The Newberry herald and news. (Newberry, S.C.) 1884-1903, 1898-04-05
PEARL OF THE ANTILLES,
THE STORY OF CUBA, HER PEOPL-
! AND HER RESOURCES.

Of the sons Of these patriots, and they,
IN turn, have made the same struggle.
But the results Of these heroic efforts
beoame in timo Of more and more i'm
portance to tho pooplo Of Cuba and loss
and less satisfactory to the administra-
tion at Madrid, and thus. from years OF
weakness, strength grow, SO that inaur
| rection came to mean revolution, aud
there dawned upon tho sight of tho
striving patriot tho splendid vision of
blood bought but free republic.
But people know moro Of tho strug-
giles Of Cuba than they do Of Cuba itself
Every civilized inhabitant Of tho globe
has followed with feelings Of indigna-
tlon and pity the story Of Cuba's suffer
ing All tho instructions, tho "Sep.
aratist wars'' and tho other vain but
valiant efforts Of the Cubans to throw
Off the Spanish yoke have appealed to
his chivalry and wrung his heart with
grief and rage; but, as n rule, he is as
ignorant Of the sceno of these struggles
as If they had occurred in the viewless
air. And yet, in the comparatively
small compass Of it's watery bounda-
ries, there is concentrated greater va
riety of natural resources than are to be
found in any othor island, state, PROV
inco or country beneath the sun.
This may sound extravagant, but tho
statement Is verified by all reliable sta
tistics and unprejudiced witnesses. And
when those who cavil come to reckon
up its advantages-its millions of acres
| Of soil, richer than any in tho United
States. that will grow any thing from a
potato to pineapple; its abundant
yields Of sugar and tobacco; its tro-
mendous forests of mahogany and other
precious woods; it's uplanCs, upon which
is grown every product of tho temper
ate zone. and its fertile valleys, from
which luxuriantly spring tho most lus-
cious fruits Of the tropics; it's minos Of
iron and copper and manganese; it's
hundreds of beautiful and excellent
harbors, and tho soft, healthful atmos-
phere Of perpetual summer that forms
the setting for this peerless "Pearl"-
thoir doubts will be swallowed up in
conviction.
A Complex Study.
A study of this wonderful island is
complex from any standpoint. Tho geog-
rapher, with the best map in his pos
session, will find now inlets, tho natu.
ralist will add to his collection and tho
mineralogist will revel in novelties, and
even the blase cosmopolitan will recover
in Cuba tho zest which had gono ont of
his life. And all this is merely to say
that great deal OF the accepted data
with reference to Cuba is either inexact
or wholly faulty This, Of course, like
everything else that works injury to the
island as to its relation to the rest Of
tho world, is due to tho autocratic and
ignorant methods Of tho Spanish author
ities, the tendency of whose "disci-
plino" is toward handicapping every
public spirited enterprise aud retarding
everything that is not done directly in
the interest Of the honor and glory and
revenue Of the power across tho sea, for
whom this poor. downcast people have
been working out what has heretofore
appeared to he p life subsidy.
Notwithstanding all these difficulties,
the enterprise Of Americans and others
!! foreign to tho soil has lod native indus
try in tho right direction, and its COM
merce has grown in tho teeth of riot and
insurreoton. Tho normal population,
!, ZOO, 600, composed Of something near
1000, 600 persons Of Spanish descent,
10000 foreign whites, 43, 600 Chinese
and 500, 900 negroes and colored people,
is not q busy throng. The lettering Gu
ban Of today can hardly be recognized as
tho descendant of those sturdy pioneers
of tho sixteenth century who fashioned
the gigantic bastions of El Castillo do
Ia FuerZa-the Castle Of Strength-but
still ho can bo brought to bestir himself
! If a sufficient financial inducement Is
offered. TO be entirely just, it should ho
said that enterprise is not wholly want
ing. even among tho laboring classes
And so capital, which was at first large
ly American, was put to work, and as
Il result cities have sprung up, largo
plantations have been put under cultiva-