
+and organic, while the pause on the sea-coast was artificial and in
+contravention of the laws of political evolution in the Americas. The
+conditions in Cuba and Porto Rico did not differ from those which had gone
+down in ruin wherever the flag of Spain waved on the mainland. The Cubans
+desired freedom, and Bolivar would fain have gone to their aid. Mexico and
+Colombia, in 1825, planned to invade the island, and at that time invasion
+was sure to be successful. What power stayed the oncoming tide which had
+swept over a continent? Not Cuban loyalty, for the expression 'Faithful
+Cuba' was a lie from the beginning. The power which prevented the
+liberation of Cuba was the United States, and more than seventy years later
+this republic has had to fight a war because at the appointed time she set
+herself against her own teachings, and brought to a halt the movement she
+had herself started to free the New World from the oppression of the Old.
+The United States held back Mexico and Colombia and Bolivar, used
+her influence at home and abroad to that end, and, in the opinion of
+contemporary mankind, succeeded, according to her desires, in keeping Cuba
+under the dominion of Spain."
+
+For a number of years, Cuba's destiny was a subject of the gravest concern
+in Washington. Four solutions presented themselves; first, the acquisition
+of Cuba by the United States; second, its retention by Spain; third,
+its transfer to some power other than Spain; fourth, its political
+independence. That the issue was decided by the United States is shown by
+all the history of the time. While other factors had their influence in the
+determination, it is entirely clear that the issue turned on the question
+of slavery. In his book on _Cuba and International Relations_, Mr. Callahan
+summarizes his review of the official proceedings by saying that "the South
+did not want to see Cuba independent _without_ slavery, while the North did
+not want to annex it _with_ slavery." In his work on the _Rise and Fall of
+the Slave Power in America_, Mr. Henry Wilson declares that "thus clearly
+and unequivocally did this Republic step forth the champion of slavery, and
+boldly insist that these islands should remain under the hateful despotism
+of Spain, rather than gain their independence by means that should inure to
+the detriment of its cherished system. Indeed, it (the United States) would
+fight to fasten more securely the double bondage on Cuba and the slave."
+
+From this point of view, unquestionably correct, it is altogether evident
+that the United States assumed responsibility for Cuba's welfare, not by
+the intervention of 1898, but by its acts more than seventy years earlier.
+The diplomatic records of those years are filled with communications
+regarding the island, and it was again and again the subject of legislation
+or proposed legislation. President after President dealt with it in
+messages to Congress. The acquisition of the island, by purchase or
+otherwise, was again and again discussed. Popular interest was again and
+again excited; the Spanish colonial policy was denounced; and the burdens
+and sufferings of the Cubans were depicted in many harrowing tales. For the
+policy that led to the imposition of a restraining hand on proposals to
+free Cuba, in those early days, the people of the United States today must
+blush. The independence movement in the States of Spanish-America may be
+said to have had its definite beginning in 1806, when Francisco Miranda,
+a Venezuelan, sailed from New York with three ships manned by American
+filibusters, although the first land battle was fought in Bolivia, in 1809,
+and the last was fought in the same country, in 1825. But the great wave
+swept from the northern border of Mexico to the southernmost point of
+Spanish possession. When these States declared their independence, they
+wrote into their Constitutions that all men should be free, that human
+slavery should be abolished forever from their soil. The attitude of the
+United States in the matter of Cuba was determined by the objection to the
+existence of an anti-slavery State so near our border. The experience of
+Haiti and Santo Domingo was, of course, clearly in mind, but the objection
+went deeper than that. Those who are interested may read with profit the
+debates in the Congress of the United States, in 1826, on the subject of
+the despatch of delegates to the so-called Panama Congress-of that year. On
+the whole, it is not pleasant reading from any present point of view.
+
+Our cherished Monroe Doctrine was one of the fruits of this period, and in
+the enunciation of that policy the affairs of Cuba were a prominent if not
+the dominant force. The language of this doctrine is said to have been
+written by Secretary Adams, but it is embodied in the message of President
+Monroe, in December, 1823, and so bears his name. In April, of that year,
+Secretary Adams sent a long communication to Mr. Nelson, then the American
+Minister to Spain. For their bearing on the Cuban question, and for the
+presentation of a view that runs through many years of American policy,
+extracts from that letter may be included here.
+
+  DEPARTMENT OF STATE,
+  WASHINGTON, April 28, 1823.
+
+"In the war between France and Spain, now commencing, other interests,
+peculiarly ours, will, in all probability, be deeply involved. Whatever may
+be the issue of this war, as between these two European powers, it may be
+taken for granted that the dominion of Spain upon the American continent,
+north and south, is irrecoverably gone. But the islands of Cuba and Porto
+Rico still remain nominally, and so far really, dependent upon her, that
+she possesses the power of transferring her own dominion over them,
+together with the possession of them, to others. These islands, from their
+local position are natural appendages to the North American continent,
+and one of them, Cuba, almost in sight of our shores, from a multitude of
+considerations, has become an object of transcendant importance to the
+commercial and political interests of our Union. Its commanding position,
+with reference to the Gulf of Mexico and the West India seas; the character
+of its population; its situation midway between our southern coast and
+the island of St. Domingo; its safe and capacious harbor of the Havana,
+fronting a long line of our shores destitute of the same advantage; the
+nature of its productions and of its wants, furnishing the supplies and
+needing the returns of a commerce immensely profitable and mutually
+beneficial,--give it an importance in the sum of our national interests
+with which that of no other foreign territory can be compared, and little
+inferior to that which binds the different members of this Union together.
+Such, indeed, are the interests of that island and of this country, the
+geographical, commercial, moral, and political relations, that, in looking
+forward to the probable course of events, for the short period of half
+a century, it is scarcely possible to resist the conviction that the
+annexation of Cuba to our federal republic will be indispensable to the
+continuance and integrity of the Union itself."
+
+The communication proceeds to relate the knowledge of the Department that
+both Great Britain and France were desirous of securing possession and
+control of the island, and to disclaim, on the part of the United States,
+all disposition to obtain possession of either Cuba or Porto Rico.
+The complications of the situation became increasingly serious, more
+particularly with regard to Cuba, and on December 2, of that year (1823),
+President Monroe issued his message carrying the "doctrine," which may be
+given thus:
+
+"In the wars of the European powers in matters relating to themselves we
+have never taken any part, nor does it comport with our policy to do so.
+It is only when our rights are invaded or seriously menaced that we resent
+injuries or make preparations for our defense. With the movements in this
+hemisphere we are of necessity more immediately connected. We owe it,
+therefore, to candor and to the amicable relations existing between the
+United States and those powers (of Europe) to declare that we should
+consider any attempt on their part to extend their system to any portion
+of this hemisphere as dangerous to our peace and safety. With the existing
+colonies or dependencies of any European power we have not interfered and
+shall not interfere. But with the Governments that have declared their
+independence and maintained it, and whose independence we have recognized,
+we could not view any interposition for the purpose of oppressing them, or
+controlling in any other manner their destiny, by any European power in any
+other light than as the manifestation of an unfriendly disposition toward
+the United States."
+
+From this time onward, Cuba appears as an almost continuous object of
+special interest to both the people and the officials of the United States.
+Notwithstanding this disclaimer of President Monroe's message, the idea
+of the acquisition of the island, by the United States, soon arose. It
+persisted through all the years down to the time of the Teller amendment,
+in 1898, and there are many who even now regard annexation as inevitable at
+some future time, more or less distant. The plan appears as a suggestion
+in a communication, under date of November 30, 1825, from Alexander
+H. Everett, then Minister to Madrid, to President Adams. It crops up
+repeatedly in various quarters in later years. It would be a difficult and
+tedious undertaking to chase through all the diplomatic records of seventy
+years the references to Cuba and its affairs.
+
+From that period until the present time, the affairs of the island have
+been a matter of constant interest and frequent anxiety in Washington. Fear
+of British acquisition of the island appears to have subsided about 1860,
+but there were in the island two groups, both relatively small, one of
+them working for independence, and the other for annexation to the
+United States. The great majority, however, desired some fair measure of
+self-government, and relief from economic and financial burdens, under the
+Spanish flag. The purchase of the island by the United States was proposed
+by President Polk, in 1848; by President Pierce, in 1854; and by President
+Buchanan, in his time. Crises appeared from time to time. Among them was
+the incident of the _Black Warrior_, in 1854. Mr. Rhodes thus describes the
+affair, in his _History of the United States_:
+
+"_The Black Warrior_ was an American merchant steamer, plying between
+Mobile and New York, stopping at Havana for passengers and mail. She had
+made thirty-six such voyages, almost always having a cargo for the American
+port, and never being permitted to bring freight into Havana. The custom
+of her agent was to clear her 'in ballast' the day before her arrival. The
+practice, while contrary to the regulations of Cuban ports, had always
+been winked at by the authorities. It was well understood that the _Black
+Warrior_ generally had a cargo aboard, but a detailed manifest of her load
+had never been required. She had always been permitted to sail unmolested
+until, when bound from Mobile to New York, she was stopped on the 28th of
+February, 1854, by order of the royal exchequer, for having violated
+the regulations of the port. The agent, finding that the cause of this
+proceeding was the failure to manifest the cargo 'in transit,' offered to
+amend the manifest, which under the rules he had a right to do; but this
+the collector, on a flimsy pretext, refused to permit. The agent was at the
+same time informed that the cargo was confiscated and the captain fined, in
+pursuance of the custom-house regulations. The cargo was cotton, valued
+at one hundred thousand dollars; and the captain was fined six thousand
+dollars. The United States consul applied to the captain-general for
+redress, but no satisfaction was obtained. A gang of men with lighters were
+sent to the ship under the charge of the _commandante_, who ordered the
+captain of the _Black Warrior_ to discharge her cargo. This he refused to
+do. The _commandante_ then had the hatches opened, and his men began
+to take out the bales of cotton. The captain hauled down his flag and
+abandoned the vessel to the Spanish authorities."
+
+The news of the incident created great excitement in Washington. President
+Pierce sent a message to Congress, stating that demand had been made on
+Spain for indemnity, and suggesting provisional legislation that would
+enable him, if negotiations failed, "to insure the observance of our just
+rights, to obtain redress for injuries received, and to vindicate the honor
+of our flag."
+
+Mr. Soule, then the American Minister to Madrid, was the official through
+whom the negotiations were conducted. He was a man of somewhat impetuous
+temperament, and an ardent advocate of Cuba's annexation. He quite
+overstepped both the bounds of propriety and of his authority in his
+submission, under instructions, of a demand for three hundred thousand
+dollars indemnity. This, and Spanish diplomatic methods, led to delay, and
+the excitement died out. In the meantime, Spain released the vessel and its
+cargo, disavowed and disapproved the conduct of the local officials, paid
+the indemnity claimed by the owners of the vessel, and the ship resumed its
+regular trips, being treated with every courtesy when visiting Havana. But
+the incident gave rise to active discussion, and for a time threatened
+serious results. It followed on the heels of another experience, the Lopez
+expeditions, to which reference is made in another chapter, and came at a
+time when Cuba and Cuban affairs were topics of a lively public interest.
+The subject of acquisition was under general public discussion and occupied
+a large share of public attention. Some wanted war with Spain, and others
+proposed the purchase of the island from Spain. But the immediate cause
+of complaint having been removed by the release of the ship, Soule was
+instructed to take no further steps in the matter, and the excitement
+gradually passed away.
+
+Immediately following this experience, and growing out of it, came the
+incident of the "Ostend Manifesto." At that time, James Buchanan was
+Minister to England. John Y. Mason was Minister to France, and Pierre Soule
+was Minister to Spain. Secretary of State Marcy suggested a conference
+between these three officials. They met at Ostend, but afterward
+transferred their deliberations to Aix la Chapelle. The meeting attracted
+general attention in Europe. The result of what they reported as "a full
+and unreserved interchange of views and sentiments," was a recommendation
+that an earnest effort be made immediately to purchase Cuba. They were of
+opinion that the sum of one hundred and twenty million dollars be offered.
+The report proceeded thus: "After we shall have offered Spain a price for
+Cuba far beyond its present value, and this shall have been refused, it
+will then be time to consider the question, does Cuba in the possession
+of Spain seriously endanger our internal peace and the existence of our
+cherished Union? Should this question be answered in the affirmative, then,
+by every law, human and divine, we shall be justified in wresting it from
+Spain if we possess the power; and this upon the very same principle that
+would justify an individual in tearing down the burning house of his
+neighbor if there were no other means of preventing the flame from
+destroying his own home." It is evident that Soule dominated the meeting,
+and only less evident that he, in some way, cajoled his associates
+into signing the report. No action was taken on the matter by the
+Administration, and the incident has passed into history somewhat, perhaps,
+as one of the curiosities of diplomacy. At all events, all historians note
+it, and some give it considerable attention.
+
+The next serious complication arose out of the Ten Years' War, in Cuba,
+in 1868, to which reference is made in a chapter on Cuba's revolutions.
+Spain's leaders seemed quite incapable of grasping the Cuban situation, of
+seeing it in its proper light. It is more than probable that, even then,
+the Cubans would have remained loyal if the Spanish authorities had paid
+attention to their just and reasonable demands. As stated by Mr. Pepper,
+in his _Tomorrow in Cuba_, "The machete and the torch then gained what
+peaceful agitation had not been able to achieve." The demands of the
+Cubans are thus stated by Señor Cabrera, in his _Cuba and the Cubans_: "A
+constitutional system in place of the autocracy of the Captain-General,
+freedom of the press, the right of petition, cessation of the exclusion of
+Cubans from public office, unrestricted industrial liberty, abolition of
+restrictions on the transfer of landed property, the right of assembly and
+of association, representation in the Cortes, and local self-government,"
+all reasonable and just demands from every point of view of modern
+civilization. Spain refused all, and on October 10, 1868, an actual
+revolution began, the first in the history of the island to be properly
+classed as a revolution. The United States soon became concerned and
+involved. In his message to Congress on December 6, 1869, President Grant
+said: "For more than a year, a valuable province of Spain, and a near
+neighbor of ours, in whom all our people cannot but feel a deep interest,
+has been struggling for independence and freedom. The people and the
+Government of the United States entertain the same warm feelings and
+sympathies for the people of Cuba in their pending struggle that they have
+manifested throughout the previous struggles between Spain and her former
+colonies (Mexico, Central America and South America) in behalf of the
+latter. But the contest has at no time assumed the conditions which amount
+to a war in the sense of international law, or which would show the
+existence of a _de facto_ political organization of the insurgents
+sufficient to justify a recognition of belligerency." On June 13, 1870,
+President Grant sent a special message to Congress, in which he reviewed
+the Cuban situation. Another reference appears in his message of December
+5, 1870. In his message of December 4, 1871, he stated that "it is to be
+regretted that the disturbed condition of the island of Cuba continues
+to be a source of annoyance and anxiety. The existence of a protracted
+struggle in such close proximity to our own territory, without apparent
+prospect of an early termination, cannot be other than an object of concern
+to a people who, while abstaining from interference in the affairs of other
+powers, naturally desire to see every other country in the undisturbed
+enjoyment of peace, liberty, and the blessings of free institutions." In
+the message of December 2, 1872, he said: "It is with regret that I have
+again to announce a continuance of the disturbed condition in the island of
+Cuba. The contest has now lasted for more than four years. Were its scene
+at a distance from our neighborhood, we might be indifferent to its result,
+although humanity could not be unmoved by many of its incidents wherever
+they might occur. It is, however, at out door." Reference was made to it in
+all following annual messages, until President Hayes, in 1878, announced
+its termination, ten years after its beginning. The contest had become
+practically a deadlock, and a compromise was arranged by General Maximo
+Gomez, for the Cubans, and General Martinez Campos, for Spain.
+
+[Illustration: HOISTING THE CUBAN FLAG OVER THE PALACE, MAY 20, 1902
+_Senate building on the right_]
+
+The entanglements that grew out of the experiences of this period are too
+long and too complicated for detailed review here. This country had no
+desire for war with Spain, but approval of the Spanish policy in Cuba was
+impossible. The sympathies of the American people were with the Cubans, as
+they had been for fifty years, and as they continued to be until the end of
+Spanish occupation in the West Indies. Rumors of all kinds were afloat, and
+again and again the situation seemed to have reached a crisis that could be
+ended only by war. A particularly aggravating incident appeared in what is
+known as the _Virginius_ case. This was described as follows, in President
+Grant's message to Congress on December 1, 1873.
+
+"The steamer _Virginius_ was on the 26th day of September, 1870, duly
+registered at the port of New York as a part of the commercial marine
+of the United States. On the 4th of October, 1870, having received the
+certificate of her register in the usual legal form, she sailed from
+the port of New York, and has not since been within the territorial
+jurisdiction of the United States. On the 31st day of October last (1873),
+while sailing under the flag of the United States on the high seas, she was
+forcibly seized by the Spanish gunboat _Tornado_, and was carried into the
+port of Santiago de Cuba, where fifty-three of her passengers and crew were
+inhumanly, and, so far at least as related to those who were citizens of
+the United States, without due process of law, put to death."
+
+Only for the timely arrival of the British man-of-war _Niobe_, and the
+prompt and decisive action of her commander, there is no doubt that
+ninety-three others would have shared the fate of their companions. Some
+were Americans and some were British. The excitement in this country was
+intense, and war with Spain was widely demanded. Further investigation
+revealed the fact that the American registry was dishonest, that the ship
+really belonged to or was chartered by Cubans, that it was engaged in
+carrying supplies and munitions of war to the insurgents, and that its
+right to fly the American flag was more than doubtful. The ship was seized
+by the American authorities under a charge of violation of the maritime
+laws of the United States, and was ordered to New York, for a trial of the
+case. American naval officers were placed in command, but she was in bad
+condition, and foundered in a gale near Cape Fear. As far as the vessel
+was concerned, the incident was closed. There remained the question of
+indemnity for what Caleb Cushing, then the American Minister to Spain, in
+his communication to the Spanish authorities, denounced as "a dreadful,
+a savage act, the inhuman slaughter in cold blood, of fifty-three human
+beings, a large number of them citizens of the United States, shot without
+lawful trial, without any valid pretension of authority, and to the horror
+of the whole civilized world." England also filed its claim for the loss
+of British subjects, and payment was soon after made "for the purpose of
+relief of the families or persons of the ship's company and passengers." In
+his _Cuba and International Relations_, Mr. Callahan says: "The catalogue
+of irritating affairs in relation to Cuba, of which the _Virginius_ was
+only the culmination, might have been urged as sufficient to justify a
+policy of intervention to stop the stubborn war of extermination which had
+been tolerated by peaceful neighbors for five years. Some would have been
+ready to advocate intervention as a duty. The relations of Cuba to the
+United States, the Spanish commercial restrictions which placed Cuba at
+the mercy of Spanish monopolists, and the character of the Spanish rule,
+pointed to the conclusion that if Spain should not voluntarily grant
+reforms and guarantee pacification of the island, the United States might
+be compelled, especially for future security, temporarily to occupy it and
+assist in the organization of a liberal government based upon modern views.
+Such action might have led to annexation, but not necessarily; it might
+have led to a restoration of Spanish possession under restrictions as to
+the character of Spanish rule, and as to the size of the Spanish army and
+naval force in the vicinity; more likely it would have resulted in the
+independence of Cuba under American protection."
+
+These are only some of the more prominent features in fifty years of
+American interest in Cuba. Throughout the entire period, the sympathies
+of the American people were strongly pro-Cuban. Money and supplies were
+contributed from time to time to assist the Cubans in their efforts to
+effect a change in their conditions, either through modification of Spanish
+laws, or by the road of independence. Only a minority of the Cubans sought
+to follow that road at that time. The movement for independence was not
+national until it was made so in 1895. What would have happened had we,
+at the time of the Ten Years' War, granted to the Cubans the rights of
+belligerents, is altogether a matter of speculation. Such a course was then
+deemed politically inexpedient.
+
+
+
+
+IX
+
+_CUBA'S REVOLUTIONS_
+
+
+Only by magnifying protests into revolts, and riots into revolutions, is it
+possible to show Cuba as the "land of revolutions" that many have declared
+it to be. The truth is that from the settlement of the island in 1512 until
+the signing of the Treaty of Paris in 1898, there were only two experiences
+that can, by any proper use of the term, be called revolutions. This
+statement, of course, disputes a widely accepted notion, but many notions
+become widely accepted because of assertions that are not contradicted.
+That a strong undercurrent of discontent runs through all Cuba's history
+from 1820 to 1895, is true. That there were numerous manifestations of that
+discontent, and occasional attempts at revolution, is also true. But none
+of these experiences, prior to 1868, reached a stage that would properly
+warrant its description as a revolution. The term is very loosely applied
+to a wide range of experiences. It is customary to class as revolution all
+disorders from riots to rebellions. This is particularly the case where
+the disorder occurs in some country other than our own. The _Standard
+Dictionary_ defines the essential idea of revolution as "a change in the
+form of government, or the constitution, or rulers, otherwise than
+as provided by the laws of succession, election, etc." The _Century
+Dictionary_ defines such proceedings as "a radical change in social or
+governmental conditions; the overthrow of an established political system."
+Many exceedingly interesting parallels may be drawn between the experience
+of the American colonies prior to their revolution, in 1775, and the
+experience of Cuba during the 19th Century. In fact, it may perhaps be
+said that there is no experience in Cuba's history that cannot be fairly
+paralleled in our own. In his _History of the United States_, Mr. Edward
+Channing says: "The governing classes of the old country wished to exploit
+the American colonists for their own use and behoof." Change the word
+"American" to "Spanish," and the Cuban situation is exactly defined. The
+situation in America in the 18th Century was almost identical with the
+situation in Cuba in the 19th Century. Both, in those respective periods,
+suffered from oppressive and restrictive trade laws and from burdensome
+taxation, from subordination of their interests to the interests of the
+people of a mother-country three thousand miles away. Unfortunately for the
+Cubans, Spain was better able to enforce its exactions than England
+was. Cuba's area was limited, its available harbors few in number, its
+population small.
+
+Not until the years immediately preceding the revolutions by which the
+United States and Cuba secured their independence, was there any general
+demand for definite separation from the mother-country. The desire in both
+was a fuller measure of economic and commercial opportunity. One striking
+parallel may be noted. The Tories, or "loyalists," in this country have
+their counterpart in the Cuban _Autonomistas_. Referring to conditions in
+1763, Mr. Channing states that "never had the colonists felt a greater
+pride in their connection with the British empire." Among the great figures
+of the pre-revolutionary period in this country, none stands out more
+clearly than James Otis, of Boston, and Patrick Henry, of Virginia. In an
+impassioned address, in 1763, Otis declared that "every British subject in
+America is of common right, by acts of Parliament, and by the laws of God
+and nature, entitled to all the essential privileges of Britons. What God
+in his Providence has united let no man dare attempt to pull asunder."
+Thirteen years later, the sundering blow was struck. Patrick Henry's
+resolutions submitted to the Virginia House of Burgesses, in 1765, set
+that colony afire, but at that time neither he nor his associates desired
+separation and independence if their natural rights were recognized. It was
+not until the revolution of 1895 that the independence of Cuba became a
+national demand, a movement based on realization of the hopelessness of
+further dependence upon Spain for the desired economic and fiscal relief.
+As in the American colonies there appeared, from time to time, individuals
+or isolated groups who demanded drastic action on the part of the
+colonists, so were there Cubans who, from time to time, appeared with
+similar demands. Nathaniel Bacon headed a formidable revolution in Virginia
+in 1676. Massachusetts rebelled against Andros and Dudley in 1689. From the
+passage of the Navigation Acts, in the middle of the 17th Century, until
+the culmination in 1775, there was an undercurrent of friction and a
+succession of protests. The Cuban condition was quite the same excepting
+the fact of burdens more grievous and more frequent open outbreaks.
+
+The records of many of the disorders are fragmentary. Spain had no desire
+to give them publicity, and the Cubans had few means for doing so. The
+_Report on the Census of Cuba_, prepared by the War Department of the
+United States, in 1899, contains a summary of the various disorders in
+the island. The first is the rioting in 1717, when Captain-General Roja
+enforced the decree establishing a government monopoly in tobacco. The
+disturbances in Haiti and Santo Domingo (1791-1800) resulting in the
+establishment of independence in Haiti, under Toussaint, excited
+unimportant uprisings on the part of negroes in Cuba, but they were quickly
+suppressed. The first movement worthy of note came in 1823. It was
+a consequence of the general movement that extended throughout
+Spanish-America and resulted in the independence of all Spain's former
+colonies, excepting Cuba and Porto Rico. That the influence of so vast a
+movement should have been felt in Cuba was almost inevitable. As disorder
+continued throughout much of the time, the period 1820-1830 is best
+considered collectively. The same influences were active, and the same
+forces were operative for the greater part of the term. The accounts of
+it all are greatly confused, and several nations were involved, including
+Spain, the United States, France, England, Mexico, and Colombia. The
+slavery question was involved, as was the question of the transfer of the
+island to some Power other than Spain. Independence was the aim of some,
+though probably no very great number. Practically all of Cuba's later
+experiences have their roots in this period. During these ten years, the
+issue between Cubans who sought a larger national and economic life,
+and the Spanish element that insisted upon the continuance of Spanish
+absolutism, had its definite beginning, to remain a cause of almost
+constant friction for three-quarters of a century. The Spanish Constitution
+of 1812, abrogated in 1814, was again proclaimed in 1820, and again
+abrogated in 1823. The effort of Captain-General Vives, acting under
+orders from Ferdinand VII, to restore absolutism encountered both vigorous
+opposition and strong support. Secret societies were organized, whose exact
+purposes do not appear to be well known. Some have asserted that it was a
+Masonic movement, while others have held that the organizations were
+more in the nature of the _Carbonari_. One of them, called the _Soles de
+Bolivar_, in some way gave its name to the immediate activities. It was
+charged with having planned a rebellion against the government, but the
+plans were discovered and the leaders were arrested. The movement appears
+to have been widespread, with its headquarters in Matanzas. An uprising was
+planned to take place on August 16, 1823, but on that day Jose Francisco
+Lemus, the leader, and a number of his associates were arrested and
+imprisoned. Among them was José Maria Heredia, the Cuban poet, who was,
+for this offence, condemned, in 1824, to perpetual exile for the crime of
+treason.
+
+Others engaged in the conspiracy fled the country. Some were officially
+deported. But the punishments imposed on these people served to excite
+the animosity of many more, and a period of agitation followed, marked by
+occasional outbreaks and rioting. To meet the situation, an army intended
+to be employed in reconquering some of the colonies that had already
+declared and established their independence, was retained on the island.
+In 1825, a royal decree conferred on the Spanish Governor in Cuba a power
+practically absolute. This excited still further the anger of the Cuban
+element and led to other manifestations of discontent. There was a
+combination of political agitation with revolutionary demonstrations.
+In 1826, there was a local uprising in Puerto Principe, directed more
+particularly against the Spanish garrison, whose conduct was regarded as
+highly offensive. A year or two later, Cuban exiles in Mexico and Colombia,
+with support from the people of those countries, organized a secret society
+known as the "Black Eagle," having for its purpose a Cuban revolution. Its
+headquarters were in Mexico, and its activities were fruitless. Many
+were arrested and tried and sentenced to death or deportation. But Vives
+realized the folly of adding more fuel to the flames, and the sentences
+were in all cases either mitigated or revoked. This seems to have brought
+that particular series of conspiracies to an end. It was a time of active
+political agitation and conspiracy, with occasional local riots that were
+quickly suppressed. While much of it was revolutionary in its aims and
+purposes, none of it may with any fitness be called a revolution, unless
+a prevalence of a lively spirit of opposition and rebellion is to be so
+classed. The agitation settled down for a number of years, but broke out in
+local spasms occasionally. There were riots and disorders, but that is not
+revolution. It is to be remembered that the cause of all this disturbance
+was, in the main, an entirely creditable sentiment, quite as creditable
+as that which led the American colonists to resist the Stamp taxes and to
+destroy tea. It was a natural and righteous protest against oppression, a
+movement lasting for seventy-five years, for which Americans, particularly,
+should award praise rather than blame or carping criticism. Having done, in
+our own way, very much what the Cubans have done, in their way, we are not
+free to condemn them. The only real difference is that their methods were,
+on the whole, a little more strenuous than ours. Cuban blood was stirred
+by the successful revolutions in Mexico and in Spanish South America, and
+conditions in the island were contrasted with those in the then somewhat
+new United States. Something of the part played by this country in the
+experiences of the time is presented in another chapter, on the relations
+of the two countries.
+
+The next movement worthy of note came in 1849, if we omit the quarrel, in
+1837, between General Tacon and his subordinate, General Lorenzo, and the
+alleged proposal of the slaves in the neighborhood of Matanzas to rise
+and slaughter all the whites. Neither of these quite belongs in the
+revolutionary class. In 1847, a conspiracy was organized in the vicinity
+of Cienfuegos. Its leader was General Narciso Lopez. The movement was
+discovered, and some of the participants were imprisoned. Lopez escaped to
+the United States where he associated himself with a group of Cuban exiles,
+and opened correspondence with sympathizers in the island. They were joined
+by a considerable number of adventurous Americans, inspired by a variety
+of motives. The declared purpose of the enterprise was independence as the
+alternative of reform in Spanish laws. An expedition was organized, but
+the plans became known and President Taylor, on August 11, 1849, issued
+a proclamation in which he declared that "an enterprise to invade the
+territories of a friendly nation, set on foot and prosecuted within the
+limits of the United States, is in the highest degree criminal." He
+therefore warned all citizens of the United States who might participate in
+such an enterprise that they would be subject to heavy penalties, and would
+forfeit the protection of their country. He also called on "every officer
+of this Government, civil or military, to use all efforts in his power to
+arrest for trial and punishment every such offender against the laws." The
+party was captured as it was leaving New York. The best evidence of the
+time is to the effect that there was in Cuba neither demand for nor support
+of such a movement, but Lopez and his associates, many of them Americans,
+persisted. A second expedition was arranged, and a party of more than six
+hundred men, many of them American citizens, assembled on the island of
+Contoy, off the Yucatan coast, and on May 19, 1850, landed at Cardenas. But
+there was no uprising on the part of the people. The Spanish authorities,
+informed of the expedition, sent ships by sea and troops by land. After
+a sharp skirmish, the invaders fled for their lives. Lopez and those who
+escaped with him succeeded in reaching Key West. He went to Savannah, where
+he was arrested but promptly liberated in response to public clamor. But
+even this did not satisfy the enthusiastic liberator of a people who did
+not want to be liberated in that way. He tried again in the following
+year. On August 3, 1851, he sailed from near New Orleans, on the steamer
+_Pampero_, in command of a force of about four hundred, largely composed
+of young Americans who had been lured into the enterprise by assurance of
+thrilling adventure and large pay. They landed near Bahia Honda, about
+fifty miles west of Havana. Here, again, the Cubans refused to rise and
+join the invaders. Here, again, they encountered the Spanish forces by whom
+they were beaten and routed. Many were killed, some were captured, and
+others escaped into the surrounding country and were captured afterward.
+Lopez was among the captured. He was taken to Havana, and died by _garrote_
+in the little fortress La Punta. His first officer, Colonel Crittenden, and
+some fifty Americans were captured and taken to Atares, the fortress at the
+head of Havana harbor, where they were shot. For that somewhat brutal act,
+the United States could ask no indemnity. In violation of the laws of the
+United States, they had invaded the territory of a nation with which the
+country was at peace. In the initial issue of the _New York Times_, on
+October 18, 1851, there appeared a review of the incident, presenting a
+contemporaneous opinion of the experience. It was, in part, as follows:
+
+"Nothing can be clearer than the fact that, for the present, at least,
+the inhabitants of Cuba do not desire their freedom. The opinion has very
+widely prevailed that the Cubans were grievously oppressed by their Spanish
+rulers, and that the severity of their oppression alone prevented them from
+making some effort to throw it off. The presence of an armed force in their
+midst, however small, it was supposed would summon them by thousands to the
+standard of revolt, and convert the colony into a free republic. Men high
+in office, men who had lived in Cuba and were supposed to be familiar with
+the sentiments of its people, have uniformly represented that they were
+ripe for revolt, and desired only the presence of a small military band to
+serve as a nucleus for their force. Believing that the Cuban population
+would aid them, American adventurers enlisted and were ruined. They found
+no aid. Not a Cuban joined them. They were treated as pirates and robbers
+from the first moment of their landing. Nor could they expect any other
+treatment in case of failure. They ceased to be American citizens the
+moment they set out, as invaders, for the shores of Cuba."
+
+[Illustration: A SPANISH BLOCK HOUSE]
+
+The excitement of the Lopez incident was passing when it was revived,
+in 1854, by the _Black Warrior_ experience, to which reference is made
+elsewhere. Another invasion was projected by exuberant and adventurous
+Americans. It was to sail from New Orleans under command of General
+Quitman, a former Governor of the State of Mississippi. No secret was
+made of the expedition, and Quitman openly boasted of his purposes, in
+Washington. The reports having reached the White House, President Pierce
+issued a proclamation warning "all persons, citizens of the United States
+and others residing therein" that the General Government would not fail to
+prosecute with due energy all those who presumed to disregard the laws of
+the land and our treaty obligations. He charged all officers of the United
+States to exert all their lawful power to maintain the authority and
+preserve the peace of the country. Quitman was arrested, and put under
+bonds to respect the neutrality laws. There was a limited uprising in
+Puerto Principe, in 1851, and a conspiracy was revealed, in Pinar del Rio,
+in 1852. A few years later the Liberal Club in Havana and the Cuban Junta
+in New York were reported as raising money and organizing expeditions. Some
+sailed, but they accomplished little, except as the activities appear as a
+manifestation of the persistent opposition on the part of what was probably
+only a small minority of the Cuban people. For several years, the unrest
+and the agitation continued. Spain's blindness to the situation is
+puzzling. In his _Cuba and International Relations_, Mr. Callahan says:
+"Spain, after squandering a continent, had still clung tenaciously to Cuba;
+and the changing governments which had been born (in Spain) only to be
+strangled, held her with a taxing hand. While England had allowed her
+colonies to rule themselves, Spain had persisted in keeping Cuba in the
+same state of tutelage that existed when she was the greatest power in
+the world, and when the idea of colonial rights had not developed." In
+_Tomorrow in Cuba_, Mr. Pepper notes that "though the conception of
+colonial home rule for Cuba was non-existent among the Spanish statesmen of
+that day, the perception of it was clear on the part of the thinking
+people of the island. The educated and wealthy Cubans who in 1865 formed
+themselves into a national party and urged administrative and economic
+changes upon Madrid felt the lack of understanding among Spanish statesmen.
+The concessions asked were not a broad application of civil liberties. When
+their programme was rejected in its entirety they ceased to ask favors.
+They inaugurated the Ten Years' War." Regarding this action by the Cubans,
+Dr. Enrique José Varona, a distinguished Cuban and a former deputy to the
+Cortes, has stated that "before the insurrection of 1868, the reform party
+which included the most enlightened, wealthy, and influential Cubans,
+exhausted all the resources within their reach to induce Spain to initiate
+a healthy change in her Cuban policy. The party started the publication of
+periodicals in Madrid and in the island, addressed petitions, maintained a
+great agitation throughout the country, and having succeeded in leading the
+Spanish Government to make an inquiry into the economic, political, and
+social conditions in Cuba, they presented a complete plan of government
+which satisfied public requirements as well as the aspirations of the
+people. The Spanish Government disdainfully cast aside the proposition as
+useless, increased taxation, and proceeded to its exaction with extreme
+severity." Here not seek its independence; the object was reform in
+oppressive laws and in burdensome taxation, a measure of self-government,
+under Spain, and a greater industrial and commercial freedom. It is most
+difficult to understand the short-sightedness of the Spanish authorities.
+The war soon followed the refusal of these entirely reasonable demands, and
+the course of the Cubans is entirely to their credit. An acceptance of the
+situation and a further submission would have shown them as contemptible.
+
+The details of a conflict that lasted for ten years are quite impossible
+of presentation in a few pages. Nor are they of value or interest to any
+except special students who can find them elaborately set forth in many
+volumes, some in Spanish and a few in English. Having tried once before to
+cover this period as briefly and as adequately as possible, I can do no
+better here than to repeat the story as told in an earlier work (_Cuba, and
+the Intervention_). On the 10th of October, 1868, Carlos Manuel Cespedes
+and his associates raised the cry of Cuban independence at Yara, in the
+Province of Puerto Principe (now Camaguey). On the 10th of April, 1869,
+there was proclaimed the Constitution of the Cuban Republic. During the
+intervening months, there was considerable fighting, though it was largely
+in the nature of guerrilla skirmishing. The Spanish Minister of State
+asserted in a memorandum issued to Spain's representatives in other
+countries, under date of February 3, 1876, that at the outbreak of the
+insurrection Spain had 7,500 troops, all told, in Cuba. According to
+General Sickels, at that time the American Minister to Spain, this number
+was increased by reinforcements of 34,500 within the first year of the war.
+The accuracy of this information, however, has been questioned. Prior
+to the establishment of the so-called Republic, the affairs of the
+insurrection were in the hands of an Assembly of Representatives. On
+February 26, this body issued a decree proclaiming the abolition of slavery
+throughout the island, and calling upon those who thus received their
+freedom to "contribute their efforts to the independence of Cuba." During
+the opening days of April, 1869, the Assembly met at Guiamaro. On the tenth
+of that month a government was organized, with a president, vice-president,
+general-in-chief of the army, secretaries of departments, and a parliament
+or congress. Carlos Manuel Cespedes was chosen as President, and Manuel
+de Quesada as General-in-Chief. A Constitution was adopted. Señor Morales
+Lemus was appointed as minister to the United States, to represent the new
+Republic, and to ask official recognition by the American Government. The
+government which the United States was asked to recognize was a somewhat
+vague institution. The insurrection, or revolution, if it may be so
+called, at this time consisted of a nominal central government, chiefly
+self-organized and self-elected, and various roving bands, probably
+numbering some thousands in their aggregate, of men rudely and
+incompetently armed, and showing little or nothing of military organization
+or method.
+
+Like all Cuban-Spanish wars and warfare, the destruction of property was a
+common procedure. Some of the methods employed for the suppression of the
+insurrection were not unlike those adopted by General Weyler in the later
+war. At Bayamo, on April 4, 1869, Count Valmaseda, the Spanish Commandant
+of that district, issued the following proclamation:
+
+1. Every man, from the age of fifteen years upward, found away from his
+place of habitation, who does not prove a justified reason therefor, will
+be shot.
+
+2. Every unoccupied habitation will be burned by the troops.
+
+3. Every habitation from which no white flag floats, as a signal that its
+occupants desire peace, will be reduced to ashes.
+
+In the summer of 1869, the United States essayed a reconciliation and
+an adjustment of the differences between the contestants. To this Spain
+replied that the mediation of any nation in a purely domestic question was
+wholly incompatible with the honor of Spain, and that the independence of
+Cuba was inadmissible as a basis of negotiation. Heavy reinforcements were
+sent from Spain, and the strife continued. The commerce of the island
+was not greatly disturbed, for the reason that the great producing and
+commercial centres lay to the westward, and the military activities were
+confined, almost exclusively, to the eastern and central areas. In April,
+1874, Mr. Fish, then Secretary of State, reported that "it is now more than
+five years since the uprising (in Cuba) and it has been announced with
+apparent authority, that Spain has lost upward of 80,000 men, and has
+expended upward of $100,000,000, in efforts to suppress it; yet the
+insurrection seems today as active and as powerful as it has ever been."
+Spain's losses among her troops were not due so much to the casualties of
+war as they were to the ravages of disease, especially yellow fever. The
+process, in which both parties would appear to be about equally culpable,
+of destroying property and taking life when occasion offered, proceedings
+which are hardly to be dignified by the name of war, continued until the
+beginning of 1878. Throughout the entire period of the war, the American
+officials labored diligently for its termination on a basis that would give
+fair promise of an enduring peace. Many questions arose concerning the
+arrest of American citizens and the destruction of property of American
+ownership. Proposals to grant the Cubans the rights of belligerents were
+dismissed as not properly warranted by the conditions, and questions
+arose regarding the supply of arms and ammunition, from this country, by
+filibustering expeditions. References to Cuban affairs appear in many
+presidential messages, and the matter was a subject of much discussion and
+numerous measures in Congress. Diplomatic communication was constantly
+active. In his message of December 7, 1875, President Grant said: "The past
+year has furnished no evidence of an approaching termination of the ruinous
+conflict which has been raging for seven years in the neighboring island
+of Cuba. While conscious that the insurrection has shown a strength and
+endurance which make it at least doubtful whether it be in the power of
+Spain to subdue it, it seems unquestionable that no such civil organization
+exists which may be recognized as an independent government capable of
+performing its international obligations and entitled to be treated as one
+of the powers of the earth." Nor did he then deem the grant of belligerent
+rights to the Cubans as either expedient or properly warranted by the
+circumstances.
+
+In 1878, Martinez Campos was Governor-General of Cuba, and Maximo Gomez
+was Commander-in-Chief of the Cuban forces. Both parties were weary of
+the prolonged hostilities, and neither was able to compel the other to
+surrender. Spain, however, professed a willingness to yield an important
+part of the demands of her rebellious subjects. Martinez Campos and Gomez
+met at Zanjon and, on February 10, 1878, mutually agreed to what has been
+variously called a peace pact, a treaty, and a capitulation. The agreement
+was based on provisions for a redress of Cuban grievances through greater
+civil, political, and administrative privileges for the Cubans, with
+forgetfulness of the past and amnesty for all then under sentence for
+political offences. Delay in carrying these provisions into effect gave
+rise to an attempt to renew the struggle two years later, but the effort
+was a failure.
+
+Matters then quieted down for a number of years. The Cubans waited to see
+what would be done. The Spanish Governor-General still remained the supreme
+power and, aside from the abolition of slavery, the application of the
+Spanish Constitution and Spanish laws to Cuba, and Cuban representation
+in the Cortes, much of which was rather form than fact, the island gained
+little by the new conditions. Discontent and protest continued and, at
+last, broke again into open rebellion in 1895.
+
+The story of that experience is told in another chapter. In 1906, there
+came one of the most deplorable experiences in the history of the island,
+the first and only discreditable revolution. The causes of the experience
+are not open to our criticism. Our own records show too much of precisely
+the same kind of work, illegal registration, ballot box stuffing, threats
+and bribery. The first election in the new Republic was carried with only
+a limited and somewhat perfunctory opposition to the candidacy of Estrada
+Palma. Before the second election came, in 1905, he allied himself
+definitely with an organization then known as the Moderate party. The
+opposition was known as the Liberal party. Responsibility for the
+disgraceful campaign that followed rests on both, almost equally. The
+particular difference lies in the fact that, the principal offices having
+been given to adherents of the Moderates, they were able to control both
+registration and election proceedings. But the methods employed by the
+opposition were no less censurable. Realizing defeat, the Liberals withdrew
+from the field, by concerted action, on the day of the election, and the
+Moderates elected every one of their candidates. Naturally, a feeling of
+bitter resentment was created, and there came, in the spring of 1906,
+rumors of armed revolt. In August, an actual insurrection was begun.
+Disgruntled political leaders gathered formidable bands in Pinar del Rio
+and in Santa Clara provinces. President Palma became seriously alarmed,
+even actually frightened. Through the United States Consul-General in
+Havana, he sent urgent appeals to Washington for naval and military aid.
+Mr. Taft, then Secretary of War, and Mr. Bacon, the Assistant Secretary of
+State, were sent to Havana to investigate and report on the situation. They
+arrived in Havana on September 19. After ten days of careful and thorough
+study, and earnest effort to effect an adjustment, a proclamation was
+issued declaring the creation of a provisional government. This was
+accepted by both parties and the insurgent bands dispersed. Charles E.
+Magoon was sent down as Provisional Governor. Americans who are disposed to
+censure the Cubans for this experience in their history, may perhaps turn
+with profit to some little experiences in the history of their own country
+in its political infancy, in 1786 and 1794. Those incidents do not relieve
+the Cubans of the censure to which they are open, but they make it a
+little difficult for us to condemn them with proper grace and dignity. The
+provisional government continued until January 28, 1909, when control was
+turned over to the duly elected officials, they being the same who withdrew
+from the polls, acknowledging defeat, in the election of 1905.
+
+
+
+
+X
+
+_INDEPENDENCE_
+
+
+Cuba's final movement for independence began on February 24, 1895. Under
+the treaty of Zanjon, executed in 1878, Spain agreed to grant to the Cubans
+such reforms as would remove their grounds of complaint, long continued.
+The Cubans denied that the terms of the agreement had been kept. Those
+terms are indicated in a statement submitted by Tomas Estrada y Palma to
+Richard Olney, then Secretary of State of the United States. It bore the
+date of December 7, 1895. The communication sets forth, from the Cuban
+point of view, of course, the causes of the revolution of 1895. It says:
+
+"These causes are substantially the same as those of the former revolution,
+lasting from 1868 to 1878, and terminating only on the representation of
+the Spanish Government that Cuba would be granted such reforms as
+would remove the grounds of complaint on the part of the Cuban people.
+Unfortunately the hopes thus held out have never been realized. The
+representation which was to be given the Cubans has proved to be absolutely
+without character; taxes have been levied anew on everything conceivable;
+the offices in the island have increased, but the officers are all
+Spaniards; the native Cubans have been left with no public duties
+whatsoever to perform, except the payment of taxes to the Government and
+blackmail to the officials, without privilege even to move from place to
+place in the island except on the permission of government authority.
+
+"Spain has framed laws so that the natives have substantially been deprived
+of the right of suffrage. The taxes levied have been almost entirely
+devoted to support the army and navy in Cuba, to pay interest on the debt
+that Spain has saddled on the island, and to pay the salaries of the vast
+number of Spanish office holders, devoting only $746,000 for internal
+improvements out of the $26,000,000 collected by tax. No public schools are
+in reach of the masses for their education. All the principal industries
+of the island are hampered by excessive imposts. Her commerce with every
+country but Spain has been crippled in every possible manner, as can
+readily be seen by the frequent protests of shipowners and merchants.
+
+"The Cubans have no security of person or property. The judiciary are
+instruments of the military authorities. Trial by military tribunals can be
+ordered at any time at the will of the Captain-General. There is, besides,
+no freedom of speech, press, or religion. In point of fact, the causes of
+the Revolution of 1775 in this country were not nearly as grave as those
+that have driven the Cuban people to the various insurrections which
+culminated in the present revolution."
+
+Spain, of course, denied these charges, and asserted that the agreement had
+been kept in good faith. The Spanish Government may have been technically
+correct in its claim that all laws necessary to the fulfillment of its
+promises had been enacted. But it seems entirely certain that they had not
+been made effective. The conditions of the Cubans were in no way improved
+and, some time before the outbreak, they began preparations for armed
+resistance. In _Cuba and the Intervention_ (published in 1905) I have
+already written an outline review of the experience of the revolution, and
+I shall here make use of extracts from that volume. The notable leader
+and instigator of the movement was José Marti, a patriot, a poet, and a
+dreamer, but a man of action. He visited General Maximo Gomez at his home
+in Santo Domingo, where that doughty old warrior had betaken himself after
+the conclusion of the Ten Years' War. Gomez accepted the command of the
+proposed army of Cuban liberation. Antonio Maceo also accepted a command.
+He was a mulatto, an able and daring fighter, whose motives were perhaps a
+compound of patriotism, hatred of Spain, and a love for the excitement of
+warfare. Others whose names are written large in Cuba's history soon joined
+the movement. A _junta_, or committee, was organized with headquarters in
+New York. After the death of Marti, this was placed in charge of Tomas
+Estrada y Palma, who afterward became the first President of the new
+Republic. Its work was to raise funds, obtain and forward supplies and
+ammunition, and to advance the cause in all possible ways. There were legal
+battles to be fought by and through this organization, and Mr. Horatio S.
+Rubens, a New York lawyer, was placed in charge of that department. The
+twenty-fourth of February was set for the beginning of activities, but arms
+were lacking, and while the movement was actually begun on that day, the
+operations of the first six weeks or so were limited to numerous local
+uprisings of little moment. But the local authorities became alarmed, and
+martial law was proclaimed in Santa Clara and Matanzas provinces on the
+27th. Spain became alarmed also, and immediately despatched General
+Martinez Campos as Governor-General of the island, to succeed General
+Calleja. He assumed command on April 16. Maceo and his associates, among
+them his brother José, also a fighter of note, landed from Costa Rica
+on April 1. Marti, Gomez, and others, reached the island on the 11th.
+Meanwhile, Bartolomé Maso, an influential planter in Oriente, had been in
+command of the forces in his vicinity. Many joined, and others stood ready
+to join as soon as they could be equipped. Engagements with the Spanish
+troops soon became a matter of daily occurrence, and Martinez Campos
+realized that a formidable movement was on. Spain hurried thousands of
+soldiers to the island.
+
+For the first five months, the insurgents kept their opponents busy with an
+almost uninterrupted series of little engagements, a guerrilla warfare. In
+one of these, on May 19, José Marti was killed. His death was a severe blow
+to the patriots, but it served rather to inspire a greater activity than
+to check the movement. His death came in the effort of a small band of
+insurgents to pass the Spanish cordon designed to confine activities to
+Oriente Province. Immediately after the death of Marti, Maximo Gomez
+crossed that barrier and organized an army in Camaguey. The first
+engagement properly to be regarded as a battle occurred at Peralejo, near
+Bayamo, in Oriente, about the middle of July. The respective leaders were
+Antonio Maceo and General Martinez Campos, in person. The victory fell to
+Maceo, and Martinez Campos barely eluded capture. The engagements of the
+Ten Years' War were confined to the then sparsely settled eastern half of
+the island. Those of the revolution of 1895 covered the greater part of the
+island, sweeping gradually but steadily from east to west. During my first
+visit to Cuba, I was frequently puzzled by references to "the invasion."
+"What invasion?" I asked, "Who invaded the country?" I found that it meant
+the westward sweep of the liberating army under Gomez and Maceo. It
+covered a period of more than two years of frequent fighting and general
+destruction of property. Early in the operations Gomez issued the following
+proclamation:
+
+
+GENERAL HEADQUARTERS OF THE ARMY OF LIBERATION
+
+Najasa, Camaguey, July 1, 1895.
+
+To THE PLANTERS AND OWNERS OF CATTLE RANCHES:
+
+_In accord with the great interests of the revolution for the independence
+of the country, and for which we are in arms_:
+
+WHEREAS, _all exploitations of any product whatsoever are aids and
+resources to the Government that we are fighting, it is resolved by the
+general-in-chief to issue this general order throughout the island, that
+the introduction of articles of commerce, as well as beef and cattle,
+into the towns occupied by the enemy, is absolutely prohibited. The sugar
+plantations will stop their labors, and those who shall attempt to grind
+the crop notwithstanding this order, will have their cane burned and their
+buildings demolished. The person who, disobeying this order, shall try to
+profit from the present situation of affairs, will show by his conduct
+little respect for the rights of the revolution of redemption, and
+therefore shall be considered as an enemy, treated as a traitor, and tried
+as such in case of his capture_.
+
+  (_Signed_) MAXIMO GOMEZ,
+  The General-in-Chief.
+
+This proved only partially effective, and it was followed by a circular to
+commanding officers, a few months later, reading thus:
+
+
+HEADQUARTERS OF THE ARMY OF LIBERATION
+
+Territory of Sancti Spiritus, November 6, 1895.
+
+_Animated by the spirit of unchangeable resolution in defence of the rights
+of the revolution of redemption of this country of colonists, humiliated
+and despised by Spain, and in harmony with what has been decreed concerning
+the subject in the circular dated the 1st of July, I have ordered the
+following_:
+
+ARTICLE I. _That all plantations shall be totally destroyed, their cane and
+outbuildings burned, and railroad connections destroyed_.
+
+ARTICLE II. _All laborers who shall aid the sugar factories--these sources
+of supplies that we must deprive the enemy of--shall be considered as
+traitors to their country_.
+
+ARTICLE III. _All who are caught in the act, or whose violation of Article
+II shall be proven, shall be shot. Let all chiefs of operations of the army
+of liberty comply with this order, determined to furl triumphantly, even
+over ruin and ashes, the flag of the Republic of Cuba_.
+
+_In regard to the manner of waging the war, follow the private instructions
+that I have already given_.
+
+_For the sake of the honor of our arms and your well-known courage and
+patriotism, it is expected that you will strictly comply with the above
+orders_.
+
+  _(Signed)_ MAXIMO GOMEZ,
+  General-in-Chief.
+
+To peace-loving souls, all this sounds very brutal, but all war is brutal
+and barbarous. In our strife in the Philippines, from 1899 to 1902, many of
+us were proud to be told that we were conducting a "humane war." There is
+no such thing. The very terms are contradictory. Gomez had declared that
+if Spain would not give up Cuba to the Cubans, the Cubans would themselves
+render the island so worthless and desolate a possession that Spain could
+not afford to hold it. Short of further submission to a rule that was, very
+rightly, regarded as no longer endurable, no other course was open to them.
+Another proclamation appeared a few days later.
+
+
+  HEADQUARTERS OF THE ARMY OF
+  LIBERATION
+
+  Sancti Spiritus, November 11 1895.
+
+To HONEST MEN, VICTIMS OF THE TORCH:
+
+_The painful measure made necessary by the revolution of redemption
+drenched in innocent blood from Hatuey to our own times by cruel and
+merciless Spain will plunge you in misery. As general-in-chief of the army
+of liberation, it is my duty to lead it to victory, without permitting
+myself to be restrained or terrified, by any means necessary to place Cuba
+in the shortest time in possession of her dearest ideal. I therefore place
+the responsibility for so great a ruin on those who look on impassively and
+force us to those extreme measures which they then condemn like dolts and
+hypocrites as they are. After so many years of supplication, humiliation,
+contumely, banishment, and death, when this people, of its own will, has
+arisen in arms, there remains no solution but to triumph, it matters not
+what means are employed to accomplish it_.
+
+_This people cannot hesitate between the wealth of Spain and the liberty
+of Cuba. Its greatest crime would be to stain the land with blood without
+effecting its purposes because of puerile scruples and fears which do not
+concur with the character of the men who are in the field, challenging the
+fury of an army which is one of the bravest in the world, but which in this
+war is without enthusiasm or faith, ill-fed and unpaid. The war did not
+begin February 24; it is about to begin now_.
+
+_The war had to be organized; it was necessary to calm and lead into
+the proper channels the revolutionary spirit always exaggerated in the
+beginning by wild enthusiasm. The struggle ought to begin in obedience to a
+plan and method more or less studied, as the result of the peculiarities of
+this war. This has already been done. Let Spain now send her soldiers to
+rivet the chains on her slaves; the children of this land are in the field,
+armed with the weapons of liberty. The struggle will be terrible, but
+success will crown the revolution and the efforts of the oppressed_.
+
+(_Signed_) MAXIMO GOMEZ,
+General-in-Chief.
+
+Such an address doubtless savors of bombast to many Americans, but in the
+history of political and military oratory in their own land they can find
+an endless number of speeches that, in that particular quality, rival if
+they do not surpass it. The Cuban situation was desperate, and the Cuban
+attitude was one of fixed determination. Productive industry was generally
+suppressed, and much property was destroyed, by both Cubans and Spaniards.
+This necessarily threw many out of employment, and drove them into the
+insurgent ranks. The Cubans are a peaceful people. All desired relief from
+oppressive conditions, but many did not want war. While many entered the
+army from patriotic motives, many others were brought into it only as a
+consequence of conditions created by the conflict. The measures adopted
+were severe, but decision of the contest by pitched battles was quite
+impossible. The quoted figures are somewhat unreliable, but the Spanish
+forces outnumbered the Cubans by at least five to one, and they could
+obtain freely the supplies and ammunition that the Cubans could obtain only
+by filibustering expeditions. The Cubans, therefore, adopted a policy, the
+only policy that afforded promise of success. Spain poured in fresh troops
+until, by the close of 1895, its army is reported as numbering 200,000 men.
+
+The Cubans carried the contest westward from Oriente and Camaguey, through
+Santa Clara, and into the provinces of Matanzas, Havana, and Pinar del Rio.
+
+[Illustration: ALONG THE HARBOR WALL _Havana_]
+
+The _trocha_ across the island, from Jucaro on the south to Moron on the
+north, originally constructed during the Ten Years' War, was a line of
+blockhouses, connected by barbed wire tangles, along a railway. This
+obstructed but did not stop the Cuban advance. The authorities declared
+martial law in the provinces of Havana and Pinar del Rio on January 2,
+1896. Gomez advanced to Marianao, at Havana's very door, and that city was
+terrified. Maceo was operating immediately beyond him in Pinar del Rio,
+through the most important part of which he swept with torch and machete.
+The Spaniards built a _trocha_ there from Mariel southward. Maceo crossed
+it and continued his work of destruction, in which large numbers of the
+people of the region joined. He burned and destroyed Spanish property;
+the Spaniards, in retaliation, burned and destroyed property belonging to
+Cubans. Along the highway from Marianao to Guanajay, out of many stately
+country residences, only one was left standing. Villages were destroyed and
+hamlets were wrecked. On one of his expeditions in December, 1896, Maceo
+was killed near Punta Brava, within fifteen miles of Havana. Gomez planned
+this westward sweep, from Oriente, six hundred miles away, but to Antonio
+Maceo belongs a large part of the credit for its execution. The weakness of
+the Ten Years' War was that it did not extend beyond the thinly populated
+region of the east; Gomez and Maceo carried their war to the very gates of
+the Spanish strongholds. There were occasional conflicts that might well be
+called battles, but much of it was carried on by the Cubans by sudden and
+unexpected dashes into Spanish camps or moving columns, brief but sometimes
+bloody encounters from which the attacking force melted away after
+inflicting such damage as it could. Guerrilla warfare is not perhaps a
+respectable method of fighting. It involves much of what is commonly
+regarded as outlawry, of pillage and of plunder, of destruction and
+devastation. These results become respectable only when attained through
+conventional processes, and are in some way supposed to be ennobled by
+those processes. But they sometimes become the only means by which the weak
+can meet the strong. Such they seemed to be in the Cuban revolt against
+the Spaniards, when Maximo Gomez and Antonio Maceo made guerrilla warfare
+almost a military science. Gomez formulated his plan of campaign, but, with
+the means at his disposal, its successful execution was possible only by
+the methods adopted. At all events, it succeeded. The Cubans were not
+strong enough to drive Spain out of the island by force of arms, but they
+showed themselves unconquerable by the Spanish troops. They had once
+carried on a war for ten years in a limited area; by the methods adopted,
+they could repeat that experience practically throughout the island. They
+could at least keep insurrection alive until Spain should yield to their
+terms, or until the United States should be compelled to intervene. No
+great movements, but constant irritation, and the suspension of all
+industry, was the policy adopted and pursued for the year 1897.
+
+But there was another side to it all, a different line of activity.
+Immediately after his arrival on the island, on April 11, 1895, Marti
+had issued a call for the selection of representatives to form a civil
+government. He was killed before this was effected. An assembly met, at
+Jimaguayu, in Camaguey, on September 13, 1895. It consisted of twenty
+members, representing nearly all parts of the island. Its purpose was the
+organization of a Cuban Republic. On the 16th, it adopted a Constitution
+and, on the 18th, elected, as President, Salvador Cisneros Betancourt, and
+as Vice-President, Bartolomé Maso. Secretaries and sub-secretaries were
+duly chosen, and all were formally installed. Maximo Gomez was officially
+appointed as General-in-Chief of the army, with Antonio Maceo as Lieutenant
+General. Tomas Estrada y Palma was chosen as delegate plenipotentiary
+and general agent abroad, with headquarters in New York. Both civil and
+military organizations were, for a time, crude and somewhat incoherent. It
+could not be otherwise. They were engaged in a movement that could only
+succeed by success. Arms and money were lacking. The civil government was
+desirable in a field that the military arm could not cover. Action lay with
+the military and with the Cuban Junta in the United States. The latter
+organization immediately became active. Calls were made for financial
+assistance and liberal responses were made, chiefly by Cubans. In 1896
+and 1897, bonds were issued and sold, or were exchanged for supplies and
+munitions of war. For a number of years scandalous stories were afloat
+declaring that these bonds were printed by the acre, and issued, purely for
+speculative purposes, to the extent of millions upon millions of dollars.
+The truth is that every bond printed, whether issued or unissued, has been
+fully accounted for, the actual issue being about $2,200,000. Provision was
+made in Cuba's Constitution for the recognition of this indebtedness, and
+it has since been discharged, while the plates and the unused bonds have
+been destroyed. There may have been speculation in the bonds, as there was
+in the bonds issued by the United States during the Civil War, but Cuba's
+conduct in the whole matter has been honest and most honorable. In that
+matter certainly, its detractors have been confounded. The principal
+difficulty encountered by the _junta_ was the despatch to Cuba of the men
+and the munitions so greatly needed by those in the field. That, however,
+is a story that I shall endeavor to tell, in part, in another chapter. It
+cannot now, if ever, be told in full.
+
+Meanwhile, a complicated political situation developed. The story is too
+long and too complicated for review in detail. It may be given in general
+outline. The Peace of 1878 was followed by the organization of political
+parties, the Liberal and the Union Constitutional. At first, there was
+comparatively little difference in the essence of their respective
+platforms, but the lines diverged as the situation developed. The Liberal
+party became, and remained, the Cuban party, and the Union Constitutional
+became the Spanish party. Later on, the Liberals became the Autonomists.
+Their object, for twenty years, was reform in conditions under the rule of
+Spain. There was no independence party. That was organized, in 1895, by
+Marti, Gomez, Maceo, Maso, and their associates. It had only one plank in
+its platform--_Cuba Libre y Independiente_--whatever the cost to the island
+and its people. "The Autonomist group," says Mr. Pepper, in his _Tomorrow
+in Cuba_, "became as much a political party as it could become under
+Spanish institutions." It grew in strength and influence, and continued its
+agitation persistently and stubbornly. The Spanish Cortes busied itself
+with discussion of Cuban affairs, but reached no conclusions, produced no
+results. In 1893, there came the definite organization of the Reformist
+party, with aims not differing greatly from those of the _Autonomistas_.
+But Spain delayed until Marti and his followers struck their blow. Official
+efforts to placate them failed utterly, as did efforts to intimidate them
+or to conquer them. The Autonomists declared their support of the existing
+Government, and rebuked the insurgents in a _manifesto_ issued on April 4,
+1895, six weeks after the outbreak. They only succeeded in antagonizing
+both sides, the Spanish authorities and the revolutionists. Spain, greatly
+alarmed, recalled Martinez Campos and sent out Weyler to succeed him.
+Had Spain followed the advice of Martinez Campos, the failure of the
+insurrection would have been little short of certain. It sent out Weyler,
+on whom the Cubans, twenty years earlier, had conferred the title of
+"Butcher." This step threw to the side of the insurgents the great mass
+of the middle class Cubans who had previously wavered in uncertainty,
+questioning the success of revolution while adhering to its general
+object. Weyler instituted the brutal policy that came to be known as
+reconcentration. It may be said, in a way, that the Cuban forces themselves
+instituted this policy. To clear the country in which they were operating,
+they had ordered all Spaniards and Spanish sympathizers to betake
+themselves to the cities and towns occupied by Spanish garrisons. This was
+inconvenient for its victims, but its purpose was humane. Gomez also sought
+to concentrate the Cubans, particularly the women and children, in the
+recesses of the hills where they would be less exposed to danger than they
+would be in their homes. This also was a humane purpose.
+
+Weyler's application of this policy was utterly brutal. The people of the
+country were herded in prison camps, in settlements surrounded by stockades
+or trenches beyond which they might not pass. No provision was made for
+their food or maintenance. The victims were non-combatants, women, and
+children. In his message of December, 1897, President McKinley said of
+this system, as applied by Weyler, "It was not civilized warfare; it was
+extermination. The only peace it could beget was that of the wilderness
+and the grave." In my experience as a campaign correspondent in several
+conflicts, I have necessarily seen more or less of gruesome sights,
+the result of disease and wounds, but I have seen nothing in any way
+comparable, in horror and pitifulness, to the victims of this abominable
+system. To describe their condition in detail would be little short of
+offensive, those groups of hopeless, helpless sufferers who lingered only
+until death came and kindly put them out of their misery and pain. But by
+this time, two forces had come into active operation, dire alarm in Spain
+and wrath and indignation in the United States. Weyler had failed as
+Martinez Campos, when leaving the island, predicted. He was recalled, and
+was succeeded, on October 31, 1897, by General Blanco. The new incumbent
+tried conciliation, but it failed. The work had gone too far. The party in
+the field had become the dominant party, not to be suppressed either by
+force of arms or by promises of political and economic reform. At last,
+Spain yielded. Outside pressure on Madrid, chiefly from the United States,
+prevailed. A scheme for Cuban autonomy was devised and, on January 1,
+1898, was put into effect. But it came too late. It was welcomed by many
+non-participants in the war, and a form of government was organized under
+it. But the party then dominant, the army in the field, distrusted the
+arrangement and would have none of it. All overtures were rejected and
+the struggle continued. On February 15, 1898, came the disaster to the
+battleship _Maine_, in the harbor of Havana. On April 11th, President
+McKinley's historic message went to Congress, declaring that "the only hope
+of relief and repose from a condition which can no longer be endured is the
+enforced pacification of Cuba," and asking for power and authority to use
+the military and naval forces of the United States to effect a termination
+of the strife in Cuba. Such, in the briefest possible outline, is the
+record of this eventful period, eventful alike for Cuba and for the United
+States.
+
+During this struggle, the people of the United States became deeply
+interested in the affairs of the island, and the Administration in
+Washington became gravely concerned by them. A preceding chapter, on the
+United States and Cuba, dropped the matter of the relations of this country
+to the island at the end of the Ten Years' War, but the relations were by
+no means dropped, nor were they even suspended. The affairs of the island
+appear again and again in diplomatic correspondence and in presidential
+messages. The platform of the Republican party, adopted at the national
+convention in St. Louis, on June 18, 1896, contained the following: "From
+the hour of achieving their own independence, the people of the United
+States have regarded with sympathy the struggles of other American peoples
+to free themselves from European domination. We watch with deep and abiding
+interest the heroic battle of the Cuban patriots against cruelty and
+oppression, and our best hopes go out for the full success of their
+determined contest for liberty. The Government of Spain having lost control
+of Cuba and being unable to protect the property or lives of resident
+American citizens, or to comply with its treaty obligations, we believe
+that the Government of the United States should actively use its influence
+and good offices to restore peace and give independence to the island."
+The Democratic party platform of the same year stated that "we extend our
+sympathy to the people of Cuba in their heroic struggle for liberty and
+independence." The platform of the People's party likewise expressed
+sympathy, and declared the belief that the time had come when "the United
+States should recognize that Cuba is and of right ought to be a free and
+independent State." This may be regarded as the almost unanimous opinion of
+the people of this country at that time. In 1896 and 1897 many resolutions
+were introduced in the Congress urging action for the recognition of Cuban
+independence. There was frequent and prolonged debate on the question, but
+no final action was taken. In his message of December, 1897, President
+McKinley said: "Of the untried measures (regarding Cuba) there remain
+only: Recognition of the insurgents as belligerents; recognition of the
+independence of Cuba; neutral intervention to end the war by imposing a
+rational compromise between the contestants; and intervention in favor of
+one or the other party. I speak not of forcible annexation, for that
+cannot be thought of. That, by our code of morality, would be criminal
+aggression."
+
+[Illustration: COUNTRY ROAD _Havana Province_]
+
+Recognition of the Cubans as belligerents would have effected a radical
+change in the situation. It would have given the Cubans the right to buy in
+the American market the arms and supplies that they could then only obtain
+surreptitiously, that they could only ship by "filibustering expeditions,"
+by blockade-runners. In law, the propriety of granting belligerent rights
+depends upon the establishment of certain facts, upon the proof of the
+existence of certain conditions. Those conditions did then exist in Cuba.
+An unanswerable argument was submitted by Horatio S. Rubens, Esq., the
+able counsel of the Cuban _junta_ in New York. The Cubans never asked for
+intervention by the United States; they did, with full justification, ask
+for recognition as belligerents. The consent of this country was deemed
+inexpedient on political rather than on moral grounds. Had it suited the
+purposes of this country to grant that right, very much the same arguments
+would have been made in support of the course as those that were used to
+support the denial of Cuba's requests. Recognition of Cuban independence,
+or intervention in favor of the Cubans, would have been the equivalent of
+the grant of belligerent rights. But the policy adopted, and the course
+pursued, did not serve to avert war with Spain. The story of that war has
+been written by many, and is not for inclusion here. The treaty of peace
+was signed, in Paris, on December 10, 1898, duly ratified by both parties
+in the following months, and was finally proclaimed on April 11, 1899. The
+war was over, but its definite termination was officially declared on the
+anniversary of the issuance of President McKinley's war message. On January
+1, 1899, the American flag was hoisted throughout the island, as a signal
+of full authority, but subject to the provisions of the Teller Amendment to
+the Joint Resolution of Congress, of April 20, 1898, thus:
+
+"That the United States hereby disclaims any disposition or intention to
+exercise sovereignty, jurisdiction, or control over said Island except
+for the pacification thereof, and asserts its determination, when that is
+accomplished, to leave the government and control of the Island to its
+people."
+
+At twelve o'clock, noon, on the 20th of May, 1902, there was gathered
+in the State Apartment of the Palace occupied by many Spanish
+Governors-General, the officials of the United States, the elected
+officials of the new Cuban Republic, and a limited number of guests. In
+that same apartment, General Castellanos signed the abdication of Spanish
+authority. In its turn, pursuant to its pledges, the United States
+transferred authority to the President of the Cuban Republic. Four
+centuries of subjection, and a century of protest and struggle, were there
+and then ended, and Cuba joined the sisterhood of independent nations.
+
+
+
+
+XI
+
+_FILIBUSTERING_
+
+
+The term "filibuster" affords an interesting example of the way in which
+words and their uses become twisted into something altogether different
+from their original meaning. It comes from a Dutch word, several centuries
+old, _vrijbuiter_, or free vessel or boat. It got somehow into English as
+"freebooter," and into Spanish as _filibustero_. The original referred
+to piracy. Two or three centuries later, it meant an engagement in
+unauthorized and illegal warfare against foreign States, in effect,
+piratical invasions. In time, it came into use to describe the supply
+of military material to revolutionists, and finally to obstruction in
+legislative proceedings. In his message of June 13, 1870, President Grant
+said that "the duty of opposition to filibustering has been admitted by
+every President. Washington encountered the efforts of Genet and the French
+revolutionists; John Adams, the projects of Miranda; Jefferson, the schemes
+of Aaron Burr. Madison and subsequent Presidents had to deal with the
+question of foreign enlistment and equipment in the United States, and
+since the days of John Quincy Adams it has been one of the constant cares
+of the Government in the United States to prevent piratical expeditions
+against the feeble Spanish American Republics from leaving our shores."
+
+In 1806, Francisco Miranda, a Venezuelan patriot whose revolutionary
+activities preceded those of Simon Bolivar, sailed from New York on what
+would have been called, some years later, a filibustering expedition. His
+three vessels were manned chiefly by Americans. There are always those
+whose love of excitement and adventure, sometimes mixed with an active
+sympathy for an under dog, leads them to engage in such an enterprise. This
+one was productive of no important results. There were plenty of American
+pirates and privateers in earlier days, but I have found no record of any
+earlier actual expedition whose purpose was the creation of a new republic.
+But during the next hundred years, including the considerable number
+of Americans who have engaged in the present disorder in Mexico, such
+enterprises have been numerous. Among the most notable are the several
+Lopez expeditions to Cuba, about 1850, and the Walker expeditions to
+Lower California, Nicaragua, and Honduras, a few years later. The steamer
+_Virginius_, to which reference is made in another chapter, was engaged
+in filibustering when she was captured, in 1873, and many of her crew and
+passengers unlawfully executed, by Spanish authority, in Santiago. But that
+was only one of many similar enterprises during the Ten Years' War in Cuba.
+It is very doubtful if the war could have continued as it did without them.
+During our own Civil War, we called such industries "blockade-running," but
+it was all quite the same sort of thing. The Confederate army needed arms,
+ammunition, medicine, and supplies of many kinds. On April 19, 1861,
+President Lincoln proclaimed a blockade of the ports of the seceded States,
+with a supplementary proclamation on the 27th that completed the line, and
+thus tied the South hand and foot. In his _History of the United States_,
+Elson notes that raw cotton could be bought in Southern ports for four
+cents a pound while it was worth $2.50 a pound in Liverpool, and that a ton
+of salt worth seven or eight dollars in Nassau, a few miles off the coast,
+was worth $1700 in gold in Richmond before the close of the war, all
+because of the blockade.
+
+There is, naturally, a lack of detail regarding the many expeditions, large
+and small, of the Ten Years' War, but they began soon after the opening of
+hostilities. In his _Diary_, Gideon Welles notes, under date of April 7,
+1869, the prevalence of "rumors of illegal expeditions fitting out in our
+country to aid the Cuban insurgents," and states that "our countrymen are
+in sympathy with them." In December, of that year, President Grant reported
+that a number of illegal expeditions had been broken up, but did not
+refer to those that had succeeded. In October, 1870, he issued a general
+proclamation, without specific reference to Cuba, warning all persons
+against engagement in such expeditions. During the years of the war,
+Spanish warships, at different times, seized American vessels, a proceeding
+which led to some active diplomatic negotiation, and which, on several
+occasions, threatened to involve this country in war with Spain. The
+problem of the industry variously known as filibustering, blockade-running,
+gun-running, and the shipment of contraband, has two ends. There is, first,
+the task of getting the shipment out of one country, and, second, the task
+of getting it into another country. While it is generally classed as an
+unlawful enterprise, there frequently arises a difficulty in proving
+violation of law, even when goods are seized and the participants arrested.
+There is, perhaps, a moral question involved also. Such shipments may be a
+violation of the law. They are generally so regarded. But they may be,
+as in the case of the struggling Cubans, struggling against actual
+and generally admitted wrongs, the only means of serving a worthy and
+commendable end. There is no doubt that, in Cuba's revolution of 1895,
+Americans who knew about the work were prone to regard a successful
+expedition to the island with satisfaction if not with glee. They were
+inclined to regard those engaged as worthy patriots rather than as
+law-breakers.
+
+Under date of February 23, 1898, the House of Representatives requested
+the Secretary of the Treasury to inform that body "at the earliest date
+practicable, if not incompatible with the public service, what has been
+done by the United States to prevent the conveyance to the Cubans
+of articles produced in the United States, and what to prevent
+'filibustering,' and with what results, giving particulars, and at what
+expense to the United States." A reply was sent on the 28th. It makes a
+very good showing for the activities of the officials responsible for the
+prevention of such expeditions, but from all I can learn about the matter,
+it is quite incomplete. There were a number of excursions not set down in
+the official records. Sailing dates and time and place of arrival were not
+advertised in the daily papers.
+
+The official statement shows that sixty reports of alleged filibustering
+expeditions were brought to the attention of the Treasury Department; that
+twenty-eight of them were frustrated through efforts of the Department;
+that five were frustrated by the United States Navy; four by Spain; two
+wrecked; one driven back by storm; one failed through a combination of
+causes; and seventeen that may be regarded as successful expeditions. The
+records of the Cuban _junta_ very materially increase the number in the
+latter class. The despatch of these expeditions was a three-cornered battle
+of wits. The groups engaged were the officials of the United States, the
+representatives of Spain, and the agents of the revolution. The United
+States employed the revenue service and the navy, aided on land by the
+Customs Service, the Secret Service, and other Federal officers. The
+official representatives of Spain employed scores of detectives and Spanish
+spies. The Cuban group sought to outwit them all, and succeeded remarkably
+well in doing so. A part of the story has been told, with general
+correctness, in a little volume entitled _A Captain Unafraid_, described
+as _The Strange Adventures of Dynamite Johnny O'Brien_. This man, really a
+remarkable man in his special line, was born in New York, in 1837, and, at
+the time this is written, is still living. He was born and grew to boyhood
+in the shadow of the numerous shipyards then in active operation along the
+East River. The yards were his playground. At thirteen years of age, he ran
+away and went to see as cook on a fishing sloop. He admits that he could
+not then "cook a pot of water without burning it," but claims that he
+could catch cod-fish where no one else could find them. From fisherman,
+sailing-master on private yachts, schooner captain, and officer in the
+United States Navy in the Civil War, he became a licensed East River pilot
+in New York. He became what might be called a professional filibuster
+at the time of the revolution in Colombia, in 1885, following that with
+similar experience in a revolt in Honduras two years later. The Cubans
+landed a few expeditions in 1895, but a greater number were blocked.
+In March, 1896, they applied to O'Brien and engaged him to command the
+_Bermuda_, then lying in New York and ready to sail. Captain O'Brien
+reports that her cargo included "2,500 rifles, a 12-pounder Hotchkiss
+field-gun, 1,500 revolvers, 200 short carbines, 1000 pounds of dynamite,
+1,200 _machetes_, and an abundance of ammunition." All was packed in boxes
+marked "codfish," and "medicines."
+
+The _Bermuda_ sailed the next morning, March 15, with O'Brien in command,
+cleared for Vera Cruz. The Cubans, including General Calixto Garcia, who
+were to go on the expedition, were sent to Atlantic City, there to engage a
+fishing sloop to take them off-shore where they would be picked up by the
+_Bermuda_ on her way. The ship was under suspicion, and was followed down
+the bay by tugboats carrying United States marshals, customs officers, and
+newspaper reporters. O'Brien says: "They hung on to us down through the
+lower bay and out past Sandy Hook, without getting enough to pay for a
+pound of the coal they were furiously burning to keep up with us. I don't
+know how far they might have followed us, but when we were well clear of
+the Hook, a kind fortune sent along a blinding snow-storm, which soon
+chased them back home." General Garcia and his companions were picked up as
+planned, and that part of the enterprise was completed. The vessel was
+on its way. A somewhat roundabout route was taken in order to avoid any
+possible overhauling by naval or revenue ships. The point selected for the
+landing was a little harbor on the north coast about thirty miles from the
+eastern end of the island. The party included two Cuban pilots, supposed to
+know the coast where they were to land. One of them proved to be a traitor
+and the other, O'Brien says, "was at best an ignoramus." The traitor, who,
+after the landing, paid for his offence with his life, tried to take them
+into the harbor of Baracoa, where lay five Spanish warships. But O'Brien
+knew the difference, as shown by his official charts, between the Cape
+Maisi light, visible for eighteen miles, and the Baracoa light, visible
+for only eight miles, and kicked the pilot off the bridge. The landing was
+begun at half-past ten at night, and completed about three o'clock in the
+morning, with five Spanish warships barely more than five miles away. The
+United States Treasury Department reported this expedition as "successful."
+The vessel then proceeded to Honduras, where it took on a cargo of bananas,
+and returned, under orders, to Philadelphia, the home city of its owner,
+Mr. John D. Hart. Arrests were made soon after the arrival, including Hart,
+the owner of the vessel, O'Brien, and his mate, and General Emilio Nuñez
+who accompanied the expedition as the representative of the _junta_. The
+case was transferred from the courts in Philadelphia to New York, and there
+duly heard. The alleged offenders were defended by Horatio Rubens, Esq., of
+New York, the official counsel of the _junta_. One of the grounds of the
+defence was that the defendants might be guilty of smuggling arms into
+Cuba, but with that offence the courts of the United States had nothing to
+do. The jury disagreed. The indictments were held over the heads of the
+members of the group, but no further action was taken, and two or three
+years later the case was dismissed by order of the Attorney General of the
+United States.
+
+This expedition fairly illustrates the science of filibustering in its
+elementary form, a clearance with some attendant risk; a voyage with
+possibility of interference at any time; and a landing made with still
+greater risk and danger of capture. The trip had been made so successfully
+and with such full satisfaction to the promoters that the _junta_ urged
+O'Brien to remain with them as long as there should be need for his
+services, and he agreed to do so. A department of expeditions was organized
+under the general control of Emilio Nuñez, with O'Brien as navigator.
+Credit for the numerous successful expeditions that followed lies in
+differing degrees with Nuñez, Palma, Rubens, O'Brien, Hart, Cartaya, and
+others less well known in connection with the enterprises. But for the work
+they did, the risks they ran, Cuba's revolution must have failed. All of
+them risked jail sentences, and some of them risked their lives in ways
+perhaps even more dangerous than fighting in the field. The success of the
+_Bermuda_ expedition, carried out by what may be called direct evasion,
+quite seriously disturbed the authorities in this country, and excited them
+to greater precautions and wider activity. Whatever may have been their
+personal feelings in the matter, it was their duty to see that the laws of
+the country were enforced as far as they could be. The players of the game
+for the Cubans met the new activities with complicated moves, many of
+which puzzled the watching officials, and landed a number of expeditions.
+Meanwhile, minor expeditions continued. The official report notes that on
+March 12, 1896, the _Commodore_, a 100-ton steamer, sailed from Charleston
+with men, arms, and ammunition, and landed them in Cuba. The _Laurada_, a
+900-ton steamer, was reported by the Spanish Legation as having sailed on
+May 9, meeting three tugs and two lighters, off the coast, from which were
+transferred men and arms. The report states that "some of the men landed in
+Cuba, but the larger part of the arms and ammunition was thrown into the
+sea," which may or may not have been the case. On May 23, the tug _Three
+Friends_ left Jacksonville, took on men and arms from two small vessels
+waiting outside, and landed all in Cuba. A month later, and again two
+months later, the _Three Friends_ repeated the trip from Florida ports. On
+June 17, the _Commodore_ made another successful trip from Charleston.
+
+While these and other minor expeditions were going on, the department of
+expeditions in New York was busy with a more extensive enterprise. An order
+was placed for 3000 rifles, 3,000,000 rounds of ammunition, 3 12-pound
+Hotchkiss field-guns and 600 shells, _machetes_, and several tons of
+dynamite. The steamer _Laurada_ was chartered, and the ocean-going tug
+_Dauntless_ was bought in Brunswick, Georgia. A part of the purchased
+munitions was ordered to New York, and the remainder, two car loads,
+shipped to Jacksonville by express. Ostensibly, the _Laurada_ was to sail
+from Philadelphia to Jamaica for a cargo of fruit, a business in which
+she had at times engaged. Her actual instructions were to proceed to the
+vicinity of Barnegat, about forty miles from New York, and there, at sea,
+await orders. The arms and ammunition came down from Bridgeport on the
+regular boat from that city, and were left on board until night. There was
+no particular secrecy about the shipment, and detectives followed it. But
+when, at dark, the big gates of the dock were closed and locked and all
+seemed over for the day, the watchers assumed that nothing would be done
+until the next day, and went away. But, immediately after their departure,
+a big lighter slipped quietly into the dock across the wharf from the
+Bridgeport boat, a swarm of men appeared and, behind the closed gates, in
+the semi-darkness of the wharf, rushed boxes from steamer to lighter. The
+work was finished at midnight; a tug slipped up and attached a hawser to
+the lighter; and the cargo was on its way to Cuba. Johnny O'Brien was on
+the tug. The _Laurada_ was met off Barnegat, as arranged, and the cargo and
+about fifty Cubans put on board of her. She was ordered to proceed slowly
+to Navassa Island where the _Dauntless_ would meet her. General Nuñez and
+O'Brien returned to New York on the tug, and while the detectives suspected
+that something had been done, they had no clue whatever to guide them.
+Nuñez and O'Brien started immediately for Charleston, with detectives at
+their heels. The _Commodore_, a tug then owned by the Cubans, lay in the
+harbor of that city, with a revenue cutter standing guard over her. She was
+ordered to get up steam and to go through all the motions of an immediate
+departure. But this was a ruse to draw attention away from the actual
+operations. Rubens, meanwhile, had gone to Jacksonville where he busied
+himself in convincing the authorities that the tug _Three Friends_ was
+about to get away with an expedition. With one revenue cutter watching the
+_Commodore_ in Charleston, the other cutter in the neighborhood was engaged
+in watching the _Three Friends_ in Jacksonville, thus leaving a clear coast
+between those cities. In Charleston were about seventy-five Cubans waiting
+a chance to get to the island. O'Brien states that about twenty-five
+detectives were following their party. Late in the afternoon of August
+13, while the smoke was pouring from the funnels of the _Commodore_, the
+regular south-bound train pulled out of the city. Its rear car was a
+reserved coach carrying the Cuban party, numbering a hundred or so.
+Detectives tried to enter, but were told that it was a private car, which
+it was. They went along in the forward cars. At ten o'clock that night, the
+train reached Callahan, where the Coast Line crossed the Seaboard Air Line.
+While the train was halted for the crossing, that rear car was quietly
+uncoupled. The train went on, detectives and all. The railroad arrangements
+were effected through the invaluable assistance of Mr. Alphonso Fritot, a
+local railway man whose authority enabled him to do with trains and train
+movement whatever he saw fit. He was himself of Cuban birth, though of
+French-American parentage, with ample reason, both personal and patriotic,
+for serving his Cuban friends, and his services were beyond measure. By his
+orders, when that train with its band of detectives had pulled away for
+Jacksonville, an engine picked up the detached car and ran it over to the
+Coast Line. A few miles away, it collected from a blind siding the two cars
+of arms and ammunition shipped some days before, from Bridgeport. A little
+further on, the line crossed the Satilla River. There lay the _Dauntless_,
+purchased by Rubens. Steam was up, and a quick job was made of transferring
+cargo and men from train to boat. Another tug brought a supply of coal, and
+soon after sunrise another expedition was on its way to Cuba. All this may
+be very immoral, but some who were on the expedition have told me that it
+was at least tremendously exciting.
+
+On August 17, the passengers and cargo were landed on the Cuban coast near
+Nuevitas. The tug then proceeded to Navassa Island to meet the _Laurada_.
+Half of the men and half of the cargo of the steamer were transferred to
+the tug, and all were safely landed in a little cove a few miles west of
+Santiago. The landing was made in broad daylight. There were a number of
+Spanish naval vessels in Santiago harbor, and the city itself was filled
+with Spanish troops. The tug then returned for the remainder of the
+_Laurada's_ passengers and cargo, all of which were landed a few days later
+at the place of the earlier landing. The _Laurada_ went on to Jamaica and
+loaded with bananas, with which she sailed for Charleston. Arrests were
+made as a result of the expedition, and the owner of the ship, Mr. John D.
+Hart, was convicted and sentenced to sixteen months in the penitentiary.
+After serving four months of his term, a pardon was secured. He is said to
+be the only one, out of all those engaged in the many expeditions, who was
+actually convicted, and his only offence was the chartering of his ships
+to the Cuban revolutionists. The _Dauntless_ was seized on her return to
+Jacksonville, but was soon released. An effort was made to indict O'Brien,
+but there was too much sympathy for the Cubans in Florida, where the effort
+was made. A number of minor expeditions were carried out in the next few
+months, by the _Dauntless_, the _Three Friends_, and the _Commodore_, the
+latter being wrecked in the last week in December.
+
+In February, 1897, another complicated manoeuvre was successfully executed.
+This involved the use of the _Bermuda_, the _Laurada_, and no less than
+seven smaller auxilliary vessels, tugs, lighters, and schooners. Rut the
+_Laurada_ landed the cargo on the north-eastern coast of the island.
+As O'Brien tells the story, this successful expedition so angered
+Captain-General Weyler, then the ruler of the island, that he sent a
+message to the daring filibuster, through an American newspaper man,
+somewhat as follows: "Tell O'Brien that we will get him, sooner or later,
+and when we do, instead of having him shot along with his Cuban companions,
+I am going to have him ignominiously hanged from the flag-pole at Cabaña,
+in full view of the city." Cabaña is the old fortress across the bay,
+visible from nearly all parts of Havana. To this, O'Brien sent reply
+saying: "To show my contempt for you and all who take orders from you, I
+will make a landing within plain sight of Havana on my next trip to Cuba.
+I may even land an expedition inside of the harbor and take you away a
+prisoner. If we should capture you, which is much more likely than that you
+will ever capture me, I will have you chopped up into small pieces and fed
+to the fires of the _Dauntless_." A few months later, this little Irishman,
+whom Weyler denounced as a "bloodthirsty, dare-devil," and who may have
+been a dare-devil but was not bloodthirsty, actually carried out a part of
+this seemingly reckless threat. He landed a cargo within a mile and a half
+of Morro Castle.
+
+By this time, vessels of the United States navy were employed,
+supplementing the work of the Revenue Service. This, of course, added both
+difficulty and danger to the work. In March and April, several expeditions
+were interrupted. For the Spanish blockade of the Cuban coast, there was
+only contempt. Captain O'Brien told a naval officer that if the navy and
+the revenue cutters would let him alone he would "advertise the time and
+place of departure, carry excursions on every trip, and guarantee that
+every expedition would be landed on time." In May, 1897, two carloads of
+arms and ammunition were shipped from New York to Jacksonville, but, by
+the authority of Mr. Fritot, they were quietly dropped from the train at
+a junction point, and sent to Wilmington, N.C. Their contents were
+transferred to the tug _Alexander Jones_, and that boat proceeded
+nonchalantly down the river. Soon afterward, an old schooner, the _John
+D. Long_, loaded with coal, followed the tug. Two revenue cutters were on
+hand, but there was nothing in the movements of these vessels to excite
+their interest. Off shore, the tug attached a towline to the schooner that
+was carrying its coal supply, its own bunkers being crammed with guns and
+cartridges. Off Palm Beach, General Nuñez and some sixty Cubans were taken
+from a fishing boat, according to a prearranged plan. Two days later, at an
+agreed upon place, they were joined by the _Dauntless_ which had slipped
+out of Jacksonville. The excursion was then complete. About half the cargo
+of the _Jones_ was transferred to the _Dauntless_ and was landed, May 21, a
+few miles east of Nuevitas. A second trip took the remainder of the cargo
+of the _Jones_ and most of the Cuban passengers, and landed the lot under
+the very guns, such as they were, of Morro Castle, and within about three
+miles of the Palace of Captain-General Weyler. All that time, a force of
+insurgents under Rodriguez and Aurenguren was operating in that immediate
+vicinity, and was in great need of the supplies thus obtained. Some of the
+dynamite then landed was used the next day to blow up a train on which
+Weyler was supposed to be travelling, but in their haste the Cubans got one
+train ahead of that carrying the official party. The row that Weyler made
+about this landing will probably never be forgotten by the subordinates who
+were the immediate victims of his rage.
+
+These are only a few of the many expeditions, successful and unsuccessful,
+made during those three eventful years. The Treasury Department report of
+February 28, 1898, gives seventeen successful operations. As a matter of
+fact, more than forty landings were made, although in a few cases a single
+expedition accounted for two, and in one or two instances for three
+landings. The experiences run through the entire gamut of human emotions,
+from absurdity to tragedy. The former is illustrated by the case of the
+_Dauntless_ when she was held up by a vessel of the United States navy, and
+boarded by one of the officers of the ship. He examined the tug from stem
+to stern, sat on boxes of ammunition which seemed to him to be boxes of
+sardines, stumbled over packages of rifles from which butts and muzzles
+protruded; and failed utterly to find anything that could be regarded as
+contraband. The mere fact that a vessel is engaged in transporting arms and
+ammunition does not, of necessity, bring it within reach of the law. But
+that particular vessel was a good deal more than under suspicion; it was
+under the closest surveillance and open to the sharpest scrutiny. The
+temporary myopia of that particular lieutenant of the United States navy
+was no more than an outward and visible sign of a well-developed sense of
+humor, and an indication of at least a personal sympathy for the Cubans
+in their struggle. Tragedy is illustrated by the disaster to the steamer
+_Tillie_. One day, late in January, 1898, this vessel, lying off the end
+of Long Island, took on one of the largest cargoes ever started on a
+filibustering expedition to Cuba. The cause is not known, but soon after
+starting a leak developed, beyond the capacity of the pumps. A heavy
+sea was running, and disaster was soon inevitable. The cargo was thrown
+overboard to lighten the ship and the vessel was headed for the shore on
+the chance that it might float until it could be beached. The water in the
+ship increased rapidly, and extinguished the fires under the boilers; the
+wind, blowing a high gale, swung into the northwest, thus driving the now
+helpless hulk out to sea. Huge combing waves swept the decks from end to
+end. O'Brien tells the story: "We looked in vain for another craft of any
+kind, and by the middle of the afternoon it seemed as though it was all up
+with us, for there was not much daylight left, and with her deck almost
+awash it was impossible that the _Tillie_ should keep afloat all night. The
+gale had swept us rapidly out to sea. The wind, which was filled with icy
+needles, had kicked up a wild cross-sea, and it was more comfortable to go
+down with the ship than even to think of trying to escape in the boats." At
+last, when there seemed no longer any hope of rescue, the big five-masted
+schooner _Governor Ames_ came plunging through the heaving seas, and,
+by masterly seamanship and good fortune, backed by the heroism of her
+commander and crew, succeeded in taking off all except four, who went down
+with the ship. But the work went on. There is not space here to tell of the
+several vessels whose names, through the engagement of the craft in these
+enterprises, became as familiar to newspaper readers as are the names of
+ocean liners today. A few months later, the United States Government
+sent its ships and its men to help those who, for three hard years, had
+struggled for national independence.
+
+
+
+
+XII
+
+_THE STORY OF SUGAR_
+
+
+Chemically, sugar is a compound belonging to the group of carbohydrates, or
+organic compounds of carbon with oxygen and hydrogen. The group includes
+sugars, starches, gums, and celluloses. Sugar is a product of the vegetable
+kingdom, of plants, trees, root crops, etc. It is found in and is
+producible from many growths. As a laboratory process, it is obtainable
+from many sources, but, commercially, it is derived from only two, the
+sugar cane and the beet root. This statement, however, has a certain
+limitation in that it omits such products as maple sugar, malt sugar, milk
+sugar, and others having commercial or chemical uses on a limited scale.
+But it is only with the crystallized sucrose, the familiar sugar of the
+market and the household, that we are dealing here. The output of the other
+sugars is measurable in hundreds or even thousands of pounds, but the
+output of the sugar of commerce is measured in millions of tons. Long
+experience proves that the desired substance is most readily, most
+abundantly, and most cheaply, obtained from the juices of the plant
+commonly known as sugar cane, and from the vegetable known as the sugar
+beet.
+
+The mechanical processes employed in producing sugar from cane and from
+beets, are practically the same. They are, broadly, the extraction or
+expression of the juices, their clarification and evaporation, and
+crystallization. These processes produce what is called "raw sugar," of
+varying percentages of sucrose content. Following them, there comes,
+for American uses, the process of refining, of removing the so-called
+impurities and foreign substances, and the final production of sugar in
+the shape of white crystals of different size, of sugar as powdered, cube,
+loaf, or other form. In the case of cane sugar, this is usually a secondary
+operation not conducted in the original mill. In the case of beet sugar,
+production is not infrequently a continuous operation in the same mill,
+from the beet root to the bagged or barrelled sugar ready for the market.
+The final product from both cane and beet is practically the same. Pure
+sugar is pure sugar, whatever its source. In the commercial production, on
+large scale, there remains a small fraction of molasses or other harmless
+substances, indistinguishable by sight, taste, or smell. With that fraction
+removed and an absolute 100 per cent. secured, there would be no way
+by which the particular origin could be determined. For all practical
+purposes, the sugar of commerce, whether from cane or beet, is pure sugar.
+It is doubtful if an adulterated sugar can be found in the United States,
+notwithstanding the tales of the grocer who "sands" his sugar, and of the
+producer who adds _terra alba_ or some other adulterant. In some countries
+of Europe and elsewhere, there are sugars of inferior grades, of 85 or 90
+or more degrees of sugar purity, but they are known as such and are sold at
+prices adjusted to their quality. Sugars of that class are obtainable
+in this country, but they are wanted almost exclusively for particular
+industrial purposes, for their glucose rather than their sucrose content.
+The American household, whether the home of the rich or of the poor,
+demands the well-known white sugar of established purity.
+
+There is still obtainable, in this country, but in limited quantity, a
+sugar very pleasantly remembered by many who have reached or passed middle
+age. It was variously known as "Muscovado" sugar, or as "plantation sugar,"
+sometimes as "coffee" or "coffee crushed." It was a sugar somewhat
+sweeter to the taste than the white sugar, by reason of the presence of
+a percentage of molasses. It was a superior sugar for certain kitchen
+products, for pies, certain kinds of cake, etc. It has many times been
+urged in Congress that the employment of what is known as the Dutch
+Standard, now abolished, excluded this sugar from our market. This is not
+at all the fact. The disappearance of the commodity is due solely to change
+in the mechanical methods of sugar production. It would be quite impossible
+to supply the world's sugar demand by the old "open kettle" process by
+which that sugar was made. The quality of sugar is easily tested by any one
+who has a spoonful of sugar and a glass of water. If the sugar dissolves
+entirely, and dissolves without discoloring the water, it may be accepted
+as a pure sugar.
+
+In his book on _The World's Cane Sugar Industry--Past and Present_, Mr.
+H.C. Prinsen Geerligs, a recognized expert authority on the subject, gives
+an elaborate history of the origin and development of the industry. His
+chapters on those branches are much too long for inclusion in full, but the
+following extracts tell the story in general outline. He states that the
+probability that sugar cane originally came from India is very strong, "as
+only the ancient literature of that country mentions sugar cane, while we
+know for certain that it was conveyed (from there) to other countries by
+travellers and sailors." The plant appears in Hindu mythology. A certain
+prince expressed a desire to be translated to heaven during his lifetime,
+but Indra, the monarch of the celestial regions, refused to admit him. A
+famous Hindu hermit, Vishva Mitra, prepared a temporary paradise for the
+prince, and for his use created the sugar cane as a heavenly food during
+his occupation of the place. The abode was afterward demolished, but the
+delectable plant, and a few other luxuries, were "spread all over the land
+of mortals as a permanent memorial of Vishva Mitra's miraculous deeds." In
+the time of Alexander the Great (356-323 B.C.) there appear tales of "a
+reed growing in India which produced honey without the aid of bees."
+
+The early references are to sugar cane and not to cane sugar. While there
+may have been earlier experiences, the history of sugar, as such, seems to
+begin in the 7th century (A.D.). There is a story that the Chinese Emperor,
+Tai Tsung (627-650 A.D.) sent people to Behar, in India, to learn the art
+of sugar manufacture. The Arabs and the Egyptians soon learned how to
+purify sugar by re-crystallization, and to manufacture sweetmeats from the
+purified sugar. Marco Polo, who visited China during the last quarter of
+the 13th Century, refers to "a great many sugar factories in South China,
+where sugar could be freely bought at low prices." The Mohammedan records
+of that period also show the manufacture, in India, of crystallized sugar
+and candy. The area of production at that time covered, generally, the
+entire Mediterranean coast. The crusaders found extensive plantations in
+Tripoli, Mesopotamia, Palestine, Syria, and elsewhere. The plant is said to
+have been introduced in Spain as early as the year 755. Its cultivation is
+said to have been a flourishing industry there in the year 1150. Through
+China, it was early extended to Japan, Formosa, and the Philippines. The
+records of the 14th Century show the production and distribution of sugar
+as an important commercial enterprise in the Mediterranean region. The
+Portuguese discoveries of the 15th Century carried the plant to the Azores,
+the Cape Verde islands, and to possessions in the Gulf of Guinea. The
+Spaniards took it to the Western Hemisphere in the early years of the 16th
+Century. The Portuguese took it to Brazil at about the same time. While a
+Chinese traveller, visiting Java in 424, reports the cultivation of sugar
+cane, it was not until more than twelve hundred years later that the
+island, now an important source of sugar supply, began the production of
+sugar as a commercial enterprise. By the end of the 18th Century there
+was what might be called a sugar belt, girdling the globe and extending,
+roughly, from thirty-five degrees north of the equator to thirty-five
+degrees south of that line. It was then a product of many of the countries
+within those limits. The supply of that time was obtained entirely from
+cane.
+
+The early years of the 19th Century brought a new experience in the sugar
+business. That was the production of sugar, in commercial quantities,
+from beets. From that time until now, the commodity has been a political
+shuttlecock, the object of government bounties and the subject of taxation.
+In 1747, Herr Marggraf, of the Academy of Sciences, in Berlin, discovered
+the existence of crystallizable sugar in the juice of the beet and other
+roots. No practical use was made of the discovery until 1801 when a factory
+was established near Breslau, in Silesia. The European beet-sugar industry,
+that has since attained enormous proportions, had its actual beginning in
+the early years of the 19th Century. It was a result of the Napoleonic wars
+of that period. When the wars were ended, and the blockades raised, the
+industry was continued in France by the aid of premiums, differentials, and
+practically prohibitory tariffs. The activities in other European countries
+under similar conditions of governmental aid, came a little later. The
+total world supply of sugar, including cane and beet, less than 1,500,000
+tons, even as recently as 1850, seems small in comparison with the world's
+requirement of about twelve times that quantity at the present time. The
+output of beet sugar was then only about 200,000 tons, as compared with a
+present production of approximately 8,000,000 tons. But sugar was then a
+costly luxury while it is today a cheaply supplied household necessity. As
+recently as 1870, the wholesale price of granulated sugar in New York
+was thirteen and a half cents a pound, or about three times the present
+average.
+
+Cane sugar is produced in large or small quantities in some fifty
+different countries and islands. In many, the output is only for domestic
+consumption, or in quantity too small to warrant inclusion in the list of
+sources of commercial supply. Sixteen countries are included in the list of
+beet-sugar producers. Of these, all are in Europe with the exception of the
+United States and Canada. Only two countries, the United States and
+Spain, produce sugar from both beet and cane. British India leads in the
+production of cane sugar, with Cuba a close second on the list, and Java
+the third. In their total, these three countries supply about two-thirds
+of the world's total output of cane sugar. Hawaii and Porto Rico, in that
+order, stand next on the list of producers. Under normal conditions,
+Germany leads in beet-sugar production, with Russia second, Austria-Hungary
+third, France fourth, and the United States fifth, with Belgium, the
+Netherlands, Italy, Sweden, and Denmark following. The island of Cuba is
+the most important source of commercial cane sugar. Immediately before
+the revolution of 1895, its output a little exceeded a million tons. The
+derangement caused by that experience covered several years, and it was not
+until 1903 that so large a crop was again made. Since that time, the output
+has more than doubled. The increase is attributable to the large increase
+in demand in the United States, and to the advantage given Cuban sugar in
+this market by the reciprocity treaty of 1903. Practically all of Cuba's
+export product is in the class commonly known as 96 degree centrifugals,
+that is, raw sugar of 96 per cent, or thereabout, of sugar content. Under
+normal conditions, nearly all of Cuba's shipments are to the United States.
+The sugar industry was introduced in Cuba very soon after the permanent
+settlement of the island, by Spaniards, in the early years of the 16th
+Century, but it was not until two hundred and fifty years later that
+Spain's restrictive and oppressive colonial policy made even its fair
+extension possible. In 1760, two and a half centuries after the first
+settlement, the sugar exports of the island were a little less than 4,400
+tons. In 1790, they were a little more than 14,000 tons. Some relaxation of
+the laws regulating production and exportation, made possible an increase
+to 41,000 tons in 1802, and further relaxation made possible, in 1850, an
+output somewhat unreliably reported as 223,000 tons. It reached 632,000
+tons in 1890, and the stimulus of the "free sugar" schedule of the United
+States brought it, in the next few years, to more than a million tons.
+Production in recent years has averaged about 2,500,000 tons.
+
+In forty years, only a little more than a single generation, the world's
+supply of sugar has been multiplied by five, from a little more than three
+million tons a year to nearly eighteen million tons. The total world output
+in 1875 would not today supply the demand of the United States alone.
+This increase in production has been made possible by improvements in the
+methods and the machinery of manufacture. Until quite recently, primitive
+methods were employed, much like those used in the production of maple
+sugar on the farm, although on larger scale. More attention has been paid
+to varieties of the plant and some, though no very great, change has been
+made in field processes. In Cuba, the cane is planted in vast areas, in
+thousands of acres. Some of the estates plant and cultivate their
+own fields, and grind the cane in their own mills. Others, known as
+"_colonos_," are planters only, the crop being sold to the mills commonly
+called "_centrales_." In its general appearance, a field of sugar-cane
+looks quite like a field of corn, but the method of cultivation is somewhat
+different. The slow oxen are still commonly used for plowing and for
+carts. This is not because of any lack of progressive spirit, but because
+experience has shown that, under all conditions of the industry, the ox
+makes the most satisfactory and economical motive power, notwithstanding
+his lack of pace.
+
+The Encyclopædia describes sugar-cane as "a member of the grass family,
+known botanically as _Saccbarum officinarum_. It is a tall, perennial
+grass-like plant, giving off numerous erect stems 6 to 12 feet or more in
+height, from a thick solid jointed root-stalk." The ground is plowed
+in rows in which, not seed, but a stalk of cane is lightly buried. The
+rootlets and the new cane spring from the joints of the planted stalk which
+is laid flat and lengthwise of the row. It takes from a year to a year
+and a half for the stalk to mature sufficiently for cutting and grinding.
+Several cuttings, and sometimes many, are made from a single planting.
+There are tales of fields on which cane has grown for forty years without
+re-planting. A few years ago, ten or fifteen years was not an unusual
+period. The present tendency is toward more frequent planting, but not
+annual, as offering a better chance for stronger cane with a larger sugar
+content. The whole process of cultivation and field treatment is hard,
+heavy work, most of it very hard work. Probably the hardest and heaviest is
+the cutting. This is done with a long, heavy-bladed knife, the _machete_.
+The stalk, from an inch to two inches in thickness, is chopped down near
+the root, the heavy knife swung with cut after cut, under a burning sun.
+Only the strongest can stand it, a wearying, back-breaking task. After
+cutting, the stalk is trimmed and loaded on carts to be hauled, according
+to distance, either directly to the mill or to the railway running thereto.
+The large estates have their own railway systems running to all the fields
+of the plantation. These are private lines operated only for economy
+in cane transportation. Most of the crushing mills measure their daily
+consumption of cane in thousands of tons. While every precaution is taken,
+there are occasional fires. In planting, wide "fire lanes," or uncultivated
+strips are left to prevent the spread of fire if it occurs.
+
+Mill installations vary on the different plantations, but the general
+principle of operation is the same on all. The first process is the
+extraction of the juice that carries the sugar. It is probable that this
+was originally done in hand mortars. Next came the passing of the cane
+between wooden rollers turned by ox power, the rollers standing upright and
+connected with a projecting shaft or beam to the outer end of which the
+animal was attached, to plod around and around while the cane was fed
+between the rollers. The present system is merely an expansion of that old
+principle. At the mill, the stalks are dumped, by carload or by cartload,
+into a channel through which they are mechanically conveyed to huge
+rollers, placed horizontally, arranged in pairs or in sets of three, and
+slowly turned by powerful engines. The larger mills have a series of these
+rollers, two, three, or even four sets, the stalks passing from one to
+another for the expression of every possible drop of the juice, up to the
+point where the cost of juice extraction exceeds the value of the juice
+obtained. The expressed juices are collected in troughs through which they
+are run to the next operation. The crushed stalks, then known as _bagasse_,
+are conveyed to the huge boilers where they are used as fuel for the
+generation of the steam required in the various operations, from the
+feeding and the turning of the rollers, to the device from which the final
+product, the crystallized sugar, is poured into bags ready for shipment.
+All this is a seasonal enterprise. The cane grows throughout the year, but
+it begins to ripen in December. Then the mills start up and run until the
+rains of the next May or June suspend further operations. It then becomes
+impossible to haul the cane over the heavily mired roads from the muddy
+fields. Usually, only a few mills begin their work in December, and early
+June usually sees most of them shut down. The beginning of the rainy season
+is not uniform, and there are mills in eastern Cuba that sometimes run into
+July and even into August. But the general grinding season may be given as
+of about five months duration, and busy months they are. The work goes on
+night and day.
+
+The next step is the treatment of the juices expressed by the rollers and
+collected in the troughs that carry it onward. The operations are highly
+technical, and different methods are employed in different mills. The first
+operation is one of purification. The juice, as it comes from the rollers,
+carries such materials as glucose, salts, organic acids, and other
+impurities, that must be removed. For this, lime is the principal agent.
+The details of it all would be as tedious here as they are complicated
+in the mill. The percentages of the different impurities vary with the
+variation of the soils in which the cane is grown. The next step, following
+clarification, is evaporation, the boiling out of a large percentage of
+the water carried in the juice. For this purpose, a vacuum system is used,
+making possible a more rapid evaporation with a smaller expenditure of
+fuel. These two operations, clarification and evaporation by the use of the
+vacuum, are merely improved methods for doing, on a large scale, what was
+formerly done by boiling in pans or kettles, on a small scale. That method
+is still used in many parts of the world, and even in the United States, in
+a small way. For special reasons, it is still used on some of the Louisiana
+plantations; it is common in the farm production of sorghum molasses in the
+South; and in the manufacture of maple sugar in the North. In those places,
+the juices are boiled in open pans or kettles, the impurities skimmed off
+as they rise, and the boiling, for evaporation, is continued until a
+proper consistency is reached, for molasses in the case of sorghum and for
+crystallization in the case of plantation and maple sugars. There is an old
+story of an erratic New England trader, in Newburyport, who called himself
+Lord Timothy Dexter. In one of his shipments to the West Indies, a hundred
+and fifty years ago, this picturesque individual included a consignment of
+"warming pans," shallow metal basins with a cover and a long wooden handle,
+used for warming beds on cold winter nights. The basin was filled with
+coals from the fireplace, and then moved about between the sheets to take
+off the chill. He was not a little ridiculed by his acquaintances for
+sending such merchandise where it could not possibly be needed, but it is
+said that he made considerable money out of his enterprise. With the covers
+removed, the long-handled, shallow basins proved admirably adapted for use
+in skimming the sugar in the boiling-pans. But the old-fashioned method
+would be impossible today.
+
+The different operations are too complicated and too technical for more
+than a reference to the purpose of the successive processes. Clarification
+and evaporation having been completed, the next step is crystallization,
+also a complicated operation. When this is done, there remains a dark brown
+mass consisting of sugar crystals and molasses, and the next step is
+the removal of all except a small percentage of the molasses. This
+is accomplished by what are called the centrifugals, deep bowls with
+perforated walls, whirled at two or three thousand revolutions a minute.
+This expels the greater part of the molasses, and leaves a mass of
+yellow-brown crystals, the coloring being due to the molasses remaining.
+This is the raw sugar of commerce. Most of Cuba's raw product is classed
+as "96 degree centrifugals," that is, the raw sugar, as it comes from the
+centrifugal machines and is bagged for shipment, is of 96 degrees of sugar
+purity. This is shipped to market, usually in full cargo lots. There it
+goes to the refineries, where it is melted, clarified, evaporated, and
+crystallized. This second clarification removes practically everything
+except the pure crystallized sugar of the market and the table. It is then
+an article of daily use in every household, and a subject of everlasting
+debate in Congress.
+
+
+
+
+XIII
+
+_VARIOUS PRODUCTS AND INDUSTRIES_
+
+
+The Encyclopædia Britannica states that "although the fact has been
+controverted, there cannot be a doubt that the knowledge of tobacco and
+its uses came to the rest of the world from America. As the continent was
+opened up and explored, it became evident that the consumption of tobacco,
+especially by smoking, was a universal and immemorial usage, in many cases
+bound up with the most significant and solemn tribal ceremonials." The name
+"tobacco" was originally the name of the appliance in which it was smoked
+and not of the plant itself, just as the term "chowder" comes from the
+vessel (_chaudière_) in which the compound was prepared. The tobacco plant
+was first taken to Europe in 1558, by Francisco Fernandez, a physician who
+had been sent to Mexico by Philip II to investigate the products of that
+country. The English, however, appear to have been the first Europeans
+to adopt the smoking habit, and Sir Walter Raleigh was notable for his
+indulgence in the weed. He is said to have called for a solacing pipe just
+before his execution. Very soon after their arrival, in 1607, the Virginia
+settlers engaged in the cultivation of tobacco, and it soon became the most
+important commercial product of the colony. Smoking, as practiced in this
+country, appears to have been largely, and perhaps only, by means of pipes
+generally similar to those now in use. The contents of ancient Indian
+mounds, or tumuli, opened in Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and Iowa, show the
+use of pipes by the aborigines probably centuries before the discoveries
+by Columbus. Many were elaborately carved in porphyry or some other hard
+stone, while others were made of baked clay. Others, many of them also
+elaborately carved and ornamented, have been found in Mexico. Roman
+antiquities show many pipes, but they do not show the use of tobacco. It
+is assumed that they were used for burning incense, or for smoking some
+aromatic herb or hemp.
+
+The first knowledge of the use of the plant in Cuba was in November, 1492,
+when Columbus, on landing near Nuevitas, sent his messengers inland to
+greet the supposed ruler of a supposed great Asiatic empire. Washington
+Irving thus reports the story as it was told by Navarete, the Spanish
+historian. Referring to those messengers, he says: "They beheld several of
+the natives going about with firebrands in their hands, and certain dried
+herbs which they rolled up in a leaf, and lighting one end, put the other
+in their mouths, and continued exhaling and puffing out the smoke. A roll
+of this kind they called a tobacco, a name since transferred to the plant
+of which the rolls were made. The Spaniards, although prepared to meet with
+wonders, were struck with astonishment at this singular and apparently
+nauseous indulgence." A few years later, a different method was reported,
+by Columbus, as employed in Hispaniola. This consisted of inhaling the
+fumes of the leaf through a Y-shaped device applied to the nostrils. This
+operation is said to have produced intoxication and stupefaction, which
+appears to have been the desired result. The old name still continues
+in Cuba, and if a smoker wants a cigar, he will get it by calling for a
+"tobacco." The production of the plant is, next to sugar, Cuba's most
+important commercial industry. Its early history is only imperfectly known.
+There was probably very little commercial production during the 16th
+Century, for the reason that there was then no demand for it. The demand
+came in the first half of the 17th Century, and by the middle of that
+period tobacco was known and used in practically all civilized countries.
+The demand for it spread very rapidly, in spite of papal fulminations and
+penal enactments. For a time, in Russia, the noses of smokers were cut off.
+The early part of the 18th Century saw Cuba actively engaged in production
+and shipment. In 1717, Cuba's tobacco was made a monopoly of the Spanish
+Government. Under that system, production was regulated and prices were
+fixed by the agents of the government, in utter disregard of the welfare
+of the producers. As a result, several serious riots occurred. In 1723,
+a large number of planters refused to accept the terms offered by the
+officials, and destroyed the crops of those who did accept, a condition
+repeated in the State of Kentucky a few years ago, the only difference
+being that in the Cuban experience the monopolist was the Government, and
+in Kentucky it was a corporation. A few years later, in 1734, the Cuban
+monopoly was sold to Don José Tallapiedra who contracted to ship to Spain,
+annually, three million pounds of tobacco. The contract was afterward given
+to another, but control was resumed by the Crown, in 1760. Finally, in
+1817, cultivation and trade were declared to be free, subject only to
+taxation.
+
+[Illustration: STREET IN CAMAGUEY]
+
+In time, it became known that the choicest tobacco in the market came from
+the western end of Cuba, from the Province of Pinar del Rio. It was given a
+distinct name, _Vuelta Abajo_, a term variously translated but referring
+to the downward bend of the section of the island in which that grade is
+produced. Here is grown a tobacco that, thus far, has been impossible of
+production elsewhere. Many experiments have been tried, in Cuba and in
+other countries. Soils have been analyzed by chemists; seeds from the
+_Vuelta Abajo_ have been planted; and localities have been sought where
+climatic conditions corresponded. No success has been attained. Nor is the
+crop of that region produced on an extensive scale, that is, the choicer
+leaf. Not all of the tobacco is of the finest grade, although most of it is
+of high quality. There are what may be called "patches" of ground, known
+to the experts, on which the best is produced, for reasons not yet clearly
+determined. The fact is well known, but the causes are somewhat mysterious.
+Nor does the plant of this region appear to be susceptible of improvement
+through any modern, scientific systems of cultivation. The quality
+deteriorates rather than improves as a result of artificial fertilizers.
+The people of the region, cultivating this special product through
+generation after generation, seem to have developed a peculiar instinct for
+its treatment. It is not impossible that a time may come when scientific
+soil selection, seed selection, special cultivation, irrigation, and other
+systems, singly or in combination, will make possible the production of a
+standardized high-grade leaf in much greater quantity than heretofore, but
+it seems little probable that anything so produced will excel or even equal
+the best produced by these expert _vegueros_ by their indefinable but
+thorough knowledge of the minutest peculiarities of this peculiar plant.
+Thus far, it has not even been possible to produce it elsewhere in the
+island. It has been tried outside of the fairly defined area of its
+production, tried by men who knew it thoroughly within that area, tried
+from the same seed, from soils that seem quite the same. But all failed.
+Science may some day definitely locate the reasons, just as it may find the
+reason for deterioration in the quality of Cuban tobacco eastward from that
+area. The tobacco of Havana Province is excellent, but inferior to that of
+Pinar del Rio. The growth of Santa Clara Province is of good quality, but
+inferior to that of Havana Province, while the tobacco of eastern Cuba is
+little short of an offence to a discriminating taste.
+
+Tobacco is grown from seeds, planted in specially prepared seed beds.
+Seeding is begun in the early autumn. When the young plant has attained a
+proper height, about eight or ten inches, it is removed to, and planted
+in, the field of its final growth. This preliminary process demands skill,
+knowledge, and careful attention equal, perhaps, to the requirements of the
+later stages. Experiments have been made with mechanical appliances, but
+most of the work is still done by hand, particularly in the area producing
+the better qualities of leaf. From the time of transplanting, it is watched
+with the greatest care. A constant battle is waged with weeds and insect
+life, and water must be brought if the season is too dry. If rains are
+excessive, as they sometimes are, the crop may be partly or wholly
+destroyed, as it was in the autumn of 1914. The plant matures in January,
+after four months of constant watchfulness and labor, in cultivation,
+pruning, and protection from worms and insects. When the leaves are
+properly ripened, the stalks are cut in sections, two leaves to a section.
+These are hung on poles and taken to the drying sheds where they are
+suspended for three or more weeks. The time of this process, and its
+results, depend upon moisture, temperature, and treatment. All this is
+again an operation demanding expert knowledge and constant care. When
+properly cured, the leaves are packed in bales of about 110 pounds each,
+and are then ready for the market. Because of the varying conditions under
+which the leaf is produced, from year to year, it is somewhat difficult
+to determine with any accuracy the increase in the industry. Broadly, the
+output appears to have been practically doubled in the last twenty years,
+a growth attributed to the new economic conditions, to the extension of
+transportation facilities that have made possible the opening of new areas
+to cultivation, and to the investment of capital, largely American capital.
+The exports show, generally, a material increase in sales of leaf tobacco
+and some decline in sales of cigars. The principal market for the leaf, for
+about 85 per cent of it, is in the United States where it is made, with
+more or less honesty, into "all-Havana" cigars. This country, however,
+takes only about a third of Cuba's cigar output. The United Kingdom takes
+about as much of that product as we do, and Germany, in normal times, takes
+about half as much. The remainder is widely scattered, and genuine imported
+Havana cigars are obtainable in all countries throughout the world.
+The total value of Cuba's yearly tobacco crop is from $40,000,000 to
+$50,000,000, including domestic consumption and foreign trade.
+
+The story that all Cubans, men and women alike, are habitual and constant
+smokers, is not and never was true. Whatever it may have been in the past,
+I am inclined to think that smoking by women is more common in this country
+than it is in Cuba, particularly among the middle and upper social classes.
+I have seen many American and English women smoke in public, but never a
+Cuban woman. Nor is smoking by men without its exceptions. I doubt if the
+percentage of non-smokers in this country is any greater than it is in
+the island. There are many Cubans who do smoke, just as there are many
+Americans, Englishmen, Germans, and Russians. Those who watch on the
+street for a respectable Cuban woman with a cigar in her mouth, or even a
+cigarette, will be disappointed. Cuba's tobacco is known by the name of the
+region in which it is produced; the _Vuelta Abajo_ of Pinar del Rio; the
+_Partidos_ of Havana Province; the _Manicaragua_ and the _Remedios_ of
+Santa Clara; and the _Mayari_ of Oriente. Until quite recently, when
+American organized capital secured control of many of the leading factories
+in Cuba, it was possible to identify a cigar, in size and shape, by some
+commonly employed name, such as _perfectos, conchas, panetelas, imperiales,
+londres_, etc. The old names still appear, but to them there has been added
+an almost interminable list in which the old distinction is almost
+lost. Lost, too, or submerged, are many of the old well-known names of
+manufacturers, names that were a guarantee of quality. There were also
+names for different qualities, almost invariably reliable, and for color
+that was supposed to mark the strength of the cigar. An accomplished smoker
+may still follow the old system and call for a cigar to his liking, by the
+use of the old terms and names made familiar by years of experience, but
+the general run of smokers can only select, from a hundred or more boxes
+bearing names and words that are unfamiliar or unknown, a cigar that
+he thinks looks like one that he wants. It may be a "_superba_" an
+"_imperial_" a "Wilson's Cabinet," or a "Havana Kid."
+
+There is a wide difference in the dates given as the time of the
+introduction of the coffee plant in Cuba. One writer gives the year 1720,
+another gives 1748, and still another gives 1769. Others give various years
+near the end of the century. It was doubtless a minor industry for fifty
+years or more before that time, but it was given an impetus and began to
+assume commercial proportions during the closing years of the 18th Century.
+During that century, the industry was somewhat extensively carried on in
+the neighboring island of Santo Domingo. In 1790, a revolution broke out
+in that island, including Haiti, and lasted, with more or less violent
+activity, for nearly ten years. One result was the emigration to Cuba of
+a considerable number of refugees, many of them French. They settled in
+eastern Cuba, where conditions for coffee-growing are highly favorable.
+Knowing that industry from their experience with it in the adjacent island,
+these people naturally took it up in their new home. The cultivation of
+coffee in Cuba, prior to that time, was largely in the neighborhood of
+Havana, the region then of the greater settlement and development. For
+the next forty years or so, the industry developed and coffee assumed a
+considerable importance as an export commodity, in addition to the domestic
+supply. In 1840, there were more than two thousand coffee plantations,
+large and small, producing more than seventy million pounds of coffee, the
+greater part of which was exported. From about the middle of the century,
+the industry declined, in part because of lower prices due to increase in
+the world-supply through increased production in other countries, and in
+part, because of the larger chance of profit in the growing of sugar, an
+industry then showing an increased importance. Coffee culture has never
+been entirely suspended in the island, and efforts are made from time to
+time to revive it, but for many years Cuba has imported most of its coffee
+supply, the larger share being purchased from Porto Rico. It would be
+easily possible for Cuba to produce its entire requirement. There are few
+more beautiful sights in all the world than a field of coffee trees in
+blossom. One writer has likened it to "millions of snow drops scattered
+over a sea of green." They blossom, in Cuba, about the end of February or
+early in March, the fruit season and picking coming in the autumn. Coffee
+culture is an industry requiring great care and some knowledge, and the
+preparation of the berry for the market involves no less of care and
+knowledge. The quality of the Cuban berry is of the best. It is the
+misfortune of the people of the United States that very few of them really
+know anything about coffee and its qualities, notwithstanding the fact that
+they consume about a billion pounds a year, all except a small percentage
+of it being coffee of really inferior quality. But coffee, like cigars,
+pickles, or music, is largely a matter of individual preference.
+
+Cuba produces a variety of vegetables, chiefly for domestic consumption,
+and many fruits, some of which are exported. There is also a limited
+production of grains. Among the tubers produced are sweet potatoes, white
+potatoes, yams, the arum and the yucca. From the latter is made starch and
+the cassava bread. The legumes are represented by varieties of beans and
+peas. The most extensively used food of the island people is rice, only a
+little of which is locally grown. The imports are valued at five or six
+million dollars yearly. Corn is grown in some quantity, but nearly two
+million dollars worth is imported yearly from the United States. There are
+fruits of many kinds. The banana is the most important of the group, and is
+grown throughout the island. It appears on the table of all, rich and
+poor, sometimes _au naturel_ but more frequently cooked. There are many
+varieties, some of which are exported while others are practically unknown
+here. The Cuban mango is not of the best, but they are locally consumed by
+the million. Only a few of the best are produced and those command a fancy
+price even when they are obtainable. The aguacate, or alligator pear, is
+produced in abundance. Cocoanuts are a product largely of the eastern end
+of the island, although produced in fair supply elsewhere. The trees are
+victims of a disastrous bud disease that has attacked them in recent years
+causing heavy loss to growers.
+
+[Illustration: PALM-THATCHED ROOFS A PEASANT'S HOME]
+
+Since the American occupation, considerable attention has been given,
+mainly by Americans, to the production of oranges, grape-fruit, and
+pineapples, in which a considerable industry has been developed. There are
+several varieties. The guava of Cuba makes a jelly that is superior to that
+produced from the fruit in any other land of my experience. If there is a
+better guava jelly produced anywhere, I should be pleased to sample it,
+more pleased to obtain a supply. But there is a difference in the product
+even there, just as there is a difference in currant or grape jelly
+produced here. It depends a good deal on the maker. Some of the best of my
+experience is made in the neighborhood of Santa Clara, but I have tried no
+Cuban _jalea de guayaba_ that was not better than any I have had in the
+Far East or elsewhere. The _guanabana_ is eaten in its natural state, but
+serves its best purpose as a flavor for ices or cooling drinks. There are
+a number of others, like the _anon_, the _zapote_, the _granadilla_, the
+_mamey_, etc., with which visitors may experiment or not as they see fit.
+Some like some of them and others like none of them. An excellent grade of
+cacao, the basis of chocolate and cocoa, is produced in somewhat limited
+quantity. The industry could easily be extended. In fact, there are many
+soil products not now grown in the island but which might be grown there,
+and many others now produced on small scale that could be produced in
+important quantities. That they are not now so produced is due to lack of
+both labor and capital. The industries of Cuba are, and always have been,
+specialized. Sugar, tobacco, and at a time coffee, have absorbed the
+capital and have afforded occupation for the greater number of the island
+people. The lack of transportation facilities in earlier years, and
+the system of land tenure, have made difficult if not impossible the
+establishment of any large number of independent small farmers. The day
+laborers in the tobacco fields and on sugar plantations have been unable to
+save enough money to buy a little farm and equip it even if the land could
+be purchased at all. Yet only a very small percentage of the area is
+actually under cultivation. Cuba now imports nearly $40,000,000 worth of
+alimentary substances, altogether too much for a country of its productive
+possibilities. It is true that a part of this, such as wheat flour for
+instance, cannot be produced on the island successfully, and that other
+commodities, such as rice, hog products, and some other articles, can be
+imported more cheaply than they can be produced locally. But the imports of
+foodstuffs are undoubtedly excessive, although there are good reasons for
+the present situation. It is a matter that will find adjustment in time.
+
+The island has mineral resources of considerable value, although the number
+of products is limited. The Spanish discoverers did not find the precious
+metals for which they were seeking, and while gold has since been found,
+it has never appeared in quantity sufficient to warrant its exploitation.
+Silver discoveries have been reported, but not in quantity to pay for its
+extraction. Nothing is ever certain in those industries, but it is quite
+safe to assume that Cuba is not a land of precious metals. Copper was
+discovered in eastern Cuba as early as about the year 1530, and the mines
+near Santiago were operated as a Government monopoly for some two hundred
+years, when they were abandoned. They were idle for about a hundred years
+when, in 1830, an English company with a capital of $2,400,000 reopened
+them. It is officially reported that in the next forty years copper of a
+value of more than $50,000,000 was extracted and shipped. During that
+time, the mines were among the most notable in the world. In the meantime,
+ownership was transferred to a Spanish corporation organized in Havana.
+This concern became involved in litigation with the railway concerning
+freight charges, and this experience was followed by the Ten Years' War, in
+the early course of which the plant was destroyed and the mines flooded. In
+1902, an American company was organized. It acquired practically all the
+copper property in the Cobre field and began operations on an extensive and
+expensive scale. A huge sum was spent in pumping thousands of tons of
+water from a depth of hundreds of feet, in new equipment for the mining
+operations, and in the construction of a smelter. The best that can be done
+is to hope that the investors will some day get their money back. Without
+any doubt, there is a large amount of copper there, and more in other parts
+of Oriente. So is there copper in Camaguey, Santa Clara, and Matanzas
+provinces. There are holes in the ground near the city of Camaguey that
+indicate profitable operations in earlier years. The metal is spread over
+a wide area in Pinar del Rio, and venturous spirits have spent many good
+Spanish pesos and still better American dollars in efforts to locate
+deposits big enough to pay for its excavation. Some of that class are at it
+even now, and one concern is reported as doing a profitable business.
+
+The bitumens are represented in the island by asphalt, a low-grade coal,
+and seepages of petroleum. At least, several writers tell of coal in the
+vicinity of Havana, but the substance is probably only a particularly hard
+asphaltum. The only real coal property of which I have any knowledge is a
+quite recent discovery. The story was told me by the man whose money was
+sought to develop it. It was, by the way, an anthracite property. In
+response to an urgent invitation from a presumably reliable acquaintance,
+my friend took his car and journeyed westward into Pinar del Rio, through a
+charming country that he and I have many times enjoyed together. He picked
+up his coal-discovering friend in the city of Pinar del Rio, and proceeded
+into the country to inspect the coal-vein. At a number of points
+immediately alongside the highway, his companion alighted to scrape away
+a little of the surface of the earth and to return with a little lump of
+really high-grade anthracite. Such a substance had no proper business
+there, did not belong there geologically or otherwise. The explanation
+soon dawned upon my friend. They were following the line of an abandoned
+narrow-gauge railway, abandoned twenty years ago, along which had been
+dumped, at intervals, little piles of perfectly good anthracite, imported
+from Pennsylvania, for use by the portable engine used in the construction
+of the road. My friend declares that he is entirely ready at any time to
+swear that there are deposits of anthracite in Cuba. A very good quality
+of asphalt is obtained in different parts of the island, and considerable
+quantities have been shipped to the United States. Signs of petroleum
+deposits have been strong enough to induce investigation and expenditure.
+An American company is now at work drilling in Matanzas Province. The most
+extensive and promising mineral industry is iron, especially in eastern
+Cuba. Millions of tons of ore have been taken from the mountains along
+the shore between Santiago and Guantanamo, and the supply appears to be
+inexhaustible. The product is shipped to the United States, to a value of
+several millions of dollars yearly. A few years ago, other and apparently
+more extensive deposits were discovered in the northern section of Oriente,
+The field bought by the Pennsylvania Steel Company is estimated to contain
+600,000,000 tons of ore. The Bethlehem Steel Company is the owner of
+another vast tract. The quality of these ores is excellent. In Oriente
+Province also are deposits of manganese of which considerable shipments
+have been made.
+
+It is not possible in so brief a survey of Cuba's resources and industries
+to include all its present activities, to say nothing of its future
+possibilities. At the present time, the island is practically an extensive
+but only partly cultivated farm, producing mainly sugar and tobacco, with
+fruits and vegetables as a side line. The metal deposits supplement this,
+with promise of becoming increasingly valuable. The forest resources,
+commercially, are not great, although there are, and will continue to be,
+sales of mahogany and other fine hardwoods. Local manufacturing is on a
+comparatively limited scale. All cities and many towns have their artisans,
+the bakers, tailors, shoemakers, carpenters, and others. Cigar making
+is, of course, classed as a manufacturing enterprise, and so, for census
+purposes, is the conversion of the juice of the sugar-cane into sugar.
+A number of cities have breweries, ice factories, match factories, soap
+works, and other establishments large or small. All these, however, are
+incidental to the great industries of the soil, and the greater part of
+Cuba's requirements in the line of mill and factory products is imported.
+While little is done in the shipment of cattle or beef, Cuba is a natural
+cattle country. Water and nutritious grasses are abundant, and there are
+vast areas, now idle, that might well be utilized for stock-raising. There
+are, of course, just as there are elsewhere, various difficulties to be
+met, but they are met and overcome. There are insects and diseases, but
+these are controlled by properly applied scientific methods. There is open
+feeding throughout the entire year, so there is no need of barns or hay.
+The local cattle industry makes possible the shipment of some $2,500,000
+worth of hides and skins annually. Other lines of industry worthy of
+mention, but not possible of detailed description here, include sponges,
+tortoise shell, honey, wax, molasses, and henequen or sisal. All these
+represent their individual thousands or hundreds of thousands of dollars,
+and their employment of scores or hundreds of wage-earners. Those who start
+for Cuba with a notion that the Cubans are an idle and lazy people, will
+do well to revise that notion. There is not the hustle that may be seen
+further north, but the results of Cuban activity, measured in dollars or in
+tons, fairly dispute the notion of any national indolence. When two and a
+half million people produce what is produced in Cuba, somebody has to work.
+
+
+
+
+XIV
+
+_POLITICS, GOVERNMENT, AND COMMERCE_
+
+
+The British colonists in America were in large measure self-governing. This
+is notably true in their local affairs. The Spanish colonists were
+governed almost absolutely by the mother-country. A United States official
+publication reports that "all government control centred in the Council of
+the Indies and the King, and local self government, which was developed at
+an early stage in the English colonies, became practically impossible in
+the Spanish colonies, no matter to what extent it may have existed in
+theory. Special regulations, decrees, etc., modifying the application of
+the laws to the colonies or promulgating new laws were frequent, and their
+compilation in 1680 was published as Law of the Indies. This and the _Siete
+Partidas_, on which they were largely based, comprised the code under which
+the Spanish-American colonies were governed." There was a paper provision,
+during the greater part of the time, for a municipal electorate, the
+franchise being limited to a few of the largest tax-payers. In its
+practical operation, the system was nullified by the power vested in the
+appointed ruler. It was a highly effective centralized organization in
+which no man held office, high or low, who was not a mere instrument in the
+hands of the Governor-General. Under such an institution the Cubans had, of
+course, absolutely no experience in self-government. The rulers made laws
+and the people obeyed them; they imposed taxes and spent the money as they
+saw fit; many of them enriched themselves and their personally appointed
+official household throughout the island, at the expense of the tax-payers.
+
+A competent observer has noted that such terms as "meeting,"
+"mass-meeting," "self-government," and "home-rule," had no equivalent in
+the Spanish language. The first of these terms, distorted into "_mitin_,"
+is now in common use, and its origin is obvious. Of theories, ideals, and
+intellectual conceptions, there was an abundance, but government based
+on beautiful dreams does not succeed in this practical world. Denied
+opportunity for free discussion of practical methods, the Cubans discussed
+theories in lyceums. Under the military government of the United States,
+from January 1, 1899, to May 20, 1902, there was freedom of speech and
+freedom of organization. The Cubans began to hold "_mitins_," but visions
+and beautiful theories characterized the addresses. Prior to the Ten Years'
+War (1868-1878), there were organizations more or less political in their
+nature, but the authorities were alert in preventing discussions of too
+practical a character. In 1865, a number of influential Cubans organized
+what has been somewhat inappropriately termed a "national party." It was
+not at all a party in our use of that term. Its purpose was to suggest and
+urge administrative and economic changes from the Cuban point of view. The
+suggestions were ignored and, a few years later, revolution was adopted as
+a means of emphasizing their importance. The result of the Ten Years' War
+was an assortment of pledges of greater political and economic freedom.
+Much was promised but little if anything was really granted. There was,
+however, a relaxation of the earlier absolutism, and under that there
+appeared a semblance of party organization, in the form of a Liberal party
+and a Union Constitutional party. There was no special difference in what
+might be called their platforms. Both focussed, in a somewhat general way,
+the political aspirations and the economic desires of the Cuban people,
+much the same aspirations and desires that had been manifested by
+complaint, protest, and occasional outbreak, for fifty years. National
+independence had no place in either. That came later, when an army in the
+field declared that if Spain would not grant independence, the island would
+be made so worthless a possession that Spain could not afford to hold it.
+A few years after their organization, the Liberals became the Cuban party,
+and so remained, and the Union Constitutionals became the Spanish party,
+the party of the immediate administration. Later on, the Liberal party
+became the Autonomist party, but Spain's concession of the demands of that
+group came too late, forced, not by the Autonomists but by the party of the
+Revolution that swept the island with fire and sword from Oriente to
+Pinar del Rio. The Autonomists sought what their name indicates; the
+Revolutionists demanded and secured national independence.
+
+Shortly before the final dispersion of the Army of the Revolution,
+there was organized a body with the imposing title of _La Asamblea de
+Representantes del Ejercito Cubano_, or the Assembly of Representatives
+of the Cuban Army. It was composed of leaders of the different military
+divisions of that army, and included, as I recall it, thirty-one members.
+This group made no little trouble in the early days of the American
+occupation. It gathered in Havana, held meetings, declared itself the
+duly chosen and representative agent of the Cuban people, and demanded
+recognition as such by the American authorities. Some of its members even
+asserted that it constituted a _de facto_ government, and held that the
+Americans should turn the whole affair over to them and promptly sail away.
+But their recognition was flatly refused by the authorities. At the time, I
+supported the authorities in this refusal, but afterward I felt less sure
+of the wisdom of the course. As a recognized body, it might have been
+useful; rejected, it made no little trouble. Transfer of control to its
+hands was quite out of the question, but recognition and co-operation
+might have proved helpful. That the body had a considerable representative
+quality, there is no doubt. Later, I found many of its members as members
+of the Constitutional Convention, and, still later, many of them have
+served in high official positions, as governors of provinces, members of
+Congress, in cabinet and in diplomatic positions. I am inclined to regard
+the group broadly, as the origin of the present much divided Liberal party
+that has, from the beginning of definite party organization, included a
+considerable numerical majority of the Cuban voters. In the first national
+election, held December 31, 1901, this group, the military group, appeared
+as the National party, supporting Tomas Estrada y Palma as its candidate.
+Its opponent was called the Republican party. Realizing its overwhelming
+defeat, the latter withdrew on the day of the election, alleging all manner
+of fraud and unfairness on the part of the Nationals. It is useless to
+follow in detail the history of Cuba's political parties since that time.
+In the election of 1905, the former National party appeared as the Liberal
+party, supporting José Miguel Gomez, while its opponents appeared as the
+Moderate party, supporting Estrada Palma who, first elected on what he
+declared to be a non-partisan basis, had definitely affiliated himself with
+the so-called Moderates. The election was a game of political crookedness
+on both sides, and the Liberals withdrew on election day. The result
+was the revolution of 1906. The Liberals split into factions, not yet
+harmonized, and the Moderate party became the Conservative party. By the
+fusion of some of the Liberal groups, that party carried the election of
+1908, held under American auspices. A renewal of internal disorders, a
+quarrel among leaders, and much discontent with their administrative
+methods, resulted in the defeat of the Liberals in the campaign of 1912
+and in the election of General Mario Menocal, the head of the Conservative
+ticket, and the present incumbent.
+
+A fair presentation of political conditions in Cuba is exceedingly
+difficult, or rather it is difficult so to present them that they will be
+fairly understood. I have always regarded the establishment of the Cuban
+Republic in 1902 as premature, though probably unavoidable. A few years of
+experience with an autonomous government under American auspices, civil and
+not military, as a prologue to full independence, might have been the wiser
+course, but such a plan seemed impossible. The Cubans in the field had
+forced from Spain concessions that were satisfactory to many. Whether they
+could have forced more than that, without the physical assistance given
+by the United States, is perhaps doubtful. The matter might have been
+determined by the grant of the belligerent rights for which they repeatedly
+appealed to the United States. At no time in the entire experience did they
+ask for intervention. That came as the result of a combination of American
+wrath and American sympathy, and more in the interest of the United States
+than because of concern for the Cubans. But, their victory won and Spain
+expelled, the triumphant Cubans naturally desired immediate enjoyment of
+the fruits of victory. They desired to exercise the independence for which
+they had fought. Many protests and not a few threats of trouble attended
+even the brief period of American occupation. There was, moreover, an acute
+political issue in the United States. The peace and order declared as the
+purpose of American intervention had been established. The amendment to
+the Joint Resolution of April 20, 1898, disclaimed "any disposition or
+intention to exercise sovereignty, jurisdiction, or control over said
+Island except for the pacification thereof," etc. The island was pacified.
+The amendment asserted, further, the determination of the United States,
+pacification having been accomplished, "to leave the government and control
+of the island to its people." There was no pledge of any prolonged course
+of education in principles and methods of self-government. Nor did such
+education play any appreciable part in the experience of the American
+military government. The work of the interventors had been done in
+accordance with the specifications, and the Cubans were increasingly
+restless under a control that many of them, with no little reason, declared
+to be as autocratic as any ever exercised by Spain. Transfer and departure
+seemed to be the politic if not the only course, and we transferred and
+departed.
+
+That these people, entirely without experience or training in
+self-government, should make mistakes was quite as inevitable as it is that
+a child in learning to walk will tumble down and bump its little nose. In
+addition to the inevitable mistakes, there have been occasional instances
+of deplorable misconduct on the part of individuals and of political
+parties. For neither mistakes nor misconduct can we criticize or condemn
+them without a similar criticism or condemnation of various experiences in
+our own history. We should, at least, regard them with charity. There are,
+moreover, incidents in the two experiences of American control of the
+island that, at least, border on the unwise and the discreditable. The only
+issue yet developed in Cuba is between good government and bad politics.
+The first President started admirably along the line of the former, and
+ended in a wretched tangle of the latter, though not at all by his own
+choice or direction. Official pre-eminence and a "government job" make
+quite the same appeal to the Cubans that they do to many thousands
+of Americans. So do raids on the national treasury, and profitable
+concessions. We see these motes in Cuban eyes somewhat more clearly than
+we see the beams in our own eyes. A necessarily slow process of political
+education is going on among the people, but in the meantime the
+situation has afforded opportunity for exploitation by an assortment
+of self-constituted political leaders who have adopted politics as a
+profession and a means of livelihood. Cuba's gravest danger lies in the
+political domination of men in this class. The present President, General
+Mario Menocal, is not in that group. The office sought him; he did not seek
+the office. Some of these self-constituted leaders have displayed a notable
+aptitude for political organization, and it is largely by means of the
+many little local organizations that the Cuban political game is played.
+Although, I believe, somewhat less now than formerly, the little groups
+follow and support individual leaders rather than parties or principles.
+Parties and their minor divisions are known by the names of their leaders.
+Thus, while both men are nominally of the same party, the Liberal, the
+adherents of José Miguel Gomez, are known as Miguelistas, and the adherents
+of Alfredo Zayas are known as Zayistas. Were either to announce himself
+as a Conservative, or to start a new party and call it Reformist or
+Progressive or any other title, he could count on being followed by most
+of those who supported him as a Liberal. This is a condition that will, in
+time, correct itself. What the Cuban really wants is what all people want,
+an orderly, honest, and economical government, under which he may live in
+peace and quiet, enjoying the fruits of his labor without paying an undue
+share of the fruits to maintain his government. For that the Cuban people
+took up arms against Spain. For a time they may be blinded by the idea of
+mere political independence, but to that same issue they will yet return
+by the route of the ballot-box. The game of politics for individual
+preferment, or for personal profit, cannot long be successfully played
+in Cuba, if I have rightly interpreted Cuban character and Cuban
+characteristics.
+
+"We, the delegates of the people of Cuba, having met in constitutional
+convention for the purpose of preparing and adopting the fundamental law of
+their organization as an independent and sovereign people, establishing a
+government capable of fulfilling its international obligations, maintaining
+public peace, ensuring liberty, justice, and promoting the general welfare,
+do hereby agree upon and adopt the following constitution, invoking the
+protection of the Almighty. Article I. The people of Cuba are hereby
+constituted a sovereign and independent State and adopt a republican form
+of government." Thus opens the Constitution of the Republic of Cuba.
+
+I recall an intensely dramatic moment connected with the closing phrase of
+the preamble. I have used a translation published by a distinguished Cuban.
+That phrase, in the original, is "_invocando el favor de Dios_," perhaps
+more exactly translated as "invoking the favor (or blessing) of God." When
+the Constitution had been drafted and broadly approved, it was submitted
+to the convention for suggestion of minor changes in verbiage. One of the
+oldest and most distinguished members of the body proposed that this phrase
+be left out. Another member, distinguished for his power as an orator and
+for his cynicism, in a speech of considerable length set forth his opinion
+that it made little difference whether it was included or excluded. There
+was no benefit in its inclusion, and no advantage in excluding it. It would
+hurt none and might please some to have it left in. Immediately across
+the semi-circle of desks, and facing these two speakers, sat Señor Pedro
+Llorente, a man of small stature, long, snow-white hair and beard, and a
+nervous and alert manner. At times, his nervous energy made him almost
+grotesque. At times, his absorbed earnestness made him, despite his
+stature, a figure of commanding dignity. Through the preceding addresses he
+waited with evident impatience. Obtaining recognition from the chairman,
+he rose and stood with upraised hand his voice tremulous with emotion, to
+protest against the proposed measure, declaring "as one not far from the
+close of life, that the body there assembled did not represent an atheistic
+people." The motion to strike out was lost, and the invocation remains.
+
+The result of the deliberations of the Constitutional Convention is a
+highly creditable instrument. It contains a well-devised Bill of Rights,
+and makes all necessary provision for governmental organization and
+conduct. One feature, however, seems open to criticism. In their desire to
+avoid that form of centralized control, of which they had somewhat too much
+under Spanish power, the new institution provides, perhaps, for too much
+local government, for a too extensive provincial and municipal system. It
+has already fallen down in some respects, and it has become necessary to
+centralize certain functions, quite as it has become desirable in several
+of our own matters. Cuba has, perhaps, an undue overload of officialdom,
+somewhat too many public officers, and quite too many people on its
+pay-rolls. The feature of Cuba's Constitution that is of greatest interest
+and importance to the United States is what is known as the Platt
+Amendment. The provision for a Constitutional Convention in Cuba was made
+in what was known as Civil Order No. 301, issued by the Military Governor,
+on July 25, 1900. It provided for an election of delegates to meet in
+Havana on the first Monday in November, following. The convention was to
+frame and adopt a Constitution and "as a part thereof, to provide for and
+agree with the Government of the United States upon the relations to exist
+between that Government and the Government of Cuba," etc. Against this, the
+Cubans protested vigorously. The United States had declared that "Cuba
+is and of right ought to be free and independent." The Cubans held, very
+properly, that definition of international relations had no fitting place
+in a Constitution "as a part thereof." Their point was recognized and,
+under date of November 5, Civil Order No. 310 was modified by Civil Order
+No. 455. That was issued to the delegates at the time of their assembly.
+It declared as follows: "It will be your duty, first, to frame and adopt a
+Constitution for Cuba, and, when that has been done, to formulate what,
+in your opinion, ought to be the relations between Cuba and the United
+States." Taking this as their programme, the delegates proceeded to draft
+a Constitution, leaving the matter of "relations" in abeyance for
+consideration at the proper time. Yet, before its work was done, the
+Convention was savagely criticized in the United States for its failure
+to include in the Constitution what it had been authorized, and virtually
+instructed, to leave out. The Constitution was completed on February 11,
+1901, and was duly signed by the delegates, on February 21. A committee
+was appointed, on February 11, to prepare and submit plans and proposals
+regarding the matter of "relations." Prior to that, however, the matter had
+been frequently but informally discussed by the delegates. Suggestions had
+been made in the local press, and individual members of the Convention had
+expressed their views with considerable freedom. Had the United States kept
+its hands off at that time, a serious and critical situation, as well as
+a sense of injustice that has not yet entirely died out, would have been
+averted.
+
+Before the Cubans had time to put their "opinion of what ought to be
+the relations" between the two countries into definite form, there was
+presented to them, in a manner as needless as it was tactless, a statement
+of what the American authorities thought those relations should be. The
+Cubans, who were faithfully observing their earlier instructions, were
+deeply offended by this interference, and by the way in which the
+interference came. The measures known as the Platt Amendment was submitted
+to the United States Senate, as an amendment to the Army Appropriation
+bill, on February 25, 1901 The Senate passed the bill, and the House
+concurred A storm of indignant protest swept over the island The Cubans
+believed, and not without reason, that the instrument abridged the
+independence of which they had been assured by those who now sought to
+limit that independence. Public opinion in the United States was divided.
+Some approved and some denounced the proceeding in bitter terms. The
+division was not at all on party lines. The situation in Cuba was entirely
+changed. Instead of formulating an opinion in accordance with their earlier
+instructions, the members of the Convention were confronted by a choice of
+what they then regarded as evils, acceptance of unacceptable terms or an
+indefinite continuance of a military government then no less unacceptable.
+A commission was sent to Washington to urge changes and modifications. It
+was given dinners, lunches, and receptions, but nothing more. At last the
+Cubans shrugged their shoulders. The desire for an immediate withdrawal of
+American authority, and for Cuban assumption of the reins of government,
+outweighed the objection to the terms imposed. A Cuban leader said: "There
+is no use in objecting to the inevitable. It is either annexation or a
+Republic with the Amendment. I prefer the latter." After four months of
+stubborn opposition, the Cubans yielded, by a vote of sixteen to eleven,
+with four absentees.
+
+In many ways, the Cuban Government is like our own. The President and
+Vice-President are elected, through an electoral college, for a term of
+four years. A "third term" is specifically prohibited by the Constitution.
+Senators, four from each Province, are chosen, for a term of eight years,
+by an electoral board. Elections for one half of the body occur every four
+years. The House is chosen, by direct vote, for terms of four years, one
+half being elected every two years. The Cabinet, selected and appointed by
+the President, consists of eight Secretaries of Departments as follows:
+Agriculture, Commerce, and Labor; State; Government; Treasury (_Hacienda_);
+Public Instruction; Justice; Public Works; and Health and Charities. There
+is a Supreme Court, and there are the usual minor courts. The Constitution
+also makes provision for the organization and the powers of the Provincial
+and Municipal Governments. To the Constitution, the Platt Amendment is
+attached as an appendix, by treaty arrangement. As far as governmental
+system is concerned, Cuba is fairly well equipped; a possible source of
+danger is its over-equipment. Its laws permit, rather than require, an
+overburden of officials, high and low. But Cuba's governmental problem
+is essentially one of administration. Its particular obstacle in that
+department is professional politics.
+
+The whole situation in Cuba is somewhat peculiar. The business of the
+island, that is, the commercial business, the purchase and sale of
+merchandise wholesale and retail, is almost entirely in the hands of
+Spaniards. The Cuban youths seldom become clerks in stores. Most of the
+so-called "_dependientes_" come out as boys from Spain. It is an old
+established system. These lads, almost invariably hard workers, usually eat
+and sleep in the place of their employment. The wage is small but board and
+lodging, such as the latter is, are furnished. They are well fed, and the
+whole system is quite paternal. For their recreation, education, and care
+in case of illness, there are organizations, half club and half mutual
+protective association, to which practically all belong. The fee is small
+and the benefits many. Some of these are based on a regional plan, that is,
+the _Centro de Asturianos_ is composed of those who come from the Spanish
+province of Asturia, and those from other regions have their societies.
+There is also a general society of "_dependientes_." Some of these groups
+are rich, with large membership including not only the clerks of today but
+those of the last thirty or forty years, men who by diligence and thrift
+have risen to the top in Cuba's commercial life. Most of Cuba's business
+men continue their membership in these organizations, and many contribute
+liberally toward their maintenance.
+
+This system more or less effectively bars Cuban youths from commercial
+life. Nor does commercial life seem attractive to more than a very limited
+number. This leaves to them, practically, only three lines of possible
+activity, the ownership and operation of a plantation, a profession, or
+manual labor. The greater number there, as elsewhere, are laborers, either
+on some little bit of ground they call their own or rent from its owner,
+or they are employed by the proprietors of the larger estates. Such
+proprietorship is, of course, open to only a few. The problem, which is
+both social and political, appears in a class that cannot or will not
+engage in manual labor, the well-educated or fairly-educated sons of men
+of fair income and a social position. Many of these take some professional
+course. But there is not room for so many in so small a country, and the
+professions are greatly overcrowded. The surplus either loafs and lives by
+its wits or at the expense of the family, or turns to the Government for
+a "job." It constitutes a considerable element on which the aspiring
+professional politician can draw for support. Having such "jobs," it
+constitutes a heavy burden on the tax-payers; deprived of its places on the
+Government pay-roll, it becomes a social and political menace. If a Liberal
+administration throws them out of their comfortable posts, they become
+noisy and perhaps violent Conservatives; if discharged by an economical
+Conservative administration, they become no less noisy and no less
+potentially violent Liberals. But we may not criticize. The American
+control that followed the insurrection of 1906 set no example in
+administrative economy for the Cubans to follow.
+
+The productive industries of the island have already been reviewed in other
+chapters. The development of Cuba's commerce since the withdrawal of Spain,
+and the substitution of a modern fiscal policy for an antiquated and
+indefensible system, has been notable. It is, however, a mistake to
+contrast the present condition with the condition existing at the time
+of the American occupation, in 1899. The exact accuracy of the record is
+questionable, but the returns for the year 1894, the year preceding the
+revolution, show the total imports of the island as $77,000,000, and the
+total exports as $99,000,000. The probability is that a proper valuation
+would show a considerable advance in the value of the imports. The
+statement of export values may be accepted. It may be assumed that had
+there been no disorder, the trade of the island, by natural growth, would
+have reached $90,000,000 for imports and $120,000,000, for exports, in
+1900. That may be regarded as a fair normal. As it was, the imports of that
+year were $72,000,000, and the exports, by reason of the general wreck of
+the sugar business, were only $45,000,000. With peace and order fairly
+assured, recovery came quickly. The exports of 1905, at $99,000,000,
+equalled those of 1894, while the imports materially exceeded those of the
+earlier year. In 1913, the exports reached $165,207,000, and the imports
+$132,290,000. This growth of Cuba's commerce and industry is due mainly to
+the economic requirements of the American people. We need Cuba's sugar and
+we want its tobacco. These two commodities represent about 90 per cent,
+of the total exports of the island. We buy nearly all of its sugar, under
+normal conditions, and about 60 per cent, of its tobacco and cigars. On the
+basis of the total commerce of the island, the records of recent years show
+this country as the source of supply for about 53 per cent, of Cuba's
+total imports, and as the market for about 83 per cent, of its exports. A
+comparison of the years 1903 and 1913 shows a gain of about $87,000,000 in
+Cuba's total exports. Of this, about $75,000,000 is represented by sugar.
+The crop of 1894 a little exceeded a million tons. Such a quantity was
+not again produced until 1903. With yearly variations, due to weather
+conditions, later years show an enormous and unprecedented increase. The
+crops of 1913 and 1914 were, approximately, 2,500,000 tons each. The
+tobacco industry shows only a modest gain. The average value of the exports
+of that commodity has risen, in ten years, from about $25,000,000 to about
+$30,000,000. The increase in the industry appears largely in the shipment
+of leaf tobacco. The cigar business shows practically no change, in that
+time, as far as values are concerned. This résumé affords a fair idea of
+Cuba's trade expansion under the conditions established through the change
+in government. That event opened new and larger doors of opportunity, and
+the Cubans and others have been prompt in taking advantage of them. Toward
+the great increase shown, two forces have operated effectively. One is the
+treaty by which the provisions of the so-called Platt Amendment to the
+Cuban Constitution are made permanently effective. The other is the
+reciprocity treaty of 1903.
+
+By the operation of the former of these instruments the United States
+virtually underwrites the political stability and the financial
+responsibility of the Cuban Government. That Government cannot borrow any
+important sums without the consent of the United States, and it has agreed
+that this country "may exercise the right to intervene for the preservation
+of Cuban independence, the maintenance of a government adequate for the
+protection of life, property, and individual liberty, and for discharging
+the obligations with respect to Cuba imposed by the Treaty of Paris on the
+United States." This assumption of responsibility by the United States
+inspired confidence on the part of capital, and large sums have been
+invested in Cuban bonds, and in numerous public and private enterprises.
+Railways and trolley lines have been built and many other works of public
+utility have been undertaken. The activities of old sugar plantations have
+been extended under improved conditions, and many new estates with costly
+modern equipment have been created. The cultivation of large areas,
+previously lying waste and idle, afforded both directly and indirectly
+employment for an increased population, as did the numerous public works.
+The other force, perhaps no less effective, appears in the reciprocity
+treaty of 1903. This gave to Cuba's most important crop a large though by
+no means absolute control of the constantly increasing sugar market of
+the United States, as far as competition from other foreign countries
+was concerned. The sugar industry of the island may be said to have been
+restored to its normal proportions in 1903. Our imports for the five-year
+period 1904-1908 averaged 1,200,000 tons a year. For the five-year period
+1910-1914 they averaged 1,720,000 tons. In 1914, they were 2,200,000 tons
+as compared with 1,260,000 tons in 1904. It is doubtful if the treaty had
+any appreciable influence on the exports of Cuban tobacco to this country.
+We buy Cuba's special tobacco irrespective of a custom-house advantage
+that affects the box price only a little, and the price of a single cigar
+probably not at all. On the other side of the account, that of our sales
+to Cuba, there also appears a large increase since the application of the
+reciprocity treaty. Using the figures showing exports from the United
+States to Cuba, instead of Cuba's records showing imports from this
+country, it appears that our sales to the island in the fiscal year 1903,
+immediately preceding the operation of the treaty, amounted to $21,761,638.
+In the fiscal year 1913 they were $70,581,000, and in 1914 were
+$68,884,000.
+
+Not all of this quite remarkable gain may properly be credited to the
+influence of the reciprocity treaty. The purchases of the island are
+determined, broadly, by its sales. As the latter increase, so do the
+former. Almost invariably, a year of large export sales is followed by a
+year of heavy import purchases. The fact that our imports from Cuba are
+double our sales to Cuba, in the total of a period of years, has given rise
+to some foolish criticism of the Cubans on the ground that, we buying so
+heavily from them, they should purchase from us a much larger percentage of
+their import requirements. No such obligation is held to exist in regard
+to our trade with other lands, and it should have no place in any
+consideration of our trade with Cuba. There are many markets, like Brazil,
+British India, Japan, China, Mexico, and Egypt, in which our purchases
+exceed our sales. There are more, like the United Kingdom, France, Germany,
+Italy, Canada, Central America, and numerous others, in which our sales
+considerably or greatly exceed our purchases. We do not buy from them
+simply because they buy from us. We buy what we need or want in that market
+in which we can buy to the greatest advantage. The Cuban merchants, who are
+nearly all Spaniards, do the same. The notion held by some that, because
+of our service to Cuba in the time of her struggle for national life, the
+Cubans should buy from us is both foolish and altogether unworthy. Any
+notion of Cuba's obligation to pay us for what we may have done for her
+should be promptly dismissed and forgotten. There are commodities, such as
+lumber, pork products, coal, wheat flour, and mineral oil produces,
+that Cuba can buy in our markets on terms better than those obtainable
+elsewhere. Other commodities, such as textiles, leather goods, sugar mill
+equipment, railway equipment, drugs, chemicals, and much else, must be
+sold by American dealers in sharp competition with the merchants of other
+countries, with such assistance as may be afforded by the reciprocity
+treaty. That instrument gives us a custom-house advantage of 20, 25, 30,
+and 40 per cent, in the tariff rates. It is enough in some cases to give
+us a fair equality with European sellers, and in a few cases to give us a
+narrow margin of advantage over them. It does not give us enough to compel
+Cuban buyers to trade with us because of lower delivered prices.
+
+Cuba's economic future can be safely predicted on the basis of its past.
+The pace of its development will depend mainly upon a further influx of
+capital and an increase in its working population. Its political future
+is less certain. There is ample ground for both hope and belief that the
+little clouds that hang on the political horizon will be dissipated, that
+there will come, year by year, a sane adjustment to the new institutions.
+But full assurance of peace and order will come only when the people of the
+island, whether planters or peasants, see clearly the difference between a
+government conducted in their interest and a government conducted by Cubans
+along Spanish lines.
+
+
+
+
+INDEX
+
+
+A
+
+Adams, President John, 127
+Angulo, Governor de, 59
+Animals, wild, 50
+Asphalt, 232, 233
+Autonomy, 143, 178
+
+
+B
+
+Babeque, 6, 7
+Bacon, Hon. Robert, 160
+Bacon's Rebellion, 144
+Ballou, M.M., 31, 32, 71
+Banes, 113
+Baracoa, 12, 91, 100, 114
+Batabano, 12, 116
+Baths, 52
+Bellamar, Caves of, 42,110
+Belligerent rights, 136, 140, 157, 158, 181
+_Bermuda_, 189, 197
+Bertram, Luis, 14
+Betancourt, Salvador Cisneros, 174
+Black Eagle conspiracy, 147
+_Black Warrior_, 131
+Blanco, General Ramon, 178
+Bolivia, 126
+Bolivar, Simon, 124, 185
+Bonds, Cuban, 175
+Boston sugar plantation, 113
+Buchanan, President, 130
+
+
+C
+
+Cabaña, 57, 60
+Cabinet, Cuban, 250
+Cabrera, Raimundo, 135
+Cadiz, 20
+Caibarien, 102
+Callahan, James M., 125, 139, 152
+Camaguey, city, 105, 110, 111
+Camaguey, province, 40, 109
+Cardenas, 101
+Casa de Beneficencia, 24
+Castillo del Principe, 57, 60, 71, 83
+Cathay, 3
+Cathedral, Havana, 63
+Cattle, 17, 235
+Cauto river, 43
+Caves, 42
+Cemetery, Colon, 83
+Census Reports, United States, 27, 35, 44, 144, 236
+Cespedes, Carlos Manuel,154, 155
+Channing, Edward, 142, 143
+Chaparra sugar plantation, 113
+Ciego de Avila, 106
+Cienaga de Zapata, 43, 51
+Cienfuegos, 102
+Cigars, 224, 225, 254
+Cipango, 2, 5
+Clerks' Associations, 251
+Climate, 45 et seq.
+Coal, 232
+Coffee, 23, 36, 226, et seq.
+Colonies, American in Cuba, 12, 120
+Colonies, British, 19, 236
+Colonies, Spanish, 19, 21, 123, 126
+Columbia, 124, 145
+Columbus, Christopher
+  Death and remains, 63
+  Describes Cuba, 3, 4, 7
+  Discovers Cuba, 2
+  Extract from journal, 2
+  Letter to Sanchez, 3
+  Memorial to, 64
+  Mistaken belief, 2, 3, 5, 8
+  Report to Spanish sovereigns, 7
+  Second expedition, 7
+Commerce, 21, 22, 35, 36, 156, 253, 254, 257
+_Commodore_, 193, 195, 197
+Constitutional Convention, 247
+Constitution, Cuban, 154, 245, 246
+Constitution, Spanish, 29, 145, 159
+Copper, 231, 232
+Cordoba, de, 12
+Cortes, Hernan, 13, 58
+Cortes, Spanish, 29, 176
+Crittenden, Col., 150
+Cuba:
+  Aborigines, 14, 15.
+  Advice to visitors, 55.
+  American attitude toward, 135, 137, 140.
+  Annexation proposed, 125 et seq.
+  Animals, wild, 49.
+  Area, 37.
+  Climate and temperature, 45 et seq.
+  Colonized, 12.
+  Commerce, 21, 22, 35, 36, 156, 253, 254, 257.
+  Conquest by Velasquez, II.
+  Described by Columbus, 3, 4, 7.
+  Description, general, 37 et seq.
+  Discovered, 2.
+  Expeditions from, 13, 14.
+  Flora, 48.
+  Forests, 49.
+  Future of, 258.
+  Insects, 51.
+  Intervention by United States, 25, 160, 182, 242.
+  Mineral springs, 52.
+  Monopolies in, 20, 144, 220, 231.
+  Monroe Doctrine, 127.
+  Nineteenth Century, 142.
+  Population, 17, 23, 34.
+  Railways, 89, 91.
+  Relations with United States, 122 et seq., 247, 248.
+  Republic of, 182.
+  Revolutions, 141 et seq.
+  Roads, 87, 95, 96.
+  Self-government, 243.
+  Slavery in, 15, 16, 23, 125, 145, 155.
+  Spanish Governors, 24, 32.
+  Spanish policy in, 17, 19 et seq. 24, 31.
+  Trade restrictions, 20, 21, 24, 25, 30.
+  Taxation, Spanish, 24, 27, 28, 30.
+  Villages, 85, 93, 94, 100
+_Cuba and the Intervention_, 154, 164
+Cushing, Caleb, 138
+Custom house, 62
+
+
+D
+
+_Dauntless_, 193, 194, 197, 199, 200
+Delicias sugar plantation, 113
+Dexter, Lord Timothy, 216
+Domestic life, 80
+
+
+E
+
+EARTHQUAKES, 53
+Elections, 240, 250
+Elson, Henry William, 186
+England, 19, 128, 130, 139, 145
+Everett, Alexander H., 130
+
+
+F
+
+FILIBUSTERING expeditions, 148 et seq., 184 et seq.
+Firemen, 83
+Fish, Secretary, 157
+Flora, 48
+Florida, 13
+Forests, 48, 49
+Fortifications, 59, 60
+France, 128, 145
+Fritot, Alphonso, 196, 199
+Fruits, 5, 229
+Fuerza, la, 17, 58, 59
+
+
+G
+
+Garcia, General Calixto, 84, 190
+Geerligs, H.C. Prinsen, 206
+Gibara, 112
+Gold, 2, 6, 231
+Gomez, General Maximo, 84, 158, 164, 172, 174. Proclamations, 167 et seq.
+Government, 250
+Grant, President, 135 et seq.
+Guane, 101
+Guantanamo, 91, 115
+Guines, 90
+
+
+H
+
+Haiti, 9, 10, 144
+Harbors, 44
+Hart, John D., 191, 197
+Hatuey, 8 et seq.
+Havana:
+  Bells, church, 65.
+  British occupation, 20.
+  Capital, 20, 59.
+  Cathedral, 63.
+  Changes in, 66, 67, 82, 85.
+  Commerce limited to, 20.
+  Destroyed, 17, 58, 59.
+  Discovered, 12, 57.
+  Early conditions, 61.
+  Excursions from, 97 et seq.
+  Firemen, 83.
+  Fortifications, 59, 60.
+  Homes in, 77 et seq.
+  Las Casas as governor, 24.
+  Market, fish, 74.
+  Name, origin of, 58.
+  New City, 70 et seq.
+  Old city, 54 et seq.
+  Parks, 70, 71.
+  _Paseo_, 75.
+  Public buildings, 62 et seq.
+  Sanitation of, 63.
+  Settled 12, 58.
+  Shopping in, 68.
+  Streets 61, 71.
+  Suburbs, 85.
+  Sunrise in harbor, 54.
+  Theatre, Nacional, 71 et seq.
+Havana, province, 38, 41
+Hayes, President, 136
+Hazard, Samuel, 33, 65, 111
+Henry, Patrick, 143
+Heredia, José Maria, 146
+Hill, Robert T., 39, 48
+Holguin, 113
+Hotels, 91, 111
+Homes, 77 et seq.
+Humboldt, Baron Alexander, 8, 14, 15, 16, 35, 53
+Hurricanes, 53
+
+
+I
+
+Imports and Exports, 253, 256
+Independence, 162 et seq.
+Insect life, 51
+Intervention, First, 25, 182, 242
+Intervention, Second, 160
+Iron ore, 233, 234
+Irving, Washington, 4, 5, 6
+Isle of Pines, 8, 116, 117 et seq.
+
+
+J
+
+Jefferson, Thomas, 122
+Joint Resolution of 1898, 242
+Jolo, 54
+Juana, 2, 4
+Jucaro, 106
+Junta, 164, 174, 188
+
+
+K
+
+Kimball, R.B. 32
+
+
+L
+
+Las Casas, Bartolomé, 9, 14
+Las Casas, Governor Luis de, 24
+_Laurada_, 193 et seq.
+Lemus, José Francisco, 146
+Llorente, Pedro, 246
+Lodge, Henry Cabot, 123
+Lopez, Narciso, 148 et seq.
+Ludlow, General William, 63
+
+
+M
+
+Maceo, General Antonio, 99, 164, 172, 174
+McKinley, President, 122, 178, 179
+Magoon, Charles E., 160
+_Maine_, battleship, 179
+Maisi, Cape, 7, 8, 38, 115
+Malecon, 75
+Manufactures, 234
+Marti, José, 164, 166
+Marti, the smuggler, 72 et seq.
+Martinez Campos, General, 158, 165, 166, 177.
+Maso, Bartolomé, 165, 174
+Massachusetts rebellion, 144
+Matanzas, city, 41, 101
+Matanzas, province, 41
+Menocal, General Mario, 241, 244
+Mexico, 13, 58, 124, 145
+Minerals, 231 et seq.
+Mineral springs, 52
+Miranda, Francisco, 126, 185
+Monopolies, 20, 144, 220, 231.
+Monroe Doctrine, 127
+Monroe, President, 129
+Monuments:
+  Firemen's, 83, 84
+  Students', 84
+Moret law, 16
+Morgan, Henry, no
+Morro Castle, 17, 57, 59, 60
+Mountains, 5, 41, 93
+Murielo, 13
+
+
+N
+
+NARVAEZ, 13
+Navigation acts, British, 19, 144
+Nelson, Hugh, 127
+Nipe Bay, 2, 91, 113, 114
+Nuevitas, 2, 3, 110, 111, 112
+Nuñez, General Emilio, 191, 192, 199
+
+
+O
+
+O'BRIEN, "Dynamite Johnny," 189, et seq.
+Ocampo, Sebastian de, 8, 12, 57
+Oriente, province, 40, 41
+Ostend Manifesto, 133
+Otis, James, 143
+
+
+P
+
+PALACE, Governor's, 64
+Palma, Tomas Estrada y, 162, 174, 192
+Palms, 5, 7, 48, 49
+Panama Congress (1826), 126
+Parks, Havana, 70, 71
+Parties, Political, 159, 176, 237, 238, 240, 244
+Pearcy _v_. Stranahan, 120
+Pepper, Charles M., 105, 134, 152, 176
+Petroleum, 233
+Pierce, President, 130, 132, 151
+Pinar del Rio, city, 101
+Pinar del Rio, province, 41
+Platt Amendment, 118, 247 et seq., 255
+Politics, 252
+Polk, President, 130
+Ponce de Leon, 13
+Population, 14, 17, 23, 34
+Porto Rico, 118
+Prado, 71, 75
+Preston sugar plantation, 113
+Puerto de Carenas, 12, 57
+Puerto Principe, see Camaguey
+Punta, la, 17
+
+
+Q
+
+QUITMAN expedition, 151
+
+
+R
+
+RAILWAYS, 89, 91
+Rainfall, 46
+Real estate speculation, 120
+Reciprocity treaty, 255, 258
+Reconcentration, 177
+"Relations," question of, 247, 248
+Remedios, 102
+Revolutions, 19, 141 et seq.
+  of 1868, 153 et seq.
+  of 1895, 162 et seq.
+  of 1906, 159, 160
+Rhodes, James Ford, 131
+Rivers, 43 44
+Roads, 87, 95, 96
+Rubens, Horatio, S., 165, 181, 191, 192, 195
+Ruskin, John, 56
+
+
+S
+
+Saco, Antonio, 31
+Sagua la Grande, 101
+Sanchez, Rafael, 3
+Sancti Spiritus, 12, 91, 104
+Santa Clara, city, 102
+Santa Clara, province, 40
+Santangel, Luis de, 4
+Santiago de Cuba, 12, 13, 20, 115, 116
+Santo Domingo, 7
+Seville, 20
+Slavery, 15, 16, 23, 125, 145, 155
+Smuggling, 21, 26
+Snakes, 50
+Sociedad Economica, 24
+Sociedad Patriotica, 24
+Soles de Bolivar, 146
+Soto, Hernando de, 13, 14, 17, 58
+Soule, Pierre, 132, 133
+Spain, 17, 19, 24, 29, 123 et seq., 145, 236
+Spanish-American independence, 126
+Sugar, 113, 203 et seq.
+  Beet sugar, 208
+  Countries producing, 209
+  History, 207
+  In Cuba, 210
+  Manufacture of, 204, 213
+  Muscovado, 205
+  Origin of, 206
+  Planting and cutting, 213 et seq.
+  Production of, 209, 254, 256
+Supreme Court, United States, 120
+
+
+T
+
+Tacon, Governor Miguel, 32, 33, 70, 71 et seq.
+Taft, Hon. William H., 99, 160
+Tariff, Spanish, 21, 25
+Taxes, 24, 27, 30, 163
+Taylor, President, 148
+Teller Amendment, 182
+Temperance question, 76
+Temperature, 45 et seq.
+Templete, el, 64
+Ten Years' War, 16, 134, 135 et seq., 153 et seq.
+Thrasher, J.S., 15, 29
+_Three Friends_, 193 et seq.
+_Tillie_, wreck of the, 210
+Times, New York, 150
+Tobacco, 36, 102, 221, 222
+  Cultivation in Cuba, 223
+  History, 219 et seq.
+  Origin, 218
+  Use in Cuba, 225
+Trade restricted, 20, 24, 25, 30
+Transportation, 90
+Treaty of Paris, 118, 182
+Trinidad, 12, 91, 100, 103
+Turnbull, David, 25
+
+
+U
+
+UNITED STATES:
+  Diplomatic correspondence, 125 et seq.
+  Mediation offered, 156
+  Presidential messages, 125, 135, 136, 137, 158, 178, 179, 180, 184
+  Relations with Cuba, 122 et seq., 179
+
+
+V
+
+Valmaseda proclamation, 156
+Varona, Enrique José, 153
+Vedado, el, 82
+Vegetable products, 228 et seq.
+Velasquez, 8, 58
+Villages, 85, 93
+_Virginius_ affair, 116, 137, 185
+Volantes, 88
+
+
+W
+
+Welles, Gideon, 186
+Weyler, General Valeriano, 177, 198
+Wilson, Henry, 125
+
+
+Y
+
+Yumuri valley, 41
+
+
+Z
+
+Zanjon, treaty of, 158
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's Cuba, Old and New, by Albert Gardner Robinson
+
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 11464 ***