The evening herald. [volume] (Shenandoah, Pa.) 1891-1966, 1898-11-16

the established basis is strictly gold.
Indeed, there is something almost
pathetic in the manner in which Cuba,
though plundered and depleted of her
resources of wealth, has never wavered
from a gold basis. The testimony taken
and statements made on this subject
have been unanimously in favor of
continuous gold basis for the Cubans
have suffered so much from Spain's vari-
Gus attempts to force deprecated cur
rency upon the people, both in the form
of silver and bank bills, that they want
no further experiment with the cur
rency. The Spanish silver money cur
rent in the island is only taken at the
daily value, which is fixed partly by
the larger or smaller demand for
wages and necessities of the govern
ment to pay troops, but principally by
the continually fluctuating value of the
Spanish money in the European mar
ket"
Mr.. Porter then takes up the Ques-
tiOn Of taxation, and suggests the abo-
lition of certain taxes, especially that
known as the Consumption tax" on
the killing of cattle, which Is an ex-
action that greatly increases the price
of food to the people. This tax" says
Mr. Porter, like many others, is
simply farmed out to private firms or
corporations, whose emissaries in it's
| collection become a constant menace
to thrift and industry in their respec-
tive districts. Another tax which will
fall down of it's own weight is the
"cedula," or head tax, which varies in
amount from few cents to $100 ac-
cordng to the rank and Importance of
the individual Curiously enough, this
tax when not collected becomes a
greater source of injustice and annoy
ance than when collected 1t is gem
orally allowed to run until some occa-
sion comes for the unhappy victim Of
Spanish rapacity to require a public
| document or permit to bury a child OF
| relative, a license to marry, a trans
| fer of real estate or a notarial ac-
| acknowledgement. Then 1t is that the
petty rascals In charge of public bust
ness bear down heavily, and unless the
fines and back "cedula" and a hand
some qualification" to the official Is
forthcoming, the body must await in
terment. the marriage must be post
poned or transaction delayed.
Mr. Porter then takes up the Ques-
ton of education. There are free pub
lie schools in Cuba, but the teachers
have the right to take pay scholars,
and naturally those who do not pay
| get little or no attention. The pro-
| portion Of people who are illiterate is
very great. Some statistics show only
| one in forty of the laboring classes
| able to read and write. There can be
70 stable government in Cuba, Mr.
Porter says, until this has been reme-
died.
In regard to industrial enterprises
| Mr.. Porter concludes that little can be
| done until the sanitary conditions have
been improved in all the Industrial
| centers Not only the commercial
prosperity Of Cuba, but to a consider
able extent that of the southern por-
tion of the United States, depends upon
| destroying the germs of yellow fever
which exist in the larger towns.
Commissioner Porter points to the
advisability of Immediately construct
ing trunk railway from end to end
OF the island, with branches extending
north and south to the important cit
les and ports.
Mr.. Porter closes his recommended
| tions by giving an account of the con-
dition of labor in the island, in which
| he says:
There is at this moment steady
increase in the demand for labor on
plantations, and in Santiago province
labor for the mines While in Cuba
your commissioner received one cable
dispatch calling for 1900 laborers for
the mines, while three large planters
stood ready between them to employ a
thousand men to work in the sugar
fields. In the neighborhood Of the
sugar plantations all the able bodied
men had either been killed in battle,
died OF disease or starvation, or were
still in state of practical destitution,
hidden away in the insurgent camps.
Those who offered themselves for EN-
ployment were, as a rule, too weak to
withstand the hard labor"