DELAWARE. 



181 



population, foreign whites about 9 per cent., col- 

 ored 32 per cent., and Chinese less than 1 per cent. 

 The foreign-born live mostly in the cities, nearly 

 one third of them in Havana. Of the total popu- 

 lation, 83 per cent, are Cubans, 1 per cent, claimed 

 Spanish citizenship, and 11 per cent, had not de- 

 clared their intentions when the census was taken. 

 There were 1,004,884 persons, (i3.9 per cent, of the 

 total, who could neither read nor write; 33,003, or 

 2.1 per cent., who could read but not write; 514,340, 

 or 32.7 per cent., who could read and write, but 

 had no superior education; and 19,158, or 1.2 per 

 cent., who had superior education. The persons 

 born out of wedlock constitute 13 J per cent, of the 

 population. 



Finances. The revenue for 1899 was estimated 

 at $26,359.(>50, of which $14,705,000 came from cus- 

 toms, $6.142,500 from taxation, $1,900,000 from the 

 lottery, $1,640,650 from stamps, etc., $435,000 from 

 national property, and $1,536,000 from other 

 sources. The expenditures were estimated at $26,- 

 356,731, including $12,574,709 for the debt, $2,- 

 645,150 for the executive, $1,941,932 for the na- 

 tional church and justice, $5,896,741 for war, 

 $1,055,136 for marine, $1,036,582 for agriculture, 

 industry, and commerce, $708,979 for finance, 

 $-247.033 for education, and $142,290 for other ex- 

 penses. The approximate amount of the funded 

 debt w.hen the Spaniards left Cuba was $253,- 

 800,000, none of which was assumed as a charge 

 on the Cuban people, who were released also from 

 the additional debt of about $100,000,000 incurred 

 by Spain in attempting to suppress the last insur- 

 rection. 



Commerce and Production. There were 90,- 

 960 plantations in Cuba in 1891, having an esti- 

 mated value of $220,000,000, or $17,000,000 a year. 

 The live stock consisted of 584,725 horses and 

 mules, 2,485,766 horned cattle, 78,494 sheep, and 

 570,194 hogs. In the course of the war of inde- 

 pendence the animals were consumed and almost 

 disappeared, not more than 25,000 cattle, 5,500 

 horses, 2,150 mules, 8,500 hogs, and 4,500 sheep re- 

 maining, according to an estimate made in 1899. 

 The sugar and tobacco plantations were devas- 

 tated, of the former not more than 526 being 

 worked in 1899 out of 1,369 that existed in 1895', 

 of the latter not more than 1,250 out of 9,487, and 

 of coffee plantations only 115 out of 998. Fruit 

 and vegetable cultivation as well as stock farming 

 was practically abandoned, and 120,000 plantations 

 that were in existence in 1895 relapsed into the 

 wild state. Against 22,156 commercial houses and 

 manufacturing businesses in 1895 there were only 

 about 13,500 in 1899. The exports, amounting to 

 $100,000,000 before the war, were reduced by four 

 years of guerrilla warfare to a fifth of that sum. 

 The sugar crop receded from 1,004,264 tons in 

 1895 to 225,221 tons in 1896, 212,051 tons in 1897, 

 204.123 tons in 1898, and 25,098 tons in 1899. The 

 average tobacco crop has been 560,000 bales of 110 

 pounds, of which 338,000 bales were exported and 

 222.000 bales were made up into cigars and cigar- 

 ctli's in the factories of Havana. There were 

 185,914,000 cigars exported in 1896 and 123,417,000 

 in 1897, but only 91,812,000 in 1898. The export 

 of cigarettes in 1895 was 48,163,846 packages. The 

 leaf tobacco exported goes mostly to the United 



States, and about half of the exports of cigars. 

 Minor exports from Cuba are mahogany and other 

 woods, oranges and other fruits, and beeswax and 

 honey. Mining is carried on in the province of 

 Santiago de Cuba. There are two American com- 

 panies, which ship from 30,000 to 50,000 tons of ore 

 to the United States every month. In 1891 there 

 were 138 iron, 88 manganese, and 53 copper mines. 



The total value of imports in 1895 was $61.- 

 443,335. The value of exports was $110,285,020. 

 The value of the sugar exported was $76,596,617; 

 cigars, $24,047,841; rum and liquors. $1,034,470; 

 timber, $884,601 ; other articles, $7,721,491. The 

 exports in 1892 were $92,752,000 in value and the 

 imports were $63,764,265. In 1899 the imports 

 were about the same, the value being $64,343,210, 

 but the exports were only $43,880,740. British 

 and other foreign capital was invested in Cuba in 

 the purchase of railroads, cigar factories, sugar 

 plantations, etc., but very few new enterprises 

 were started. The imports consisted mainly of 

 food substances, clothing, liquors, and other arti- 

 cles of consumption, while of tools, machinery, or 

 other material for productive enterprise or for pub- 

 lic works the imports were small. The value of 

 food products amounted to half the total value of 

 the imports of Havana, which receives 75 per cent, 

 of the imports of the island. The mortgage in- 

 debtedness in Cuba as reported in the census of 

 1899 constitutes 58 per cent, of the value of the 

 rural real estate and 79 per cent, of that of the 

 urban real estate according to the valuation on the 

 registers of property made before the American 

 occupation began. 



Railroads and Telegraphs. There are 1,135 

 miles of railroad, besides private branches running 

 to the larger sugar plantations. 



The telegraphs have a total length of 2.301 miles, 

 with 3,450 miles of wire. The number of messages 

 in 1894 was 357,914. 



Constitutional Convention. A convention to 

 frame a constitution for the Cuban republic was 

 elected by the people and opened on Nov. 6 by 

 Gov.-Gen. Wood, who said that it would be the 

 duty of the delegates to draft and adopt a consti- 

 tution adequate to secure stable, orderly, and free 

 government and to formulate w r hat ought to be the 

 relations between Cuba and the United States in 

 their opinion, after which the Government of the 

 United States would doubtless take such action 

 as should lead to a final agreement between the 

 peoples of the two countries to the promotion of 

 their common interests. The convention, consist- 

 ing of 31 delegates, elected as temporary chairman 

 Sefior Llorente, Justice of the Supreme Court. The 

 delegates took an oath renouncing any allegiance 

 to or compact with any state or nation, swearing 

 to uphold the sovereignty of the free and inde- 

 pendent people of Cuba, and to respect the solution 

 that the convention should adopt as well as the 

 government to be established by the constitution. 

 Mendez Capote, who was Vice-President of the 

 revolutionary government and Secretary of State 

 under Major-Gen. Brooke's administration, was 

 elected on Nov. 24 to be president of the Cuban 

 Constitutional Convention, receiving 17 votes from 

 the Radical Republicans against 11 cast by the 

 Nationals for Eudaldo Tamayo. 



DELAWARE, a Middle Atlantic State, one 

 of the original thirteen, ratified the Constitution 

 Dec. 7, 1787; area, 2,120 square miles. The popu- 





lation, according to each decennial census, was 

 50,096 in 1790; 64.273 in 1800; 72,674 in 1810; 

 72,749 in 1820; 76,748 in 1830; 78,085 in 1840; 



