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THE CUBA REVIEW 



GENERAL NEWS NOTES 



FAN'ORABLE PROGRESS OF THE CUBAN ARMY — THE SPANIARD AN IM- 

 PORTANT FACTOR — NEW Y. M. C. A. OFFICERS 



Ciihaii Aniiv Development 



L'lificr tlic siipcrvisidii of three officers 

 of the United States Army- — Captains Pliil- 

 in S. Goldernian, Frank Parker and George 

 C. C'latley. of the Coast Artillerv, Cavalry 

 and Field Artillery branches — the Cuban 

 Army is makins; remarkable progress. The 

 review, recently held at Camp Columbia, in- 

 dicated a business-like precision of tlicir 

 field artillery and a thoroughness in every 

 other department, which are highly credit- 

 able. Captain Golderman reports that the 

 Cuban officers are decidedly eager to im- 

 prove their knowledge and efficiency : that 

 "thev are conspicuously keen in their grasp 

 of the most abstruse mathematical prob- 

 lems which arise in connection witli range 

 finding and are extremely apt in their ap- 

 plication of figures." 



Havana's National Library 



The National Library in Havana is more 

 in need of a new building in which to 

 properly house and classify its volumes and 

 make them easy of access, than of $.")0.n00 

 worth of more books, which appropriation 

 Congress is considering. 



The librarv has some 42.000 fine books 

 and many informing pamphlets, of the ex- 

 istence of which most citizens are ignorant. 

 The material in hand should first be cata- 

 logued, bound and indexed, which work 

 has not yet got bejond the elementary 

 stage. — Havana Post. 



The Spaniard in Cuba 



The Washington. ( D. C.) Herald re- 

 cently interviewed Mr. J. N. Casanova of 

 Havana, connected with El Tiempo, a Cu- 

 ban newspaper, whose policy it is to free 

 the Cubans from Spanish influence, which 

 is declared to be strong in Cuba. Mr. Ca- 

 sanova was mayor of Phillipsburg. Pa., 

 many years ago, and is a naturalized 

 -American and a prominent Mason. He 

 said, "The Spaniard in Cuba is an im- 

 portant factor, because he is wealthy. They 

 control certain newspapers, and through 

 their columns advocate Spanish trade re- 

 lations and ever\'thing else in favor of 

 Spain. They base their argument on racial, 

 religious, and lingual foundation, but do not 

 mention the fact that the United States is 

 Cuba's best customer in tobacco, sugar, and 

 other staple articles of Cuba. Spain does 



not even smoke our tobacco ; they patronize 

 the \'irginia product. .America is the mother 

 country of Cuba, and T liave always been 

 in favor of America making Cuba a part 

 of the United States." 



Speaking of religion in Cuba, Mr. Casa- 

 nova said that the women of this country 

 are very religious, but that the men have 

 no religion whatever. "I wish there were 

 more religion in Cuba, no matter whether 

 Catholic, Protestant, Hebrew, or anv other." 



Y. M. C. A. Directors 



The Conservatives did not attend the ses- 

 sion of the House of Re])resentatives and 

 the Speaker was obliged to make a special 

 eflfort to procure a quorum of Liberals. 



At a regular meeting of the officers of 

 the Havana Y. M. C. A. a short time ago, 

 a board of directors was appointed to exe- 

 cute the plans of the new Y. M. C. A. 

 building. 



The board has for its chairman Sr. Re- 

 gino Truffin. with President Jose Miguel 

 Gomez as honorary chairman. The direct- 

 ors are N. R. Burrows. Norman H. Davis, 

 Hon. M. D. de \"illegas. Dr. Orestes Fe- 

 rrara, Hon. F. Figueredo, A. J. Finlay, T. 

 H. Harris. E. S. Kirkpatrick. A. C. Lan- 

 dis, W. W. Lawton, J. C. Martine, T. P. 

 Mason, R. M. Orr, E. H. Pearson, Dr. A. 

 Gonzalo Perez. F. W. Ross. Francisco Ve- 

 lasco and Albert Wright. — Post (June 15). 



The Hastings Pavement Company was 

 notified by the Department of Public 

 Works on June 22d that the contract with 

 them for supplying asphalt bricks has been 

 rescinded, and the bond filed by the com- 

 panv forfeited to the government. 



The contract in question was made in 

 1907, and the Hastings Pavement Company 

 has not yet complied with its agreement. 

 The asphalt bricks will now be purchased 

 bv authorization of the Secretary of Public 

 Works, in the open market. 



The Secretary of the Treasury has given 

 authorization to Francisco Calvet, a man- 

 ufacturer at Saqua la Grando, to make and 

 sell seltzer w-ater. 



The water supplied Santiago de Cuba is 

 turbid and somewhat polluted according to 

 Senator .Andweit. A legislation inquiry as 

 to the cause is asked for. 



