CUBA REVIEW 



ALL ABOUT CUBA" 



Copyright 1923, by the Munson Steamship Line 



mew YOK 



QARUl'^ 



Volume XXI 



November, 1923 



Number 1-2 



Cuban Government Matters 



Tarafa Bill 



President Zayas signed the Tarafa port 

 and railroad bill October 9. 



The measure, designed to provide for 

 consolidation of Cuban railroads and for 

 establishing national ports, was the subject 

 of many protests from representatives of 

 American sugar concerns, and before taking 

 action the President had conferences with 

 advocates and opponents of the bill. 



As finally enacted by Congress, the mea- 

 sure provided that exports and imports 

 might move only through national ports, 

 which were named, but corporations or in- 

 dividuals now using private ports of their 

 own might make application for permits 

 to continue such use of their own ports. 

 Representatives of sugar mills asserted that 

 there was nothing in the measure that guar- 

 anteed them getting such permits. If they 

 could not use their own ports, they claimed, 

 they would be forced to pay railroad freight 

 to more distant shipping points. 



Practically ah large ports in established 

 cities and towns were named as national 

 ports. 



The President also signed the bill pro- 

 viding funds for extension of the Northern 

 Railwav of Cuba. 



Venezuelan Minister 



Sr. Rafael Angel Arraiz, charge d'affaires 

 of Venezuela, has been appointed Vene- 

 zuelan minister to Cuba. 



Schools 



One of the most important acts of Cuban 

 Congress in many years has been the pass- 

 ing by the House of Representatives of a 

 bill increasing by one thousand the number 

 of public schools in the republic. The 

 Senate has signified its willingness to ap- 

 prove the bill as soon as it is received by 

 that body. Five hundred of these schools 

 are to be inaugurated immediately and the 

 remainder next year. It was estimated at 

 the beginning of the present school term 

 that at least fifty per cent of the Cuban 

 children of school age were to be deprived 

 of an education for lack of schools. 



Cuba Sends New Attache 



The United States government has been 

 notified of the appointment of Luis Marino 

 Perez as commercial attache of the Cuban 

 embassy, succeeding Porfirio A. Bonet. 

 Mr. Perez, who is a graduate of Alma 

 College, ]\Iichigan, is well known in Wash- 

 ington, where he was at one time employed 

 in the Library of Congress and where he 

 has served as a member of Cuban com- 

 missions to the United States. He is said 

 to be an authority on commercial and 

 financial statistics. INIr. Bonet. the retiring 

 attache, has been transferred to Halifax, 

 Nova Scotia, as consul general. 



