236 



CUBA. 



to $G3,070; iron ore, from $(>41,943 to $475,281; 

 spirits, from $19,419 to $8,295; leaf tobacco from 

 $8.940,058 to $2.30(5.067 : manufactured tobacco, 

 from $2.787,030 to $1,971,214. Shipments of gold 

 from Cuba to the United States increased from 

 $1,024.950 in 1893 to $4,454.032 in 1897, while the 

 contrary movement of gold from the United 

 States to Cuba from $(5,403.2(54 in 1893 fell off to 

 nothing. The imports into Mexico from Cuba in 

 1897 were only $303 in value; exports from Mex- 

 ico to Cuba, $2(1,700. The imports of British 

 merchandise into Cuba in 1896 were valued at 

 $174.187, and exports from Cuba to Great Britain 

 at $5.843.892; from Belgium the imports were 

 $208,304, and exports to Belgium $1,089,239; im- 

 ports of French goods were $3,338,900, and ex- 

 ports to Fiance $424,000. 



Navigation. Havana was visited by 1,179 

 vessels, of 1,681,325 tons, in 1895; Cienfuegos in 

 1897 by 231 vessels, of 309,758 tons. 



Telegraphs. The length of telegraph lines in 

 1897 was 2,300 miles, all belonging to the Govern- 

 ment. The telephones are also Government prop- 

 erty, but are leased to a company. 



Railroads. Although Cuba has not yet an 

 adequate railroad system, and for lack of it many 

 of the resources of the island are unavailable, yet 

 there are over 1,000 miles of railroad, besides pri- 

 vate branches connecting the main lines with 

 the sugar estates. There are 10 railroad com- 

 panies. The most important one, the Havana 

 Ferrocarriles Unidos, has 4 lines, of the total 

 length of 246 miles, connecting Havana with 

 Matanzas, Batabano, Union, and Guanajay. The 

 main line of the Cardenas-Jucaro system, which 

 has 206 miles of railroads, including branches, 

 connects Cardenas with Santa Clara. Another 

 company has lines running from Cienfuegos to 

 Santa Clara, from Concha and Sagua la Grande 

 to Las Cruces and to Chinchilla, from Sitiecito 

 to Camajuani, and from Caibarien to Placetas, 

 their total length being 186 miles. The Matanzas 

 company has a line connecting Matanzas with 

 Esles, and branches to Murga, Nieves, Atrevedo, 

 and other places, the total length of the system 

 being 173 miles. A railroad in the west, owned 

 since 1891 by an English, company, runs from 

 Havana to Pinar del Rio, 109 miles. The Maria- 

 nao Railroad, 9 miles, running from Havana to 

 a seaside village, is also owned by English in- 

 vestors. The Guantanamo Railroad, 10 miles in 

 length, runs from Caimanera to Soledad. The 

 Tunas and Sancti Spiritus line runs from Tunas 

 de Zaza to Valle, 24 miles; the Trinidad Railroad 

 from Casilda to Fernandez, 22 miles. A line 

 from Gibara to Holguin is 20 miles; one from 

 Puerto Principe to Nuevitas, 45 miles. The San- 

 tiago Railroad connects Santiago de Cuba with 

 San Luis, and by a branch with Sabanilla, the 

 total length being 33 miles. Including the nar- 

 row-gauge railroad, 15 miles in length, from the 

 seaport of San Cayetano to Vinales, the military 

 Jucaro-Moron Railroad from Jucaro to Estero, 

 40 miles, and the military terminal railroad of 

 Havana harbor, 6 miles long, the aggregate 

 length of the railroads of Cuba is 1,135 miles! 



The Military Government. When the 

 United States military authorities took over the 

 island from the Spaniards at the end of 1898 the 

 effects of war and of the reconcentration policy 

 of Gen. Weyler were visible everywhere. Nearly 

 a third of the population had been wiped out by 

 battle, massacre, starvation, exposure, or dis- 

 ease, and many of the survivors were too en- 



feebled to resume at once their ordinary occupa- 

 tions, even if facilities for work were at hand. 

 As it was, the people were still huddled in the 

 towns, while the country had been swept bare 

 of all the means of civilized existence. Tobacco 

 and cane plantations were utterly destroyed, 

 houses and cane mills burned, the cattle that 

 once grazed on the hills all killed. In Havana 

 and the other cities no means of giving employ- 

 ment to the town population could be found. 

 Trade and commerce were at a standstill. The 

 factories were still, the wharves and warehouses 

 empty. Shiploads of provisions were sent over 

 by the United States Government to feed the 

 Cuban army and such necessitous poor people 

 as required assistance for a few weeks until the 

 crops of sweet potatoes, yams, corn, and other 

 food products were matured. The Cubans who 

 ,had contributed money for feeding the troops and 

 reconcentrados organized committees for the pur- 

 pose of devoting their future efforts .to the re- 

 construction of the industrial life of the island. 

 The relief offered by the United States army was 

 made conditional on work being done. The 

 wealthy and charitable Cubans decided to apply 

 their subscriptions to the purchase of agricul- 

 tural implements and oxen, so as to enable the 

 people crowded in the cities to go back to the 

 country and till the soil. Plantation owners of- 

 fered land rent free to such as were willing to 

 raise crops, and recipients of rations were given 

 to understand that these would be continued on 

 no other condition. Those who were accustomed 

 to labor embraced the opportunity. The impov- 

 erished families that had formerly lived in luxury 

 suffered most, for the distributors of rations hesi- 

 tated about relieving their necessities for fear 

 of creating envy among those who had to work 

 for the food they received. Some of the Cuban 

 generals took an initial step toward the disband- 

 ment of the army by quartering their men on 

 the plantations, partly to guard them from ma- 

 rauders and partly to assist in working the fields, 

 the owners of the plantations furnishing rations 

 in return for protection. Some of the soldiers 

 took work on the cane plantations at current 

 wages, but most of the generals discouraged their 

 men from returning to civil life, and kept their 

 commands together pending the settlement of 

 the question of the pay of the Cuban army and 

 that of the future political status of Cuba. The 

 Spanish garrison evacuated Havana on Jan. 1, 

 and Gen. Jiminez Castellanos, who was made 

 captain general on the departure of Gen. Blanco 

 some weeks before, made formal delivery of Cuba 

 to Gen. Brooke. The Seventh Corps of volunteers, 

 trained by Gen. EJtzhugh Lee, formed the occupy- 

 ing force of Havana and the western provinces. 

 Gen. Ludlow, who was appointed military gov- 

 ernor of Havana city, would allow no Cuban sol- 

 diers with arms to enter for fear of collisions with 

 Spaniards. The Cubans were rendered distrust- 

 ful when they were excluded from participating 

 in receiving the surrender. Gen. Maximo Gomez 

 declared that unless the immediate independence 

 of Cuba be proclaimed or a date fixed *for the in- 

 auguration of the Cuban Republic he would keep 

 his army under arms. Other Cuban generals did 

 not feel the same jealousy, and some of them 

 continued to discharge their men when oppor- 

 tunities offered for finding work on the sugar 

 plantations. United States Commissioner Charles 

 Gould, who had charge of the distribution of 

 rations, and the provincial governors, who 

 sought for capable Cubans to take official posi- 

 tions, did much to dissipate the doubts enter- 

 tained by Cubans regarding the good faith of the 



