Evening star., 1898-11-09

THE AMERICAN ERA
That is What the Uubans Are Wait
ing For.
A TRIP TO kAFANzAs CITY
Country Desolate, but Capable of
Quick Recuperation.
G III A NCES FIJI ~ D n r
CHANCES FOR CAPITAL
Copyright, 1898, by Charles NJ Peppc-

Copyright, 1898, by Charles NJ. Peppcr
From STAFF Correspondent.
MATANZAS, November 5, ts0s
Matanzas is awaiting its chance to greet
the new American era. There will be roth
ing boisterous in its greeting. The town is
yet under the spell of the last three years
depression. 1t is too subdued to be vucif-
erous, but its welcome will be the one }hat
comes from the depths of sorrow tC me
harbinger of better times
Don't go out to Matanzas now" said one
of it's leading sugar planters. Everything
is so dead. Wait till we have time to re-
cover"
But these dead Cuban towns have this
advantage over their dead inhabitants. The
towns may be quickened into fresher and
stronger life. While their sleep seemed the
sleep Of death, it was not so. And If one
waited till all these places fully recovered
the affairs in which the American people
are most intensely interested would cease
to be of moment to them. They want to
hno" now the process OF industrial recu-
peratlon Is getting on, what opportunities
IL oHers for business, and how political re-
construction is going forward. These mat
ters nave to be learned by going out into
the country, though 1t may be like going
th1o 1ough an abandoned graveyard.
A DesOlated Country.
1 have had many occasions to visit Ma
tanzas, and always in the shadow of wars
ravages and starvation. Some day it will
prove pleasing experience to take the
early morning train out of Havana and
enjoy the sunrise flooding cultivated fields
and green hillsides. That experience is
distant one or two years. For the pres
ent the journey is good for meditation and
Is oppressive in it's solitude. The land is
yet bare Of fresh vegetation and of peo-
pie. The vines are beginning to creep over
some of the fortinas forts from which
the Spanish soldiers have withdrawn, and
to hide them in interlacing ivies bohas s
or dwelling huts of the pacificoes and ruins
OF sugar mills and other buildings are HID
den. The little church at Bainoa, with its
rampant of stones rising like mask ID
conceal its front has perhaps ears deaf
as the bricks in its walls. Otherwise It
would surely have heard of peace, and the
fortitication would have crumbed away
with little help from human hands For
the first time in many journeys l saw no
reconcentradoes drawn up in line at the
we'll at Mocha, waiting their turn to dip
a gourd full of water. But some poor
CT eature was being lowered to earth in the
cemetery. That, t5S Was one of the in
cidents which were never wanting at this
village.
Yet if the signs of immediate renewa! OF
there was at least no progress backward.
Aguacate, the green oasis, is still an oasis.
Its borders seem a little wider and mor9
people and oxen are visible in the fields.
The cane is not withered or choked with
weeds and the fields. green with boriatos.
are broad ones. | noticed that several Gu
ban families returned refugees, let the
train here. All, see the family carriage,
cried Spanish lieutenant who had proved
lively travelling companion. He wos
pointing to a voiante in which half dozen
persons We're crowded The volante is the
low, two-wheeled vehicle in which ire Ariv-
er's seat is on the back of the Lead horse.
1t was formerly in common use in the cit-
les, and is still necessary in tie country
because it Is the only kind of a oarriaga
that can travel the broad roads in the wet
season. / had never before seen one in
Use. A Cuban. following the Spanish efi-
GERS remark. told me that the coming into
use again of the volante or family car
riage was good sign 1t meant that nany
families were returning to their estates.
Want Americans to Come.
After Aguacate is left some distance be-
hind the rich, red loan of soil disappears,
the groves and clumps of palm stretch %
the sheer edges of the hills, which are COW
cred with nianigua, and the land is poorer.
So the absence of cultivated fields In this
region is not to be taken as lack of recu-
peration. / have been frequently warned
by experts to remember that the country
between Havana and Matanzas is poor
land" This may be true but there are
American capitalists who think enough of
1t to invest their capital The understand
ing is that some of them are air eady max
irg purchases. Whether they are or not,
Matanzas will open its gates wide to them.
I'VE want Americans to come here and in
vest in business and in sugar lands,'' said
the young man who was looking up some
matters for me. And he added frankly,
I'VE want them to come and spend money
without waiting. We are all so poor since
the insurrection and the blockade we have
had no money to spend" That is the COM
mon and the truthful complaint everywhere
in Cuba. The people have no money to
spend, and the amounts which individual
Americans leave are eagerly snatched up.
One of the indirect benefits from the pres
ence of the American troops will be the
money spent by them and in maintaining
them. Matanzas Will share this benefit be-
cause garrison will be stationed here.
AS to the general proposition of Ameri-
cans investing money in Matan2as l have
no doubt that they will do 1t in time and
is, life will come again to it's moribund
commerce. The advantages which made 1t
the second port after Havana and to my
mind, the finest little city on the island have
not been lost. The sugar lands which sur
round it have not lost their productiveness.
They will have some cane to grind in jan
uary and February. probably much as
they had last year. Next season they will
soon reach the normal production. Vessels
are coming to Matanzas to carry this prod
uct away as they did in former years. The
rotten piers and wharves are going to be
rebuilt and improved, and 1t is already set
tied that this will be done by American cap
ital In a general way 1 had knowledge
that European houses looked on the trade
they once had with Matanzas as certain to
pass into American hands. This Will come
either through annexation or through reci-
procity. The young man who had informed
me on other points; when 1 questioned him
on this, said: Some of the Spanish mer-
chants will try to staytbecause they have
so much money invested, but we ali know
that the United Statesai ais going to have the
trade And there are so many chances here.
if your business men would only see them
Such few commercial houses do all the
trading. Many more oould come and they
would find room. TheytcouId do much bet
ter here than in HakanaIbecause they would
not have the competition"
Opportunities for American CAPITAL,
These are matters which will bear further
inquiry. The numbeE of vacant shops.
stores and warehouses in Matanzas tndi-
Gates that in working back to its former
prosperity room exists, for a eonstdera BILE
number of firms. II oJ