Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1898-12-27

| five cents. won't your This beggar
has driven away the reconcentradoes and
| the professionals who formerly accosted
| strangers. He allows no inrasion"of his
| territory. Uptown and at the hotels the
same disregard of the rights of the native
mendicants is shown. Sometimes it is the
sailor in distress. sometimes the stranded
coored citizen who makes the levy by viz
| tue of the common country. These Ameri-
can beggarS are wonder 10 the Latin
mendicants. The latter have a pride in
their profession, but they cannot practice
it without a disgusting servlity. The Amer
| lean who has come to Havana to- beg is bold
and confident. He knows what il is to live
in free country
American Business Men.
These are only surface resistances. They
exist, and therefore a line is written of
them. The business men of the United
States are here in considerable numbers, or
have their representatives here. / do not
think they are expecting TO hayS an exten-
sive trade until larger proportion of the
900 900 surviving inhabitants of Cuba are
able to consume and pay for more goods
than is at present possible. But, independ-
ent of new enterprises. there is some bust
ness to be done at once. The iumbermen
who were willing to take risks have already
received orders enough to keep a good
many sawmils busy. The new tariff will
find cargoes of lumber in the harbor which
have been held back until the Spanish du-
ties were lowered. The same is true of 9TH
er lines of industry These are small be
ginnings. Seventy-odd million people II the
United States will not know this season
that new markets have been opened in
Cuba. Some of the flour mills in the north
west already know it. the saw mills of the
southwest know it, and so do the cattle
ranges After time the plough manufac-
turers of the Mississippi valley will know
it. That is the way the increased trade of
the United States with Cuba will come
gradually and not at jump.
In the larger be Am
capitalist has been finding many things to
surprise him. He did not appreciate how
thoroughly European capital had studied
the field for investment in Cuba. He has
learned. The contention between English
and German syndicates on the one hand
and American syndicateS on the other for
valuable franchises has been given pub
llclty- The decision reached in Washing
ton that the future development of Ha-
vana shall not be mortgaged for a hundred
years was wise one though it dIsap-
pointed a good many millions of capital.
1t served to show what great sums of
money are seeking to improve the oppor-
tunitles which are now offered.
Trade First, Sentiment Aftervard.
That dispute of the syndicates strained
the Anglo-American alliance. The business
man of the United States does not often
gush over international relations. When he
does become sentimental he is ant to go
further than he intends. For the last three
months there have been many pheasant
fellows from "Lunnon'' in Havana. They
have liked TO meet the representatives of
American capital and cement the era of
cousinship over bottle of champagne
Also to make casual inquiries about the
particular field in which this American
money was seeking outlet. Sometimes
they have dropped a friendly hint or q
piece of information. And within week
the capitalist from the United States would
find that English and German money was
bidding against him. In consequence, he
has become sore, and the sentimental side
OF the Anglo-American alliance no longer
appeals to him. 1t may be all right for
China or Patagonia, but it will not work
in Cuba. l haven't met an Englishman in
the West Indies who was not thinking of
trade first and sentiment afterward His
good will is hearty and genuine. 1t is
based on the most solid of reasons, for
American control in Cuba means increased
trade for everybody. The mistake the
American investors made in the beginning
was in supposing that English German and
French capital would let the sentimental
SIDE or American control develop into a
monopoly of commerce and industrial en-
terprises without struggle TO reap some
of the benefits of it for themselves
The representatives of the houses which
are seeking to supply the retail markets
nave not been caught in the same way
that the big capitalists were hooked The
American drummers have risen to the situ-
alton. l have seen them drinking cham
payne with the EngliShmen and smoking
cigars with the Germans. bubbling over
with sentimental kinship for their British
cousins and accepting the metaphysical ex-
pianation of their Teutonic friends thar
Admiral Diedrich's queer actions at Manila
We're testimonials of friendship to the
United States. The morning following a
sentimental sent evening of this kind the Amer
lean drummer is apt<to be down in the
Wnolesa!e district little earlier than
usual That is the only outcome
The Drummer From the States.
knowledge of the Spanish language
seems Indispensable for trade Many of
the drummers from the United States have
III yet there are some who do not know
more than half dozen words They man.
age to get orders. I have watched one case
through its various stages with both inter-
est and admiration. 1t was that of a st.
LOUIS drummer Tor Cincinnati shoe
house. He arrived on the boat one evening
he ala not know anything of Spanish. but
before going to bed he had learned that
the biggest bazaar in Havana-it answers
TO q department store in the states-Was
about to place an order for $4,000 worth of
SHOES. heretofore the purchase had been
made in Barcelona, though the footgear
was actually OF German make, and shipped
through England with a profit to every
BODY who engaged in the transaction
That was possible under the tariff rates
and the official system which prevailed
during Spanish rule.
The drummer took an interpreter the
next morning and called on the bazaar
owner. The latter is an intense Spaniard
but he Is also man of business. He was
prepared to listen to arguments why in
the future 1t would be to his advantage to
import his stock from the United States
rather than from Barcelona. Heretofore
only the cheapest kind of American shoes
have been imported from the states-the |
kind that melted into pasteboard the first
rainy day. After several visits the COM
mercial traveller was delighted to learn
hat ha nal xfr,ur