18 



THE CUBA REVIEW 



THE CLERKS' CLUB OF HAVANA. 



An Admirable Society. Membership 25,000. Clubhouse Which Cost $600,000. 



Members and Their Families Entertained and Their Children Instructed. 



Hospital and Medical Attendance Free. 



One day in Havana recently, during The association was formed by a few 



a conversation with Governor Magoon, clerks in the year 1880, and really had 



the Cuban's ability to take care of him- its origin as a beneficial order. The life 



self came up, and as an example of this of the clerk in the employ of a Spanish 



the governor spoke in most complimen- merchant would not appeal to the Am- 



tary terms of the "Association de De- erican youth, from the fact that his free- 



pendientes del Comercio de la Habana," dom is somewhat restricted. He prac- 



The handsome $600,000 Building of the Clerks' Club in Havana. 

 Edificio hermoso de la Asociacion de Dependientes del Comercio de la Habana, que costo $600,000. 



a society which in English would be 

 known as the Clerks' Club. "Indeed," 

 said the governor, "I think the people 

 of the United States should know some- 

 thing about this association and the 

 benefits which accrue from its work 

 to the great middle class of Cuba. If 

 you have any doubts as to the Cuban's 

 ability to take care of himself or to 

 manage his own afifairs, just study the 

 workings of that admirable society. Our 

 people might well copy such an insti- 

 tution." A few days later I met Seiior 

 Don Emeterio Zorrilla y Bringas, the 

 president of the association, and through 

 his kindness was enabled to visit the 

 club many times, and from personal ob- 

 servation to learn something of the good 

 which is being done by this society of 

 Cuban creation, with a membership of 

 twenty-five thousand and a clubhouse 

 costing over $600,000. 



A special hospital, under the control 

 of the club and a part of the associa- 

 tion, is on the outskirts of the city, and 

 in its equipment compares favorably 

 with the best hospitals of the States. 



tically lives in the shop and has few 

 privileges, his meals are eaten at a 

 small table behind the counter or in 

 the rear of the store, and he sleeps in 

 the building. If he goes out he must 

 return at a stated hour set by his em- 

 ployer; vacations are short and few, sal- 

 aries are not large, and the hours of 

 labor are long. Believing that these 

 restrictions were necessary to the effi- 

 ciency of the clerks, the shopkeepers 

 objected to the association, thinking it 

 might mean strikes and other trouble- 

 some disturbances; but their fears were 

 groundless, as there is perhaps no nation 

 in the world so custom-fettered as the 

 Spanish. Later on, as the society grew 

 in numbers, the employers took an ac- 

 tive interest and assisted in its manage- 

 ment. Senor Zorrilla is the present 

 chief officer. 



The first year only five hundred mem- 

 bers were enrolled, but soon the many 

 advantages of the association attracted 

 the whole city, and applications for 

 membership came rapidly, until to-day 

 its books show the names of more than 



