The copper country evening news. [volume] (Calumet, Mich.) 18??-1907, 1898-03-25

olution in 1895, when there commenced
the devastation which has cost Cuba so
dearly.
The chief products of the island are
sugar and tobacco, and the amount an
nually realized from these products dur
ing the years just preceding the last up
rising has been, on the average, SO, 000,-
900 pesos (dollars), and the revenue from
mineral sources has been grossly esti-
mated at 3, 500, 900 pesos. The amounts
derived from other sources (including
cotton, of which a good deal is pro-
duced) were considerable, but these
were the most important And just
here, as an instance of the slumbrous
apathy that has resulted from years of
hopeless subjugation and practical serf-
dom, the opening up of the iron mines
in the province of Santiago de Cuba, at
the eastern end of the island, may profit
ably be cited. These valuable mines,
though discovered nearly century ago,
never felt the blow of pick until 1888,
when party of New York capitalists
determined to make an effort to pur-
chase and develop them. Negotiations
with the Spanish government were at
once commenced, and in 1885, after two
years of persuasion, concessions were
obtained and work was commenced.
Stock companies were organized in New
York and Philadelphia, and bonds were
floated. These companies were the Ju-
ragua, the Spanish American, the Signe
and others. From these mines the an
nual expectation grew to be more than
500, 900 tons of iron ore and 40, 600 tons
of manganese, amounting to So, 900, 900
in value at the lowest estimate
Mining Is Easy.
Mining was nominal, as the ore could
be readily broken up by surface blast
ing In order to carry ore to the United
States large fleet of steamers was nec-
essary. On the return trip from the Unit
ed States these steamers at first went
empty or with ballast only, but it final
ly dawned upon the owners of the ves-
sells that loads might as we'll be carried,
and the steamers began to take coal to
the West Indies. And thus it came
about that the shipment of iron ore to
the United States facilitated the expor-
tation of Pennsylvania coal to the West
Indies.
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. 1t 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 guano to make a crop and not
nearly so much labor as is required in
cultivation elsewhere. Anything that
grows under the tropical sun can be
grown in Cuba, 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 canefelds and de-
stroyed factories and mills the busy
hum of fruitful labor stirred all the air.
lDb COSb VI sugar was
reduced by the introduction of labor
saving machinery, and the business set.
tied down to paying basis, and by the
increased power of production the de-
mand for cane grew, planters were en-
couraged, and the fruitful island began
to wear a prosperous air. The tobacco
planters and manufacturers also i'm
..,othDIo tn,c - al
product kept even pace with its saccha-
rine competitor. The annual sugar crop
was worth $40, 900, 600, the tobacco
crop SO, 900, 600. Then came the revolu
ton. Somehow, when one writes of
Cuba. everything comes back to that
point and strikes it as against a 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 its en-
tirety. 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, its
villages and it's special industries. The
profile of the island, TO quote the Ian
guage of the railroad engineer, is varied
and picturesque, here high peak, there
a valley, there plain. Beginning at
Santiago de Cuba, the most easterly of
the six provinces, and proceeding west
ward through Puerto Principe, Santa
Clara, Matanzas Habana and to the
lands end of Pinar del Rio, the tourist
traverses magnificent stretches of pla-
teau and crosses innumerable valleys,
skirts high mountains and follows deep
and picturesque gorges, bnt the noun
tains become hills. and these are grad
ually shaded down until in the extreme
west q surface, generally level, is reach
ed, although in the vicinity of the
Queen City, Havana, small but rugged