The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1898-03-03
HAVANA Is "DEADLY DULL"
Some Queer Contrasts Of the Cuban
Capital Described.


Correspondence of the Associated Press0
Havana, Feb. 25.-Habana, Queen of
the CARDS." as a local poet here styles
her, is dull-deadly duIl-and while it may
be. probably is, a stagnation Of the sur
face only, it is none the less apparent to
the eye of visitor or resident alike.
Where once the Thursday and Sunday
night concerts in the cIty's Central park
called forth crowds so dense that the
police had hard work keeping a passage
clear for the passage of vehicles, the
sweetest strains Of the best bands are
poured into the ears Of but hundreds. The
Quondam listeners are absent from Cuba
or in mourning for their dead; are too
poor to make a proper appearance in
public or too proud to chance a jostle
from the elbows Of "Amaricanos and
rebel sympathizers."
What a quaint. contradictory, dilatory
and, in some respects, delightful city it is.
Architects and painters force upon the
sight glaring yellows where nature offers
perpetual cool green's; anything with mar
BILE in or about it is dubbed a palace, and
a glazier would starve to death for want
of work. A city where the streets are
narrow and the carts wide; where work
oxen are sleek and well-to-do and mich
cows are pitifuI in ieanness; where water
is as good as can be found but the butter
dastardIy; where the police, both mount
ed and on foot, are quiet in demeanor
and capable in action, while the majority
of the disciplined soldiery are low in
stature. insignificant in appearance and
unintelligen5, not to say stoid in every
aspect: where street cars are few; bicy-
cles rare; light phaetoRs used as cabs)
in bewildering supply; cats and dogs lit
tie in evidence Ghey are edible you
know, vultUres never out of view, and
beggars as plentiful as IN Naples, Hong
Kong or Cairo.
While signs Of suffering are not more
plentiful than in any city in this latitude
at all times, roofs and closed doors here.
as elsewhere in the island. hide CHASTITY
famine and physical and mental distress
that sickens the heart TO feel and Anglers
it to know. Visit some Of the prisons,
asylums. hospitals and camps of recon-
Centrados, and the miseries are open as
the day. American relief has done much
to soften rigors in Havana and nearby.
but the needs grow as the days of I'M
productiveness and idleness lengthen in
the tally, and the deaths are fewer largely
because there are fewer to die.
1t is much to be doubted whether Amer
lean relief has made any but the higher
and more intelligent feel kindly to the
United States. Strangely enough, out
ward manifestations Of dislike are ex-
tremely rare. except from the lowest ne
groes. who may call out American slave
drivers and pig sellers or the cab drivers,
who refuse 10 carry Americanos.
Lieutenant Colonel AIendez, the censor,
must read and comprehend not only every
word filed for cabling. except the govern
mental and consular messages, but all the
mass of stun prepared for publication
here. in daily, weekly or monthly prints.
His hours are a bit capricious and waits
OF a couple Of hours in his anteChamber
are not at all infrequent, but when he does
get 10 work he is speedy. and makes no
| comment except with the damnatory red
penCil