The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1896-12-11


lation Of Java at 2,oe9, el5 souls. Up to
hat time the Dutch management OF JAVA
had been scarcely more efficient than is tho
Spanish management of Cuba to-day.
But during the English occupation
of tho former island, between 1911
and 1918, many administrative re-
forms, designed to promote the prosper
ity of the people. were introduced by Sir
STANFORD RAFrLEs; and the Dutch, when
the island was restored to them, had the
good sense to continue his sagacious
methods Of government. The result wa n
tremendous growth of wealth and popula-
tlon. The annual production Of coffee,
which Mt the beginning of the century was
only 100000 piculs (the picul is 1873
pounds), had risen by 1873 to upward of
1000, 900 piculs. The annual production
of sugar, which between 1853 and 1867 did
not average moro than 1862, 112 piculs,
had become in 1877 not less than 3,72l, 0S4
piculs. The cultivation of tea Is Of
comparatively recent introduction; never
theless in 1879 the output amounted to up
ward of 100000 pounds. In the Same
year the production of cinchona on the
Government plantations alone was about
10000 pounds. The amoun of tobacco
exported in the same year was 7,050,O0o
pounds. We have said that the popula-
tion of Java in 1881 did not much exceed
5000, 600. The census taken on Dec. 81,
1878, less than n century later, showed that
the population had increased to 10,0G7, S29;
it is now upward OF twenty millions. The
most denscly peopled districts Chose occu-
pied by the Javanese proper) support n
greater number to the square mile than does
Belgium. There Is no reason in the world
why Cuba, with m equally fertile soil and
with a climate which Is on the whole more
salubrious, should not support as many in
habitants to the square mile as does Java.
y glance at the map will suffice to demon
strate the strategic Importance of Cuba. 1t
divides the entrance to the Gulf OF Mexico
into two passages; that to the northwest be-
ing but 1870 miles wide at the narrowest
part; of nearly the same width is the south
west passage between the Cuban cape of San
Antonio and the most salient extremity Of
the peninsula of Yucatan. But no one can
improve upon the terms in which the stra-
tegic and commercial value of Cuba to this
country was summed up in the instructions
to our Minister ut Madrid, issued in 1928
by JOHN QUINCY ADAMS, then Secretary Of
State. After referring to Cuba and Porto
Rico. the only American dominions Of which
Spain still retained undiSputed possession,
Mr.. ADAMS continued: "Those islands from
their local position are natural appcndagcs
to the North American continent; and
one of them, Cuba, which is almost
in sight Of our shores, from n multi
tude of considerations, has become an
object of transcendent Importance to the
commercial and political interests of our
Union Its commanding position with
reference to the Gulf of Mexico and the
West India seas; the character of it's popu-
lation: its situation midway between our
southern coast and theisland of San Domin-
90; its safe and capacious harbor ofthe Hava-
ma, fronting n long line ofour shores destitute
of the same advantage; the nature of it's
productions ard of its wants, furnish
ing the supplies and needing the returns
of n immensely profitable
and mutually beneficial; all these things
give it an Importance in the sum
Of our national interests, with which
that OF no other foreign territory can be
compared, and little inferior to that which
binds the members OF this Union together.
Such" concluded Mr.. ADAMS, "are the
geographical, commercial, moral, and polit-
ical relations between the interests of that
island and of this country, relations gather
ing in the process Of time and even now
verging to maturity, that in looking for
ward to the probable course of events for
the short period OF half q century, it is
scarcely possible to resist the conviction
that the annexation of Cuba to our repub-
lie will be Indispensable to the continuance
and integrity Of the Union itself"