The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1897-06-08
WORTHLESS CUBAN MONEY.
A SCHEME TO BOLSTER UP WEY-
LER,s PAPER BILLS.


--
$50. 100. 900 or Bonds Guaranteed by. Customs
to ne Issued to Redeem the Deprecated
Psper-Or Course the Bonds wouid Take .
Tumble AIso-FiRhting In Pinar Del rio.
HAVANA, June 2.-Tho financial crisis caused
by the deprecated paper currency will result In
the creation OF q new debt on the island Of Cuba
OF $50. 100000, with 0 per cont. interest per an
mum. The Minister Of tho Colonies. Sehor Cas-
tellanos. has already given his approval to this
scheme, which was proposed to the Government
by the newspaper La Luchd as the best solution.
The 8 per cont. extra duties In the Custom
Houses. established for the payment in silver OF
the paper money, will BIO the guarantee OF the
new debt. II q loan for $40, 900, 900 cannot DO
secured on that guarantee, the paper currency
now in circulation will be exchanged for shares
Of tho new debt.
1t is easy to see that the remedy is no remedy
at all. The shares of the new debt will naturally
fall as low as the paper money they supplant,
leaving the island in the Same awful poverty
that now prevails. But the bankruptcy Of tho
Spanish Government, which 10 tho real cause Of
the situation, 10 too bitter q fact to be confessed;
hence this wriggling.
Meantime the very newspapers which,, under
pressure from Gen. Weyler, have been trying to
convince their readers that the Governments
paper was as good as the American currency or
the notes OF the Bank Of England, have decided,
by mutual consent. to refuse to accept tho paper
in payment for subscriptions They announce
that hereafter their subscription rates are on Q
silver basis. So grave Is the situation that tho
Diario de Ia Marina, which has the largest cir
~culation In Cuba and is the oldest newspaper Of
the island, while its shares were quoted, some
years ago, at 100 per cent. premium, has been
| obliged to reduce the size of the page OF its even
ing edition one half.
Tho general distress 10 so great that famine Is
already spreading in the suburbs OF the capital.
Tho prices In tho markets are beyond the reach
Of the poorer classes.
In the province of Santiago de Cuba the Span.
iards maintain themselves only with the help
given to their army near the coasts by tho
Spanish gunboats. Nevertheless the gunboat
vasco Nuhez dc Balboa had o hard experience
near Baracoa, where IL intended to cooperate
with the troops against the insurgents. Tho
Cuban artillery disabled the gunboat and made
1t retire in hot haste from the entrance of the
Duava River. The g~unbosts Galioia and Maria
Christine have also suffered severe damage from
the insurgents.
The insurgents are now very active in Pinar
del Rio province. They have received several
small expeditions from the United States and
| Mexico. and ammunition enough to keep their
army constantly fighting. Each Cuban soldier
in Pinar del Rio probably has at present 100
cartridges.
Gen. Delgado is in m of tho forces
operating in the north Of tho province. and Gen.
Bermudes is in command in the south. Vidal
Ducasse is the General-in Chief.
Tho town Of Coloma, protected by the noun
tains OF Sierra de Oreanos. Is in the hands Of the
Cubans. Guarded by the army, many Cuban
families live at Coloma undisturbed by tho
Spaniards. There are also many other small
towns controlled by Cubans which have escaped
Weyler's torch.
Ono Of the ~strictest orders of Ducasse Is to at
tack all trains coming from tho province of
Havana and 90 prevent the Spaniards from re-
ceiving Q regular supply Of war material and
provisions. Every effort Ia made to continuous
ly carry out this order. The Spanish columns
are suffering from these attacks on trains. They
are not SO we'll acquainted with the country as
the Cubans, who rely for their provisions upon
tho resources of the province. and Spanish
columns are starving In the interior.
The Spanish battalion 10 Reina was severely
defeated at Laguna Colorado by the Cubans un-
der Ducasse. The Spaniards intended to take
by a bayonet charge four intrenchments behind
which Ducasse had fortified his men; and
though the Spanish soldiers fought like demons,
attacking tho positions three times, and In their
last charge approaching within ten feet of the
in~trenchments, they were repulsed with heavy
loss, and had to leave their dead on the field.
More than $50 wounded Spaniards were carried
away by tho column. Tho fight lasted three
hours.
At Alfonso Roias, in Pinar del Rio. a largo
Cuban hospital was attacked by the Spaniards
and. as usual. tho sick and wounded were slain.
The nurses lived in small huts near tho hospital
with their families. They fell also into tho
hands of the spaniards. and neither women nor
children were spared. Fifty persons of both
sexes were victims Of this new Spanish bar
barity.
Gen. Weyler has issued orders forbidding the
country towns people to buy meat Of any one
not having a special license from him. These
meat sellers arc in connivanoe with the Spanish
officials, and the meat they sell is from cattle
that are stolen from the farms by Spanish troops.