The new North-west., 1897-02-05

vessels that loads might as we'll be car
! ried, and the steamers began to take coal
to the West Indies And thus it came
about that the shipment of iron ore tc
Che United States facilitated the e1por-
tation of Pennsylvania coal to the Wnst
IuuIys.
The development of this industry was
one of many enterprises that have been
successfully pursued in this wonderful
land, despite the singularly unfavorable
conditions that have existed. Cuba's
greatest wealth must always come from
the vegetable products of the EARTH Her
soil is wonderful. It is not only fertile,
but inexhaustible. Three crops Of cane
grow from one planting. No fertilizers
are used The soil in places has the great
depth OF ~ feet. Tobacco needs no qua
no to make a crop and not nearly so
much labor as is required in cultivation
elsewhere. Anything that grows un-
der the tropical sun can be grown in Gu
ba, although during recent years the
soil has been given up to the production
OF sugar and tobacco.
Before the devastating torch of war
had laid waste the canefields and de-
stroyed factories and mills the busy
hum of fruitful labor stirred all the air.
The cost of making sugar was gradual
ly reduced by the introduction of labor
saving machinery, and the business set
tled down to paying basis, and by the
Increased power of production the de-
mand Tor cane grew, planters We're en-
couraged, and the fruitful island began
to wear prosperous air. The tobacco
planters and manufacturers also inn
proved their methods, aud this rival
product kept even pace with its saccha-
rine competitor. The annual sugar crop
was worth $40, 0G0, 600, the tobacco crop
$6,000,0 ,000 Then came the revolution.
Somehow, when one writes of Cuba,
everything comes back to that point and
strikes 1T as against dead wall after
clearing the cruel hurdles of Spanish
tyranny.
But let US revert to the first branch
OF the subject-the island proper in it's
entirety. The coast contour of Cuba is
broken with hundreds of inlets, all of
them harbors in greater or less degree
each having its small Notifications, it's
villages and its special industries The
profile OF the island, to quote the Ian
guage of the railroad engineer, is varied
and picturesque, here a high peak,
there valley, there plain. Beginning
at Santiago de Cuba, the most easterly
OF the six provinces, and proceeding
westward through Puerto Principe,
Santa Clara, Matanzas Habana and to
the lands end of Pinar del Rio, the
tourist traverses magnificent stretches
OF plateau and crosses innumerable val
leys, skirts high mountains and follows
deep and picturesque gorges, but the
mountains become hills, and these are
gradually shaded down until i'll the ex-
treme west surface, generally level, is
reached, although in the vicinity of the
Queen City, Havana, small but rugged |
peaks, with precipitous Sides may be
seen in many directions along the shore.
The Wrecks of War.
But it is not with the beauties that ma
ture has shed broadcast that the travel |
er's thoughts are occupied while he |
threads his way among the wrecks that /
war has made. His mind is charged
Will ueIdICIQIy aa u6 WINS llG DEiu- /
ed out canefelds, the neglected tobacco I
plantations, the ruins of stately resi- /
dences that lift up their blackened arms
in mute but penetrating outcry against I
the barbarities of conflict and the curse |
of tyranny. There is no need, however,
to dwell upon this sonber picture, for
we know what time can do in this land |
Of endless and indestructihle resource,