GOVERNMENT AND LAW. 



miles of main line belong to these companies, 

 and there are, besides, private branch lines to 

 all the important sugar estates. The Ferro- 

 carriles Unidos has four lines, connecting Ha- 

 vana with Matanzas, Batabano, Union, and 

 Guanajay. The roads pass through the most 

 populous part of the country and connect Ha- 

 vana with other lines. 



The Western Railway was begun some forty 

 years ago, and in 1891, when it was acquired 

 by an English company, had reached Puerto de 

 Golpe, 96 miles from Havana and 10 miles 

 from Pinar del Rio, the capital of the province 

 of that name and the center of the tobacco- 

 growing district. The line has been completed 

 to Pinar del Rio, and improvements have been 

 made in the old part, many of the bridges hav- 

 ing been replaced by new steel ones, the rails 

 renewed, modern cars put on, etc. 



The other companies are : Ferrocarriles 

 Cardenas-Jacaro, the main line of which joins 

 the towns of Cardenas and Santa Clara ; Fer- 

 rocarril de Matanzas, having lines between 

 Matanzas and Murga, and also between Matan- 

 zas and Guareiras ; Ferrocarril de Sagua la 

 Grande, running between Concha and Cruces ; 

 Ferrocarril Cienf uegos-Santa Clara, connecting 

 those towns ; Ferrocarriles Unidos de Caibarien, 

 from Caibarien to Placetas ; Ferrocarril de 

 Puerto Principe-Nuevitas ; Ferrocarril de 

 Guantanamo. 



The Marianao Railway also belongs to an 

 English company, with headquarters in Lon- 

 don. The original line, belonging to Cubans, 

 was opened in 1863, but liquidated and was 

 transferred to the present owners. The liiie, 

 only 8 miles in length, runs from Havana to 

 Marianao, with a "branch line to a small vil- 

 lage on the coast. During 1894, over 750,000 

 passengers were carried, this being the chief 

 source of revenue. The carriages are of the 

 American type, and are fitted, as well as the 

 locomotives, with the Westinghouse automatic 

 brake ; the rails are of steel, weighing 60 

 pounds per yard. 



Ports, Interior Transportation, Etc. 

 In 1895 the port of Havana was visited by 

 1179 vessels, of 1,681,325 tons; in 1897, 231 

 vessels, of 309,758 tons, visited Cienf uegos. 

 There are 54 ports in Cuba, of which 15 are 

 open to commerce. There are 19 lighthouses. 



Cables. There are four cable lines con- 

 nected with Cuba. The International Ocean 

 Telegraph Company has a cable from Havana 

 to Florida ; the Cuban Submarine Company 

 has a cable connecting Havana with Santiago 

 de Cuba and Cienfuegos ; the West India and 

 Panama Company has a cable connecting Ha- 

 vana with Santiago de Cuba, Jamaica, Porto 

 Rico, the Lesser Antilles, and the Isthmus of 



Panama ; the Compagnie Franchise de Cables 

 Sous-Marins has a line connecting Havana 

 with Santiago de Cuba, Haiti, Santo Domingo, 

 Venezuela, and Brazil. 



The only three towns in Cuba having cable 

 connections are Havana, Cienfuegos, and San- 

 tiago de Cuba. 



Telegraphs, Telephones, Etc. The 

 telegraph and telephone systems in Cuba be- 

 long to the Government, but the latter is 

 farmed out for a limited number of years to a 

 company called the Red Telefonica de la Ha- 

 bana. Nearly all the public and private build- 

 ings in the city and suburbs are connected by 

 telephone. 



DECLARATION OF INDEPEND- 

 ENCE. 



In Congress July 4> 1776. The unanimous 



Declaration of the Thirteen United States of 



America. 



When, in the course of human events, it be- 

 comes necessary for one people to dissolve the 

 political bands which have connected them 

 with another, and to assume, among the powers 

 of the earth, the separate and equal station to 

 which the laws of nature and of nature's God 

 entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions 

 of mankind requires that they should declare 

 the causes which impel them to the separation. 



We hold these truths to be self-evident, that 

 all men are created equal, that they are en- 

 dowed, by their Creator, with certain unalien- 

 able rights, that among these are life, liberty, 

 and the pursuit of happiness. That to secure 

 these rights, governments are instituted among 

 men, deriving their just powers from the con- 

 sent of the governed, that whenever any form of 

 government becomes destructive of these ends, 

 it is the right of the people to alter or to abol- 

 ish it, and to institute new government, laying 

 its foundation on such principles, and organiz- 

 ing its powers in such form as to them shall 

 seem most likely to effect their safety and hap- 

 piness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate, that 

 governments long "established should not be 

 changed for light and transient causes ; and 

 accordingly all experience hath shown that 

 mankind are more disposed to suffer where 

 evils are sufferable, than to right themselves 

 by abolishing the forms to which they are ac- 

 customed. But when a long train of abuses 

 and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same 

 object, evinces a design to reduce them under 

 absolute despotism, it is their right, it is their 

 duty, to throw off such government, and to 

 provide new guards for their future security. 

 Such has been the patient sufferance of these 

 colonies ; and such is now the necessity which 

 constrains them to alter their former systems 



