Washington sentinel., 1898-08-13
The Mineral Rich ness Of Cuba.

industrial light, and it may seem
in some respects rather strange to
consider the island paei6cally as a
gold and silver producer at a time
when it naturally occurs to mind
as the theatre of war, which, while
it is most modern in point of time,
is also, in point Of character, says
the London Mining ToUyNaI, the
most unhappily conceived and the
most impotently carried out in
recent history. None the less it
can hardly serve other than a USE
tul purpose to give something
more OF a. utilitarian trend to the
rapt attention which is now direc-
ted towards the island that in
magnitude and position may be
said to dominate the West Indian
Archipelago. To do so may tend,
in measure, to lay the smell Of
gunpowdeT, and to lull the cannon
throb which here, in Europe, strike
the imaginative senses as they are
borne from over the Atlantic by
the medium ofthe submarine cable.
Like many other places similarly
remote from Europe, Cuba, so far
as its industries are concerned,
suffers considerably from the per-
nicious force of popular but mis-
taken associations. Just as Brazil
is exoterically known chiefly as the
place where the nuts come from"
so Cuba is indIssolubly connected
in the general mind with the frag-
rant and delicate smoke clouds Of
the Habana cigar. Even to the
better informed minds the interest
centering in Cuba is almost ex-
clusively an agricultural interest,
and takes no count OF the vast
mineral resources which by COM
mon consent among the many
mining engineers who have visited
the spot are known to lie within the
bosom Of the turbulent island.
Americans, as might have been
expected, have a juster spprecia-
ton of this fact than others more
distantly situated from this Col
conda OF the New World. Divided
thence by several thousand miles
of ocean, and open to a multitude
of pressing claims upon their en-
terprise and resources, the English
capitalists may easily be forgiven
for paying but scanty regard to
the industrial potentlalities OF a
sphere to which he is so little
drawn by any tie OF blood or sym
pathY. The Americans, on the
other hand, are joined to Cuba by
manifold interest political,
financial and geographical-and it
is naturally manly through
American channels that we are
indebted for the bulk of our infor-
nation as to the geological struc-
ture and mineral richness OF the
island
A paper by Cuban gentleman,
Signor Raimund Cabrera, recently
read in translation before the
Franklin Institute, dealt very fully
and ably with the ''IncalcuIable
riches which lie in the open lap Of
this teeming but unfortunate land,
ungarnered and almost unex-
plored, after more than 400 years
ofEuropean colonization" Avoid
ing the more geological and tech
nical aspect Of the question, the
paper gives a more or less plain
statement Of the different metals
and minerals thus left for future
working. the multitudinous char.
acter Of which may be gathered
from the fact that the catalogue
includes copper, hematite, mag
netite, manganese, asbestos, sui
phur, tale, quicksilver, coal, anti
mony, ielspar, onyx, serpentine,
gypsum, baryta. asphalt and petro-
leum, These are the minerals
which were represented in the
Cuban section Of the Columbian
Exposition OF the year 1898. That
despite the early knowledge Of
these varied and rich deposits, so
little has been done towards their
development, is no doubt due in a
large measure to the peculiarities
Of Spanish administration. The
heavy taxation of industry is not
the least among the evils which
have been indirectly responsible
for the present evil condition OF
affairs in Cuba. Mining has espec.
tally suffered from this deterrent to
enterprise. Something, however,
must properly be counted for race,
and il has yet to be shown whether
under a detached and self. con-
tanned form OF republican admin
istraIion all that is expected from a
different fiscal policy will be real
lied. AS il is. the record IS by no
means exclusively one of unsat.