THECUB A REVIEW 15 



The senor could and did buy more — much more, before his class showed perceptible improve- 

 ment. 



"Slywipe" is a phrase which the American engraving girl knows throughout the United 

 States as synonymous with carelessness. One of the young Cuban maidens used to smile 

 with pleasm-e when this phrase was applied in reproach to her. 



"The senor has called me shighigh," she would say, proudly. "Shighigh" was as close 

 as she could get to "sl\^vipe" for many and many a day. 



All the time that Foster was training these girls other problems arose to confront him. 

 The gum preparation which was perfectly satisfactory in the United States was not the right 

 consistency for Cuba. The excessive moisture in the atmosphere softened the gum, and whole 

 sheets of stamps would become glued together and would have to be destroyed. Oil, which 

 was thick in the United States, would thin out when it reached Cuba. Vaseline was in constant 

 demand, for the machines, erected so close to salt water, were constantly rusting and getting 

 out of order. All of the extra parts which were stored away were rusted before they were 

 ever put into use. 



Foster tells of one afternoon soon after his arrival when a terrific thunderstorm broke. 

 The rainfall was so heavy that it was impossible to send the paper into the drying machines. 

 These had to be stopped while the papers were put in by hand. Then the sheets would be 

 taken out and others substituted. They worked in this fashion all the afternoon. 



Out of 10 girls who would be tried out, four would be retained. The other six would prove 

 incompetent and would be dismissed. The same approximate average held regarding the 

 men. 



Director Foster's comments on the relative merits of Cuban and Spanish girls, in this new 

 work, are interesting. 



'T found," he says, "that the Cuban girls w^ere the more intelligent. They would grasp 

 an idea more readily. They seemed to excel the Spanish girls in understanding what the 

 purpose of all this work was. But they never attained the ultimate efficiency of the Spanish 

 girls. They were more anaemic than their Spanish sisters. The individual output of work 

 would not be as high. In other wortls, they could do more work at the beginning and less as 

 they proceeded, while the Spanish girls reversed this rule. 



"How do you think," Foster was asked, "the Cuban girls would compare with American 

 gu-ls?" 



"American girls," he replied, "could do more work in the end than either the Cubans or 

 Spaniards. But I doubt whether they would learn as quickly as the Cuban girls did." 



One year was given Foster before he was expected to turn out a supply of stamps. The 

 first batch were turned out within three months — nine months before the time required. 

 The issue comprised 20,000,000 revenue stamps. The government passed upon them and 

 found them entirely equal to what they had been led to expect. 



Since that time the plant has turned out 400,000,000 revenue stamps for matches, cigars, 

 cigarettes and other taxable articles, and has additionally acquired the right to issue the 

 postage stamps and what are known as the guaranty stamps^the latter proving that cigars 

 and cigaretts are made of pure Cuban tobacco. 



Of the former they have issued 20,000.000; of the latter, 67,000,000. But this was done 

 at a price. Director Foster lost 26 pounds in six weeks. He was required, of necessity, to 

 be on the jump aU day long, and then at night, when his Cuban employees were sleeping, he 

 was in the studj' of his home pondering over problems of chemistry, management or other 

 things. It took him six weeks to find a gum which could be used in the Cuban climate. It 

 was solved when he discovered the proper proportion of dextrin, a substance something like 

 tapioca, which should go into the concoction. 



The hardest lesson to instil into the minds of the Cuban girls was the lesson of accuracy 

 — absolute accuracy on all occasions. The girls, and many of the men, were of the indolent, 

 easygoing type. To them a sheet of postage stamps was about the same as a sheet of paper. 

 If it was lost, another could easily be made to replace it. It was only after many hard lessons 

 that the girls were made to understand that every single stamp in the millions turned out 

 daily must be accounted for before they went home. 



The director, or "jefe," as the Cubans called him, had personally to count and recount 

 the sheets of stamps every day. This in itself was a good, man-sized job. Foster tells one 

 story of an occasion when he found, at the end of the day, that his list tallied one-quarter of 

 a sheet more than it should. Calling all of the girls and men together, he explained to them 

 that this quarter sheet must be found. They were impatient. Supper was awaiting them. 



Eventually they began the — to them — useless search. Box after box was opened and 

 recounted. The director himself found the box that was one-quarter of a sheet shy of its 

 proper contents. It was among the last of the boxes opened. This was the lesson needed to 

 teach carefulness. Thereafter the director had little trouble. 



As soon as things were running smoothly Foster employed two Cuban boys as apprentices. 

 They are now going through all of the stages that result in the expert plate printer, and when 

 they have concluded their courses they will be the first Cuban engravers to learn the art of 

 plate printing on the island. 



As a remedy for the thin oil. Director Foster has found that the use of vaseline in greater 

 quantities will prolong the life of the machinery. But in discussing this he adds: 



