12 



THE CUBA REVIEW. 



Cuba has placed severe 

 Ban on restrictions upon the im- 

 Firearms. portation and sale of fire- 

 arms throughout the re- 

 public, with the exception of ordinary 

 shotguns and the .32 caliber gallery rifle, 

 says the New York World. Ammunition 

 for these two classes of firearms is pro- 

 hibited except through the ports of 

 Havana, Matanzas, Nuevitas, Trinidad 

 and Santiago de Cuba. 



Retail dealers in guns, rifles and re- 

 volvers will not be hereafter permitted 

 to have in stock in excess of ninety-nine 

 weapons at one time, and can only with- 

 draw in case of sales, uo to the ninety- 

 ninth weapon, must report all sales to 

 the government, giving name of pur- 

 chaser (who must secure a license), num- 

 ber of license, date of issue and author- 

 ity. Dealers will be allowed to keep in 

 stock over 100 charges for each weapon, 

 and excess stock of weapons over nine- 

 ty-nine must be deposited in the national 

 armory and withdrawn as sales demand 

 only after receiving the permission of 

 the government. Arms may be sold 

 only to persons who have proved them- 

 selves authorized to use them. 



The New 

 Loan. 



On Aug. 25 President 

 Gomez signed the $16,500,- 

 000 loan contract with 

 Speyer & Co., of New 

 York, negotiating through Frank Stein- 

 hart. The basis of the loan is as fol- 

 lows: Bonds of $100, $500 and $1,000, cor- 

 responding to an A, B, C series, respec- 

 tively, will be issued paying 4^^ per cent, 

 per annum on Feb. 1 and Aug. 1 each 

 year, these bonds to be taken by Speyer 

 & Co. at 88>^ per cent, of the nominal 

 value. Redemption will begin on Aug. 

 1, 1919, and end in 1949, interest to be 

 paid from Aug. 1, 1909. Speyer & Co. 

 hold the privilege to buy from the Cuban 

 government any bonds which may be 

 negotiated before the redeeming period 

 begins on Aug. 1, 1919. 



Of the dozen foreign loans placed here 

 within the last decade, the Cuban bonds 

 have probably remained longest in the 

 hands of American investors. A large 

 portion of the $35,000,000 offering sold 

 by the Speyers in April, 1904, are still 

 held here. These bonds carried 4 per 

 cent, and were placed at 97. — Banker 

 and Tradesman, Boston. 



President Gomez has 

 Contracts issued a decree Aug. 24 

 Annulled. declaring annulled all con- 

 tracts affecting govern- 

 ment works which have not been made 

 by public bidding. All expenses incurred 



by the contractors shall be indemnified. 

 If, when revising the contracts made up 

 to this time, any irregularity or intended 

 action to profit thereby is detected, the 

 persons responsible will be indicted. 



James Page, the Ameri- 

 Engineer can chief engineer of the 

 Page water and sewer system 



Retained. of Ciefuegos, Cuba, has 

 been permanently appoint- 

 ed to the place by President Gomez. Mr. 

 Page was to have been discharged on 

 July 20 last, but the American govern- 

 ment asked that he be given an oppor- 

 tunity to prove his innocence of the al- 

 legations made against his administra- 

 tion, and a committee appointed by 

 President Gomez completely exonerated 

 him. 



Mr. F. Vidal Crus, a promi- 



Sonie nent citizen of Havana, who 



Cubans has extensive business inter- 



JVant ests in Cuba, is spending 



Anne.vation. some time in Baltimore. In 



conversation with a Baltimore 



American representative recently he said : 



"The situation in Cuba is not so happy as the 

 best friends of that country could desire. The 

 trouble arises over uncertainty as to the political 

 destiny of the island. In the opinion of many 

 high-class men who view matters from a patriotic 

 and unselfish standpoint, it would be far better 

 if the flag of the United States had never been 

 hauled down in Cuba. These men do not think 

 that a local government of stable character can 

 be established in Havana, for they have small 

 confidence in the politicians who are in control 

 of affairs. With them the wish of speedy an- 

 nexation to the United States is the dominant 

 sentiment and they are impatient for that con- 

 summation." 



On Sept. 1 the United Fruit Com- 

 pany had been authorized to maintain 

 the wireless station at San Antonio 

 Cape, installed by the authorization of 

 Mr. Charles E. Magoon when governor. 

 This concession had been rescinded by 

 the Cuban government some time ago. 



President Gomez recently invited the 

 various editors to confer with him per- 

 sonally, apparently for the purpose of 

 ending the unfriendly criticisms of the 

 administration. 



Dr. N. S. ]\Iayo, for the past five years 

 vice-director and chief of the department 

 of animal industry of the Estacion Cen- 

 tral Agronomica, Santiago de las Vegas, 

 Cuba, has accepted the chair of animal 

 husbandry and veterinary science in the 

 Virginia Polytechnic Institute (Agri- 

 cultural and Mechanical College) at 

 Blacksburg, Va. He entered on his new 

 duties Sept. 1. 



