The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-12-08
REVOLUTIONARY CLUBS.
THE AMOUNT THEY Contribute
TO THE CAUSE OF CUBA.

L n
That spain VIII Put "a PrOhibitOry
Export Duty on It-Whnt the Effect
Would Reinforcement to Plant
More Tobacco in Florida.
Tampa, Fla, Dec. 7.-Of the 1000 Gu
bans in Tampa there is probably not doz-
en- male adults that are not members Of
some one of the many revolutionary clubs.
Not to be a member would be treason to-
ward the cause Of Free Cuba" And yet
the English-speaking people Of TamTa
know little or nothing of these clubs. This
| ignorance Of the doings Of their fellow
townsmen is due to the fact that the Gu
bans live apart in districts reserved Tor
them alone and that they speak another
language. There are forty-six revolution
airy clubs in Tampa of which thirty are in
I Ybor City Che Fourth ward, AMI sixteen
in the politically independent but CONNER
eially dependent suburbs of West Tampa.
The clubs of Ybor City and West Tampa
differ considerably as to organization and
I purpose The population of Ybor City is
heterogeneous Besides the Cu5ans, who
| constitute three-fourths of the total num-
/ Der, there are about 1900 Spaniards. 1000
! Americans and COO Italians. AS rule The
"Insular' Cubans refuse to work in the
same factories with the "PeninsuiGrs, as
| they contemptuously call the Spaniards;
| but there are exceptions to this rule. In
/ Seidenburg's factory for instance Cubans
/ and Spaniards are both employed. The
thirty revolutionary clubs are tn-no way
/ connected with the factories. The mem
bers Of any one club way work il "A dozen
different factories. The contributions To-
/ ward the funds of the Cuban revoiuCionlry
/ society also vary greatly among the DIFF
/ al
| tenth of the aggregate wages Of their
! members. Others give two, three or flNe
In West Tampa there are practically
| only Cubans. Among a population of 5000
there is not one Spaniard and probably
| not fifty Americans. The sixteen clubs
| represent the sixteen large factories. That
is, the employees of each factory are or
| ganized into club, and every club gives
bers \ cigar maker may give as much
more as he pleases, but he must not fail
TO give his tithe to the treasurer OF his
! club every Saturday evening.
! These revolutionary clubs in tampa
| form part of general organization. When
| the revolution broke out in Cuba last
! February il found the exterior Cubans
/ fully organized. Wherever there were Gu
bans in the United States Mexico. Central
and South America, revolutionary clubs
| We're found and all We're united into one
| general organization. The Cuban reNolu-
| tionary society, with headquarters in New
| York city. The object of the society was
| funds toward the support of the Cuban
patriots.
have depended very largely on the Cuban
| Revolutionary Society, and the amount
/ raised has been surprisingly large. me
state of Florida comprises single DIS
triCt and is under the direction of Vice
Delegate Fernando Figueredo, mayor OF
West Tampa. This gentleman is author
ity for the statement that the torty-slX
clubs of Tampa contribute nearly $4,000
a year. while Key West gives almost as
much, and Jacksonville and Ocala also
give literally, consequently IL Woulu not
be an eXaggeratiOn to estimate the totai
amount contributed annually TO the funds
of the revolutionary society by the Gu
bans residing in Florida at S35OOOO.
1t is not surprising, in view Oh these
facts that Spain keeps an angry eye on
her Cuban subjects in blorlda ana awaits
but an opportunity to DO them INJURY.
And to do so would be comparatively
easy task. The presence or cuban cigar
makers in the United states IS que TO the
, difference i'm our tariff between the duty on
raw tobacco and that on manufactured
cigars, which makes ii possible Tor me
manufacturer in this country to buy ms
tobacco from Cuba, make 1t INTO cigars
and sell the product cheaper than II is
possible to sell the imported article. Con-
| sequently, If Spain should impose heaN-
, Ter export duty on raw Cuban TOBACCO,
| while allowing cigars to be exported free,
or should prohibit the expectation OF
raw tobacco altogether, the cigar factories
i'm this country that work Havana tobac-
co would be closed and the cuban work
I
dered destitute. That would effectually
nut an end TO the voluntary contributions
! of the exterior Cubans, and it seems prob
| able that were it not for the effect such
a move would have on public sentiment in
this country, Spain would have done so
i II was rumored in Tampa a few weeks
ago that the expectation of Cuban tobac-
5 co would be prohibited beginning Janu,
1 ary l. 1886, and the manufacturers, as Wen
as their Cuban employees, were consider
ably excited at the prospect But the ru-
NOR is not credited now, though many
: prominent Cubans assert their belief that
, il is merely a question of time and VIII
! happen sooner or later. The manufac-
turers in view of such a possibility and
: through fear of destruction of the tobac-
! 4 co plantations by the soldiers on one side
: or the other, have bought heavily in the
! rising market, and now have on hand
| i'm the bonded warehouse enough materia
: to keep their factories running for severa
T months. even should the supply be shuV
> ~ There is no doubt that 1.-THE Cubar
II scare has been injurious to the inter
! ests of Tampa to a small degree at least
z. But. on the other hand it has, like The
a double freeze of 1895, been beneficial tC
/ the agricultural interests of the surround
Il ing territory in that it has brought
7 greater diversity of products. An at
tempt is being made on large scale Il
Several expert tobacco growers from th'
Vuelta Abajo district, in Cuba, where thu
best cigar tobacco in the world is grown
have come over and made chemica
analysis of the soil As the result of theil
Investigation they announce that the sol
of the high hammock land of South Flor
ida is quite similar to that of Cuba, anC
by the use of the proper commercial fer
tiliZers, can be made entirely So Prepar
h atoms are being made for the planting o
several hundred acres in Hillsborough anC
the adjacent counties with Cuban tobac
co, and a number of skilled growers anC
curers have been brought over from Cub;
for that purpose. If the experiment sue
| ceeds it will both give the exterior Cubanl
permanent employment, whatever Spail
may wish TO do and will bring renewed
| prosperity to the Florida planters tina
| lost their groves by the freeze
INVESTIGATING CONVICT CAMPS.