The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1895-11-02

Cubans and in the amount OF money coll
tributed by them to the REVOLUTIONARY
fund. Tampa alone has forty-six revo,
Iutionary societies, Ybor City thirty, ana
West Tampa sixteen. Key west mas
nearly as many, and Jacksonville anu
the district of Florida is Fernandez
Figueredo, who occupies at present the
position of bookkeeper in O'Halleren' S
factory in West Tampa Mr.. Flgueredo,
who was a colonel in the revolutionary
army, and member of the revolutionary
congress during the former war in Cuba,
is man Of strong personality and great
popularity among his fellow-countTym
To his industry and enthusiasm is largely
due the effective organization OF the
Cubans of Tampa.
= Ybor City and West Tampa differ in
the organization of their revolutionary
societies. The thirty societies of YborCity
are independent i'll this regard, and each
may give what it chooses. Some require
their members to contribute ~ per cent
of their weekly wages.
Others ask fixed sum-$2, So, or 50 q
week. On the other hand, the societies
Of West Tampa contribute 10 per cent OF
the 9. gregate weekly wages OF their mem
bers, without exception. A member
may give individually as much more as
he pleases, but he must give his t1the to
the society. Every Cuban gives some
thing, from the boy stripper who receives
"a a week to the sorte~ who receives $50.
These contributions are collected weekly
nv Vice Delegate Figuereo and sent 20
ne treasurer of the society at New York.
The total is between $12, 900 and S15, 600 a
month, or in round numbers, abouta$150,
900 a year.
It is not strange, therefore, that Spain
keeps an angry eye on her robelllous sub
iects in Tampa, and impatiently awaits
an opportunity to punish thell 10 do so
would be comparatively easy matter.
Let Spain impose an export duty on
Cuban tobacco equal to the difference in
our tariff between the duties on raw and
manufactured tobacco, and the cigar in
iustries of Tampa would be ruined. To-,
900 Cubans thrown out of employment,
and the annual contributions to the
funds of the Cuban Revolutionary Society
decreased by $3.50, 600. For in that case
cigars made in Havana could be offered
for sale in the Amer lean market for less
than the actual cost of making them in
Tampa or Key West, since the cigar
maker OH avana is satisfied with half the
pages Laid in the United States.
Wee it not that she fears the moral
effect of such move on the American
public, it is probable that Spain would
have done this thing long ago. The pos
sibility of such an export duty has al
ready led the American dealer to buy
hea yily, with the inevitable results of q
higher price. This upward tendency has
been FASTENED by reports of poor crops
and the destruction of plantations by the
insurgents.
The suggestion has been made that
Cuban tobacco DO grown in Florida. 1t
is the general impression that this to-
bacco loses Its peculiar qualities when
grown OH other than Cuban soil, but
there arc those THAI deny this At any
rate the experiment is being made this
autumn on considerable SCALE In adj
dition to thousands of small planters
who have planted on their own account,
there are several large syndicates shat
have imported skilled labor from Cuba
and are attempting the growing of this
tobacco with most approved methods.
Whatever the result may be, the expert
mcnt is being watched with interest.