542 



The National Geographic Magazine 



and a branch has already been completed 

 to Antilla, the port on Nipe Bay, which 

 the company intends to make one of the 

 most important shipping points in Cuba. 



REVIEW OF AGRICULTURAL WEALTH 



Cuba is essentially an agricultural 

 country, and prior to the last war there 

 were nearly a hundred thousand (90,960) 

 plantations, farms, orchards, and cattle 

 ranges, valued at 220,000,000 pesos 

 ($200,000,000). Of manufactories there 

 were practically none, if we except the 

 cigar factories and the sugar mills pro- 

 ducing raw sugar, molasses, and rum. 



In early colonial days the principal in- 

 dustry was cattle raising, very little at- 

 tention being paid to agriculture for two 

 hundred and fifty years after the settle- 

 ment of the island. The chief .agricul- 

 tural products of Cuba are sugar, to- 

 bacco, and fruit, and the cultivation of 

 oranges for exportation has of late aug- 

 mented. Very little more coffee is 

 cultivated than is required for home 

 consumption, although it was once a 

 promising industry. The soil and cli- 

 mate of the eastern provinces are well 

 adapted to the growth of the coffee berry, 

 and it is said to equal in flavor the best 

 coffee of the West India Islands. No 

 doubt coffee culture will again be revived 

 and extensively developed, and we may 

 expect to see in Cuba a revival of the 

 once famous "cafetales," or coffee planta- 

 tions. 



Fruits and vegetables of all kinds are 

 being exported in large quantities, espe- 

 cially pineapples, cocoanuts, bananas, 

 potatoes, tomatoes, etc. The Cuban po- 

 tato, hitherto unknown to the world, has 

 made its appearance in the United States 

 markets during the last few years, and is 

 already a dreaded rival of the once fa- 

 mous Bermuda tuber. 



The fact that frost is unknown in 

 Cuba, which greatly diminishes the dan- 

 gers to crops, and the unquestionable ex- 

 cellence of the Cuban fruits and vegeta- 

 bles, are all-powerful factors, which will 

 no doubt contribute toward the spread- 

 ing of the Cuban fruit and vegetable 

 trade. 



THE PURPOSE OE THE PROVISIONAL GOV- 

 ERNMENT AS DEFINED BY SECRETARY 

 TAFT IN THE PROCLAMATION ESTAB- 

 LISHING IT, SEPTEMBER, 1906 



The provisional government hereby es- 

 tablished will be maintained only long 

 enough to restore order, peace, and pub- 

 lic confidence, by direction of and in the 

 name of the President of the United 

 States, and then to hold such elections as 

 may be necessary to determine on those 

 persons upon whom the permanent gov- 

 ernment of the republic should be de- 

 volved. In so far as is consistent with 

 the nature of a provisional government 

 established under the authority of the 

 United States, this will be a Cuban gov- 

 ernment, conforming with the constitu- 

 tion of Cuba. The Cuban flag will be 

 hoisted as usual over the government 

 buildings of the -island ; all the executive 

 departments and provincial and munici- 

 pal governments, including .that of the 

 city of Havana, will continue to be ad- 

 ministered as under the Cuban republic; 

 the courts will continue to administer 

 justice, and all the laws not in their na- 

 ture inapplicable by reason of the tempo- 

 rary and emergent character of the gov- 

 ernment will be in force. 



ADDRESS OF SECRETARY TAFT AT THE 

 OPENING OF THE UNIVERSITY OF HA- 

 BANA, OCTOBER 2 



I count it a peculiar honor, as repre- 

 senting the executive of this island, to 

 take part in the exercises of this univer- 

 sity. It is of special interest and an 

 honor to me because it was my good for- 

 tune when exercising executive functions 

 in the Philippine Islands to take part in 

 a similar function in the university 

 founded by the same order and under 

 similar influences more than a hundred 

 years before this one. Members of the 

 Latin race, not without reason, character- 

 ize the Anglo-Saxon race as abrupt and 

 conceited in our view of our power in 

 pushing civilization, but those who have 

 had occasion to come close to the Spanish 

 race know that the Anglo-Saxon race 

 has much to learn from the intellectual 



