The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1870-07-18
Wholesale Robbery in Cuba.

IN s,ahcn.
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Wholesale Robbery in Cuba.
The UNMARRIED cutlery Of tho Spaniurds in
Cuba against the patriots, from the DECLARE
ton Of independence at Iara to the present
day, is that the Cubans are nothing but pack
of thieves and robbers. This cry has found
n crowd of tho enemies of freedom, both in
Madrid and Washington, to regcho it,
We find in La Rero'Ucioa Of the 9TH inst.
list Of property belonging to Cubons
which he's been scqucstcrcd by tho socallcd
Spanish Government, but really by the
volunteers. The list embraces ffty-two
sugar estates thrty.fvc coffee estates, ono
hundred and nineteen grazing farms, two
hundred and twenty small stock farms, sixty
one truck farms, forty.scvcn large cattle
estates, one tobacco plantation, ffty-two city
lots; shares in banks, railroads and sugar
warehouscsto the par value Of S9,3lLT3; bills
receivable for 81 1G1, 0si; mortgages on landed
property $lGO3li; mortgages on improved
real estate s1067s1; $40 houses, GOO
slaves and cash to the amount of $4,000.
We have taken the trouble to reduce the
values of the above list TO dollars, estimating
the sugar estates at only 100000 cach.-
there are many on the island worth million
npecc,-thc city lots at $1,000 each and the
slaves at $500; and we find the aggregate, ut
these estimates, exceeds the very respectable
figure OF Si00000,000 If thievery and rob
berry have been practiscd by the Cubans,
which we do not admit, any populations of
theirs sink into nsigniicance before this stu.
pendous sum.
If it be argued that this vast amount Of
property has been s,qucstcrci only, and not
confscatcl, any such defence Of the spanarls
is refuted 10y their own clamors, which
today are louder than ever, that this prop.
crty be sold by the Government and its
proceeds distributed among them. There is
little reason to doubt that this plan would
have been adopted long since, but for tho
difficulty of finding purchasers who would
be satisfied with the titlo the Spaniarls
could give to the property.
Strange as it may appear the temporary
possession of these estates, which. in n
normal condition Of tho island, would pro.
ducc TO their owners net income OF ten per
cent, or say some forty million dollars a year.
has given hardly anythingto the colonial cx.
Oh ,qucr. The profits of all the estates are
eaten up in their management, and by
the pay OF the volunteers who garrison them
Tho expenses Of the sequestcrcl sugar cs-
tatcs. for iuc.ancc, are first Of all paid by the
sale of sugar produced on each, and the bal
ance is delivered to the Government, What
those expense are can be inferred from the
fact that, whereas by the last statistics
published the averpg, production OF each
estate was over $500 boxes, at which rate
the fftytwo sequestcrcd estates should have
produced 10000 boxes the total sales so far
for Government account have not exceeded
600 boxes The same disparity rules in
every class Of sequcstercd property. Ahouse
in Havana which formerly rented for $3.50 to
$500 month, Is let by the persons In charge
Of sequcstcrel houses at from $40 to $50 per
month to some FREUD who maniiests his ap.
probation of the kindness by respectable
bonus
The Spanish laws under which property in
Spain could be coniscatcd for political Of
fences were long since nnnullei. To-day, no
mans goods can be seized and sold in the
Peninsula for any such offence except by
special act of the Cortes, approved by tho
Crown. And yet in Cuba, which by the
present constitution ia declared to be an in
tegral province OF the Spanish nation, we
sec property s2quostcrod, and in all probabil.
with the laws or for the benefit Of the country
which pretenls to own the island, but by the
VII and orders Of n gang Of sc1unlrels who,
by the very possession of this plumber, are
enabled to set the orders Of the Government
in Madlil AZ defiance