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THE CUBA REVIEW 



ALL AROUND CUBA 



INTERESTING NEWS NOTES REGARDING VARIOUS MATTERS PERTAINING 



TO THE ISLAND 



BUBONIC plague's VARIOUS NAMES 



Dr. J. Y. Porter, Florida's health officer, 

 said on March 28th that there was abso- 

 lutely no danger to tourists visiting Havana 

 because of the few cases of bubonic plague. 



The bubonic plague is a malignant and 

 contagious fever, seldom appearing these 

 days because of world-wide hygienic pre- 

 cf<utions. Formerly, it was endemic in 

 Egypt and the Levant, and spread in de- 

 vastating epidemics throughout Europe. 

 There was such a high percentage of deaths 

 among those afflicted that it became an 

 obstacle to the growth of the countries and 

 of civilization. It became known under 

 various names, such as "the pest," the 

 "black death" and "great mortality." Its 

 first European appearance was in Constan- 

 tinople, 544 years before the birth of Christ. 

 Occasional epidemics appeared after that, 

 forty-five occurring in the seventeenth cen- 

 tury. The "Great Plague" of London, 

 which is supposed to have been brought 

 from Holland, swept over vast districts in 

 1665. There have been brief, local epidem- 

 ics in various parts of the world since that 

 time. So late as 1720 the disease destroyed 

 nearly half the population of Marseilles. 



In malignity and nature the plague re- 

 sembles typhus fever. It is termed a zy- 

 motic disease, dependent upon insalubrious 

 and poisonous atmospheric or telluric con- 

 ditions. It is propagated both by direct and 

 indirect contagion. It has four stages, like- 

 ly to follow each other in quick succession, 

 with a duration of from two to ten days. 

 Treatment, beyond general measures of 

 stimulation and nutritive support, avails 

 little. Causes of the plague are given as 

 overcrowding, bad ventilation, uncleanliness. 

 deficient food and residence in damp, 

 marshy soils. 



The natural home of the liubonic plague 

 is the shores of the Mediterranean Sea. 



AMERICANS AND THE INCOME TAX 



According to the new income tax law, 

 Americans in Cuba must pay a tax on all 

 the income derived from gains, profits, in- 

 come derived from salaries, wages or com- 

 pensations from personal services of what- 

 ever kind and in whatever form paid, or 

 from professions, vocations, business trade, 

 commerce, sales or dealings in property, 

 whether real or personal, growing out of 

 ownership or use of interest in real or per- 

 sonal property, dividends, securities, or 



transaction of any lawful business carried 

 on for gain or profit and income derived 

 from any source whatever, including the 

 income but not the value of property ac- 

 quired by gift, bequest or devise or descent. 

 Failure to make a return or making a 

 false statement entails a penalty of from 

 $20 to $1,000, and the payment of interest 

 of 5 per cent per month from the date the 

 tax is due. 



PLANTS CANNOT BE SENT BY MAIL 



The United States Department of Agri- 

 culture under date of March 11th sent a 

 letter to "Sir. Roberto Luaces, the director 

 of agriculture in Cuba, regarding the 

 United States prohibition of plant importa- 

 tion by mail. The letter in part is a-s fol- 

 lows : 



It is possible to transmit many injurious 

 insect and plant diseases in lots of plants 

 or seeds sent through the mails, and the 

 inspection of such mail sendings is an im- 

 possibility without a vast army of inspect- 

 ors. On December 16, 1913, therefore, the 

 second assistant postmaster general issued 

 an order prohibiting the importation of 

 nursery stock in the mails and extending 

 the prohibition to all growing or living 

 plants, plant products for propagation, 

 bulbs, roots and to all seeds of trees, shrubs, 

 or other plants, excepting only field, vege- 

 table and flower seeds. 



Cotton seed is prohibited entry into the 

 United States from every foreign country 

 except certain states in Mexico. 



SULPHUR BATHS IN CUBA 



The San Diego sulphur baths in Cuba 

 which are said to rival those at Challes in 

 Savoy and Hot Springs, Arkansas, are lo- 

 cated in Pinar del Rio and up to the present 

 have been poorly kept. The new manage- 

 ment but recently established plans to spend 

 $300,000 in improving the place and in re- 

 building the bath houses, erecting a hotel 

 and making other improvements to make it 

 a beautiful resort, and to advertise it widely. 



Seiior Jose Portuondo has been appointed 

 chief engineer of the Oriente district by 

 President Menocal. How to supply San- 

 tiago City with sufficient water is an en- 

 gineering problem which up to now has 

 remained unsolved. Xearby sources have 

 proven entirely insufficient. 



