CUBA 



1656 



CUBA 



provincial character ascribed to white Cubans 

 was artificial rather than real. The Spanish 

 language is everywhere spoken, and the ele- 

 gance of Spanish social forms is in evidence. 



Education. During Spanish rule in Cuba 

 education was largely controlled by the Church, 

 but provisions made therefor were insufficient. 



A RURAL HOME 



Such houses are occupied by fairly prosperous 

 people. 



While Americans were occupying the island 

 (1898-1902) the school system was reorganized, 

 and by 1907 census returns showed that sixty- 

 nine per cent of the people could read. Pri- 

 mary education is free and compulsory. In 

 1914 over 277,000 pupils were enrolled in nearly 

 2,400 public schools, but the average attendance 

 was but a little over half that number. There 

 is a university at Havana, attended by over 

 1,200 pupils, and the liberal arts and sciences, 

 medicine, pharmacy and law are taught. 



Commerce and Principal Cities. The most 

 important cities of Cuba are seaports. Havana, 

 the capital, on the northwest coast, is the chief 

 port and the tobacco center of the republic. 

 Ships from all parts of the world enter its 

 harbor. It has few wharves, but this condition 

 is of financial advantage to those who make 

 a business of removing cargoes. Ships anchor 

 off shore and cargoes are removed by lighters. 

 It has been estimated that it costs as much to 

 bring a ton of freight to shore at Havana as 

 to ship it all the way from Liverpool. 



Connected with Havana by rail are Santiago 

 de Cuba, the mineral and sugar port at the 

 southeast; Matanzas, a northwestern port, the 

 most noted sugar center of Cuba; Cienfuegos, 

 on the south-central coast, another important 

 sugar center; and Camagiiey, the largest city 

 in the interior. Each of these five cities is 

 more fully described elsewhere in these vol- 

 umes. 



Since Cuba's independence in 1898 its com- 

 merce has turned largely to the United States. 

 In recent years over eighty-nine per cent of 



its export trade has been with the United 

 States and its possessions, nine per cent with 

 the United Kingdom, about two per cent with 

 Germany and less than one per cent with 

 Spain, the nation which at one time had a 

 monopoly on Cuba's commerce. Americans, to 

 succeed in business in Cuba, should speak the 

 Spanish language and study to accommodate 

 themselves to the easy-going Cuban tempera- 

 ment. 



Sugar forms over seventy-five per cent of the 

 exports, and tobacco twenty per cent. The 

 principal imports are cotton goods and ma- 

 chinery. Yearly exports of Cuba have been 

 valued at about $165,000,000 and imports at 

 almost $125,000,000. Although Cuba has its 

 own system of coinage, United States money is 

 legal tender throughout the island. 



Transportation. The Cuban government is 

 continually improving the highways of the 

 island, but transportation facilities are yet 

 insufficient. Roads are bad, and in the rainy 

 season they are almost impassable. Still, 

 Cuba was twelve years ahead of the mother 

 country, Spain, in the introduction of the 

 railroad, the first line of about forty miles 

 being opened in 1837, connecting Havana with 

 Guines. By 1902 railway communication ex- 

 tended nearly from one end of the island to 

 the other, and then commenced a new era 

 of industrial and commercial opportunity. 

 The center of the railway system is at Havana, 

 and the principal towns and seaports of the 

 island are connected by about 1,700 miles of 



THE HOME OF A NATIVE 



railway. Large sugar estates are connected 

 with the main lines by private lines. Over 

 1,000 miles of cart roads are open to traffic. 

 Two cents will carry a letter from the United 

 States to the island. 



Physical Features. In general, the eastern 

 and western sections of this long, narrow island 

 are mountainous, the loftiest point being Tur- 



