Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1886-04-03
CUBA AND THE CUBANS.
The People who Live Within . Few
Leagues Of Our Shores.

CUBA AND THE CUBANSs
The People who Live Within . Few
Leagues Of Our shores.
GENERAL AND HIS EsrABLIsHMENT-TH THE
REsULTs-A LAND WITHOUT INVENTORS, &c.
Correspondence Of The EVENING STAR.
HAVANA, March 1, 1SS6.-Having given in
q previous letter some pictures of city and
country life in Cuba, it may be interesting to
your readers to know something of the pecu-
larities of the Inhabitants of this tropical land,
lying just across the Gulf stream, and only
lightweight nautical miles distant from our
own shores at Key West. The island is about
$50 miles long, the width varying from Is to
40 miles. 1t is admirably adapted by its Pc
culiar coast line OF harbors and land-locked
ports FOR ready communication with all mari
time nationalities. Havana, with population
of 100000, is the choicest harbor Of the West
Indies, and in 1t may be seen at all times the
flags OF every nation.
The POPULATION of Cuba is about 1900, 900.
Originally none but Spaniards were allowed to
settle In the Island, but for some reason the
embargo was removed and general influx of
with the large 6 boSy of slaves resulted II
mixed offspring, which, with $4,000 Chinese,
now presents heterogeneous mass of human
ity of manner, but with an absolute and un-
dying hatred Of the proud and domineering
From time immemorial the government of
Cuba has been in the hands of and controlled
by Spain. 1t is governed by the Spaniards for
councils, nor being deemed entitled to any con-
sideration. They are expected to meekly sub
init to any Spanish DEGREES and pay without
murmuring or complaint the burdensome taxes
imposed by imperlous Spaniards.
THE CAPTAIN GENERALS.
The palace Is kept upon grand and extrava-
CANT scale, his summer and winter gardens
being filled with the rarest and most costly
tropical plants, and he is surrounded by an
army of military satraps and civil attendants
such as gentlemen of the bed chambers, apoth-
ecaries to the court, and SO on to the end OF the
chapter. The military spirit OF the Spaniard
stupid ceremonies that are part of the para
phernalia of this sham regal establishment.
CUBANs AND sPANIAKDs.
The Cubans are hated intensely by the Span
iards, and vice versa. An intense disloyalty to
Spain allows the Cuban no place in the Spanish
army, although one is sure that every fifth man
he meets in Havana is either soldier or q
policeman. The only enemy that menaces
Spain is the unhappy tax-ridden Cubans. and
drilled conscripts to Cuba to fill up her Spanish
army, now numbering 10000 regulars and
10000 volunteers, entailing an annual tax
upon Cuba OF $40, OOO,O 900, or $40 per capita on
each man, woman and child in the island.
There Is no society for the prevention of cru
feet torture at every turn by seeing some atrocty
perpetrated on poor dumb brutes in the street,
In the field and elsewhere. the yoke that has
been used for centuries is not a yoke in any
sense, but piece of heavy timber fastened by
ropes across the head of the oxen just below the
horns, large rope being run through the nose,
so tied that the heads of the oxen are kept in u
straight line, and immense loads are pushed
along the rough streets, the patient oxen being
urged with gOads and cursed in miserable
Spanish. Called, spawned, wind-broken pony
mules are numerically beaten in the streets,
and no one mOlests the wicked brute OF a
driver.
BEHIND THE TINES
The Cuban has no need of patent office, for
there are absolutely no Inventions and the dull
islander has little idea OF any thing better than
his ancestors used generations ago. The fathers
pillow was a crotch of a tree, and that patri-
own, as against the modern inventions of the
Iankees.NIt was a long struggle between the
steam engine and the original motive power
used by the Creoles in the ancient sugar mills.
Ihe wheelbarrOw has no place in the industries
OF the island, it being far more consistent with
from place to place. The key to your room at
the hotel Is patterned after one that unlocked a
dungeon in some ancient bastile, and the
hinges, locks, latches and household hardware
would grace an old curiosity shop as rare speci-
mems of q forgotten age.
CUBAN SCHOOLS.
There is no public school system in Cuba.
The education OF the children is in the hands
"a tAO ShuiCu, dAO IL ClOSely lUeulIueO Win the
feudal system OF government The teaching is
q strange mixture OF arithmetic, doctrines of
the church, geography, the ritual, &C., &c.
These educational advantages, poor as they
are. can only be enjoyed by children whose pa
rents are able to pay the expense OF such lux
ury. The school readers are calculated to i'm
press upon the mind of the young Cuban the
doctrines OF the church, the title page being
decorated with q cross and the schools being
named alter some saint, but in spite OF all et-
forts the stupid Cuban boy grows up with a
stolid indifference towards the church and an
1nveterate hatred OF the Spaniard.
THE STRUGGLE FOR INDEPENDENCE.
For years prior to 1870 the Cuban heart had
been lacerated and torn by the outrages i'm
posed upon them by the Spaniards, and prior
to 1874 over 1000 Cubans had been mercilessly
snOt, not as soldiers, but disloyal subjects
Ihese acts fired the Cuban heart and resulted
In a bloody Instruction, which continued for
nine long years, during which the Spanards
acting only on the defensive, spent over $780,
OOO,OOO and lost 10000 lives. The struggle
was one of simple endurance and not a test of
Valor. The Cubans poverty, in allies, arms and
material, conquered them. The results of this
rebellion made great changes. but the Cuban is
still the under dog in the fight. Slavery so long
debaSing influence in the civilization OF the
Island, received q severe and fatal blow during
TINS long struggle, and in 1883 the last ciank-
Ing chain Will be broken and every chattei will
be IL freeman. The price of a slave is now only
about $500, which simply measures the value
OF two years labor. o. p
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