238 CUBA 



During the present century the Spanish Crown has made vari- 

 ous pretenses of giving to the inhabitants of the island greater 

 political privileges, but all of these, down to the latest and pres- 

 ent autonomy scheme, have been the merest subterfuges, void 

 of the true essence of local self-government, with a string attach- 

 ment by which absolute -and despotic power remained in the 

 hands of the Spanish governor-general. Thus it was that in 

 February, 1878, the ten years' revolution was ended by General 

 Campos. Under the stipulations of the treaty the island was 

 allowed to be represented in the Spanish Cortes by 16 senators 

 and 30 deputies ; but restrictions were so thrown around their 

 selection that Cubans were practically debarred from participat- 

 ing in the choice of these members, notwithstanding that these 

 so-called representatives were utterly powerless to press any 

 Cuban measure in the Cortes of over 900 members or to put it to 

 a vote. 



This military despotism has been accompanied by a system of 

 exorbitant taxation, such as has never been known elsewhere in 

 the world. This has included at times an average of 40 per cent 

 on all imports, in addition to taxes upon real estate, the indus- 

 tries, arts, professions, the slaughtering of meats, and an odious 

 system of stamp taxes, which even included in its .far-reaching 

 application the affixing of an impost stamp upon every arrival 

 at a hotel. The processes of possible direct taxation being ex- 

 hausted, the government even resorted to the establishment of 

 a most nefarious and contaminating lottery system, which yielded 

 a profit of $4,000,000 annually. 



In 1879 the total revenue collected was about $85,000,000, or 

 $25 per capita, all of which, except $98,000, was spent — mostly in 

 the payment of the parasitic horde of intransigente soldiers and 

 office-holders and the Spanish debt. In addition to the legal 

 taxation, the commerce is burdened by a system of illegal tax- 

 ation in the form of bribes, which are necessary to the securing 

 of any legal action. Little or none of this money was devoted 

 to education, science, public construction, harbor improvements, 

 highways, sanitation, or other benevolent purposes, such as 

 those to which our free government devotes its per capita tax of 

 $13.65. It is also a remarkable fact, notwithstanding the extrav- 

 agant taxation, that only about $100,000,000 have been remitted 

 to the mother country during the past century, most of the rev- 

 enue having been diverted to maintain the official classes. It is 

 a common assertion that, with the exception of Martinez Campos, 



