THE CUBA REVIEW. 



Commenting on the transfer of the Cuban 

 government, the New York Sun has this 

 to say editorially on one phase of the situa- 

 tion : 



"A treasury surplus has ever 



A Treasury been Cuba's greatest bane. In 



Surplus earlier days Spanish taxation 



Cuba's brought a surplus which 



Undoing. Spanish officials put into their 



pockets, thereby causing 



much Cuban anger and resentment. The 



surplus obtained during the Palma regime 



set the Cubans to quarreling with each other 



for its use and distribution. In spite of 



unusually heavy expenses during the last 



year, payments on account of the revolt of 



1906 and expenditures for public works, the 



treasury of the island holds a balance of 



about $15,000,000. The revenues appear to 

 be at least a third greater than the norrpal 

 expenditures. The present administration 

 may be making a better use of the surplus 

 than did its Cuban and Spanish predeces- 

 sors, but if the island is soon to be turned 

 back to Cuban hands we can leave them 

 no more dangerous legacy than a fiscal sys- 

 tem yielding a huge surplus." It says further : 

 "The American troops will 

 Troops to remain in Cuba for several 

 Remain. months after February i to 

 see the new government 

 safely through the first hard part of its 

 existence, and it is even probable that they 

 will not be withdrawn until the tall of 

 1909. The troops now here will probably 

 not be changed." 



CUBA'S LABOR TROUBLES. 



On January 12 the cigar- 

 Cigarmakers makers in seventeen factories 

 Out. went on strike, the idle men 

 numbering more than four 

 thousand persons. The movement is spread- 

 ing and probably will affect ten thousand 

 persons. According to the Diario de la 

 Marina, the necessity for the factories to 

 reduce the working force is the cause of 

 this conflict, and the impossibility to comply 

 with the cigarmakers' request that the work 

 on hand be divided among the men now 

 employed, not only is due to the fact that 

 orders from abroad are considerably dimin- 

 ished, but to the long established habit of 

 the cigarmakers, which they claim as a right, 

 of making cigars for themselves. It is a 

 long established custom to permit the men 

 to make cigars for their own consumption, 

 each one taking about ten cigars daily. In 

 a factory employing 500 men this means 

 5,000 cigars a 'day, which at five cents each 

 amounts to $250. If the manufacturer, in- 

 stead of keeping all the men on half time, 

 could reduce his force one-half he would 

 obviously save $125 a day — an important 

 item in a time of dull trade and keen com- 

 petition. On January 15 several of the 

 independent cigar factories adjusted the 

 difficulties with their striking employees 

 and the men returned to work. The 

 strikers now number between 1,500 and 

 2,000. The president of the union of cigar 

 manufacturers declared! that the reduc- 

 tion of workmen was an absolute' neces- 

 sity. The decision cannot be recalled. 

 The majority of the newspapers are ad- 

 vising the cigarmakers to yield, in view 

 of the hard situation in the industry, but 

 they are stubborn. 



The Western Railway 



The traversing the Havana and 



Railroad Pinar del Rio provinces is 



Strike. protecting the new men 



engaged during the strike 



bv retaining them in their positions. 



The strike appears to be broken, and trains 



are running regularly. The management 

 announces that it will not lay ofif employees 

 to make room for strikers, except on the 

 ground that their work is not up to the 

 company's standard. 



Representatives of twenty- 

 Strike three unions iheld a meeting 

 Feeling in Havana, December 27, and 

 Spreading, discussed a general strike un- 

 less a satisfactory settlement 

 of existing strikes was soon arranged. 

 The twenty-three unions included cigar- 

 makers, slaughterhouse workers, carpenters, . 

 bakers, cigarette-makers, cafe waiters, omni- 

 bus drivers, boatmen, broommakers, res- 

 taurant waiters, shoemakers, typesetters, 

 tailors, carriage builders, harnessmakers, 

 cigar-packers, ironers, coachmen and box- 

 makers. 



One hundred and twenty 

 Strike on laborers employed on a sugar 

 Sugar plantation at Ciego de Avila, 

 Plantation, in Puerto Principe, went on 

 strike. Rurales are protecting 

 the plantation. This strike is over arrears 

 of wages which the workmen claim is ow- 

 ing them, but which is denied by their em- 

 ployers. 



The strike at the Krejewski & Pesants shops 

 at Regla, in Havana harbor, was settled 

 December 20, the men securing an eight- 

 hour workday, recognition of their organiza- 

 tion and the privilege of having a delegate 

 in each department. 



The strike of the masons ended January 

 13, after five months' duration. 



The resolution to leave 

 Masons the terms or a settlement of 

 at the strike to a joint co'm- 



Work. mittee of strikers and con- 

 tractors was agreed to at a 

 mass meeting of the workmen in Ha- 

 vana January 11, on the ofifer of Gov- 

 ernor Magoon to act as mediator. It is 

 believed unlikely that the strike will be 

 resumed after the decision of the com- 

 mittee, no matter which side it favors. 



