THE CUBA REVIEW 



17 



ception. At the hotel are American papers, 

 magazines and other home reminders wel- 

 come to the average American. 



Perhaps this surplus of American jour- 

 nalism leads him to address cab drivers and 

 policemen in his own tongue, expecting 

 them to speak English — but they don't. The 

 Cuban insists upon speaking Spanish, and 

 for the first time many an American has his 

 national pride punctured as he realizes 

 that there are other people on earth besides 

 his fellow citizens. — ^litchell Chappie in 

 National Ma gas inc. 



HOW TROUBLE WAS STIRRED UP 



(From Salem (Mass.) News) 



Former Vice-President of the United 

 States Fairbanks, an extremely conserva- 

 tive man, recently said that "trouble was 

 stirred up in Cuba after the first govern- 

 ment in the island had been established, 

 'by speculators, by the owners of public 

 utilities and of great sugar and tobacco 

 plantations,' who desired annexation as a 

 means of enhancing the value of their 

 property." 



He said further : "Men who wanted to 

 fatten on government contracts, or who 

 were eager for military distinction, or who 

 wanted Cuba annexed because of the 

 chance to exploit her railroads, sugar and 

 tobacco plantations and other sources of 

 wealth, were eager for war ; they felt that 

 out of it would come the annexation of 

 Cuba to the United States, and as Ameri- 

 can territory the value of its resources 

 would be largely increased. The yellow 

 press played its selfish and nefarious part; 

 it was moved by no consideration of either 

 patriotism or national honor." 



The testimony of the former vice presi- 

 dent accords exactly with the statements 

 made by Hon. William H. Moody, then 

 congressman from this district, as to the 

 pressure brought to bear on members of 

 Congress by the war lobby, by men am- 

 bitious for promotion by contractors and 

 makers of ships and guns and ammunition. 



ALL TO BE AMERICAN TERRITORY 



Editor X'ladimir Krymoff of the Novoe 

 Vreuiya, the leading newspaper in Russia, 

 has spent four weeks in tropical countries 

 of America, and in that time has visited 

 Cuba, Jamaica and the Central American 

 republics in the interest of his publication 

 to study conditions in these countries and 

 their attitude toward the United States. 



While in Xevv York he gave the press 

 his opinions on the matters. He said : 



"I have been particularly interested in 

 trying to determine whether those coun- 

 tries are going to be Americanized or not. 

 I have interviewed many persons of note 



in the various republics, and they express 

 the hope that such a thing will not come 

 to pass. From what I have seen and heard 

 I am of the opinion that at least all the 

 countries of Central America and the Ca- 

 ribbean will eventually become American 

 territory. 



"I saw American officials in Panama and 

 I saw American officials in the West In- 

 dies. Cuba is supposed to be an independ- 

 ent republic, but to me it seems quite 

 American. I spoke English everywhere. I 

 saw mail boxes bearing the legend 'U. S. 

 Mail.' I found I could buy there every- 

 thing American. I saw sugar that had 

 been grown in Cuba, sent to the United 

 States to be refined, and then brought back 

 home to be sold. 



"In Santiago I could not pay my bills 

 in Cuban money. I had to pay them with 

 American monev." 



LOUISIANA S SUGAR PLANTATIONS 



These will soon be broken up into small 

 vegetable and fruit farms, says the New 

 Orleans Picayune. 



"The question of a contemplated cut in 

 the import on foreign sugars, with an ulti- 

 mate aim of placing such on the free list 

 entirely three years hence, has naturally 

 disturbed the planter quite as much as the 

 actual loss of the crop. 



"The question of just what crops can be 

 substituted has been discussed only in the 

 abstract ; in the concrete it is a difficult one 

 to answer. Stock raising may be said to be 

 one of the most attractive : corn growing 

 has proved successful, but both of these 

 operations can be carried on on lands worth 

 only a fraction of the value now placed by 

 the tax assessor on those devoted to sugar. 

 Other crops have been advocated and have 

 been planted for years, the three "P's" for 

 instance — peas, pecans and peanuts. The 

 three "S's" may also be cited — strawberries, 

 string beans and spinach — while the rais- 

 ing of citrous fruits has proved a success, 

 but hardly north of the New Orleans 

 parallel. 



PRAISES THE ADMINISTRATION OF 

 PRESIDENT MENOCAL 



General Ensebio Hernandes spoke re- 

 cently on invitation at a Liberal Party 

 meeting near Havana. His hearers ex- 

 pected criticism and denunciation of the 

 .Menocal administration, but the si)eakcr, 

 himself a "Liberal," disa|)pointed them by 

 praising the administration called for 

 cheers for its work and said the Conser- 

 vatives had in three months done more 

 good for tlie country than the Liberals did 

 in the four years tliey were in power. 



