THE CUBA REVIEW 



11 



GENERAL COMMENT ON CUBAN AFFAIRS 



Cuban government diverts to the improve- 

 ment of Havana. 



On Good Roads days of last year the 

 American, Cuban, Spanish and other resi- 

 dents spent in labor and material the equi- 

 valent of $5,200 in making and repairing 

 privately made roads on the Isle, which is 

 more than the Cuban government has spent 

 since Governor Alagoon's time, with the 

 exception of the bridges and wharf above 

 mentioned. This year a i even larger amount 

 of work will be done by Americans. — Isle 

 of Pines Appeal. 



CREDIT STEADILY IMPROVES 



President William A. Merchant of the 

 National Bank of Cuba, has returned to 

 Havana from a several months' visit to the 

 financial centers of Em'ope and to New York. 



While in New York he learned that con- 

 siderable capital from that city would be in- 

 vested in Cuba in the near future. 



"Cuba's credit in the great American finan- 

 cial centre," said Mr. Merchant, "is not 

 only manifested but I heard evidence of its 

 steady improvement." 



Abroad he found that bankers and others 

 in London, dnectly and indirectly interested 

 in the Cuban Ports Com])any, expressed con- 

 fidence in a just solution being reached by the 

 Cuban government, although impatience was 

 manifested by some on account of the delay. 



AMERICAN SCHOOLS NOT ENCOURAGED 



Answering an assei-tion bj' the Havana 

 Lucha, that Isle of Pines residents disdain 

 the language of the country, the Appeal, 

 in reply, saj's: 



"Americans, far from disdaining 'the 

 language of the country,' admire Spanish, 

 although they prefer their own language. 

 But what concession did the Cuban govern- 

 ment make for English education? For 

 the last three years it has allowed $60 a 

 year for the four schools of Nueva Gerona, 

 McKinley, Columbia and the South Coast; 

 $15 for each school. Of this sum $10 was 

 for rental and $5 for janitor service. The 

 very mention of such a trifling allowance 

 is a sufficient comment of itself. Previous 

 to 1911 the Cuban government appropriated 

 $62.50 monthly for English teachers of the 

 schools named." 



AMERICAN CURRENCY AS ONLY LEGAL 

 TENDER 



If it is desirable to overcome the annoy- 

 ance in Cuba at present resulting from the 

 use of Spanish and French money, that, says 

 Modem Cuba, can readily be accomplished 

 by the passage of a law making American 

 currency the only legal tender for private 

 debts as it now is for public debts. 



The enactment of such a law would un- 

 doubtedly be opposed by many, if not all, 

 of the private bankers, and the money ex- 

 changers, but it is within the constitutional 

 power of the President to put such a law on 

 the statute books. 



CUBA MUST WAKE UP 



The Hartford (Conn.) Couraiit asserts 

 that "in spite of the gi-eat flood of travel 

 to Cuba from this country, few Cubans have 

 taken the trouble to learn enough Enghsh 

 to do business with tourists without the 

 services of an interpreter. Most of them 

 appear to think it beneath their dignity to 

 do so. It is an astonishing condition, but 

 every visitor to Cuba has noticed it. If 

 the Cubans wake up to their opportunity 

 and to the potential attractiveness of their 

 island as a winter resort, they can easily 

 make the tide of tourist travel a rising in- 

 stead of an ebbing one." 



PHASES OF THE BONDING SYSTEM 



American manufactm-ers of the highest 

 grade of Havana cigars are gi-adually coming 

 more and more to look with favor upon the 

 bonding proposition, and one by one they ai-e 

 falling in line, deciding to place their estab- 

 lishments under Government supervision. 



It goes without saying, of course, that 

 simply because cigars are manufactm-ed in a 

 bonded factory, affords the purchaser no 

 guarantee as to their fine quahty. The only 

 guarantee the Government endeavors to 

 make is that the cigars manufactures in bond 

 are made exclusively from Cuban grown 

 tobacco. 



But as the trade is pretty well aware there 

 is some mighty poor tobacco gi'ownin certain 

 sections of Cuba, while in certain seasons 

 there is more or less lack of quality in the 

 tobacco grown in the more favored sections 

 of the island. It is perfectly plain, therefore, 

 that should a manufacturer, either from lack 

 of means to piu'chase the best grades of 

 Cuban tobacco or from motives of economy 

 utilize the inferior grades, he will produce 

 cigars, which, although dedidedly deficient 

 in fine quality, would still come within the 

 provisions of the Government guarantee. 



It will, therefore, in the end, come down to 

 a question of what bonded factories possess 

 the expert knowledge and ability, as well as 

 the determination to produce the best clear 

 Havana cigars that can be made. But the 

 fact that most of the b st factories will 

 eventually be bonded will serve to draw more 

 sharply the line of demarkation between 

 straight clear Havana cigars and the product 

 made from Porto Rican and other blends, 

 and currently offered and sold as Havana 

 cigars. — Tobacco, New York. 



