T II 



C U B A R E \- I E W 



17 



GENERAL NOTES 



NOT ON A PATRIOTIC ERRAND 



It came out July ^th in the Xew York 

 newspapers that three well-known Cubans 

 have been in the city for the purpose of 

 purchasing arms and ammunition for an 

 uprising in Cuba to overthrow President 

 Gomez and his administration. General 

 discontent of the Cuban people at the ex- 

 travagance of the government is given as 

 the reason. 



Antonio San Miguel, editor of La Liicha, 

 who was in Xew York at the same time 

 and being interviewed by the press gave 

 as his opinion that the reports of the 

 trouble in Cuba had been exaggerated in 

 the dispatches to Xew York newspapers. 

 He said further : "I have not received any 

 news of the coming of responsible per- 

 sons to this citj* with money to buy arms. 

 It is diflficult to find in Cuba a political 

 person to start a revolution who would 

 have monej^ enough to carry it through. 

 Those who could raise the mone}" would 

 not put their funds in the hands of revo- 

 lutionar}' agents. Gomez has said that he 

 will not seek re-election, and the state- 

 ments of a chief of the nation made public 

 must be accepted. 



"It is more likely that the three Cubans 

 who say thej^ have come to New York 

 with their pockets full of checks to pur- 

 chase arms and ammunition for starting 

 an uprising in Cuba are here on an ex- 

 ploitation of their own, and not in the in- 

 terest of patriotism."' 



COURT EXEMPTS NEELY BOND 



In an opinion filed June 17th in the 

 United States Circuit Court Judge Martin 

 saj^s the government is not entitled to 

 judgment against the Fidelitj^ and Deposit 

 Company of ^laryland on the bond of 

 $50,000 given by Charles F. W. Xeely to 

 E. E. Rathbone. as director general of 

 posts in Cuba, for the proper perform- 

 ance of his duties when he assumed 

 charge of the Bureau of Finance of the 

 Department of Posts at Havana during 

 the American occupation of the island. 



Xeelj^ was arrested in 1900 on the 

 charge of having embezzled $140,000, the 

 proceeds of stamp sales. Because of the 

 Cuban amnesty Xeely was not punished, 

 but the government sued him civilly for 

 the full amount of the embezzlement and 

 recovered judgment. The $20,000 cash 

 bail which Xeely put up v.as taken to 

 satisfy part of the judgment, and through 

 the action against the bonding company 

 the government sought . to get S-jO.OOO 

 more. 



Judge IMartin held that there was unrea- 



sunaljle delay in bringing the suit to re- 

 cover 'on the Xeely bond, and that the 

 terms of the contract were not compiled 

 with and no rights accrued thereunder to 

 the government. 



Assistant United States District Attor- 

 ney William L. Wemple says the govern- 

 ment will appeal from Judge Martin's 

 finding. 



VALUABLE PREHISTORIC FINDS 



Mr. Barnum Brown, associate curator of 

 fossil reptiles in the American Museum 

 of Xatural History, returned to Xew York 

 recently with many trophies of his travels 

 in Cuba. 



]\Ir. Brown traveled through the central 

 provinces of Cuba and through Santa 

 Clara Province for about two months and 

 was joined in that country by Dr. Carlos 

 de la Torre, professor of zoolog\" in the 

 ^luseum of Havana. The Cuban expe- 

 dition was financed jointly by the Amer- 

 ican Museum and the Cuban government. 

 The two fossil hunters spent six weeks 

 or more prospecting for specimens in a 

 Cuban hot spring and made some very 

 interesting and valuable finds. In water 

 which registered a temperature of 98 de- 

 grees they found hundreds of specimens, 

 including prehistoric sloths, remains of 

 alligators, crocodiles and other am- 

 phibians. 



By their discoveries in this region the 

 scientists hope to be able to determine 

 when Cuba was connected with the main- 

 land and whether with Central or Xorth 

 America. The Cuban specimens will be 

 divided between the two museums. From 

 the material ^Ir. Brown expects to be able 

 to mount two skeletons of the prehistoric 

 sloth. 



CLE\'ELAND COMPANY IN CUBA 



The Continental Sugar Compan}-, a cor- 

 poration built in great part of Cleveland 

 capital, is soon to announce gigantic busi- 

 ness extensions, says the Plain Dealer. Be- 

 sides the new plant now under construc- 

 tion in Findlay, O., and another plant in 

 contemplation in Toledo, interests affiliated 

 with the company are soon to begin huge 

 operations in Cuba. Up to the present 

 time the Continental has devoted itself ex- 

 clusively to the sugar beet production and 

 sale, with mills in many Ohio and ^Nlichi- 

 gan cities, and headquarters in Cleveland. 

 The entry into Cuba means that the com- 

 pany will shortly have facilities for the 

 manufacture of cane sugar on a large scale 

 and will thus work into a new channel 

 of business. 



