THE CUBA REVIEW 



9 



The movement among the 



Hoping for American residents of the 



Annexation Isle of Pines for annexa- 

 tion by the United States 

 is becoming more pronounced since the re- 

 cent visit of William Jennings Bryan to 

 the island on February lOth last. 



Mayor ^larzo states that the residents of 

 the Island have been in a ferment of agi- 

 tation since, although Mr. Bryan diplomat- 

 ically avoided speaking on the subject of 

 the Island's sovereignty while on the Is- 

 land. 



At a meeting of the pro-annexation resi- 

 dents at the Santa Barbara estate on the 

 Island, strong hope was expressed by the 

 speakers that the Wilson administration 

 would realize their long pent-up hopes of 

 separation from Cuba. 



On March 9th announcement was made 

 by Thomas J. Keenan, of Pittsburg, Pa., 

 President of the American Association of 

 the Isle of Pines, that a petition directed 

 to President Wilson and the Senate, re- 

 questing annexation of the Island, would 

 be put in circulation in the United States 

 and the Isle of Pines. 



The petition states that 6,000 Americans, 

 who reside or have property in this Isle of 

 Pines, wish to have action taken to make 

 the Island a permanent possession of the 

 United States. The Isle of Pines, the pe- 

 tition says, has become a distinctively Am- 

 erican colony, citizens of the United States 

 owning more than 95 per cent of the land, 

 and making up a majority of the popula- 

 tion. 



All this agitation is condemned by the 

 Cuban press generally. Public opinion in 

 Cuba, says the New York Tribune, is prac- 

 tically unanimous in favor of the retention 

 of the Isle as an integral part of the re- 

 public as it was under Spanish rule. 



The Secretary of State has asked the 

 Secretary to the Government to stop the 

 Isle of Pines meetings and compel Ameri- 

 cans there to fly the Cuban flag when they 

 display the Stars and Stripes. 



On February 27th Cuba established a 

 quarantine against the Canary Islands as 

 a result of a report received from the Con- 

 sul at Tencriffe, notifying the government 

 that five deaths from bubonic plague had 

 occurred there. Cuban sanitary officials 

 believe that Cuba and Porto Rico were 

 infected la.st summer through vessels from 

 the Canaries. 



Havana's City Council desires to provide 

 a bureau of information in the city for 

 visitors, similar to those in operation in 

 the capitals of Europe and in Argentina. 

 The benefits will not only reach tourists, 

 but will help the business interests gener- 

 tlly. 



Professor Pablo Desver- 

 Taft's Last nine, of Havana Univer- 

 ll'ord for Cuba sity, and former Secretary 

 of the Treasury under the 

 Wood administration ; Sub-Secretary of 

 State Guillermo Patterson, and the Cuban 

 Minister to the United States, Sr. Martin 

 Rivero, represented Cuba at the inaugura- 

 tion of President Wilson. 



A special mission of these delegates was 

 to further commercial relations between 

 the two countries. They are well supplied 

 with data regarding Cuba and will show 

 that the republic is in a position to grant 

 to the commerce of the United States al- 

 most as many benefits as she might re- 

 ceive from any reciprocal arrangement 

 which may be agreed upon. 



While in Washington the Cubans went 

 to the White House to express the farewell 

 greetings of President Gomez and the Cu- 

 ban people to President Taft and their 

 gratitude to the President for the part he 

 had taken in the life of the Cuban nation 

 during his provisional governorship. In 

 reply the President said in part : 



"I am very much touched by this, be- 

 cause of its unusual character — its excep- 

 tional character — which gives it so much 

 emphasis. I have had a profound interest 

 in Cuba, and my rather short experience 

 there— and yet an experience at a time 

 when there was a trembling in the balance 

 and we did not know what might happen — 

 was a thirty days' responsibility that 

 equaled any that I have had in my life, 

 and fixes in my heart my interest in that 

 beautiful island and her inhabitants and 

 the fortunes that await her in the family 

 of nations." 



Changes in the taxes lev- 

 Tax Changes ied in Havana as made by 

 the City Council, are as 

 follows : 



Now. Formerly, 



Cafes ; . . $200.00 $150.00 



Bars 175.00 150.00 



Groceries and wine 



stores 100.00 60.00 



Drug stores 200.00 100.00 



Boarding houses . , 100.00 50.00 



Candv stores 50.00 40.00 



Grocery stores 30.00 20.00 



Lawyers 20.00 25.00 



Flower vendors 10,00 15.00 



Bootblacks 1.00 ,3.00 



Scene painters 10.00 16.50 



Cinematographs ... 50.00 



riivsicians 10.00 20.00 



Havana's reform Mayor, General Freyre 

 de Andrade, is still reforming. The City 

 Council having voted themselves salaries, 

 Mayor .'\ndrade promptly exercised his pre- 

 rogative and vetoed the resolution. 



