72 CUBA AND POBTO BIOO 



any objectionable remarks arc contained therein. Nearly 

 every publication in Cuba has been suspended at one time 

 or another, and its editor fined, imprisoned, or deported to 

 tlic penal colonies. 



This military despotism has been accompanied by a sys- 

 tem of exorbitant taxation, such as has never been known 

 elsewhere in the world, including at times an average of 

 forty per cent, on all imports, in addition to taxes upon 

 real estate, the industries, arts, professions, the slaughtering 

 of meats, and a burdensome system of stamp taxes, which 

 even included in its far-reaching application the affixing of 

 an impost stamp upon every arrival at a hotel. The pro- 

 cesses of possible direct taxation being exhausted, the 

 government resorted to the establishment of a most nefa- 

 rious and contaminating lottery system, which yielded a 

 profit of four million dollars annually. 



The profits to the active official classes, not including 

 the fruits of bribery, are estimated at about $15,000,000 

 annually, besides Cuba's contribution to pensioners in 

 Spain a tidy sum for supporting the luxurious leisure of 

 these classes, as the following figures will show. Some of 

 the official revenues, one half of which are derived from 

 customs, the remainder from numerous species of direct 

 taxation, have been: 1825, $5,722,198; 1867, $33,000,000; 

 1869, $52,500,000; 1877, $60,000,000; 1879, $54,000,000; 

 1884, $34,269,410; estimated revenue for 1893-94, $24,- 

 440,759; for 1897-98, $24,755,760. The disposition of 

 the $34,269,410 of revenues raised by taxation in 1884 

 shows clearly how it was diverted to Spanish profit. Of 

 this sum, $12,574,485 was paid for old military debts in- 

 curred by Spain in suppressing Cuban outbreaks and 

 otherwise riveting the shackles of tyranny upon the 

 Cuban people; $5,904,084 for the ministry of war; $14,- 

 595,096, or nearly one half the revenue, for supporting 

 Spaniards, as follows : pensions of Spanish officers, $468,- 

 000; pay of retired Spanish officers, $918,500; salary of 

 captain-general, $50,000; salaries of colonial officials (all 



