Huntsville gazette., 1883-05-12
Official Corruption in Cuba.

O1hclal corruption is apparently ram
pant all through the Cuban civil serv-
ice. Said Cuban TAXPAYER to the
writer recently: 1T would be bad
enough to have to pay the awful taxes
we do, but it is doubly sickeninp to have
to pay those taxes and know that an
immense proportion is coolly pocketed
by the Spanish officials" This same
gentleman showed me local tax bill
for his house fully paid and receipted.
He then pulled out two later unre-
ceipted bills covering exactly the same
period, but with penalty taxes-for
delay-added The conclusion was ir-
resistible that the first tax had been
stolen without entering it on the books
at the TaX-office. | have heard, too,
from the best authority, of a case where
planter who had gone up to pay taxes
on plantation sold for 100000 had
been invited by the officer to fix the
amount at $150,000 and ''divide" the
tax on the balance. Indeed, it is per-
fectly amazing here to find how uni
versally accepted is the notion Of deep
seated and general official swindling.
Some little incidents throw side-hght
on the evil. For instance, the regular
fee is twenty-five cents for getting
passport vised at Havana before leaving
the island. Go to the Government office
in the city and try the experiment of
not offering an extra fee You may
wait one, two, three days before the
passport is handed back. But offer a
dollar, and ''presto," the little instant
Of work is done and the document re-
turned. If people here who ought to
know-American residents and re-
spectacle Cubans-can be half be-
lieved, the degree of public
swindling would be positively lu-
dicrous, could crime ever be made
funny. They aver that Cuban offices
are regularly bartered in Spain to men
who come over as civic pirates to prey
on the island. / have heard of the case
of one Customs officer who came from
Spain after paying there $4,000 for his
place. In two months, as the story
goes, he was removed, that his position
might be sold over again. .'Never
mind" said he, ''in those two months
| made S20,000." No doubt many of
these stories are exaggerated or ficti-
tiouof Out IL CfCIN OIC VI -liitlli W stS 81
lie, the. undoubted and palpable fact
that every one believes them seems
enough to sap the confidence and ener-
gies of a sturder race than is found in
Cuba
The vices Of the Spanish office-hold-
ing class are reflected deeply on those
lower orders with whom the stranger 5a
world prolific in petty swindles Havana
takes the palm. The hucksters, money
changers, hotel interpreters, and every
body of the genus cheat with GOODNESS
and hardihood that smacks Of genius, \
and, when detected, calmly lower their
price, smiling as at joke. They have
easy scope for fraud in the currencies of
the island, which are enough to puzzle |
more experienced brains than the tour
lists. Paper money deprecated in
gold 50 per cent. and not full legal |
Spanish gold, Mexican and
American coins. greenbacks all circu
late in most puzzling relations of value.
Many Of the paper bills and shinplasters
are so faded, torn, and dirty that the !
widest stretch of fancy is required to /
attribute to them value; while the COM 1
plexIties Of foreign exchange caused by !
this hodge-podge of hybrid currencies /
are most curious and whimsical I
rama Cor. N. Y. EUentng Post.