“You ask an expression of my opinion before leaving Cuba as to the character of the people of the Island and their future prospects. If they will be patient, following the dictates of prudence, and trust the Government of the United States, a very prosperous and happy future awaits them. The process of rehabilitation may be slow, but by cordial co-operation of all classes it will be more certain and permanent.
“The army of the United States is here to guarantee public order and enforce obedience to law. Its use will be controlled very largely by the conduct of the people themselves. If they uphold the law and insure public tranquillity, if each will respect the rights and persons of the other, there will be no occasion for interference by American troops. And you may take my word for it they will not interfere with the people in their peaceful vocations, if the conditions I have suggested prevail.
“The officers and soldiers on duty in the Island of Cuba are American citizens as well as American soldiers, accustomed to rendering loyal obedience to law; and they will not abandon on this Island their devotion to the principles of American liberty regulated by law. I therefore repeat that the people of Cuba may safely trust the officers and soldiers of the United States to establish and maintain the principles of government as set forth in our Constitution and laws, which mean freedom, not licentiousness, and equality before the law for all.
“We have no such thing as ‘one man power’ in the United States, and cannot so far depart from our devotion to popular liberty as to tolerate it here. So I say, if the people of Cuba (I include in the word ‘people’ all classes and conditions) will await with patience and resolution the establishment of good government, honestly and impartially administered, a brilliant future is in store for them. If, on the contrary, bickerings among themselves, unreasonable complaints, and demands in disregard of the rights of persons and property should lead to bloodshed and breaches of the peace and the disturbance of public order and tranquillity, as they most surely will, the day of their deliverance will be indefinitely deferred.
“You ask me whether I think the people of the Island of Cuba capable of self-government. This is a very difficult question to answer. I may, however, say that I have no sympathy with the harsh and unjust judgments of those who condemn them without a hearing and settle in advance a problem which requires time for solution.
“Officially I have no opinion to express as to the status of such a commonwealth, for that is a question to be settled by the people themselves in their aggregate capacity, but personally I should like to see Cuba a State in the American Union, enjoying all the rights of local autonomy and self-government on terms of equality with the other commonwealths of the United States. She would then have liberty, regulated by a written constitution, where the military is subordinate to the civil power, and where each of the three great co-ordinate branches of the government, legislative, executive, and judicial, execute the will of the people.”
The above statement, which, with General Butler’s consent, is made part of this chapter, was prepared with great precision and care and only after long deliberation. Moreover, it was submitted to some of his colleagues, and the subject-matter fully discussed with the author, who is in full and hearty accord with the views expressed. Officially the author has no opinion to express as to the status of such a commonwealth, for the work committed to him was purely of an economic and fiscal and not of a political character. Personally, however, the author, with General Butler, looks forward to the day when Cuba will be a State of the Union, in the enjoyment of that full degree of liberty and self-government which is accorded the other commonwealths of the United States.
HAVING sought light and information in relation to the future political government of Cuba from both Cuban and Spanish sources, for the Marquis de Apezteguia is more Spanish than Cuban, it may be well to ascertain if any useful lesson may be found in British colonial administration. With this thought in view, the author, after completing the work in Cuba, made a brief visit to the island of Jamaica. Through the courtesy of the American Mail Steamship Company, the S.S. Admiral Sampson stopped at Santiago and thus enabled me to reach Port Antonio, Jamaica, in seven hours. At this point I met Captain L. D. Baker, the head of the vast American fruit interests of Jamaica, and with him visited Kingston and had an interview with the Governor-General of Jamaica, and with the heads of nearly all the Departments of Government. In this connection it affords me pleasure to mention the name of Dr. James Johnston, member of the Jamaica Council for St. Ann’s Parish and member of the Commission now revising the revenue law of Jamaica. Dr. Johnston was a fellow-passenger on the S.S. Sampson, on its return voyage to the United States, and furnished much valuable explanatory information in relation to the government of Jamaica, for which this opportunity is taken to express thanks.
The information thus obtained and the data gathered from the various blue books and the reports of the Royal Commission on the British West India Islands, all have a special bearing on the problem the United States is now confronting in Cuba, and hence on the political future of the Island. Better to appreciate the present aims of British administration in Jamaica, one should read the following extract from an article in the December number of Scribner’s Magazine, by the Right Honourable Joseph Chamberlain, British Colonial Secretary:
“In the first period of this eventful history the territories acquired by conquest or discovery were treated as possessions to be exploited entirely for the advantage of the occupying nation, and little or no thought was given to the rights or the interests either of the original inhabitants or of the colonists who had dispossessed them. This view of the relations between a state and its outlying territories continued more or less throughout the eighteenth century, although the War of Independence in America did much to modify and dispel it. The success of the Revolution not only destroyed the hope that colonies could be made tributary to the mother country, but led ultimately to the conclusion that, since they would never be a source of direct revenue, we should be better without colonies at all. Assuming that an entirely independent and separate existence was the ultimate destiny of all our possessions abroad, and believing that this consummation would relieve us of burdensome obligations, we readily conceded self-government to the colonies in the temperate zones, in the hopes that this would hasten the inevitable and desirable result. We found, not without surprise, that in spite of hints to this effect, our kinsfolk and fellow-subjects resented the idea of separation and, fortunately for us, preferred to remain, each ‘daughter in her mother’s house and mistress in her own.’ Influenced by the same idea, we elaborated constitutions by the score for every kind of tropical dependency, in the vain expectation that the native population would appreciate forms of government evolved in our own civilisation, and would learn quickly to be self-supporting and to develop for themselves the territories in which we began to think we had only a temporary interest. We were disappointed, and we have had to recognise the fact that, for an indefinite period of time, the ideas and standards of our political and social order cannot be intelligently accepted or applied by races which are centuries behind us in the process of national evolution. The experience of Hayti and Liberia under independent native government, of many of the South American republics, of Egypt and of India, and the stagnation of all tropical countries, in regard to matters dependent on local effort, make it evident that wherever the white man cannot be permanently or advantageously acclimatised and wherever, therefore, the great majority of the population must always be natives, the only security for good government and for the effective development of the resources of the country consists in providing this native population with white superintendence, and with rulers and administrators who will bring to their task the knowledge derived from the experience of a higher civilisation; and, constantly changing, will be always under the influence of the standards and ideals which they have been brought up to respect.
“This is the root idea of British administration in the tropics. At the same time we have abandoned forever any desire to secure tribute from these possessions, and we no longer seek any direct or exclusive advantage.
“We find our profit in the increased prosperity of the people for whose interests we have made ourselves responsible, and in the development of, and access to, markets which we open at the same time to the rest of the world. Our primary obligation is to maintain peace, and safety of life and property, and equal justice for all irrespective of race or class. Subject to these conditions, we interfere as little as possible with native religions, customs, or laws; and under this system we are successfully administering the affairs of hundreds of millions of people of almost every race under the sun, with trifling cost to the British taxpayer, and with the smallest army of white soldiers of any of the powers of Europe. In India, where three hundred millions of people acknowledge the Queen as Empress, the total white garrison is only seventy thousand men; in Egypt, with a population of nine millions, the normal white garrison is thirty-five hundred men; while in Ceylon, the Straits Settlements and protected States, the West Indies, and West Africa not a single white regiment is stationed for the maintenance of our rule, which is secured entirely by coloured soldiers and police under British officers. Our experience should at least go far to satisfy the objections of those Americans who anticipate that the occupation of tropical countries would involve the retention of vast numbers of American soldiers in an unhealthy climate, and would lay an intolerable burden on the American treasury.”
The Spanish idea in its government of Cuba was purely and absolutely the idea of possession, and the facts pointing to this will be abundantly set forth in the several chapters in this volume relating to the fiscal, commercial, and industrial condition of the Island of Cuba. The work of reconstruction already so auspiciously begun by the United States Government in Santiago, and described in a subsequent chapter, is absolutely in line with what Mr. Chamberlain aptly terms the root idea of British administration in the tropics. The primary obligation of the United States in Cuba is to maintain peace, the safety of life and property, and equal justice for all, irrespective of race or class. The final instructions given by the President of the United States, last August, to the author, leaving for Cuba, were to the effect that the United States desired to secure no tribute from Cuba, that the work of reconstruction must be performed in the interests of the people of Cuba, only, and that the profit to the United States must come in the increased prosperity of the people of Cuba, and in the benefits accruing from a peaceful, instead of a constantly warring neighbour. According to Mr. Chamberlain, this is the fundamental principle underlying England’s operation in her tropical colonies.
ON THE ROAD TO CASTLETON, JAMAICA.
ON THE ROAD TO CASTLETON, JAMAICA.
In comparing British administration in Jamaica with any possible operations of the United States Government in Cuba, the fact of the great difference in the population must be considered. In Jamaica not over 15,000 of the 700,000 population are white. When England began to treat this island as a trust, and not as a possession,—say about 1834,—the population was made up of 311,070 slaves, 15,000 whites, 40,000 coloured, or brown people, as they are called in Jamaica, and 5000 free blacks. In Cuba a majority of the population are white—the census of 1887 showing 1,102,889 white and 528,798 coloured—in all provinces; Matanzas, with forty-five per cent. coloured, and Santiago, with forty-two per cent. coloured, representing the strongest coloured sections of the Island. That half a century of British rule in Jamaica has improved the population of Jamaica, nearly all of whom were slaves when the work was begun, is self-evident, though it is equally true that similar government in Cuba would have resulted, by reason of the preponderance of white population, in more far-reaching results. That is, Cuba, under such a government as England has given Jamaica, would, in all reasonable probability, have numbered at this time a population of from four to five millions, with a greatly increased commerce, diversified industries, magnificent main and parochial roads, an adequate railway system, many prosperous and well-built cities, and a degree of prosperity and civilisation far in excess of that which the United States officials found when they took possession of the Island. With the disadvantages of race, with the scars of slavery, and, until recently, with the single industry of sugar and its allied product, rum, the policy set forth so clearly by Mr. Chamberlain has been successful in making habitable and law-abiding and measurably prosperous a tropical island which might have been in a condition little better than that of savagery.
To be sure, England has not made Anglo-Saxons of these people, but it has made of them peaceful, law-abiding, and, in the main, self-respecting citizens. There is little doubt that the bulk of the inhabitants of Jamaica are in a position which compares not unfavourably with that of the peasants of most countries in the world. The facts given farther along show that the condition of the labouring classes of Jamaica is infinitely better than that of the labouring classes—especially the coloured population—of Cuba, who are in a deplorable state, even on plantations where work is abundant. The number of holdings in Jamaica is 92,979, of which 81,924 are under ten acres each. In 1882 there were only 52,608 holdings, of which 43,707 were under ten acres each. Even allowing for the fact that some persons may hold two or more plots of land, it is clear that the island already contains a very large and increasing number of peasant proprietors. The Crown Land Regulations offer facilities for the settlement of the labouring population on the land, and as sugar estates are abandoned some of them will probably fall into the hands of small cultivators. In the last ten years the number of savings-bank accounts of the amount of twenty-five dollars and under has nearly doubled. The census returns of 1891 show that in the ten years, 1881 to 1891, there had been an increase of thirty per cent. in the number of persons able to read and write. The acreage of provision grounds has increased more than thirty per cent. in ten years. There are 70,000 holdings of less than five acres. The area in coffee, usually in small lots, increased in ten years from 17,000 to 23,000 acres. More than 6,000 small sugar-mills are owned by the peasantry. The number of enrolled scholars was 100,400 in 1896, as against 49,000 in 1881; while the actual average daily attendance at schools had increased from 26,600 to 59,600. These facts indicate considerable advance, though no doubt in certain districts the people are poor. The Royal Commission appointed to investigate and report on the agricultural, commercial, and industrial condition of the West Indies came to the conclusion that the depression in Jamaica was the result of the almost entire dependence of the island on a single industry. Here is what they say:
“The general statement regarding the danger of depending on a single industry applies with very special force to the dependence of the West Indian Colonies upon the sugar industry, for the cultivation of sugar collects together a larger number of people upon the land than can be employed or supported in the same area by any other form of cultivation. In addition to this it also unfits the people, or at any rate gives them no training, for the management or cultivation of the soil for any other purpose than that of growing sugar-cane. The failure, therefore, of a sugar estate not only leaves destitute a larger number of labourers than can be supported upon the land in other ways, but leaves them also without either the knowledge, skill, or habits requisite for making a good use of the land. In those colonies where the sugar industry cannot be carried on without imported coolie labour the position of dependence upon this one industry is still more dangerous. In these cases not only is there a yearly charge upon the public revenue to meet the cost of immigration, but a liability for back passages is incurred, which a failure of the industry would leave the colony without funds to meet. Whilst, therefore, the vital importance of the sugar industry to the present prosperity of nearly all the colonies is beyond dispute, we wish to observe that so long as they remain dependent upon sugar their position can never be sound or secure. It has become a commonplace of criticism to remark upon the perpetual recurrence of crises in the West Indian Colonies, and we submit that the repeated recurrence of such crises, as well as the fact that the present crisis is more ominous than any of the previous ones, illustrates the danger to which we have referred, and adds much force to our recommendations for the adoption of special measures to facilitate the introduction of other industries.”
The special remedies recommended were as follows:
“1. The settlement of the labouring population on small plots of land as peasant proprietors.
“2. The establishment of minor agricultural industries, and the improvement of the system of cultivation, especially in the case of small proprietors.
“3. The improvement of the means of communication between the different islands.
“4. The encouragement of a trade in fruit with New York, and, possibly, at a future time, with London.
“5. The grant of a loan from the Imperial Exchequer for the establishment of central factories in Barbadoes.
“The subject of emigration from the distressed tracts also requires the careful attention of the various governments, though we do not find ourselves at the present time in a position to make recommendations in detail.”
The fact is, Captain L. D. Baker, of the Boston Fruit Company, and the other companies engaged in the banana and orange business of Jamaica, have pointed a way out of the present difficulties, and that industry, in the course of a short time, bids fair to be as important as the sugar industry was in former times. Last year this single company shipped five million bunches of bananas to New York. There are now over one hundred thousand orange trees planted in Jamaica, which in a few years will be bearing finely and give additional prosperity to the country. With the American fruit market inadequately supplied, and the English market practically untouched, there is hope both in Jamaica and Cuba—especially Santiago province—for diversified industries created by rapid transportation. The recent establishment of a fleet of fast steamships between New York, Philadelphia, Boston, and Baltimore, and the various ports of Jamaica, and the probability that these or similar lines will be established between the United States and Cuban ports, are all factors of promise for the industrial future of both the British and the American West Indies.
While Jamaica is a well-governed country, and its revenue is all honestly expended for the public good of the people, it is far from an economically administered government. Order is thoroughly established, laws are obeyed, justice for the humblest is easily obtainable, education is general, sanitary matters admirably administered, roads maintained, the rights of all conserved, and the revenue honestly collected and expended. In these particulars the government of Jamaica differs widely from that which the author found in Cuba. In that unhappy Island all is absolutely the reverse of this. The cost of governing Jamaica, however, is nearly twenty-five per cent. of the value of its commerce, whereas the cost of governing Cuba—if gauged by the actual revenue raised—under Spanish rule ranged from 12½ to 15 per cent. of the value of its commerce. The comparison, however, is of little value, because Cuba got nothing for the money exacted by taxation, while Jamaica not only gets all, but also the taxpayers are informed in advance of the purposes for which much of the money is wanted, and the sums thus raised are rigidly applied to the purposes for which they are appropriated. The most useful lessons for those responsible for administering the affairs of Cuba can be learned by a study of the Jamaica Budgets. The methods of raising the needed revenue are intelligent and simple, and the method of expenditure not only enables the authorities to get as much as possible for the money, but also makes possible the strictest accountability. The Legislative Council of Jamaica discusses every item of the budget as closely as the Town Council of Glasgow or the County Council of London, both model public bodies, so far as honesty of purpose goes, even if some of their legislative experiments fail. The humblest Jamaica negro, if he can read and write, may at least know the purposes for which the revenue he pays in taxes is expended. He may even have the pleasure of deciding which of these items of expenditure he regards the least important. At the present moment the annual cost of education, $350,000, is regarded as too high, and a proposition to reduce it to $250,000 is pending. The total expenditures of Jamaica have reached nearly $4,000,000 and additional revenue is necessary to meet these expenses. The customs tariff is in course of revision, with a view of increasing the revenue, and many articles formerly on the free list will have to be put upon the dutiable list, while the general ad valorem rates of duty must be raised from 12½ to 16-2/3 per cent. Before going into the future sources of revenue, it may be well to look at the present sources, and for that purpose the subjoined table has been compiled from official sources:
| COMPARATIVE TABLE OF REVENUE OF JAMAICA, 1896-97 | ||
| Revenue. | Pounds. | Dollars. |
| Customs | 321,780 | 1,608,900 |
| Excise | 122,735 | 613,675 |
| Licences | 732 | 3,660 |
| Stamps | 23,947 | 119,735 |
| Post-Office | 24,072 | 120,360 |
| Telegraph | 5,364 | 26,820 |
| Tax on Stock[3] | ||
| Court Fees | 8,284 | 41,420 |
| Tax in lieu of Education Fees | 11,243 | 56,215 |
| Fines, etc. | 4,412 | 22,060 |
| Jamaica Railway | 208 | 1,040 |
| Reimbursements | 35,969 | 179,845 |
| Miscellaneous | 13,992 | 69,960 |
| Revenues now appropriated | 181,663 | 908,315 |
| Interest on Sinking Funds | 14,199 | 70,995 |
| Savings Bank | 3,927 | 19,635 |
| Total | 773,527 | 3,867,635 |
| Immigration Revenue. | ||
| Capitation Tax, etc., Laws 7 of 1878 and 14 of 1891, | 1,476 | 7,380 |
| Miscellaneous | 205 | 1,025 |
| Total | 1,681 | 8,405 |
| Appropriated Revenue. | ||
| Poor Rates | 39,339 | 196,695 |
| Kingston Streets | 4,354 | 21,770 |
| Market Dues | ||
| Pounds | ||
| Main Road Revenue, Law 17 of 1890 | 28,091 | 140,455 |
| Parochial Roads | 45,538 | 227,690 |
| Sanitary | 7,862 | 39,310 |
| Fire Rates, Kingston | 1,561 | 7,805 |
| Trade, Metal, Hawker, and Gunpowder Licences, | ||
| Surplus Fund[4] | 13,271 | 66,355 |
| Gas Rates, etc. | 3,793 | 18,965 |
| Parochial General Purposes | 4,503 | 22,515 |
| Agricultural Produce Licences Law, 37 of 1896 | 3,685 | 18,425 |
| Miscellaneous | 8,544 | 42,720 |
| Advances from General Revenue in aid of Funds | 21,122 | 105,610 |
| Total | 181,663 | 908,315 |
Customs, excise, and appropriated revenue, as will be seen above, are the principal sources of income, while the expenditures for the same period are divided under the following heads:
| COMPARATIVE TABLE OF EXPENDITURE OF JAMAICA, 1896-97 | ||
| Expenditure | Pounds. | Dollars. |
| Charges of Debt | 82,417 | 412,085 |
| Governor and Staff | 7,368 | 36,840 |
| Privy Council | 62 | 310 |
| Legislative Council | 2,469 | 12,345 |
| Colonial Secretariat | 5,612 | 28,060 |
| Director of Public Works | 17,979 | 89,895 |
| Audit Office | 3,629 | 18,145 |
| Treasury | 4,634 | 23,170 |
| Savings Bank | 3,275 | 16,375 |
| Stamp Office | 1,106 | 5,530 |
| Post-Office and Telegraphs | 35,910 | 179,550 |
| Revenue Departments | 39,969 | 199,845 |
| Judicial | 45,611 | 228,055 |
| Ecclesiastical | 2,927 | 14,635 |
| Medical | 59,307 | 296,535 |
| Police | 60,889 | 304,445 |
| Prisons and Reformatories | 27,836 | 139,180 |
| Education | 67,540 | 337,700 |
| Harbour-Masters and Harbours and Pilotage | 2,741 | 13,705 |
| Colonial Allowances and Military Expenditure | 12,814 | 64,070 |
| Miscellaneous | 29,571 | 147,855 |
| Census | ||
| Steam Communication | 1,800 | 9,000 |
| Stationery and Printing | 7,989 | 39,945 |
| Library and Museum | 2,404 | 12,020 |
| Plantations and Gardens | 6,484 | 32,420 |
| Railway[5] | ||
| Main Roads and Buildings | 80,467 | 402,335 |
| Pensions, etc | 16,962 | 84,810 |
| Purposes now supplied by Appropriated Revenue | 135,842 | 679,210 |
| Total Expenditure from Income | 765,607 | 3,828,035 |
| Sinking-Funds, etc | 14,199 | 70,995 |
| Total Payments from Income | 779,806 | 3,899,030 |
| Less Debt Payments as above | 14,199 | 70,995 |
| 765,607 | 3,828,035 | |
| Add Expenditures from Moneys raised by Loans | 8,125 | 40,625 |
| Total | 773,732 | 3,868,660 |
| Immigration | 979 | 4,895 |
A glance at the above tables and then a glance at the budget of Cuba, which will be found in a subsequent chapter, is all that is necessary to show the vast difference between the British and the Spanish methods of dealing with the fiscal interests of their colonies. The business-like methods of the one, and the blind, slip-shod methods of the other, are in sharp contrast. In dealing with Cuba, it may be difficult to follow entirely these English methods of accounting at once. The sooner, however, the United States inaugurates its own clear methods of national bookkeeping and official accountability, the quicker the people of Cuba will appreciate sound business principles in the conduct of their own affairs. It makes no difference whether Cuba is annexed to the United States or established as an independent government; these lessons must be learned in either event, or the Island will come to grief. It is hardly necessary to do more than call attention to the principal items of expenditure.
First of all come roads. England has discovered that good roads are not only an important factor in mountainous countries in keeping order, but also the basis of industrial development and prosperity. In the budget given above the following items must be added together in order to ascertain the amount expended in 1897 for roads:
| Main Roads and Buildings | $ 402,335 |
| Parochial Roads | 227,690 |
| $ 630,025 |
Here may be found a good illustration of England’s policy which is a great contrast to the policy of Spain in Cuba. No money has been spent on the roads of Cuba, all of which are in a deplorable condition. Attention should at once be given to this important question and a liberal sum out of both local and general revenues of the Island set apart for this purpose. The debt of Jamaica is not excessive; it is in the neighbourhood of $10,000,000, with an annual charge of about $400,000. Police and medical charges are about the same, averaging about $300,000 each, or in all $600,000.
In this connection attention is called to the annual expenditure on roads in Jamaica for fourteen years:
| EXPENDITURE FOR MAIN AND PAROCHIAL ROADS IN JAMAICA, FROM 1883-84 TO 1896-97, INCLUSIVE | ||||
| Year. | Appropriated revenue for Parochial Roads. |
Expenditure for Main Roads and Buildings. |
Total. | |
| Pounds sterling. | Pounds sterling. | Pounds sterling. | Dollars. | |
| 1883-84 | 39,514 | 48,156 | 87,670 | 438,350 |
| 1884-85 | 40,496 | 47,614 | 88,110 | 440,550 |
| 1885-86 | 38,246 | 52,285 | 90,531 | 452,655 |
| 1886-87 | 39,670 | 48,080 | 87,750 | 438,750 |
| 1887-88 | 42,935 | 52,318 | 95,253 | 476,265 |
| 1888-89 | 42,146 | 57,632 | 99,778 | 498,890 |
| 1889-90[6] | 20,740 | 32,210 | 52,950 | 264,750 |
| 1890-91 | 50,317 | 91,659 | 141,976 | 709,880 |
| 1891-92 | 44,845 | 91,659 | 136,504 | 682,520 |
| 1892-93 | 48,520 | 83,718 | 132,238 | 661,190 |
| 1893-94 | 50,169 | 58,460 | 108,629 | 543,145 |
| 1894-95 | 47,111 | 65,647 | 112,758 | 563,790 |
| 1895-96 | 48,398 | 68,654 | 117,052 | 585,260 |
| 1896-97 | 45,538 | 80,467 | 126,005 | 630,025 |
| Total for 14 years | 1,477,204 | 7,386,020 | ||
| Average per year | 527,573 | |||
The necessity of liberal expenditure for maintaining the health of the community is of first importance. A study of this budget may be found a preparation for the subsequent study of the Cuban budget, to which the reader’s attention will be invited presently.
The present Jamaica tariff was evidently framed with the two ideas of revenue for the island and a market for British goods. Food products, for example, such as bacon, beef, beans, bread, butter, cheese, corn, meats, oats, oil, pork, rice, salt, sausages, wheat, sugar, tea, coffee, and many other staple articles are all on the dutiable list, some paying a fairly stiff rate of duty. On the other hand, many articles of merchandise, bricks, bridges, carts and waggons, clocks, diamonds, machinery, locomotives, and a host of other things, which England supplies the island, are all exempted from duty. Under a general ad valorem clause, 12½ per cent. is collected on all articles not enumerated. The enumerated list of the Jamaica tariff is not large, so a large amount of merchandise has been actually imported under this clause. The proposed new tariff, which will probably go into effect next year, takes many articles off the free list and puts them on the dutiable list. It also increases the ad valorem rate to 16-2/3 per cent. This has been found necessary because there has been a deficit in the revenue. The new tariff is expected to yield £400,000, or about $2,000,000, and from internal revenue or excise £150,000, or $750,000, and £250,000, or $1,250,000, from appropriated revenue which will really come from the land and householders. Here it is summarised:
| Revenue from Customs | $ 2,000,000 |
| “ “Excise | 750,000 |
| “ “Appropriated Revenue (land and household taxes, etc.) | 1,250,000 |
| $ 4,000,000 |
If this amount can be secured, the revenue of Jamaica will be a trifle more than expenditure, and the result will be happiness. If not, expenses must be reduced. Some members of the Legislative Council favour this latter plan. The Commission has the whole fiscal question now in hand, and within a short time will probably reach conclusions.
There is much more of interest that might be said about the present economic condition of Jamaica, but the points herein brought out appear to be the only ones that bear especially on the problem continually facing the reader in a volume dealing with the industrial and commercial reconstruction of Cuba. It will also be interesting to compare the British method of colonial administration with the idea set forth in the previous chapter by the Marquis de Apezteguia, whose point of view in such matters is wholly Spanish. That is, the idea of possession is paramount. The Marquis evidently has no faith in the ability of the United States to administer the affairs of Cuba as a trust.
A VISIT to Santiago should give relief to those suffering from “the craven fear of being great,” for there may be found much that is encouraging. In this province of Cuba may be seen in full operation the work which the Government of the United States has been impelled to undertake, and here may be studied the character of the forces upon which the people of the United States must rely in the work of reconstruction now in progress. The machinery of government is running with a fair degree of smoothness, and the men responsible for it, from the humblest official to the capable commander of the province, understand their business and are masters of the situation. It is a striking illustration of the marvellous adaptability of the American character. Every department of the public service is carrying on its work; the only difference apparent to one so recently in parts of Cuba still in possession of Spain being the absence of Spanish soldiers and the more businesslike methods of the officials. The disagreeable smells of the typical Cuban city are less pronounced in Santiago, and whitewash, limewash, fresh paint, and all sorts of disinfectants have deodorised the surrounding atmosphere and made the old town really habitable. The streets are no longer used as sewers, and the unhappy person who violates the law and escapes the lash of the Sanitary Commissioner’s whip is compelled to work on the streets for thirty days. This official, Major George M. Barbour, with one hundred and twenty-five men, dressed in spotless white, and thirty-two good United States mule-teams and carts, having dug out from the streets of Santiago the filth of ages, is now able to keep them absolutely clean. Every day by the aid of that great disinfectant, petroleum, the garbage of the city is burned. The work of sanitation is not confined to the streets, but extends to the dwelling-houses, shops, and buildings of all kinds. Indeed, the campaign against dirt and disease has been as sharp and hot as the charge of San Juan Hill, and as productive of beneficial results. The resistance on the part of the native population was even more stubborn than that of the Spanish soldiers to our forces around Santiago. The doors of houses had to be smashed in; people making sewers of the thoroughfares were publicly horsewhipped in the streets of Santiago; eminently respectable citizens were forcibly brought before the commanding general and sentenced to aid in cleaning the streets they were in the habit of defiling. The campaign has ended in the complete surrender to the sanitary authorities, and the inhabitants of Santiago, regardless of class, have had their first object-lesson in the new order of things inaugurated by the war. Looking backward five months and picturing Santiago in July, and comparing it with the more hopeful condition existing on all sides at the present moment, it is easy to discern the omens which point to the coming prosperity of the whole Island under intelligent and honest government.
Besides the improved sanitary conditions, there are many other indications of the good work of Major-General Leonard Wood and his capable corps of assistants. Several important thoroughfares have been repaved. All the public buildings have been thoroughly cleaned and put in good order, the work even extending to the large opera house, which is now ready for the opening performance under American auspices; for General Wood believes in furnishing decent amusements for the soldiers of his command. The law courts abolished when General Shafter took the city have been re-organised, and it was the privilege of the author to take part in the brief, simple ceremonies on December 1st, when in a modest speech the American commander turned over the legal business of the province to the judiciary and inaugurated the Supreme Court. This Court was composed of carefully selected Cuban judges, the appointees nominated wholly on account of legal attainments; the Bar Association of the province having been consulted as to the character and qualifications of the new judges. As the occasion of turning over the judiciary of the province to the people was one of considerable moment, a brief description may not be out of place. A committee selected by the Court called at the palace on the morning of December 1st, and after being presented to General Wood, escorted him to the Supreme Court Building. The room in which the Supreme Court of Santiago holds its sessions is one story up a rather rickety-looking stairway. It looks more like a long, narrow store than a court-room. At the far end is the bench where the Court sits. It was draped with scarlet cloth and the chairs are of dark oak. The courtroom was filled by interested spectators. General Wood appeared in a fatigue uniform, taking a position in the centre of the group of jurists, under the canopy over the seat of the Chief-Justice, and in a businesslike manner proceeded to state the object of the gathering. He told those assembled they had met for the purpose of starting up the judicial machinery of the province. While the military authorities still retained the power to revise all cases involving life and death, there was no disposition to interfere with civil matters. Innumerable cases had been piling up during the five months of military occupation, and it was time they were adjusted. He hoped the gentlemen appointed to this, the highest Court in the province, would prove equal to the trust.
“Your enemies who say the Cubans cannot govern themselves,” said General Wood, turning toward the Court, “will watch you critically, and your friends hopefully. Above and beyond all, be honest in your decisions, for absolute integrity must ever be the foundation of a fair and impartial judiciary. I pray you do not follow the example of those who have made the courts of Cuba a byword for corruption. With sincere hope for your success in dealing with these matters, and with assurance of all the assistance in my power, I hereby reinstate the Judiciary of the Province of Santiago de Cuba.”
Then the Chief-Justice, a man of fifty-five or sixty, attired in a rich black silk gown, with handsome white lace cuffs, arose, and in a few graceful words accepted the responsibility in the spirit in which it was tendered, and assuring General Wood of his fealty to the United States Government during the military occupancy, made a profound bow, and the ceremony was over. Two members of the Court then escorted General Wood and the author, who was invited to represent the civil authorities of the United States, to the top of the staircase, and with a cordial adieu the Military went out and the Judiciary came in and was reinstated. In a few moments the Court was in session.
“Let me walk back,” said General Wood, and the waiting carriage was dismissed.
Passing the city jail, General Wood exclaimed to the author, “Take a look at the jail, and see the good work we are doing there.” There were no prisoners, and it was evident the building was being renovated for some new and more inspiring purpose. There is no more practical man in the military service of the United States to-day than Major-General Leonard Wood. He is just the man to build up the city and the province of Santiago.
Not only has the judiciary been reinstated, but also, in the same manner, local government has been restored, and native mayors and officials have been appointed; the only requirement being that persons accepting such offices shall take the oath recognising the military occupancy of the Island by the United States. They are in no way committed to any future form of government. The wisdom of this action cannot be doubted, and the moral effect upon the people of Cuba will be far-reaching.[7]
In constant meetings between General Wood and the author, during the former’s recent brief visit to the United States, he informed me that all arrangements have been completed for the spring elections of Santiago. Thus the next movement is towards a system of local self-government which the Cubans heretofore have never enjoyed.
The Spanish, when in possession of Cuba, assumed absolute control not only of the judiciary, but also of the municipal government, the larger portion of the taxes raised for municipal purposes being diverted, with the other revenues, into channels which either led to Spain or into Spanish pockets. It will be even a greater stroke of wisdom if these taxes are hereafter used exclusively for local purposes, and, as far as may be deemed practicable, collected and disbursed by properly constituted local authorities.
CATHEDRAL STREET, SANTIAGO DE CUBA. FROM A PHOTOGRAPH BY J. F. COONLEY, NASSAU, N. P.
CATHEDRAL STREET, SANTIAGO DE CUBA.
FROM A PHOTOGRAPH BY J. F. COONLEY, NASSAU, N. P.
There could be no wiser expenditure of local revenue for several years than upon the streets and sewers of the cities and towns of Cuba. For years the money which should have been used for these purposes has been drained away to Spain, and all local improvements shamefully neglected. The rural districts of Santiago de Cuba have been so depleted that it will be impossible to collect taxes over and above those needed for the bare necessities of schools, for the poor, and possibly, in small sums, for the improvement of sanitary conditions. The dawn of prosperity should, however, be the signal for inaugurating systematic work on the country roads. The province of Santiago de Cuba is similar in geographical and geological structure to the island of Jamaica, where, as is shown elsewhere in this volume, the good main and parochial roads have been the principal stay of the population. In another chapter will be found a brief history of the nearly two thousand miles of good roads in Jamaica, together with an account of the expenditure thereon and cost of keeping them in repair. The British Administration spends on an average annually for roads in Jamaica about $500,000. Without underestimating the strategical importance of a central railway from east to west in Cuba the immediate returns to the population from good roads would be far in excess of the more pretentious enterprise. The money thus expended, whether from the general funds of the Island, or from the local budgets, would come back a hundredfold, and make Santiago one of the richest sugar-, coffee-, and fruit-growing districts of the West Indies.
Santiago Province should be a profitable producing country for bananas. It is good for the poorer classes to undertake the cultivation of this fruit. The banana takes only fourteen months to grow and therefore, unlike coffee and oranges, the cultivator does not have to wait several years for the crop. All the capital in this business can be turned quickly, and the banana can be planted near the hut of the small planter and attended easily. Banes, Sigua, and Baracoa are good ports to export them from. The Dumois family invested considerably in the business and used to ship to the United States. This business is soon to be revived on a much larger scale. The extension of good roads would largely increase the possibilities of this industry in many parts of Santiago Province. With quick transportation the market for bananas is rapidly extending to Europe, while the United States market is only partially supplied with this fruit and with oranges.
The internal, industrial, professional, licensing, and other miscellaneous taxes have so far been remitted in this part of Cuba, but the military authorities are now preparing to enforce them. In this connection the author suggests that, now the customs tariff has been disposed of,[8] an immediate scheme be prepared for levying and collecting internal revenue taxes for the entire Island. The question of separating these taxes from purely municipal taxes should also be considered at the earliest possible moment, in order that no revenue shall be lost.
Methods of local administration differ so greatly in different provinces in Cuba that the wisdom of appointing a governor or commander for each province is unquestioned. As much latitude as possible should be given to these officials. The provincial governors should have power to decide all questions appertaining to local matters, for the fewer the references to Havana the sooner the people of Cuba will realise the difference between Spanish possession and United States occupancy. For military purposes, the government of the Island may be easily vested in one central authority at Havana. For civil purposes, each province should be made as absolutely independent as is possible, with general supervision by the commander of the United States forces. The secret of General Wood’s success in Santiago is entirely due to the fact that he has good judgment, the courage to use it, and full power in Santiago Province to exercise both. The supervising power over the civil department-commander should be made, as far as possible, advisory on such matters as relate to the general welfare of all the people of the Island, but all department questions should be scrupulously relegated to the provincial governors. There will of course have to be some general scheme inaugurated as to the collection and the expenditure of the general revenue, but before this can be intelligently arranged it will be necessary to designate what revenue shall be considered local, what, if any, for the exclusive use of the department, and what may fairly be regarded as revenue applicable for the general purpose of the whole Island. In thus distributing the revenue, the greatest care should be exercised not to hamper the provincial governor by an arbitrary division of the purposes for which the money must be expended, until he has been given ample opportunity to ascertain the needs of his department. A country undergoing such changes as Cuba is, cannot be judged by ordinary circumstances, and the most successful results will certainly be obtained by giving the generals in command of the several provinces the rein, and with the excellent example of the commander of Santiago before them tell them to go and do likewise. Apportionments and divisions of revenue will come later. The present emergency demands large sums for sanitary purposes, for cleaning up cities, for fighting disease, for renovating public buildings, for maintaining order, and for establishing a decent, efficient administration of public affairs. These operations must be done quickly and be planned chiefly by the judgment of the man on the spot, acquainted with local conditions. The results of a free hand are plainly visible in Santiago. The same policy must be followed elsewhere, or summer will bring dangers from which the unacclimatised population may well seek to escape.
As this is being written, the first difficulty has arisen at Santiago in relation to the distribution of the customs revenue. The order of General Brooke to send the customs receipts to Havana has met with opposition. This is a natural result of the peculiar conditions existing there, and no one can be blamed for it. For nearly five months no municipal, internal, or local taxes have been collected; and with the exception of about ten thousand dollars collected by Mr. Donaldson as cemetery and meat taxes, the entire revenue of Santiago Province was derived from customs dues. This money has been expended, as above shown, by General Wood in cleaning up the city, in making new streets, in renovating public buildings, in fighting disease, and in many other ways, all with a view of benefiting the community. All this and much more was justifiable in the emergency with which he was confronted. Meanwhile the machinery for collecting local and other public dues was, for various reasons, not put in motion until a few weeks ago. The taxes from these sources rightfully belong to the municipality, and hereafter will be expended thereon. The Spanish authorities collected all the taxes, local and general, returning of the local taxes but a small percentage to the municipalities. There is no intention on the part of the military authorities of the United States in Cuba to use these local taxes for other than local purposes, but it stands to reason that the customs taxes must be collected by one central authority, equalised and expended for the general welfare of the whole community. The ports of Santiago Province, being practically the only ports in possession of the United States, naturally used all moneys collected. January 1, 1899, all other Cuban ports came into possession of the United States, and Santiago becomes again part of the Island of Cuba, and as such is entitled to equal, but not special consideration.
The people of Santiago have had over one hundred thousand dollars of local taxes remitted, in consequence of the delay in getting the tax-levying and tax-collecting machinery at work. This has been saved to the community. All these taxes, being local, would have probably been spent on local works or would at this time have been available for such purposes. It is not the intention of the Government to have these sent to Havana, nor does the order include them. New York might as well demand that she be allowed to keep all the customs dues collected at that port, or, more to the point, Havana. Over sixty per cent. of all Cuba’s customs dues are collected at Havana, but Havana will have to pool her receipts, just as New York does, and take back such portion as appropriations for public works as may hereafter be decided to be rightfully her share. There is really no need for the people of Santiago to get excited over the order, which is reasonable, just, and in the line of fair government. On the contrary, the people should rejoice to think they have had so much of the money expended in improving the city, and that for several months they have practically been relieved of local taxes.
The Custom-House at Santiago the author found to be under very capable management. Mr. Walter A. Donaldson, who has had charge of the office, has performed the rather difficult initiatory duties devolving upon him with enthusiasm and ability. His knowledge of Spanish and his long training in the customs service of the United States have enabled him to recast the old Spanish methods and inaugurate the more businesslike methods of our own custom-house without much friction; and as a result we find to-day a complete organisation at Santiago, with branches at all the other ports in the province, working efficiently and collecting the revenue. While Mr. Donaldson has been able to dispense with about twenty of the seventy employees, he has retained fifty of the Cuban and Spanish already in the service, and with five United States officers is able to collect the revenues expeditiously and administer the affairs of the port with general satisfaction to the merchants and shippers of Santiago.
Mr. Donaldson estimated, that at the end of December, the total custom-house receipts in his entire district would aggregate in the neighbourhood of four hundred thousand dollars. It is safe to say that the collections in this port for the twelve months under American administration will be twice the amount collected during the last twelve months of Spanish control. As the rates of the tariff have been reduced two-thirds this fact would seem to be a good sign alike for the interest of American administration and the possibilities of a low tariff for producing sufficient revenue. As is stated elsewhere in this volume, the hope of sufficient revenue to manage the affairs of the Island is largely—under greatly reduced taxation—based upon honest and efficient collections. If it were otherwise, the natural consequence of reducing the rates of duty by two-thirds (a measure which the President of the United States has authorised) in a tariff capable of producing a revenue of fifteen million dollars per annum, would mean a revenue of five million dollars per annum. To accomplish this feat and still have fifteen or even ten millions of revenue the future management of the custom-houses in Cuba must be more businesslike and more honest. The industrial importance of Santiago will be treated in the chapter on Mines and Mining, the idea of this chapter being to give a glimpse of some of the changes in this old city already brought about by American military occupancy.
THAT the wounds of Cuba will soon heal with the rapid promotion of work, is undoubtedly true. This is the struggle the United States is now entering upon, and the employment of the people should be the first aim of those responsible for the management of affairs. There will naturally be many disappointments, some disillusioning. The condition of labour in the Island requires the most serious attention of our Government. A brief history of it during the present century may elucidate the existing situation.
In 1815, after the Napoleonic wars, the principal nations of Europe came together and agreed upon the Treaty of Vienna. An important provision of this Treaty was that henceforth slavery should be abolished. Spain, in common with other nations, signed this agreement, but, as is her habit, kept it not. The horrors of slavery were continued in her colonies, and in the middle of the present century almost reached the depths of inhumanity. At this time the population of Cuba was nearly a million people, and the traffic in human flesh and blood was a prosperous and profitable business. How long it would have continued is impossible to say, had not England interfered. After painful delays, much threatening, and innumerable broken promises on the part of Spain to observe the Treaty of Vienna, England agreed to give that country two millions of dollars to compensate those who owned “slave factories” in Havana, provided the nefarious business was stopped. Spain simply pocketed the money, told her noble sons engaged in the slave business in Cuba to look out for British cruisers when bringing slaves, assured them that no harm beyond the loss of cargo should come to them if caught—and the plantations of Cuba continued to be supplied as usual with slaves. Interesting facts in relation to conditions in Cuba during this period, when British cruisers kept watch of Spanish slave-ships, have been recently given in a series of articles in the Century Magazine, written in 1859.
According to this chronicle, the Spaniards in Cuba were in open sympathy with the slave-dealers, and a story is told of a slaver chased by a cruiser into the harbour of Havana, the shores being lined with people cheering the slaver. The cruiser would have effected a capture, but the slaver, dodging into a corner of the harbour, came to anchor, and her officers told the slaves on board to jump overboard and swim ashore, as the British were cannibals and would eat them all if captured. The slaves escaped to the shore, where the Spaniards picked them up and laughed at the British and the trick.
The same writer notes that by law the British must sell captured slaves by a mixed commission at fifty dollars each for a seven years’ term of labour. These slaves were known as emancipados and each wore a tin tag on his neck, showing the date of his sale and the date of the expiration of his slave service; but emancipados, strangely, seldom reached the end of their terms; the Spaniards prevented that, by taking the tag from an emancipado whenever one of their slaves died and putting it on the corpse. This was sufficient evidence that the emancipado was dead, and the Spanish owner had a new slave. As for the general condition of the emancipado, it was much worse than that of the real slave, for his master, knowing he must soon lose him, treated him cruelly, by overwork and starving, and when at last the poor emancipado had his freedom, he had neither strength nor health to enjoy it.
A Cuban gentleman, now over threescore years and ten, told the author, in Cuba, that nothing in ancient or modern history exceeded in horror the slave-trade of Cuba during this period. In spite of England’s watchfulness, it could be made profitable, even if occasional mishaps sent a shipful of unhappy Africans, chained together below decks, to the bottom of the sea, or a catastrophe set fire to the load of writhing humanity, fettered to prevent escape. Naturally a large percentage died on the voyage, and the condition of those landed was so awful that a description would be impossible in these pages. It will suffice to say that upon one occasion a young Cuban, who had been sent down by his employer to land some of these unfortunate creatures, was so impressed by the awful spectacle that he shot himself through the brain with a revolver and died on the spot.
So long as this traffic continued, and the plantations of the Island were supplied by the unhappy African victims of man’s inhumanity to man, there was no labour trouble in Cuba. Under such conditions sugar-growing was a comparatively simple process, and those engaged in it became wealthy. The day of reckoning, however, was at hand. After repeated disappointments, England succeeded in absolutely stopping further importations of slaves into Cuba. Up to the time of the breaking out of the insurrection of 1868, black labour had been almost exclusively used on the sugar estates of Cuba. Bad as slavery is at the best, there was in Cuba probably the worst system ever known. The work was of the hardest, the climatic conditions severe, and the unhappy victims of cupidity were ill-treated and brutalised. With such a beginning, continuing in one form and another until 1885, how could such conditions produce aught but dissatisfaction and misery at the present time?
The same causes demoralised the Cubans. They were reared in luxury and idleness and looked upon work as fit only for slaves. The owners of plantations were rich men, their children were educated abroad, and, as a rule, spent most of their time in foreign travel. A large proportion of them were simply alien landlords. Unskilled in business, when the change took place and the slaves were freed, these people were not prepared to meet the new conditions which confronted them and to adjust themselves to a new form of life. Here the Spaniard, who is always anxious for gain, took advantage of the situation, and at the end of the rebellion of 1868-1878 the Cuban planters, who were formerly rich, found themselves impoverished. Their slave labour had been taken from them, their opportunities for further employment of contract coolies had been lost, and they found themselves in need of outside assistance. The Spaniards and some others responded by advancing money to them at the current rate of interest (twelve per cent.), but the planters, unaccustomed to economise, could not pay expenses and interest, and year by year their debts grew heavier. Some managed to continue operations, but many broke down under their burdens and their plantations went to satisfy their creditors, chiefly Spaniards. Short of labour, the crops declined; and to add to their troubles, beet-sugar made its advent. The European beet-growers, with a clear knowledge of conditions in the Island, were quick to take advantage of them and push their product forward to supply the Cuban cane-sugar deficit, and so successful were they that at the end of the insurrection of 1868, say in 1878, Cuba was practically bankrupt. Competition with the European beet-growers was difficult, and it was impossible to induce capital from the United States to restore the sugar industry of Cuba, owing to a lack of confidence in the stability of the government of the Island.
CANE CUTTERS.
CANE CUTTERS.
During the ten years of rebellion, the planters were able to protect their property by paying regular taxes to the Spanish Government, and at the same time allowing a certain amount to the insurgents, who agreed for this not to destroy the plantations. During this period they employed slave and coolie labour; but they were then subject to the Moret law, which was, in effect, that each planter should liberate a certain number of his slaves each year, and this was to continue until slavery had disappeared. Before this occurred, however, the treaty of Zanjon was made, whereby all slaves were liberated. By the Moret law, numbers were given to the slaves by the municipality, the name and number of the slave written on a slip, which was put in a box and each year ten per cent. of the names were drawn out. The owners were then officially notified that certain slaves, giving their numbers, were free, and this was published in a local paper. Most of these slaves remained with the planters. This law had a very good effect.
Returning for a moment to the outbreak of the rebellion of 1868, it is necessary to refer to another sad page in the history of labour in Cuba; namely, the introduction of coolie labour from China. In 1869 the importation of slaves into Cuba was stopped, and then commenced the traffic in coolies, who were shipped from China, cargoes of them being landed at Havana. They were brought over under a contract for eight years by a company in Havana which had its own line of steamers. The contracts were sold to anyone who wished to buy them, at from four hundred to five hundred dollars per contract. The conditions of a contract were that the Chinaman was to serve for eight years. He was to be paid at the rate of four dollars per month, with rations, and was to receive two suits of clothes and a blanket. If ill for fifteen days, his wages were to be deducted and his time lost.
One of the conditions of the contract was that at the end of eight years he was to be considered a citizen of Cuba with such privileges as were extended to Spanish subjects. Before the expiration of the eight years, however, those holding these Chinese contracts were notified by the Spanish authorities that at the expiration of the contract of any coolie in their employ they were to deliver said coolie to the authorities of the locality where they were at work. Here, the authorities placed the coolie on public land, obliging him to work for the municipality, and held him there until someone offered to take him under a new contract. This was entirely by force and not optional on the part of the coolie. The conditions of the new contract were for four years more at seventeen dollars per month, twelve dollars of which were to be retained by the municipality, and five dollars were to be given to the coolie. At the expiration of the four years, if the coolie’s conduct had been satisfactory to his employer, then the municipality was to return to the Chinaman the money it had retained. The treatment of these coolies was quite as severe as was ever meted out to an African, and when this condition of affairs was learned by the Chinese Government, a commission was sent to Cuba to investigate. A report was made to the Chinese Government, which resulted in the prohibition of further coolie emigration from China to Cuba.
Confronted by the loss of his slaves and by the prohibition of further contracts for coolie labour, the Cuban was at a loss whither to turn for help. His only hope lay with the Spanish peasants and the Canary Islanders, and these, in as large numbers as could be secured, were imported. They were much more valuable than the slaves or the coolies, but jealousies arose among the Cuban labourers, and the newcomers, being less numerous, were unable to protect themselves and in many instances were forced into the towns for protection, thus leaving the planters quite as short of labour as before, and at the same time increasing the complications of the labour problem.
In this condition we find Cuba to-day. The great problem will be how to obtain labour for the plantations, for the mines, and for agricultural purposes, in order to carry on the work of industrial reconstruction. All sorts of schemes have been suggested, but upon examination of the conditions in Cuba, it is feared they will prove impracticable. The life of the labourer, in consequence of the lack of diversified employment, and the fact that labour in Cuba is the severest kind of toil, has few attractions. If the Spanish soldiers are willing to remain and take up peaceful pursuits, it will aid in the solution of the problem. Possibly Italians may be induced to emigrate to Cuba, if assured of a stable government and plenty of work. The opportunity (small allotments and homes) is limited, and the drudgery on large plantations, without family life, is not likely to attract those from Europe who are ever eager to seek homes and broader opportunities in the United States.
When in Cuba, the author visited many plantations and talked with many planters and overseers on the labour question. The extracts from notes taken on the spot will be found instructive on this point. The following excellent explanatory account of farm labour was prepared by an American who has spent the best part of his life on Cuban plantations and is now working a prosperous colona, or cane farm:
“From the 1st of December to the 1st of June an average of about 350 people were employed; of these ten per cent. were Canary Islanders or Spaniards, ten per cent. negro women and boys (white women do no field work), twenty per cent. native whites, and about sixty per cent. negroes and mulattos. From the 1st of June to the 1st of December an average of about 150 were employed. Women do no field work during this period.
“During harvest I give the negro women preference and pay them the same salaries as the best male labour; they are more constant, their work is usually well done, and each one keeps her man straight, which is an appreciable item.
“Next I prefer the negro, because he is, as a rule, a more faithful worker than either the native white or mulatto, the most of whom are addicted to gambling, and they cannot be depended on from one day to another.
“For stowing cane on the cars, ploughing, ditching, road repairing, and railroad work, Canary Islanders and Spaniards are preferable; they are more used to this kind of work, more constant, and have fewer vices.
“For cane cutting, carting, planting, and cultivating, native labour, in particular negro labour, is preferable; because the natives, being experts, work more rapidly, the cane plant suffers less injury, bringing in more remunerative returns, and its life is prolonged, which is a big item to the farmer; the natives are also much less addicted to smoking in the field, and danger from this source is materially reduced. But as a rule they are dishonest, and untruthful in the extreme, and this is general and applies both to whites and blacks, the latter being the champions. Canary Islanders and Spaniards are cigarette smokers and they are dangerous in the cane fields.
“At the present time labour is very poor and very much demoralised. Many of the abler men are in the insurrection, a great number of those remaining have seen mothers, wives, and children dying a lingering death from hunger; some could obtain work for their food, while others earned a salary of from six to eight dollars per month in depreciated Spanish silver. Provisions were high, and the Government increased taxes on meats and other necessaries, until these poor ignorant people, bent down by great sorrow and seeing no help for themselves, gave up in despair and became indifferent.
“During the past crop, as well as at the present time, I employ a considerable number of Asiatics, but many of these are opium smokers and much debilitated, and we calculate on sixty per cent. only being at work, while forty per cent. are resting in their barracon.[9]