Mower County transcript., 1896-04-08

Ss>SAoAes0VOAy " bu0 dUmAul6bI0blOu dV
Madrid. and thus, from years Of weak
ness, strength grew, so that insurrection
came to mean revolution, and there
dawned upon the sight of the striving
patriot the splendid vision of blood
bought but free republic.
But people know more Of the struggles
OF Cuba than they do Of Cuba itself. Ev-
cry civilized inhab1tant of the globe has
followed with feelings of indignation
and pity the story Of Cuba's suffering.
All the "insurrections, the 'Separatist
wars" and the other vain but valiant
efforts Of the Cubans to throw of the
Spanish yoke have appealed to his chiv-
airy and wrung his heart with grief and
rage; but, as . rule, he is as ignorant Of
the scene of these struggles as If they
had occurred In the viewless air. And
yet, in the comparatively small compass
or its watery boundaries, there are con-
centrated a greater variety Of natural re-
sources than are to be found in any 9TH
er island, state, province or country be-
meath the sun.
This may sound extravagant, but the
statement Is verified by all reliable sta
tistics and unprejudiced witnesses And
when those who cavil come to reckon up
its advantages-its millions of acres of
soil, richer than any in the United
States, that will grow anything from q
potato to a pineapple; its abundant
yields of sugar and tobacco; its tremen-
dous forests of mahogany and other
xr,h; NJ,
are grown every product of the temper
ate zone, and it's fertile valleys, from
which luxuriantly spring the most lus-
clous fruits of the tropics; it's mines of
iron and copper and manganese; its hun
dreds Of beautiful and excellent harbors,
and the soft, healthful atmosphere of
perpetual summer that forms the set
ting for this peerless "Pearl''-their
doubts will be swallowed up in convic-
tion.
A Complex Study.
A study Of this wonderful island is
complex from any standpoint. The
geographer, with the best map in his
possession, will find new inlets, the nat
uralst will add to his collection, and
and even the blase cosmopolitan will
recover in Cuba the zest which had gone
out of his life. And all this is merely
to say that great deal Of the accepted
data with reference to Cuba is either in
exact or wholly faulty. This. Of course,
like everything else that works injury
| to the island as to its relation to the
80 $1,o SC $o I@ -$1
| cratic and ignorant methods of the
Spanish authorities, the tendency of
whose "discipline'' is toward handi-
Gaping every public spirited enterprise
and retarding everything that is not
done directly in the interest Of the hon
or and glory and revenue of the power
| across the sea, for whom this poor,
downcast people have been working out
what has heretofore appeared to be a
life subsidy.
| Notwithstanding all these difficult
ties, the enterprise of Americans and
others foreign to the soil has led native
industry in the right direction. and its
commerce has grown in the teeth of riot
and insurrection. The normal popula-
ton, 100, 900, composed of something
near !, 100000 persons of Spanish de-
scent, 10000 foreign whites, $4,000
Chinese and 800, 900 negroes and colored
people, is not a busy throng. The loi-
tering Cuban Of today can hardly be rec
ognized as the descendant of those
sturdy pioneers Of the sixteenth century
who fashioned the gigantic bastions o1
| = 10 4ho Ia ~
Strength-but still he can be brought te
bestir himself if sufficient fnancia
irducement is offered. To be entirely
just, it should be said that enterprise i:
not wholly wanting. even among the
laborlng classes. And SO capital, whicl
was at first largely American, was put
to work, and as a result cities have
sprung up, large plantations have beer
put under cultivation, mines have beer
opened up, and sugar, tobacco and the
hundreds Of other valuable products o1
the island have been made to enrich it.
As is we'll known, large and usurious
! part of the annual revenues of planters,
miners and manufacturers has beer
taken for taxes, and at length it ha:
| AouAO 1AtO VIC CfO1
Golfers of the home government at Mad
rid. And still traffic increased unit
the beginning of the revolution in 1895
when there commenced the devastation
which has cost Cuba SO dearly.
The chief products Of the island arr
sugar and tobacco, and the amount an
nually realized from these products dur
ing the years just preceding the last up
rising has been, ON the average, $4,000,
900 pesos (dollars), and the revenue from
mineral sources has been grossly esti
mated at 8, 500, 900 pesos. The amount'
derived from other sources (includint
cotton, of which good deal is pro
duced) we're considerable, but thes'
were the most important. And just here
as an instance Of the slumbrous apathy
that has resulted from years of hopeless
subjugation and practical serfdom, the
opening up of the iron mines in the prov
ince of Santiago de Cuba, at the eastern
end Of the island, may profitably be cit
ed. These valuable mines, though dis
| cpvarod oaarlr a captury 400 paypr fali