THE CUBA REVIEW 



11 



GENERAL COMMENT ON CUBAN AFFAIRS 



FINANCIAL SITUATION AFFECTED 



H. M. Charge d' Affaires at Havana reports 

 that the financial situation in Cuba has been 

 affected by the low prices of sugar, and al- 

 though it is expected that the prices will 

 improve later in the year, this improvement 

 will not benefit the country to the same extent 

 as good prices early in the year. 



Many of the large public works, such as the 

 paving and drainage of Havana are almost 

 completed, and the port improvement work 

 is entirely suspended, causing unemployment. 



Owing to financial stress in Europe and 

 other causes, money is not available for the 

 many new works waiting to be executed, such 

 as the Caibarien-Nuevitas Railway, or for 

 financing the sugar crop; and the local 

 money market is straightened owing to the 

 large amount of sugar which is being held for 

 higher prices, June 11. 



WHY WE FOUGHT SPAIN 



Brig.-General R. K. Evans, of the United 

 States Army, delivered an address recently 

 at a banquet of the Sons of the Revolution, 

 which has become the object of a strict in- 

 quiry by President Wilson who is not pleased 

 at General Evans' utterances. 



Among other subjects, the speaker touched 

 upon the Spanish- American ' War for the 

 liberation of Cuba. 



It appears the real motive for the war, 

 according to General Evans, was that "we 

 quarreled with the Queen of Spain because 

 she was old and not feeling well that summer." 



THE FIGHTING CUBAN 



The worst fault of the Cubans was their 

 unreliability. "At times they would go to 

 pieces with no reason and at others stand 

 up to their work manfully and fight splendid- 

 ly." — General Funston in his new book "Mem- 

 ories of Two Wars." 



The conviction of Asbert and Arias for 

 the killing of Chief of Police Riva, moves the 

 N. Y. Evening Telegram to say: 



"The pohce chief was shot in broad daylight 

 on the Prado by Asbert and Arias, when he 

 had two children with him. His murderers 

 are sentenced to twelve years and one day in 

 solitary confinement and to pay Riva's 

 heirs .$10,000. 



"It is believed, however, that both will be 

 free within a year or two, either through an 

 'indulto' (pardon) , or an 'amnestia' (amnesty) . 

 Ah'eady a movement has been started to 

 have Congress pass a biU granting an 'am- 

 nestia.' 



"Great is the power of graft. 



"We taught Havana how to clear.se her 

 streets, but not her pohtics." 



CREATES OPTIMISM 



If there is any suspicion of political 

 troubles in Cuba it does not reflect itself 

 in the Cuba Review. The current number 

 is filled with articles on the products of the 

 island, the business prosperity it shares, 

 detail in Cuban grapefruit, lumber imports, 

 iron ore products, pineapple crop, water 

 supply of Havana, railroad news, and so on. 



Cuba is a very busy and seemingly very 

 prosperous land, and the signs of progress 

 making in the way of highway improvement, 

 railway construction, and so on, are most 

 encouraging. They are all reflected in the 

 growing strength of the republic and its 

 adjustment to the relation which it neces- 

 sarily must hold with its great neighbor to 

 to north, along with its commercial interests 

 in connection with other countries. — Buffalo 

 Evening Mews. 



IMPORTANCE OF THE MEAL HOUR 



Fortunately this is a country in which the 

 people change their opinion with great 

 facility. Most every mortal living in this 

 tropical land finds that his steam goes off 

 quite often, and as a rule we are moved by 

 the cu-cumstances that it is easy to see many 

 an intelligent man calling white black and 

 vice versa. 



There is one firm idea in all of us, however, 

 and that is the question of our stomach. We 

 certainly never forget the meal hour, nor our 

 desire to live without working. — La Lucha. 



CONTROL THE MARKET 



"The Cuban planters are now in control 

 of the market, inasmuch as they have more 

 than one market to sell to and can hold out 

 for their own price," says the Confectioner's 

 Review, Cincinnati, Ohio. 



MANY COUNTRIES HIGHER 



There having been some talk of the 

 infantile mortality in Cuba as being ex- 

 cessive. Dr. Juan Guiteras, the Director of 

 Health for Cuba, writes the Cuba Review 

 that "there are many countries, including 

 Germany, Italy, Panama, Porto Rico, many 

 sections of the United States, where the 

 infantile mortality is higher than in Cuba." 



The conviction of Asbert and Arias shows 

 that at last the rule of law, instead of the 

 rule of the rich, has come to Cuba, and that 

 the island has before it, under the protection 

 ot the United States, a career of advancement 

 such as never has been enjoyed by any 

 tropical country before. — Meridian (MLss.) 

 Despatch. 



