10 



THE CUBA REVIEW. 



Because of the contracts 

 American made by the Cuban govern- 

 Protest to ment with firms in France 

 Cuba. and Germany for the pur- 



chase of rifles and artillery 

 for the new Cuban army were made with- 

 out competition, the State Department, it 

 was learned, on June 19 had protested and 

 made it clear to the Havana government 

 that in the future the United States manu- 

 facturers should at least be given an op- 

 portunity to participate in any contracts 

 awarded by the Cuban government. 



The State Department holds that this 

 country is entitled to such consideration. It 

 is possible that the contract for the pur- 

 chase of arms will be reopened, although 

 the United States has made no formal pro- 

 test. The State Department has, however, 

 asked many questions concerning the mat- 

 ter and has evinced such a decided interest 

 that Cuba must know without the State 

 Department going so far as actually to say 

 so that America would be pleased should 

 the matter be reopened. 



On June 21 Senor Velez, Secretary of 

 State, denied that any such protest had 

 been presented, but only a request for in- 

 formation relative to contracts which had 

 been answered. This denial was reiterated 

 at late as June 28 in Cuban despatches, 

 but the fact that such a protest had been 

 sent was again asserted by the_ American 

 newspapers. Further information leaked 

 out that the protest or note of warning, 

 as it was now called, dealt with the Oliver 

 road building contract, the McGivney-Roke- 

 by paving and sewering contract, the propo- 

 sition of an exchange of property between 

 the United Railways of Havana and the 

 Cuban government, which included the con- 

 struction of a President's palace and other 

 government buildings by the company, and 

 lastly the purchase of army supplies abroad. 



President Gomez approved on July 2 

 the law nullifying all previous legisla- 

 tion against cock fighting in Cuba, and 

 another law creating a national navy, 

 authorizing revenue cutters and gun- 

 boats to use light rapid-fire guns. 



The Secretary of Public Works has au- 

 thorized the commencement of work on the 

 turnpike connecting Vedado with La Vibora. 



The Centro Gallego, of Cienfuegos, will 

 build a new hospital. The most modern 

 scientific and sanitary apparatus will be em- 

 ployed. X-ray instruments and hospital 

 supplies will be required. 



The Senate approved the Lottery, bill on 

 June 29 and on July 5 the House took the 

 same action, accepting the Senate's amend- 

 ments. The President signed the bill July 9. 



The official census of Cuba 

 The Cuban shows the population of the 



Census. island, including all the prov- 



inces, when the work of the 

 census enumerators was completed three 

 months ago, to have been 2,048,980, of which 

 69.72 per cent, is classified as pure white 

 and 30.28 per cent, are negroes. 



The native whites number 1,225,000, the 

 foreign whites 204,000, and there are 12,000 

 Mongolians, chiefly Chinese. There are only 

 a few hundred Japanese in the island. Of 

 the 204,000 foreign whites in Cuba, only 

 6,713 are of American birth. The Spaniards 

 are largely in the preponderance among the 

 white foreigners, for there is very little 

 immigration into the island from the United 

 States. More immigrants go from Spain 

 to Cuba every year than from all the other 

 countries combined. 



Natives of the United States who are in 

 Cuba are a little less than one out of every 

 300 of the aggregate population, but Ameri- 

 can capital invested in the island bears a far 

 larger proportion to the aggregate capital 

 than the American residents do to the total 

 number of inhabitants. Americans own 

 sugar plantations, sugar refineries, tobacco 

 lands, cigar factories, and many mercantile 

 houses. But even as property owners the 

 Americans are exceeded by the other for- 

 eigners, in the aggregate. 



The total population of the six provinces 

 is as follows: Pinar del Rio. 210,372; Ha- 

 vana, 538,010; Matanzas, 238,812; Santa 

 Clara, 457,431 ; Camaguey, 118,269, and Ori- 

 ente, 455,086. 



A census of Cuba taken in 1774 showed 

 a population at that time of but 171,620. 

 In 1877 the population had increased to 

 1,509,291, a growth of 1,337,671. From the 

 year of the first census to the present day 

 the population has increased 1,877,360, and 

 from 1877 there has been an increase of 

 530,689. 



President Gomez recently appointed 

 Senor Lopez Leiva, Assistant Secretary 

 of Finance, to inspect accounts of Spey- 

 er & Co., bankers, at New York, as to 

 the loan of $35,000,000 contracted in 1904 

 to pay the army of liberation. This in- 

 spection is stipulated in the contract and 

 is to be carried out for the first time in 

 five vears. 



A fire in Guantanamo June 27 destroyed 

 the Hotel Inglaterra and a private college 

 and damaged, a large warehouse owned 

 by Brooks Bros. 



The President has authorized the Sec- 

 retary of Public Works to commence the 

 work on the carretera between the port of 

 Santa Cruz del S'ur and Sabanilla, Puerto 

 Principe Province. 



