18 



THE CUBA REVI E W 



Conditions in Cuba. 



Bishop Warren A. Candler in a signed 

 article in the Atlanta (Ga.) Journal, reviews 

 conditions in Cuba. He writes from Hav- 

 ana just before the inauguration. Among 

 other comment, the following is important. 



The sanitary conditions of Cuba have 

 improved. Havana is to-day a cleaner and 

 healthier city than Atlanta; — its health 

 record is better than a number of our 

 American cities. Yet I remember that 

 when I first saw the place its sanitation 

 was so bad that a stranger who came with- 

 in its gates took his life in his hands. 



Decreased poverty and good crops, he 

 says further, will promote contentment and 

 quiet among the Cuban people. This year 

 the seasons have been good and the yield 

 of cane and tobacco promises to be extra- 

 ordinary. The new government starts ofif, 

 therefore, with this great advantage and 

 gives ground for hope that the government 

 may be stable and enjoy a good measure of 

 success. 



On the other hand, there are facts which 

 give rise to misgivings as to the outcome. 



The new governemnt is a coalition gov- 

 ernment — and in all lands and times coali- 

 tions are notoriously unreliable. The fac- 

 tions contend with each other in the Con- 

 gress, and of course the representatives of 

 the defeated party of the Conservatives sit 

 by to take advantage of the strife existing 

 between them. These conditions furnish a 

 tine chance for a row over the distribution 

 of the offices. 



Cuba has no Bolivar, says the Bishop, no 

 Juarez, no Porfirio Diaz! Cuban leaders 

 are not statesmen, but politicians. When a 

 country has no great leader, or leaders, the 

 times become the fecund mother of politi- 

 cians who grasp at power without the wis- 

 dom to wield it for the welfare of the peo- 

 ple, and at such times since the politicians 

 are numerous and all of a size they are lia- 

 ble to make a mess of public interests in 

 their struggles for place and pelf. 



About twenty-five promintnt men of 

 Havana assembled recently for the pur- 

 pose of organizing a council of tihe 

 Knights of Columbus. A regular lodge 

 will be instituted and an active canvass 

 made throughout the community with 

 a view of making that one of the strong- 

 est orders in Cuba. 



The German Emperor has conferred a 

 decoration on Dr. D. T. Laine of Hav- 

 ana for his skill in treating the Prince 

 von Reuss, son of the Duchess of 

 Mecklenburg, recently at the American 

 hospital in Vedado. The Prince von 

 Reuss was an officer of a German train- 

 ing ship, and was taken ill while in this 

 city, and Dr. Laine performed the nec- 

 essary operation. 



Courtesy New York Herald. 



Cuba's Statue of Liberty. 



Cuba is to have a Statue of Liberty 

 dt Matanzas. Salvatore Buemi, of Rome, 

 an Italian sculptor, executed the figure, 

 which will stand in a public park in the 

 city and dedicated Feb. 24 next. 



Signor Buemi has been at work on the 

 statue for more than two years and will 

 take an important part in the dedication 

 ceremonies. 



In addition to the bronze figure repre- 

 senting liberty, which will rest on a 

 granite pedestal, the bronze image of 

 Jose Marti will form a part of the same 

 monument, which is being erected by a 

 popular subscription. The liberty statue 

 will stand twelve feet high, and will be 

 at the foot of the Marti monument, 

 which will rest on a higher pedestal. 



The expensive wireless tower erected 

 last year near Morro Castle will prob- 

 ably have to be taken down and re- 

 erected at some other point, says the 

 Havana Lucha. 



The apparatus has failed to work sat- 

 isfactorily, some days not at all, because 

 the foundations are on the solid rock, 

 when it should have been built on plenty 

 of earth, to make the ground circuit 

 complete. 



Mr. R. T. Tanner has again entered the 

 newspaper field and has taken the post of 

 commercial editor of the Havana Tele- 

 graph, a daily newspaper which he founded. 



