THE CUBA REVIEW 



17 



FURTHER GENERAL NOTES 



CIENFUEGOS CONTRACT LITIGATION SCHOOL WORK IN CUBA 



SWEARING FEALTY TO THE FLAG 



CIENFUEGOS CONTRACT IN SUIT 



Rt. Rev. Bonaventure F. Broderick, now 

 of Saugerties, X. Y., who at one time was 

 a priest of the Roman Catholic diocese of 

 Hartford, and more recently assistant 

 bishop of Havana, is one of the plaintiffs 

 in an action that has been brought to the 

 superior court of this county to recover 

 damages of $75,000. Joined as plaintiff 

 V. ith Bishop Broderick is John A. Sullivan, 

 a man of affairs in Boston. The defend- 

 ants are David F. Broderick of this city, 

 who is the brother of Bishop Broderick, and 

 Catherine H. Broderick, also of this city, 

 the sister-in-law of Bishop Broderick. 



The action follows operations under a 

 contract for the construction of a sewage 

 system in Cienfuegos. Hugh J. Reilly of 

 New York made a contract with the re- 

 public of Cuba to do the work and Mr. 

 Sullivan who did business as Donovan & 

 Phillips, became sub-contractors. As sub- 

 contractors, the complaint alleges that they 

 employed David F. Broderick as their agent 

 to carry on the work and" to collect 

 moneys due under the sub-contract and 

 they allege that he had not made a 

 proper accounting to them and that he 

 has refused to deHver to them certain 

 papers and other information which he 

 has bearing upon the contract and pay- 

 ments. There is an allegation that David 

 F. Broderick paid $14,000 to Mr. Reilly, the 

 original contractor, without authority of 

 the plaintiffs, and they also say that he 

 makes other unauthorized claims and that 

 he has intentionally attempted to defraud 

 them. Catherine H. Broderick comes into 

 the case by virtue of the force of an in- 

 junction which restrains her and her hus- 

 band from transferring or disposing of any 

 books, papers or property which they now 

 have in their possession. The Aetna Na- 

 tional Bank and the Society for Savings 

 are also restrained from paying out any 

 money they have no deposit in the name 

 of Broderick or his wife. 



The contract was one for $2,000,000, and 

 there was a provision in the contract that 

 15 per cent of the amount be held back 

 until the work was finally completed. The 

 action is based on the percentage that is 

 due to the sub-contractors and it is said 

 that the total amounts to over $200,000. 

 Joseph L. Barbour is lawyer for the plain- 

 tiffs, and it is said that during negotiations 

 for a settlement David F. Broderick paid 

 to the plaintiffs about $12."),000, but the 

 suit is for the balance and for the papers. 

 — Hartford Courant, September 16th. 



COWS IN CUBA 



While praising the business ability of 

 Minneapolis merchants, Edward Journeay, 

 in charge of Dun's International Review 

 news west of Chicago, had the following 

 to say, according to a Alinneapolis Tribune 

 reporter, concerning cows in Cuba : 



"Alinneapolis merchants have the clear- 

 est idea of getting after business I have 

 ever seen. They are not like the manu- 

 facturer who built up a great creamery 

 supply business, and then spent lots of 

 money getting ready to do a big business 

 in Cuba. This man, after having spent 

 thousands of dollars to make his factory 

 ready to handle the Cuban business, dis- 

 covered there were no cows in Cuba. He 

 could have put his time and money to 

 better advantage by planning a condensed 

 cream or milk factory, or planing to ex- 

 port goats to Cuba." 



HONORING THE NATION S FLAG 



The ceremony of taking the oath to the 

 national flag was observed lately in all the 

 public schools of the republic, following the 

 program outlined by Garcia Kohly, the 

 secretary of public instruction, in a special 

 circular. The ceremonies at the various 

 schools were of a most interesting character 

 and from reports received the enthusiasm 

 of the children was marked. Addresses by 

 prominent officials of the government and 

 of the towns where the exercises were held 

 described the national banner, its history 

 and its signihcance, and the oath of fealty 

 to the flag was then read by leader and 

 children. In some schools the exercises 

 included readings by the children of the 

 most famous poetry by Bartolome Prieto, 

 Isolina Tanda, Cristobal Baquer, Felipe 

 Barreto and others. The singing of the 

 national hymn by all present concluded the 

 program. 



A feature of the exercises was the pres- 

 ence of the mothers and fathers of the chil- 

 dren who were eager spectators. 



Some reforms in the school work in- 

 cludes the implantation of a system now 

 much in vogue in Germany, whereby the 

 superintendent of every public school is 

 charged with notifying by means of a 

 postal card the parent or tutor of any 

 child failing to attend school and to notify 

 them of penalties imposed by law on them 

 for their failure to oblige their children 

 to attend school. In the message Congress 

 is to be asked to grant postal franks for 

 this new system. 



