Till: i ■ I ■ i: \ IIEVIEW 



HAVANA CORRESPONDENCE 



April 25th, 1919. 



CUBAN CONGRESS: The Ninth Cuban Congress opened recently. As cus- 

 tomary the President addressed Congress with a long message covering many dif- 

 ferent points. Be mentioned that while the Greal War did aol bring suffering to 

 Cuba as it did to the countries engaged In the war, yel there was considerable distress 

 experienced by the poor classes because of the high cost of living and also duo to the 

 many strikes broughl on by the differenl laboring elements and he said thai this ques- 

 tion of strikes is one thai Congress would have to take up for consideration. 



As regards 11 lection laws ;im! census, General Menoc-il Hied the repealed 



recommendations he had made that Congress should take necessary action in con- 

 nection with the compiling of a new census to he used as a basis Cor correcting the 

 electoral lists, adding further that he would in due time address a special message 

 to Congress containing the recommendations arrived at by him based on the investi- 

 gations new being made of the present electoral laws by Major General Crowder, 

 U. S. A., who is here to make a special study of this matter. 



His message also referred to the present extraordinary sugar crop, over 2,000,000 

 tons having been made up to the fore part of March, calling attention to the fact 

 that this was produced more than ever before by domestic labor, as on account of 

 the submarine campaign and shortage of steamers between Spain and Cuba, the 

 Spanish immigration movement has been much curtailed, figures showing that in 1918 

 only 14. 292 Spaniards became Cuban citizens as against 34,795 in 1 1)1 7. 



Making mention of imports, the President stated the figures for 1918 were 

 $297,622,214 as against $272,573,055 for 1917, or an increase of slightly over $25,000,000. 

 Exportations to European countries were naturally very small on account of war 

 conditions, but exports to American countries tor litis were $41.*'»,o25,251 as against 

 $366,845,510 for 1017. an increase of almost $50,000,000. 



In this connection be mentioned that an injustice bad been done Cuba, as exag- 

 gerated reports had been sent abroad alleging an over-congestion or inadequate con- 

 dition of the Havana docks, when, as a matter of fact, there was no time when 

 Havana Harbor bad as many conveniences for handling its traffic as at present. 



No important legislation has been accomplished by Congress since our last ad- 

 vices. There are many bills pending, but frequently there is not a quorum present, 

 so work is progressing slowly. 



CESPEDES ANNIVERSARY: Friday, April 18th, was the one hundredth an- 

 niversary of the birth of Carlos Manuel de Cespedes, one of the greatest of Cuban 

 patriots. The day was celebrated in the public schools by appropriate exercises and 

 later the pupils laid wreaths on the monuments erected to Cuban patriots in the 

 different parks of the city. 



Congress and the President also declared a national holiday on account of this 

 anniversary, but as it came on Good Friday, the day following was made a holiday 

 instead. 



POPULATION OF HAVANA : The newspapers have recently published data 

 regarding Havana's population taken from the census which has just been made 

 public. Havana has a total of 360,511 inhabitants, a gain of 60,000 over the past 

 year. Of the total mentioned. 186,563 are males and 179,94S, females. The different 

 nationalities represented are as follows : 



Cubans 245,S1« 



Spaniards inil.744 



Americans 3,711 



Chinese 3,346 



Mexicans 1,910 



