The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-11-16

continue it, in the opinion of your commits
sioner would be a mistake"
"A perusal OF the testimony viii show that
some bankers think ii inadvisable to intro
duce American money at this time, while
certain planters are fearful lest their labor
should refuse to take one American dollar
instead of two Spanish dollars. The latter
looks more, it must be granted, but If the
purchasing power of the sound dollar is
double that of the deprecated dollar, there
will be no difficulty in the end, country
which is just now going through an opera
ton involving its very existence Will not be
likely to be seriously affected by taking
this fictitious value out of the gold Gems
and establishing once for all a sound cur
rency that will be good for a hundred cents
on the dollar, no more, no less, the world
over"
TAXATION.
Mr.. Porter then takes up the question OF
taxation. and suggests the abolition Of GER
tain taxes, especially that known os the
consumption tax on the killing of cattle,
which is an eXaction that greatly increases
the price of food to the people. This tax -
says Mr. Porter, like many others, is sim
ply farmed out to private firms or corpora
tons, whose emissaries in its collection be-
come a constant menace to thrift and in
dustry in their respective districts" An
other tax which will fall of its own weight
when the United States forces take control
of the island, is the ''cedula,' or head tax,
which varies from few cents to 500, ac-
col ding to the rank and Importance OF the
Individual CuriOuSly enough, this tax,
when not collected, becomes a greater
source of injustice and annoyance than
when collected. 1t is generally allowed to
run until some occasion comes for the I'M
happy victim of Spanish rapacity to require
q public document or permit to bury child
or relative, license to marry, a transfer
of real estate, or notarial acknowledge
ment. Then it is that the petty rascals i'll
charge of public business bear down heav-
lily, and unless the fines and back ''cedula"
and a handsome qualification to the Of
fetal is forthcoming, the body must await
interment, the marriage must be postponed,
or a transaction delayed. 1t is understood
that both the President and secretary of the
treasury agree that this form of taxation
and revenue from lotteries must be abol-
ished.
Mr. Porter then takes up the question CT
eoucauon; Ihere are free pubic schools
in Cuba, but the teachers have the right to
take pay scholars, and naturally those who
do not pay get little or no attention The
proportion of people who are illiterate is
very great Some statistics show only one
in forty of the laboring classes able to lead
and write. There can be no stable govern
ment in Cuba Mr.. Porter says, Intil this
has been remedied
In regard to industrial enterprises, Mr..
Porter concludes that little can be done I'M
til the sanitary conditions have been i'm
proved in all the industrial centers. Not
only the commercial prosperity of Cuba, but
to a considerable extent that Of the south
ern portion of the United States, depends
upon destroying the germs of yellow fever
which exist in the larger towns, especially
Havana and MatanZaS, and which have
been the cause of the epidemcS of this dis
ease which have occurred in the United
States during the past century. Mr.. Porter
recommends that a commission OF experts
be appointed, some of whom shall be en-
gineers of skill and experience, to make a
sanitary survey of Havana and Matanzas
and report as to what shall be done to
stmp out yellow +eVer in these cities, with
careful estimates of costs.
Dealing with the railway system Of Cuba
the facts gathered on this subject by. Com
ACCESSIBILITY of Immediately constructing a
trunk railway from end to end Of the ISL
and with branches extending north and
south to the important cities and ports. In
the opinion of the commissioner, from what
ever standpoint it may be viewed, no one
enterprise could do so much to improve the
have existed in Cuba If such a railroad had
been completed by the former government
and nothing will so rapidly tend to the re-
vival of commercial and general business
as the facility for quick passage from one
end of the island to the other and from the
trunk line over branches to the seaboard
cities.
Mr.. Porter closes his recommendations by
giving an account of the condition of labor
in the island, in which he says: There is
at this moment steady increase in the de-
mand for labor on plantations. and in San
tiago province, labor for the mines. While
in Cuba your commissioner received one
cable dispatch calling for fifteen hundred
laborers for the mines, while three large
planters stood ready between them to en-
ploy a thousand men to work in the sugar
fields. In the neighborhood of the sugar
plantations all the able bodied men had
Of h0rs Lii Ind no Of a
or starvation, were still in q state of
practical restitution, hidden away in the
insurgent camps. Those who offered them
selves for employment We're, as rule too
weak to withstand the hard labor. Three
years of privation and lack of food had de-
stroyed their stamina. To be sure there is
surplus labor in Havana-able-bodied labor
but those who applied there had no means
of transportation to the localities where
they could obtain work. Through sug-
geStion made by your commissioner to an
enterpriSing American concern four hundred
of these Havana laborers were sent to San
tiago. 1t is estimated that at least three
thousand laborerS could be well employed
in these mines before the end Of the year,
if it were possible to send them from the
spots where starvation stares them in the
face to the localities where work can be
obtained for those able to Withstand the
hardest toll under trying climatic conditions.
A better distribution of labor will aid in the
revival of business and in re-establishing
the prosperity of the island and II this was
done intelligently by the United States gov
thousands whose presence in Havana with
out work will be a menace to the city 1t
should be borne in mind that the Cuban
harvest is in the winter months. and /
therefore respectfully recommend that some
plan be at once inaugurated by which those
who want work can be Immediately brought
to those anxious to give them employment.
With comparatively small expenditure OF
money for water transportation and rations
for week or two, your commissioner, dur
ing the few weeks he stayed in Havana,
could have given steady employment to $500
able-bodied men in various parts of the
island"
Mr.. Porter returns to Cuba this week and
will spend a week with General Wood at
Santiago He will then go to Cienfuegos
and will be there Dec 1. when it Is hoped
the new tariff will be put in force at that
place Mr.. Porter's report was highly COM
mended by both the President and Secretary
Gage.
TNyxTUJc MUUuT LIEDO