16 



THE CUBA REVIEW 



GENERAL NOTES 



POSTPONE MAINE RAISING 



As much of the wrecked battleship 

 "Maine"' as the available funds will permit 

 will be removed or prepared for removal 

 from Havana harbor, and then the 

 mammoth cofferdam surrounding the ruins 

 will_ be refilled with water to await an 

 additional appropriation by Congress to 

 finish the raising operations. Congress 

 failed to act upon the president's request 

 for an additional $250,000, and the War 

 Department has mapped out its plans for 

 the expenditure of the money on hand, 

 which probably will be exhausted by the 

 time Congress convenes in December. 



Because of the lack of funds, even fune- 

 ral services over the recovered remains of 

 the dead and the erection in the Arlington 

 National Cemetery of the mast of the ill- 

 fated vessel as a monument to them must 

 be postponed. The remains and the mast 

 will be sent to the cemetery to be stored 

 there until Congress acts. 



The terribly wrecked forward part of 

 the vessel, or about two-thirds of it, will 

 be cut down to the levels already reached 

 by pumpage, then taken out and dumped 

 into deep water outside Havana harbor. 

 A small cofferdam will be built inside the 

 main cofferdam to a depth of about forty 

 feet around the forward part in order to 

 extricate the rest of it later. The one- 

 third after portion of the vessel, it is be- 

 Heved, can be floated. It will be pumped 

 out and bulk-headed, but not moved pend- 

 ing the appropriation of more money. 



THE CUBAN PORTS COMPANY 



A violation of its reciprocity treaty with 

 the United States has been unofficially laid 

 against the Cuban government on account 

 of its contract with the Compania Del 

 Puertos, of which Capt. T. L. Huston, an 

 American, is the leading spirit, says the 

 New Orleans (La.) Times-Democrat. 



A despatch from Washington to that 

 paper from its staff correspondent on the 

 matter is as follows : 



The company was chartered to improve 

 Cuban ports, under an act of the Cuban 

 Congress passed last winter. That act 

 authorized the company to make improve- 

 ments, and for the purpose of paying it 

 for its services the act imposed a tax of 

 $1 a ton on all freight arriving from other 

 than American ports. On American 

 commerce the tax was to be 80 cents, ex- 

 cept as to coal, on which the tax was to 

 be only 10 cents. 



"Upon pressure from foreign govern- 



ments, the proposed tax was reduced to 

 88 cents, but the tax on American com- 

 merce was left unchanged. The tax was 

 made applicable upon articles of commerce 

 from the United States upon which Cuba 

 promised, in the reciprocity treaty, to lay 

 no import duties of any kind. 



"Cuban ofificials have taken the position 

 that these taxes are not import duties and 

 may not properly be regarded as coming 

 under the inhibitions of the treaty. As- 

 suming that the contention is proper, the 

 officials of this government point out that 

 they are nevertheless in total disregard 

 to the preferential treatment supposed 

 under the treaty to be given to American 

 commerce. The preferences run from 20 

 to 33 per cent, like preferences being given 

 to Cuban products, chief of which, of 

 course, is sugar. 



"It is- represented that unless this gov- 

 ernment consents to the taxes, the trust 

 company will not finance the port's com- 

 pany. Cuban officials, of course, are said 

 to be interested in the company, which, 

 for an estimated expenditure of $1,500,000 

 in the improvement of several ports, is 

 expected to reap an annual harvest of 

 nearly $1,000,000 in taxes on commerce 

 passing into those ports if the United 

 States government will agree to allow the 

 arangement to go through." 



The correspondent, who has been con- 

 sulting some officials, makes this state- 

 ment : 



"Col. Enoch H. Crowder, one of the best 

 lawyers in the service of the government, 

 although a military officer, has been in 

 Cuba and is supposed to have warned 

 Secretary Stimson, who has also been in 

 the island, to say nothing that would com- 

 mit this government to a recognition of 

 the arrangement between the Cuban gov- 

 ernment and the port company." 



CUBA S ROAD MEN 



Among the many interesting things to 

 attract the attention of the tourist in Cuba, 

 says Mrs. C. R. Miller in Leslie's, are the 

 travelling stores, consisting of all sorts of 

 queer vehicles which traverse the city and 

 rural districts. These portable shops are 

 constructed in an ingenious manner so 

 as to display their wares to the best ad- 

 vantage. Every article used in a house- 

 hold and wearing apparel of all kinds are 

 on sale, and the owner of the wagon, which 

 resembles a department store, boasts that 

 he can supply dry goods and notions of 

 all kinds, from a paper of needles to a 

 ready-made gown. The sides of this shop 



