i8 



THE CUBA REVIEW And Bulletin. 



violently on the flat surface of their work- 

 ing tahle. This is their mode of applauding. 

 Sometimes the national hymn and other 

 popular airs are entoned, hut singing is 

 reserved for important occasions, such as 

 the victory of a Cuban in a foreign coun- 

 try in some athletic contest, in a hard game 

 wrung from some of the baseball teams 

 which visit Havana each year. The ex- 

 citement, however, only lasts for a few 

 minutes ; work is at once resumed and the 

 only voice heard in the big room is that 

 of the reader. 



In the general mass of cigarmakers all 

 classes are represented as well as races. 

 Cubans predominate, and men of all caliber 

 and mtelligences are to be found among 

 them. Some are unable to read or write, 

 while others are men who have received 

 a good school education, but instead of oc- 

 cupymg some office position have selected 

 this lucrative trade as a means of liveli- 

 hood. 



The wages earned by the cigarmakers 

 vary, bome mike as much as $50 a week 

 while others who are not experts in mak- 

 ing the selected sizes draw a weekly s'll- 

 ary of $10 or $15 a week. Some cigar op- 

 eratives need only to make a small num- 

 ber of good cigars a day to draw big 

 wages, because the cigar they make i1 

 an expensive one, for which 

 he gets fifteen or twenty cents 

 each. ihey are paid twice a 

 wee.<, and their wages are now 

 in American currency, which 

 IS the result of the victory in 

 the last .strike sustained against 

 the Henry Clay and Bock &• 

 Co. s factories, and which last- 

 ed five months. 



A cable despitch 

 Direct Cable to the New York 

 to Hiwaita. Sun. under date 



of September 12, 

 says that the cable steamer. 

 Silvertown. with over 1.300 

 miles of submarine cable on 

 board, .sailed from London 

 yesterday. The cable is to In- 

 laid between New York and 

 Havana for the Commercial 

 Cable Company. The object 

 of laying a cable direct between 

 New York and Havana instead 

 of following the old route be- 

 tween Cuba and Florida, is to 

 create effective competition 

 with the Western Union com- 

 pany by greatly reducing the 

 time of transmission and in- 

 creasing reliability. This could 

 only be accomplished by cut- 

 ting out the long land lines 

 along the Atlantic coast. 

 which are subject to stormy 

 weather. 



American 

 Currency 

 for Cuba 



Governor Magoon replying to 

 Secretary Taft, on the cur- 

 rencj' (|uestion, on September 

 16, says that the .\merican 

 system is already practically 

 the standard, and is gradually becoming the 

 contrf)lling medium. He does not want 

 the demonetization of the other moneys in 

 use in the island, by any legal measure, as 

 it would disturb interests antagonistic to 

 changes. This feeling is particularly prev- 

 alent, he says further, among some large 

 foreign owners of sugar plantations. He 

 favors a gradual development, and believes 

 it would be unwise to introduce a special 

 Cuban currency like that in the Philippines. 

 Nothing w'ill be determined, however, until 

 Secretary Taft returns. 



Major Edward St. John Greble, advisor 

 to the Department of Government, was pro- 

 moted to be a lieutenant colonel of field 

 artillery on August 21. Col- 

 onel Greble was born at 

 the Military Academy at West 

 Point in 1859. His father, an 

 (ifficcr in the army, was the first regular offi- 

 cer in the L'liion army killed in the Civil War. 

 After the establishment of the provisional 

 government he was appointed by Governor 

 Magoon as advisor to the Department of 

 Government. Few officers in the American 

 army are so universally liked. 



./ Well 



Heserved 



Promotion. 



Majiir Edwiird 



St. ■Tnhii Oi-i'lili'. ndvNi.r In I .H].;ii-tmfMt of (i vern- 

 iit iiMil ri'i-iMill.v luade lit'iiti'iiiiiit-ciiloiicl. 



