TH E CUBA REVIEW. 



21 



The Cuban Viewpoint. 



A Cuban officer in the Treasury Depart- 

 ment stole $190,000 of the public funds. 

 It was during the recent presidential cam- 

 paign, and the defaulter was a supporter 

 of Gomez, who was elected. The unfeel- 

 ing American at the head of the Treasury 

 Department found out about the theft and 

 called the embezzler before him. The man 

 admitted that he took the money, and de- 

 clared that he used it all himself, although 

 there is a well-defined opinion in Havana 

 that much of it found its way into the 

 Liberal campaign fund. The man went to 

 jail, and there he is to-day. 



But he cannot understand why the 

 American treasury official refused to pay 

 him his salary. He is an officer of the 

 Government and needs it. He has writ- 

 ten several letters from jail demanding his 

 pay. When the new Government comes in 

 he hopes he will be included in the general 

 amnesty pardon decree, which President 

 Gomez is to sign with a gold pen bought 

 for that express purpose by the Historical 

 Liberal Association of Havana. A Cuban 

 newspaper argued that the money was col- 

 lected from the people, that it belonged to 

 the people, and that the defaulter was one 

 of the people, so that judgment upon him 

 must not be too harsh. 



Provisional Government representatives 

 visited several towns to see what was 

 needed most. In one town where the 

 plumbing in the hospital was out of repair 

 so that there had been no running water 

 for two years, the authorities could think 

 of nothing they needed except money to 

 build a museum to house a collection of 

 pretty sea shells. Another town did not 

 boast of a single ctreet which was not 

 eighteen inches deep in mud. It most need- 

 ed a municipal band to play in the plaza. 



In one town the hospital was found to 

 be in a horrible condition. There was no 

 running water and the filth was dreadful. 

 In the same town, strange to say, the abat- 

 toir was found to be in an ideal state of 

 cleanliness. The hospital manager was 

 asked for an explanation. He said the 

 hospital would be fixed up next week. Then 

 he asked the Americans if they had noticed 

 the terrible condition of the abattoir. The 

 Americans said that the abattoir was in a 

 surprisingly good condition. Whereupon 

 the Cuban threw up his hands in horror 

 and exclaimed: "But the front lof it! 

 It hasn't been painted for three years!" — 

 Frederic J. Haskin. 



and twenty Spaniards. The retail stores, 

 shops and restaurants are in the hands of 

 Spanish owners. The clerks in these es- 

 tablishments are industriou, ambitious 

 young fellows from poor homes in Spain. 

 They have crossed the sea to seek their 

 fortune. Their employers lodge them, feed 

 them, eat with them, take paternal care 

 of them, and after five or six years assist 

 them to buy a pa^tnership, or set up in 

 business for themselves independently. 

 About the first thing done by the merchant 

 for the homesick lad from Spain is to get 

 him into one of the Spanish co-operative 

 associations or clubs. Of these Mr. Han- 

 ford says : 



They are found in every town. In Ha- 

 vana there are half a dozen, with a total 

 membership of 100,000. Each has besides 

 its large clubhouse with reading rooms, 

 library, game-room, gymnasium and night 

 school, features of still greater value to 

 the young man away from home, such as 

 medical advice, hospital, drug store, law- 

 yers' services in business matters, notaries, 

 banking facilities, and all free of charge 

 to members, whose 'dues are $1.25 per 

 month. There is no initiation fee, and the 

 second month you continue as a member 

 entitles you to all the benefits. In num- 

 bers and financial strength these institu- 

 tions have had a marvelously rapid growth ; 

 the funds are being used to extend the 

 sphere of Spanish domination in Cuba. 

 This condition must be recognized by the 

 American export movement, for it seems 

 probable that the merchant from Spain will 

 come to control the retail trade in all the 

 Spanish-speaking Americans, and that the 

 wholesale importing houses will also be 

 secured by means of the important advan- 

 tages to be gained. 



Cuba in 1909. 



The "Journal of Commerce" publishes a 

 letter from Havana by Raymer Hanford 

 which bids us dismiss from our minds at 

 once the notion that Cuba is becoming 

 Americanized. For everv American on 

 the island there are two Chinamen, he says. 



The Bank of Havana's Future. 



Two members of the New York com- 

 mittee of the directors of this bank are 

 in Havana to formulate plans either 

 for the bank's liquidation or its con- 

 tinuance with reduced ca'^ital, says the 

 New York Times. 



Important French and Er.glish bank- 

 ing groups are interested in the bank in 

 addition to the New York banking in- 

 terests who hold stock. If a reduction in 

 capital is decided on the plan is to reduce 

 it from $2,500,000 to $1,000,000. In the 

 past the bank's business consisted largely 

 of lending money on securities traded 

 in in the Havana market, but these are 

 limited in number, and it is the desire of 

 the American and other foreign inter- 

 ests to have the bank give its attention 

 to a general commercial business. Its 

 accounts are in such liquid shape that 

 if liquidation is decided on there will 

 be little else to do than to distribute 

 the cash to the stockholders. 



