16 



THE CUBA REVIEW^ 



GENERAL COMMENT ON CUBAN AFFAIRS 



THE CUBAN WORKMAN EFFICIENT 



Some interesting opinions of Cuban la- 

 borers have been collected from the em- 

 ployers there b\' Forbes Lindsay, the well- 

 known writer, for his new book on Cuba. 



He found a government engineer who 

 believes that Cubans can be trained to keep 

 up pretty well with Americans, working 

 side by side. Another opinion is that the 

 Cuban accomplishes only half what Amer- 

 ican labor does in the same time. An elec^ 

 trie railway manager says that if you ham- 

 mer at Cubans with severe methods you can 

 do nothing with them. You have to win 

 them by kindness and especially by proving 

 that }'ou are dealing honestly with them. 



Ten per cent of the ordinary laborers 

 neglect to collect their full pay for un- 

 known reasons. A considerable sum of 

 money is left thus on the books of the 

 employers. An intelligent Cuban makes a 

 good mechanic. He learns faster than an 

 American and can be broken in as a motor- 

 man, for example, sooner than is done with 

 employees in the United States. 



The Cuban underneath his unimposing 

 exterior often carries a high sense of per- 

 sonal dignity and he objects to the un- 

 ceremonious handling that American work- 

 men accept. Tactful management is one of 

 the things that outside enterprises going to 

 Cuba have had to learn. Cuba is one of 

 the most democratic countries in the world. 



The language, with its conventional 

 phrases of courtesy shared by all classes, 

 the familiar family life of proprietor and 

 servant, master and apprentice, a certain 

 simplicity and universality of manners in- 

 herited from pioneer days and the gentle 

 ness of temperament which shrinks from 

 giving oflfense by assuming superiority of 

 rank, all have made class assumptions ex- 

 ternally less obvious in Cuba than else- 

 where where equal differences in race, cul- 

 ture and fortune exist. 



CUBA AHEAD IN SANITATION 



Cuba is in many sanitary ways far in ad- 

 vance of the United States, said Captain 

 R. D. Thomason of the United States Army 

 during an address at a recent meeting of 

 the Bexar County (Texas) Medical Society. 



Captain Thomason was a major in the 

 volunteer army during the Spanish-Amei- 

 ican War and connected with sanitation 

 work in Havana and other parts of Cuba 

 and in the Philippines. He is regarded an 

 authoritjr on the subject. He said also that, 

 "Under the National Health Department of 

 the Republic of Cuba, the local health of- 



ficer of a city or town and his assistants 

 are not municipal, but federal officers ; they 

 are not subjected to appointment or dis- 

 missal by local civil government. They are 

 appointed by the president of the republic 

 and draw their salaries, which are liberal, 

 from the federal and not the local treasury. 

 ^loreover, under the law, they are clothed 

 with certain judiciary powers. Ha house- 

 holder or an individual is guilty of a san- 

 itary offense the health officer is empowered 

 to impose an adequate fine. Ten per cent 

 of tlie total revenue of the republic can be 

 applied to sanitary purposes." 



HELPING THE SUGAR PLANTER 



In order to help the sugar planter and 

 enable him to hold his product for better 

 prices La Liiclia of Havana wants him 

 offered "some guarantee under which he 

 can borrow money without being obliged 

 to pledge his product in advance, he would 

 be able to fix a price for his product and 

 tlien the speculator would be on the waiting 

 list, because he would have to purchase at 

 any rate to keep up his engagements." 



It sa3's further, '"If, instead of thinking 

 of who will be President three years hence 

 we should think of our agricultural prob- 

 lems, it would perhaps result in the adop- 

 tion of a law or something else done in the 

 same way in which Brazil has aided the 

 coffee growers or Argentine has favored 

 the cattle raisers." 



BILLBOARD ADVERTISING IN CUBA 



The Billlioard Advertising Commission of 

 New York is making war on oft'ensive 

 signs which disfigure the city, and in the 

 course of its discussions the point was made 

 that outdoor advertising was necessary in 

 Cuba. One firm which spends much money 

 in Cuba told the commission that, "In Cuba 

 we believe outdoor advertising to be neces- 

 sary and very likely the most profitable 

 form, for the reason that so many of the 

 peonle are illiterate and cannot be reached 

 by liooks and papers, but do notice posted 

 jncture displays." 



Cuba, with this country holding a club 

 over it. has advanced more in the past 10 

 years than in the 100 years previous. — 

 Bratileboro (Vt.) Reformer. 



There are five theatres in Santiago and 

 anotlier is now building which will be 

 opened next month. The population in 

 1913 aggregated (50..")70. 



