THE CUBA R E \M E \V 



15 



Two October Storms 



Beginning October 14th, the provinces 

 of Havana, Matanzas and Pinar del Rio 

 were in the grip of two hurricanes for 

 several days. 



At first the wind was not comparable 

 with the storms of 1906 and 1909, its 

 highest velocity being eighty miles an 

 hour ; but the rainfall was unprecedented. 

 El Mundo was the only morning paper ap- 

 pearing in Havana October 14th. In the city 

 the custom house sheds were swept clear of 

 goods ; the Havana Coal Co.'s coal hoists 

 at Casa Blanca were again wrecked, as 

 in 1909, and the Prado was deep in water, 

 as may be seen by the illustration on an- 

 other page. According to the data of the 

 Belen observatory, the rainfall in forty- 

 eight hours was about 10 inches. 



Maceo or Central Park was a lake, and 

 the waters reached even to Colon Park. 



The Miramar Hotel suffered greatly 

 from the inundation. There the waters 

 soon were several feet deep in the dining- 

 room, and the wreckage of the table serv- 

 ice, glass cases and cigar stand was com- 

 plete. The loss was at least several thou- 

 sand dollars. 



One of the remarkable effects of the 

 hurricane was the destruction of the 

 marble shaft of the Alameda de Paula 

 fountain in Havana. This shaft, highly 

 curved and bearing a massive Castillian 

 lion, had withstood the fury of the ele- 

 ments for more than eighty years, but at 

 the height of the storm the great column 

 was broken, strewing fragments of marble 

 about the square, in which it had so long 

 stood. 



In none of the storms of which there 

 is any barometric record did the baro- 

 meter descend so low as on October 17th, 

 when the wind reached the unparalleled 

 velocity of 130 miles an hour, according 

 to the national observatory. 



At Batabano, on the south coast of Ha- 

 vana Province, some fifty houses had 

 been destroyed. The cathedral at Pinar 

 del Rio suffered considerably, and nearly 

 all the public buildings were damaged and 

 the electric light plant destroyed. 



About forty sea-going vessels — Cuban, 

 Norwegian, American and English — have 

 gone ashore or sunk along the Pinar del 

 Rio coast during the storm. 



President Gomez immediately addressed 

 a manifesto to the Cuban people, asking 

 them to contribute to a national fund 

 started b)^ the government to help the 

 storms' victims. Two hundred thousand 

 dollars have been appropriated for imme- 

 diate use, and later, if necessary, some 

 $800,000 from the funds provided for the 

 building of the new Presidential Palace 

 will be used. 



Capitalists Investing Large Sums 



The Rev. C. W. Frazei, formerly vicar 

 of Christ Church Parish, Savannah, but for 

 the last year rector of the church at En- 

 senada de Morra, on the eastern extension 

 of the island of Cuba, while in Savannah, 

 recently said that "large sums are being in- 

 vested in Cuba by capitalists all over the 

 world. Not only are the sugar plantations 

 being bought up by the great development 

 concerns, but the valuable mining interests 

 in the mountains are being secured by 

 option, lease or outright purchase. There 

 is much iron in the hills awaiting the ad- 

 vent of the miner." 



Guarding the "Crown Prince" 



The treasur}^ department has ordered 

 two customs inspectors to go to Punta Co- 

 rriente, at the southwestern coast of the 

 island, where the vessel "Crown Prince" 

 was stranded during the recent storm to 

 gua d and oversee the cargo. A request 

 has also been made to the department of 

 the interior to instruct the rural guard 

 and municipal authorities to turn over to 

 the government any merchandise or ob- 

 jects washed ashore near the site of the 

 wrecked vessel. A Cuban coast guard 

 vessel will be sent there to guard the 

 cargo of the vessel, whi^h consists of 

 47,000 packages of merchandise. 



The La Gloria School 



This school year no provision has been 

 made to continue the American school at 

 La Gloria. The colony has kept one go- 

 ing under government authorization partly 

 at their own expense : but this year, ac- 

 cording to Mr. A. L. Shriver, the govern- 

 ment has seen fit to abolish the American 

 school entirely by withholding all finan- 

 cial assistance. 



The colony intends to establish a private 

 school and is seeking authorization to do 

 so from the Secretary of Public Instruc- 

 tion, Sr. Maria Garcia Kohly. The colony 

 certainly deserves the greatest considera- 

 tion from the government. 



The building in which the Cuban school 

 is now established was erected by the 

 Americans and for five years has been 

 used by the government free of charge. 

 It is a safe assertion that there is not a 

 single Cuban community which has shown 

 such a liberal spirit ; yet this progressive 

 American community, which has devel- 

 oped its section of the island most ener- 

 getically without any financial aid on the 

 part of the government, seems to be de- 

 nied the privilege of owning a school for 

 its children. 



The colonists have appealed to the of- 

 ficials at Havana. 



