The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1850-1873, 1873-12-05
Some Facts About Cuba.

Previously to the present struggle ie
Cuba the revenues of the island outsid
] of municipal taxes amounted to S26.-
| 600, 900 year. OF this about $40, ,OOO,-
| 600 year were expended in Cuba for
support of a standing army OF 10000
regulars and of a fleet composed of
about 40 vessels, besides the support of
| IA, 900 Spanish officials employed in the
| civil government of the island. These
officials were always aud now are Span
| iards sent from Spain to Cuba. The
| Cuban people were not allowed to par
| ticipate in the administration of the
affairs of the island except in local mat
ters. The net revenues of Cuba to
Spain before the insurrectiOn were thus
about Sc, 100000 a year. This money
was sent to Madrid. The municipal
taxes were large, about $4,000, 600 a
year, amounting in Havana alone to
81, ,20O,OOO
In 1869, after the conflict had been
some time in progress, the estimate of
the expenses of the Spanish government
in Cuba was between $36, O0O, 900 and
$37, 900, 900. Since the campaign of
1859 opened, Spain has absorbed all
the revenues of Cuba, besides creating
a bonded debt there amounting to S70,-
600, 900, in carrying on the war against
the insurgents. There has been no
official record submitted whereby the
exact revenues can be ascertained, but
they have undoubtedly been much less
during the war than before. The terri
tory in the interior occupied by the in
surgent Cubans is of a productive
character, and the sugar raised here has
yielded no revenue to the Spanish gov
ernment. Many sugar plantations be-
longing to insurgl-t It's were seized and
cultivated by the Spanish authority, but
by reason of corruption and incOmpe-
tency the revenues from this source
were very small. It is charged and
generally admitted that the affairs of
Cuba, as regards the collection and dis
bursement of revenues, have been out
rageously corrupt.
In 1869 the Cuban revolutionists are
understood to have had $4,000 men in
the field at one time, but they were very
poorly armed. They were so deter-
mined, however, that instances were
frequent in battle where men who we're
armed simply with the nlGchete (cane-
knife) burst through the lines regard
less of their lives, in friendly race with
each other for the arms ana ammunition
menced nearly 10000 Cubans, accord
ing to the records. have been executed
by the Spaniards. How many have
been killed in battle is not ascertained
for want of a record. The Spaniards
killed in battle and executed by the
revolutionists have amounted to about
IS, 1000.
The volunteers, forming the bulk of
tho SnaniSh ar7,ov in, T11ha hava 1OFOUpH
utterly uncomfortable. 1t was their
open mutiny that compelled the resig-
nation of Captain General Dulce, and it
is understood that they have dictated
the removal of several others. No cap
tain-general has yet felt that his life
was safe in the hands of his own troops.
The worst elements of Cuban society in
the cities we're drawn upon for the vol
unteer force. The chief officers, civil
and military, are all drawn from Spain,
and are paid salaries amounting to $780,
600, gold, year, for a captain general,
$4,000 a year for a district comman
der, and so on. These volunteers hate
the Spanish soldiers, but are more in
tensely bitter against the Cubans. They
hate Americans, too. The Cuban pa
triots love Americans. They say they
have fought four years and half, and
the way for the United States to get
even with Spain now is to recognize the
belligerent rights of the Cubans. This,
they say, would enable them to nego-
tiate their bonds and encourage priva-
teering. Spain has possession of every
seaport and every fort on the island.
All the Cubans want is a seaport, and
gun-boat to hold it with, so that they
can protect their vessels in the act of
landing and afterward.