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THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



has been applied, referring to man and 

 woman living together, having waived 

 the marriage ceremony. The reason for 

 this condition is the large fee demanded 

 by the church for performing the mar- 

 riage ceremony, which the poorer class 

 is unable to pay. This class of consensu- 

 ally married persons is found in most 

 Spanish-speaking countries, but it is 

 probably larger in Cuba than elsewhere, 

 being 8.8 per cent of the population, 

 while the proportion of legally married 

 was 20.7 per cent. This proportion, 

 whether we consider only the legally 

 married, 20.7 per cent, or both kinds of 

 marriages together, 29.5 per cent, was 

 much smaller than in most countries, 

 and contrasts strongly with the propor- 

 tion in the United States, 36.5 per cent. 

 Consensual marriages were vastly more 

 common among the colored than among 

 the white inhabitants. Of the whites, 

 25.6 per cent of the total were legally 

 married and but 4.8 per cent were con- 

 sensually married, while among the col- 

 ored people less than 10 per cent were 

 lawfully married, while 17.4 were con- 

 sensually married. 



It is popularly supposed that Cubans, 

 like all Latin races, marry young, but as 

 far as the figures show they marry but 

 little, if any, younger than the people of 

 the United States. The single persons 

 comprised 66.8 per cent, or about two- 

 thirds of the total, and the widowed 3.9 

 per cent. In classifying the single per- 

 sons by age it appears that the proportion 

 reaches a minimum in middle life and 

 then increases. This is a result of con- 

 sensual marriage, for as one partner of 

 such a union dies the survivor enters 

 the ranks of the single instead of the 

 widowed. 



EXCELLENT PROGRESS IN EDUCATION 



The public-school system, organized 

 under the first' intervention in Cuba, is 

 producing excellent results. Of the pop- 

 ulation 10 years of age and over, 56.6 

 per cent could read, showing a decided 

 gain in that respect since 1899. Of the 

 native whites, 58.6 'per cent could read, 

 and of the colored 45 per cent were simi- 

 larly educated. The proportion of liter- 

 ates was naturally much greater in the 

 cities than in the country, and highest of 

 all in Habana. 



Of the whole population, 37.7 per cent 

 were wage-earners — a proportion but 

 slightly less than in the United States, 

 where it was 39 per cent. Of all males, 

 65 per cent were wage-earners, and of 

 females, only 7.5 per cent. Child labor 

 was prevalent ; of boys between 10 and 

 14 years of age, 27.8 per cent were wage- 

 earners, and of those between 15 and 19 

 years, not less than 87.1 per cent, or 

 about seven-eighths. 



By distributing wage-earners among 

 certain great groups of avocations, one 

 gets an idea of the relative importance of 

 the industries which they represent. 

 Thus, farming, fishing, and mining, col- 

 lectively, employed 48.5 per cent, or 

 nearly one-half of the wage-earners; do- 

 mestic and personal service claimed 16 

 per cent; manufacturing and the me- 

 chanic arts, 16.3 per cent; trade and 

 transportation, 17.6 per cent, or about 

 one-sixth each ; and the professions" 

 claimed 1.6 per cent. It appears that 

 trade and transportation, manufacturing, 

 and domestic and personal service em- 

 ployed about equal numbers, and collect- 

 ively they claimed about the same num- 

 ber as farming, fishing, and mining. 



