20 



THE CUBA REVIEW 



Ciminion l)Uilding Moiie I'l Cuba. it is a soil sand loek, iml iianUns inlo adaniaiit upon 



exjiosure to weather. When just (iiiarrierl, it can be easily cut witli a cross cut saw and 



shaped with tlie antique double-headed axes used by Cuban workmen 



Cuban Courtesy 



Mr. Thomas F. Day, one of the crew of 

 the motor boat "CaroHnc," which partici- 

 pated in tlie races from Pliilack-lphia to Ha- 

 vana early in July, is enthusiastic over the 

 hospitality he and his fellow yachtsmen re- 

 ceiscd at the hands of Havana's residents, 

 and writes as follows in his magazine. The 

 Rudder: 



"Like all old Spanish-American cities, 

 1 lavana was formerly guarded by a wall, 

 and this congested the older portion, so that 

 the streets in that part are narrow, and the 

 l)lace resembles one of the medieval towns 

 iif Europe. But the newer portion, built 

 outside the walls, is widely laid out, and 

 possesses one street which for beauty is 

 scarcely equalled in America. The city is 

 rL-markably clean, orderly and exceedingly 

 well policed ; in fact, in these respects it 

 is unequalled by any city of its size in the 

 United States. Although a place of great 

 gayety there is never any disorder or petty 

 nitVianism such as we constantly witness in 

 New N'ork, and during the seven days the 

 yachtsmen remained in Havana they were 

 treated with the greatest courtesy and at- 

 tention by all classes. Tbe government of- 

 ficials, clubs, hotel people and newspapers 

 spared no trouble or pains to make the 

 visit a pleasant and joyful one. 



Continuing, he says : '"Such hospitality 

 as was showered upon us we might have 

 imagined, l)ut r.ever could have anticipated; 

 it was simply astonishing." 



The good feelinfj; towards the visitors 



was manifested everywhere, and in proof 

 he mentions the following incident: 



"The jaws of a I)oat's gaff being broken, 

 it was taken to a carpenter shop in O'Really 

 Street, and the owner asked to make a new 

 pair of horns. He had no oak, but agreed 

 to make them of mahogany. Tiiis he did, 

 making a good job of it. When the jaws 

 were called for, he refused to accept any 

 payment whatever, saying that he was only 

 too glad to do what he could to help the 

 visiting vachtsmen." 



( hiantanamo's Iiuportance 



The Navy Department proposes to make 

 the base of the naval defense of the 

 Atlantic coast. Gulf coast and Panama 

 Canal at Guantanamo, situated in the 

 sontheastern part of Cuba, nearly ],()()() 

 miles from the nearest American main- 

 land, a point which will require more 

 money to develop and fortify than would 

 be necessary to completely fortify the en- 

 trance of the AIississipi)i River, which 

 would defend the entire Mississippi Valley. 

 In time of war a large portion f)f the 

 fleet would I)e required to defend the com- 

 munication between this country and Guan- 

 tanamo for the purpose of keeping it sup- 

 plied with coal, provisions, material, me- 

 chanics and re-enforcements to the crews 

 of the fleet. — From the report on July 10th, 

 of the joint conference committees of the 

 exchanges and other organizations of New 

 Orleans on the protection and defenses of 

 the Mississippi Valley. 



