Ceredo advance. [volume] (Ceredo, W. Va.) 1885-1939, 1898-07-13


Porto Rico and the Philippine Is
lands, in which the United States
government is now prosecuting a
war, and which at the close of the
war Will bc in the hands of this gov
ernmcnt, can not he amiss, nor Civ
en- too often. These great terrific
ries may be held permanently by
this country. Whatever may be
the final disposition of them il is
certain that they are To come into
our possession in consequence of the
war. The government is putting
forth every effort To get them. and
is doing that with the unanimous
consent of the people of this coun-
try. VIII we give them up after
the WARP Nobody can answer the
question now, and 1t may become
the rock upon which all the political
parties in this country will split up
and disband, giving place 20 new
parties, respectively favoring and
opposing colonial annexation:
CUBA.
Cuba proper consists of one large
island about 750 miles long by so
miles wide, and containing about
$4,000 square miles, nearly twice as
much territory as II within the
boundaries of West Virginia. IL
Is 1870 miles from Yucatan, 4s from
llayti, 1870 from Florida and SO
from Jamaica.
Along the north coast. and really
belonging TO Cuba but not included
in the area above gwen, are . is
lands, islcts, 81 keys and 52l
small keys, Of these the principal
are Romano, Guajaba, Coco, Tur-
ignaco, Cruz, Fragosa, Bocas de
Anton, Verde and keys on the Col
orado Banks.
On the south side is the large
isle OF Pines, 43 by 35 miles, o is
lets, 20 keys and 677 small KEYS.
Adding the area Of these islands
to that of Cuba proper we have
about ~, 800 square miles or lit.
tie more than double the area of
West Virginia.
The total population of Cuba. as
shown by it's last census taken over
ten years ago, il about $50, 900, of
which about 500, 900 are coIored.
A large part of the island OF Cuba
IS still covered by the forests, and
this population is very unevenly
distributed
Cuba is divided INTO six provinces
as follows, commencing at the West
and naming them in order TO the ex-
treme eastern extremity: Pinar
Del Rio, Havana, Matanzas, Santa
Clara, Puerto Principe and Santi-
ago de Cuba. The capitols or seats
of government of all Of these pro
snces are cities bearing the same
names as those of the provinces
themselves.
The larger cities with their res
pectiye populations are Havana
about 200, 800, Santiago de Cuba
1859, Matanzas 90, 400, Puerto
Principe $1,000, aud Cienfupos
81 900.
The principal sea ports are la
yana and Matanzas on the north |
vest coast. Cienfugos on the south /
ern aud Santiago dc Cuba at the
southeast
The railroad mileage is about
200, inelnding private lines TO su.
gar plantations there are about 2. 500
miles. The railroads are confined /
principally to the provinces Of Ha-
vana, Matanzas and Santa Clara.
Cuba produces in abundance
nearly all Of the tropical fruits. but
sugar and tobacco are the LEADING
products The annual value Of The /
sugar and molasses product is about
$50, 0,00o,000 and that Of the tsbac.
co about $4,000, 900.
Porto RICO. }
Porto Rico lies southeast Of Cuba [
with the island Of Hayu between
them, and in a straight line Il about
250 miles from Santiago de Cuba.
and San Juan, its capitol il about
1000 miles from Havana. Tooefh.
or with the small island Of Mona ,ts
area is about 1900 square miles.
being therefore something less tban
nine times the size Of Mason conntv
The population Of the island r. /
about 800, 600, Of which about 82o.-
900 are black and the balance span.
imds, Germans, swedes. Danes
hussians aud Frenchmen. The pop. 4
ulation Of San Juan is about 80. 600 /
Porto Rico's leading products are
sugar and coffee, although tobacco. /
cotton, rice aud corn are raised |
Tropical fruits Of all kinds are 4
crown abundauffv and g.. 49,