198 



CUBA. 



of Puerto Principe, 88,234; of Santa Clara, 356,- 

 530; of Santiago, 327,715. The city of Havana 

 had 235,981 inhabitants; Santiago de Cuba, 43,- 

 090; Matanzas city, 30,374; Cienfuegos, 30,038; 

 Puerto Principe, 25,102; Cardenas, 21,940; Man- 

 zanillo, 14,464; Guanabacoa, 13,965; Santa Clara, 

 13,763; Sagua !a Grande, 12,728; Sancti Spiritus, 

 12,696; Regla, 11,303; Trinidad, 11,120; Pinar del 

 Rio, 8,880; San Antonio de los Bauos, 8,178; 

 Guines, 8,179. The aggregate population of these 

 cities was 507.831: of other towns of over 1,000 

 inhabitants, 233,442; of country districts, 831,524. 

 The density of population for the whole island 

 was 35.7 to the square mile, ranging from 153 in 

 Havana, which is as thickly populated as Con- 

 necticut, to 55 in Matanzas, 37 in Santa Clara, 35 

 in Pinar del Kio, 26 in Santiago, and 8 in Puerto 

 Principe, which is about the same as in Texas. 

 The Cubans are an industrious people, and they 

 begin to work at an early age, 97 per cent, of 

 the male population over fifteen years of age and 

 17 per cent, of the boys below that age being en- 

 gaged in productive occupations. The women, 

 especially the whites, seldom work outside of their 

 own houses. The census shows that 292,331 males 

 and 6,866 females are employed in agriculture, 

 mining, and .fishing, a total of 299,197, or 48.1 per 

 cent, of the total number engaged in gainful oc- 

 cupations; 95,769 males and 46,167 females, 141,- 

 936 in all, were employed in personal and domestic 

 service, being 22.8 per cent, of the total produc- 

 tive population; 93,034 persons, 14.9 per cent, of 

 the total, comprising 82,012 males and 11,022 fe- 

 males, were employed in manufactures; 79,427, 

 being 12.8 per cent, of the total, comprising 78,- 

 766 males and 661 females, were engaged in com- 

 merce and transportation; and 8,736, or 1.4 per 

 cent, of the total, comprising 7,096 males and 

 1,640 females, followed the professions. Unde'r 

 the Spanish regime education was neglected. In 

 1861 the illiterates constituted 70 per cent, of the 

 white and 95 per cent, of the colored population. 

 In 1887, of 1,102,889 whites, 715,575, or 64 per 

 cent., could not read, and among 528,798 colored 

 the number was 463,782, or 87 per cent. Under 

 the military administration of the United States 

 great attention was given to education, and a new 

 system of public schools was organized. In 1899 

 there were 1,004,884 persons, or 63.9 per cent, of 

 the total population, unable to read, 33,003, or 

 2.1 per cent., able to read but not to write; 514,- 

 340, or 32.7 per cent., able to read and write, but 

 without superior education; and 19,158, or 1.2 per 

 cent., possessing a higher education. Of the white 

 population 208,962 males, or 47.4 per cent., and 

 191.363 females, or 51.5 per cent., and of the col- 

 ored 142,729 males, or 73.8 per cent., and 147,506 

 females, or 70.4 per cent., were unable to read. 



Finances. The revenue for the financial year 

 1899 was estimated before the Spanish evacua- 

 tion at $26,359,650 in silver, of which $14,705,000 

 were derived from customs. The expenditure was 

 estimated at $26,356,731, of which $12,574,709 

 were for the debt, $5,574,708 for war, and $2,645,- 

 150 for the executive authority. The revenue for 

 the calendar year 1900 was $16,938,925, of which 

 $15,697,361 were derived from customs, $777,236 

 from internal taxes, $318,923 from postal service, 

 and $144,705 from various sources. The expendi- 

 tures were $2,422,577 for the military department, 

 including rural guards, $2,333,709 for finance, $1,- 

 738,821 for public works, $1,345,911 for State and 

 government, $665,951 for justice, $594,567 for pub- 

 lic instruction, and $199,998 for agriculture; total, 

 $9,301,534, besides which $8,019,090 were given in 

 supplementary grants to municipalities, making 

 the total disbursements $17,320,621. This leaves 



a deficit of $381,699, which was met from the sur- 

 plus of the preceding year. For civil govern- 

 ment, finance, justice, instruction, and public 

 works the expenditures were a sixth heavier than 

 the average under the Spanish Government, but 

 the total was then a third greater, even includ- 

 ing the extraordinary grants to municipalities, as 

 the military expenses exceeded all the others ex- 

 cept the debt, which consumed nearly half the 

 revenue. The average rate of customs duties, 

 which produce 90 per cent, of the revenue, is 21 per 

 cent, on all merchandise and 22* per cent, on duti- 

 able merchandise, but is not leviable ad valorem 

 except in the case of a few articles. On jerked 

 beef the duty amounts to 31J per cent.; on bread- 

 stuffs, 21 per cent.; on fresh and preserved meats, 

 19| per cent.; on dairy-products, 15| per cent.; 

 on wines and spirits, 70| per cent.; on beer, 25f 

 per cent.; on cotton goods, 30| per cent.; on iron 

 and steel, 15 per cent.; on machinery, 14 per cent. 



By the Constitution adopted by the Cuban Con- 

 vention on Feb. 21, 1901, all liability for Cuban 

 bonds issued under Spanish rule was repudiated. 

 These bonds, of which 23,328,000, paying 6 per 

 cent., were issued prior to 1890 and between 9,- 

 000,000 and 10,000,000, paying 5 per cent., were 

 guaranteed by the Spanish Government and se- 

 cured on the Cuban revenues, and the interest is 

 now paid by the Spanish Government. Havana 

 has a debt of 1,918,640, and proposes to raise 

 3,000,000 for sewerage and other improvements. 



Commerce and Production. Cuba is mainly 

 an agricultural country. Prior to the war of in- 

 dependence which began in 1895 there were 90,960 

 plantations, farms, orchards, and cattle-ranges, 

 valued at $200,000,000. In 1899 there were only 

 60,711 farms having an average size of 143 acres, 

 the average area under cultivation being 13 acres. 

 The devastation of the war has been in a large de- 

 gree repaired by the industry of the people, espe- 

 cially in the sugar-growing provinces, where the 

 planters and manufacturers have resuscitated the 

 sugar business without extraneous aid except the 

 rations that the United States Government dis- 

 tributed among the starving agricultural popu- 

 lation. They have learned economical methods of 

 production from their poverty, so that the out- 

 put of the island promises in a few years to reach 

 1,500,000 tons per annum, enough to supply the 

 entire needs of the United States. The crop of 

 1901 was 600,000 tons, twice that of 1900, and' 

 new plantings will bring the crop of 1902 up to 

 800,000 or 900,000 tons. Although the principal 

 crop of the island, sugar does not cover more than 

 2,000,000 acres, not a fifth of the area that can 

 be made suitable for its cultivation. The exports 

 of sugar for the year ending July 31, 1900, were 

 263,835 tons. 



Of the entire area of Cuba 30 per cent, was oc- 

 cupied by farms in 1899, but only 10 per cent, 

 of the farms, or 3 per cent, of the surface of the 

 island, was under cultivation. Of the cultivated 

 area 40.7 per cent, was owned and tilled by whites, 

 44.2 per cent, was rented by whites, 2.8 per cent, 

 was owned by colored cultivators, and 8.2 per 

 cent, was rented to colored tenants. The large 

 estates, exceeding 325 acres, are not numerous, 

 being only 0.5 per cent, of the total number of 

 holdings, yet they contain 27 per cent, of the total 

 cultivated area, while farms of less than 8 acres, 

 constituting 63.5 per cent of the total number, 

 contain only 15.5 per cent., farms between 8 and 

 16 acres, constituting 19.2 per cent, of the total 

 number, contain 12.5 per cent., and 16.1 per cent, 

 is in farms between 32 and 100 acres, 5.1 per cent, 

 of the total number. 



The tobacco crop in the province of Pinar -del 



