Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1897-12-18
A Political and Military as Well as
an Economic Basis.
SAVING TEE COUNTRTS LABOR
Small Farmers and TradespeopIe
Will Give the Reforms a Chance.
LOOKING 10 THE FUTURE
Copyright, 1897, by Chas. NJ. Pepper.)
Special Correspondence Of The Evening Star

Autonomy in the country districts of
Cuba has several phases. There is a po-
litical and a military side to it as well as
an economic basis. The basis must be
found in saving the labor that the remain
ing country people, the soil tillers are able
to give A previous letter has shown their
condition and their needs. Sustain the life
that is in them till it becomes stronger and
they will be something on which to kuild
political systems. This is as true of auton-
omy as it would be Of independence. The
pressing question is of the labor that Is
capable of exertion in the present and the
immediate future-not the future when the
United States may again be turning over
the question of Intervention. That is too
far off.
To the strangers eye Guines is even now
garden. The buildings destroyed by the in
surgents when they carried out their prom
ise of celebrating President Mckinley's in
auguration by raiding the town are still in
ruins. The wider path of destruction which
Weyler cut in clearing the country so the
troops could command it from the forts
causes a gap in the landscape which has
not been closed. But the aspect of the
whole country is so green and rich and re-
freshing that these blotches are scarcely
noticed. The canefields stretch away to the
hills. In the distance their leanness is not
perceived. The lands which are given over
to the vegetables seem freshly .carpeted
with verdure. These truck gardens, as
they would be called in the states, 1 am
told have labor enough to handle their pro-
ducts. 1t is for a peculiar reason. The
crop is small. One-half the usual amount?
No. One-quarter? No. A fifth? Possibly,
h,,f a;or -.
den product was enough to supply the
greater part of the island. This season the
stuff is needed where it is produced. Prob
ably the tobacco also can be handled be-
cause The crop is not large. although COM
petition already exists with the sugar plan
tations which are trying to draw labor from
the tobacco fields.
The Surrounding Country.
-Four sugar plantations can be seen from
the roof of the city hall in Guines. The
mills have not been burned during the in
surrection. They are ready to grind and
the cane Is ready for cutting. The esti-
mates are for one-fourth of an average
crop. Can the arms be found to handle il?
The planters are finding some labor. One
plantation Is reported to have had great
good fortune in getting together 263 labor
ers. Others have a fraction of what they
need. All will have to draw on the recon-
centradoes. and this is doubtful contribu-
ton to their wants. Sugar plantations call
for strong frames and stout arms. A year
of starvation may not kill, has not killed
in every case, but 1t is not good prepara-
ton for hard labor. OF fifty or sixty recon-
centradoes seen outside the hospitals here
in Guines I do not think a dozen are capa-
bic of sustaining a weeks light labor in the
field. In the morning | saw a hundred re-
concentrates drawn up at the little rail-
tat nf cal fn
be "able-bodied. In that gang of weak
ened and wasted frames there was not the
labor capacity of twenty ordinary men.
And labor on the sugar plantations has to
be calculated as quantity and not by in
dividual units.
The scarcity of oxen too, is a drawback.
The oxen suffered under Weyler's policy
as well as the human beings. Their de-
structiOn was wanton. Cattle can be in-
ported from the states for consumption.
but this source cannot supply oxen for the
fields. An OK today on any sugar planta-
ton in Cuba is worth more than man.
The deficiency is hard to supply. In the
streets Of this town are many OK carts
rusty and falling to pieces from disuse. A
good one was formerly worth $40. One
was sold yesterday for 81. That is the way
property has deprecated. 1t would fur
nish the political economists with fine IL
lustratien of the interdependent relations
of values, commodities, demand and supply
and so on through the whole chapter. Here
ficially created between production and the
ability to utilize that production. The dis
couraging prospects are not preventing the
planters from going forward. They will
cut and grind what cane they can and hope
to find gradually improving conditions
which will ultimately enable them to mar
ket the whole crop. If they succeed the
rise in the value of OK carts will not be the
only benefit that will come to this burdened
community.
willing to Try Autonomy.
AS to autonomy. 1t has chance OF
gaining the support of portion of that
class whose support is everywhere con-
sidered valuable by government. The
property owners of this neighborhood are
not all Spanards. Two of the sugar
plantations are owned by Cubans The
property owner Is a Cuban. The owners
of most of the small farms are Cubans.
The majority Of the tradespeople, as in
Iuost towns, are Spaniards, yet the lat
ter do not monopolize trade. The cult
vators of the soil are Cubans. 'The Span
lard works in the shade" is the bitter
comment of the Cubans themselves when
they discuss the labor conditions of the
island. do not know whether this is
true or not as a rule of general applica-
tion, but the work in the fields here is
done largely by the Cubans. 1t was this
patient and hardworking population that
was sacrificed by Weyler's decree.
In spite of all they have suffered these
people are willing to give autonomy a
chance. They appear to have no vindictive-
ness. Notwithstanding the frightful abuses
of civil administrati tion in the past they
are ready to attempt to carry on the gov
ernment in cooperation with the Spanish
element Their sympathy with the insur-
rection is not active or aggressive. They
do not apologize for 1t nor do they encour-
age 1t. Cubans in this part of the island
have been made to suffer, for when Blanco
took power the prison was choked with
suspects" While some have been re-
leased the amnesty has not been general
In going through the prison I found there
were forty Ave political prisoners who are
held No reason Is given for not releasing
them with the others. Their friends and
relatives are hopeful and trustful enough
to think the order will come soon.
Some changes have been made toward
giving the Cubans representation IN local
government. They are grateful and the
Spanfards correspondingly resentful Two
weeks ago an autonomist was named by
the governor of the province as alcalde,
He was Tomas Febles Garcia, a watch
maker whose executive ability has already
shown itself in the measures for the relief
Of the starving population. The city coun-
Gil was composed Of seventeen aldermen.