THE CUBA REVIEW 



25 



The Stevedores' Differences. 



An amicable settlement of the steve- 

 dores' and steamship men's trouble, re- 

 garding the loading tariff paid at the 

 port of Havana is still far off. Union 

 men are insisted upon. 



For years the stevedores of Havana 

 have been trying to obtain the old tariff 

 made up by the Wood administration, 

 fixing certain rates for loading charges, 

 w^hile the steamship men have maintained 

 that the present rate of $2.50 cy., for a 

 nine-hour day is right. 



These rates are now $2.50, maximum 

 for loading and unloading, with a inini- 

 mum of $1.25 for a half day; the night 

 rate is $4. For loading sugar the steve- 

 dores gets 3i/^ cents a bag for day work 

 and 7 cents a bag for night work. 



After comparison with the hour rate 

 paid in New York, Porto Rican and 

 Mexican ports, the steamship interests 

 proposed 30 cents per hour for day and 

 45 cents for night work, with the rates 

 for loading sugar to remain unchanged. 



The companies are to be at liberty 

 to employ any good worker selected by 

 the foreman and acceptable to the steve- 

 dores. 



Flag Presentation. 



Prominent business men of Havana's 

 American colony are arranging an un- 

 usual July 4th celebration. According 

 to the plans among other manifesta- 

 tions of good will toward the Cuban 

 people, there will be a presentation of 

 five national and five regimental flags to 

 the two infantry regiments of the per- 

 manent army and the three artillery 

 corps. 



The offer was made by Mr. George 

 M. Bradt, publisher of the Havana Post, 

 and President Gomez, replying to Mr. 

 Bradt, said he considered the gifts a 

 proof of the sincere friendship of Am- 

 ericans toward Cuba and gladly accepted. 



The Cuban press very generally coin- 

 mends the gift. 



The San Jose sugar mill at Hatuey 

 closed grinding May 15. The output is 

 61,733 bags. 



Construction has begun of the electric 

 plant in Holguin to supply that ancient 

 city's lighting and power requirements. 



Second Cuban Medical Congress. 



The organization committee of the 

 Second Cuban National Medical Con- 

 gress has fixed the date for the coming 

 congress for February 24, 1910, to be 

 held in Havana. Members of the pro- 

 fession generally will receive an invita- 

 tion to attend. A fee of $3 for member- 

 ship will be charged. 



The first Cuban national congress was 

 held in Havana in November, 1907, and 

 was highly successful. The second con- 

 gress was scheduled to take place last 

 August, but plans were abandoned in 

 view of the refusal of the last interven- 

 tion to grant any government aid. 



Disposal of the Maine. 



Admiral Sigsbee, who as Captain 

 Sigsbee commanded the Maine when that 

 vessel was blown up in Havana harbor,, 

 discussed in a lecture delivered in Wash- 

 ington, May 16, the raising of the Alaine 

 as an engineering problem. He thought 

 the task would be one of enormous ex- 

 pense and difficulty if it were performed 

 in such a way as to bring the hulk to- 

 the surface entire. 



"People have forgotten," he said, "how much 

 the Maine suffered from the explosion. The 

 few parts still above the surface of the water 

 give but little indication of the torn and twisted 

 wreckage out of sight. To raise the shattered 

 parts would require the construction of a coffer 

 dam around the whole wreck, and this would in- 

 volve the prolonged exposure of a lot of mud 

 as noxious as is to be found in the world for a. 

 considerable period to the tropic sun, with con- 

 sequences to the health of the city that might be 

 serious." 



He said also that 



"The Maine on the bottom occupies much less 

 harbor space than she did when swinging at an- 

 chor, so the need of her removal is not desperate 

 on that account, and his suggestion as to final 

 disposition was that she be blown up in detail, 

 with no systematic attempt to recover the frag- 

 ments." 



A correspondent in Washington (D.C.) 

 Star proposes a much better disposition 

 of the wreck. It is to build a substan- 

 tial wall around it, making of the spot 

 "a beautiful island of appropriate size 

 and design, in the center of which should 

 rise a properly inscribed shaft." "To- 

 blow it up," he says, "would cause wide- 

 spread horror that we had blasted out 

 the grave containing the remains of 

 sixty-three of our sailors and marines 

 and made iinpossible the honorable bur- 

 ial of the battleship." The island idea 

 would appeal strongly to patriotism and 

 sentiment as the Bunker Hill monument 

 and the memorials erected at Arlington 

 and Gettysburg. 



The question of the island obstructing 

 navigation and as aiding in filling up the 

 harbor with sand bars, etc., the writer 

 dismisses as unworthy of serious con- 

 sideration. Resolutions embodying the 

 above were recently imanimously adopt- 

 ed by the Board of Trade of Newark, 

 N. J. 



