THE 



CUBA REVIEW --■ 



"ALL ABOUT CUBA." 



Copyright, 1908, by the Munson Steamship Line. 



EW YORK 

 i«)TANICAL 

 UaKDEN. 



Volume VIL 



MAY, 1909. 



NUMBER 6. 



GOVERNMENT MATTERS. 



The Cuban Permanent Army. 



Santiago Improvements. 

 System. 



Modern Telephone 



The permanent army of Cnba, 

 The Cuban as distinguished from the Rural 

 Permanent Guard, when fully recruited 

 Army. will number 5,000 artillery and 

 infantry. Up to the present the 

 Rural Guard has constituted the only armed 

 force of the Republic. 



The organization of the Permanent Army 

 was authorized by a decree of Governor Ma- 

 goon, issued in April of last year, and Gen- 

 eral Faustino Guerra was then appointed its 

 commander-in-chief. 



New German Mausers, model of 1909, 

 will be furnished the infantry, and Schnei- 

 der-Canet guns, made in France, the artil- 

 lery. 



It is intended, in course of time, to estab- 

 lish a school for cadets on the model of West 

 Point. 



The pay of the army is liberal, and rather 

 more than that paid in the United States. 

 The Commander-in-Chief receives $6,000; 

 Brigadier-General, $5,000; Colonels, $3,600; 

 Lieutenant Colonels, $3,300; Captains, $1,800; 

 First Lieutenants, $1,500, and Second Lieu- 

 tenants, $1,200. Sergeants get from $50 to 

 $30; Corporals, $25, and Privates, $21 a 

 month, with equipment on enlistment to the 

 value of $160. 



Three young officers of the United States 



Army have been assigned by the Secretary 



of War the task of creating an effective, 



O^ well-drilled, and well-disciplined Cuban 



^ Army. They arrived in Havana April 26. 



^ Capt. Golderman will oversee the creation 



Qy;^, of a coast artillery corps. Captain Parker, 



^that of a cavalry detachment, and Captain 



Gatley, that of the mobile artillery, paying 



^ special attention to field and mountain gun 



<[ 



practice. 



While on duty Capts. Parker, Gatley, and 

 Golderman will rank as Lieutenant Colonels 



and will draw the salary paid officers of 

 that rank by the United States. The Cuban 

 Government will foot the bill. They will 

 be away probably a year. 



Santiago 

 Improve- 

 ments. 



Public improvements costing 

 $650,000 are contemplated for 

 Santiago de Cuba. Paving of 

 the streets, better parks and the 

 widening of the mouth cf the 

 harbor is being urged on the city council 

 by many business men. The city now has 

 a complete street arc light system and trolley 

 cars. The improvement of the water works 

 are now going on and the sewerage system 

 is in the hands of the government engineers. 

 The Alameda is to be macadamized and city 

 bonds issued to provide the necessary funds. 

 The widening of Santiago bay is also con- 

 templated by the removal of a portion of 

 Punta Diamante. 



Modern 



Telephone 



System. 



The Havana Telephone Com- 

 pany, whose contract with the 

 government expires in 1910, re- 

 cently surrendered its rights 

 and by presidential decree of 

 April 27 has secured in exchange an _18-year 

 franchise from the government, paying the 

 latter $24,000 per year for the first two years 

 and $15,000 per year thereafter. The pres- 

 ent inadequate plant will be replaced with 

 the latest modern automatic system. The 

 installation will cost $1,500,000. 



Local telegraph offices have been opened 

 to public and limited official service at La 

 Coloma. Province of Pinar del Rio, and at 

 Columbia, Havana Province. 



