Evening star., 1898-11-01
They Are Needed in Cuba More
Than Politics.
PEOPLE ARE STILL DISCOURAGED
Will Recuperate After the Spanish
Troops Depart.
q R1C ULTU RAJ Ne z d S
Copyright, 1895, by Charles NJ. Pepper

Copyright, 1895 by Charles NJ. Pepper1
| Special From staff Correspondent.
ARTEMISA. Pinar del Rio, October -, 1898.
| Pigs and poultry and popu alton are of
more account to this province than politics.
| They have their politicians, radical Cuban
advocates of Cuba libre." intriguing
! Spanish anneXationists, and conservatives,
who sensibly counsel trusting the United
| States But even these could be spared
| if the pigs and poultry could be had for the
| inha btants who have survived the distress
of the last three years. When the present
population is sure of something to eat it
will be time to take up the question of the
new population which will be needed to
| develop the agricultural resources.
| l have seen no signs of rations from the
| United States being distributed out this
| way. Jerked beef, bacon, beans and flour
would be good, but in their absence the in
| habitants are getting along. They are
raising in small way bonatos, sweet
| potatoes, rice, yucca and malaGua. The
| roots of the yucca and malagua said to
| be quite nutritious. The malagua looks
! like coarse tobacco. From the size and
| shape Of the leaves it is called elephants
| table diet is that, while it may sustain life,
| there IS nothing in 1t to rebuild and
| strengthen weakened systems and fit them
| for work in the fields. Bread and meat are
| needed
! Dwellings of the Peasant Classes.
| In the times of peace the Cuban country
people had their "bohio,' or hut for a
| dwelling, and sometimes they lived in a
| larger house known as a .rarcho.'' They
cultivated the soil. and pigs and poultry
We're part of their belongings. Frequent
| ly they had COW. The government under
| which they lived left them in dirt and ig-
| norance, making no effort to better their
condition. 1t was not IDEAL existence,
| but it afforded the means of living in phys
| ical comfort. To get the country popuia-
| ton back into that state where they can
provide for themselves is the first step to-
ward the welfare of themselves and the
future commonwealth of Cuba. Pigs and
poultry will help to do 1t. l have seen a
few hogs of the Georgia raZor-back var-
ETY., with snouts SO sharp that they could
drink out of jug. They better than
none at all
From the town of Pin2r del Rio east to
Artemisa, EXCEPT fer few miles within
the Pinar zone, is a lonely. desolate coun-
try. The Vuelta Abajo hills along to the
north are almost hidden in a purple haze.
Ihey give no sign of the qualities of soil
which have made this the richest tobacco
region in the world. Some of the land from
the foothills toward the marshes on the
south coast is ciaSs"d as poor suitable for
neither sugar nor tobacco, though it would
| be called rich in any other country. 1t is
| well Watered by small creeks Formerly it
was used for grazing. and some fine herds
We're formerly pastured there. The cattle
nave been gone for a year more. For
miles there is nutritious grass. on which |
did net see an animal grazing. This viii
hardly last after the ports are taken out
| or the hands of the Spanish authorities
ana the import&t ton Of cattle becomes pos
J left untouched.
| At one time there were saw mills in the
western part of the provinc. They cleared
| the pines so rapidly that the palms and
| the gudVa bushes, with some nargo and
| laurel trees, were all that remained tc
cover the landscape. A new growth of
| pine has sprung up, and though if ma
| lures rapidly, some years must elapse be-
| fore there is further work for the saw mill
| The plow is the tool which should be put
| to immediate use. Probably, too it will
| be the Dlow from the United States In
! the fields where the land is being turned
! over l have seen only the prmite tongue
of wood with piece of iron fastened to it.
| Inc cuban peasant clingS to this and he
| will net of his own accord change for an
| improved American plow, but in time he
| VIII yield. American plows will be part of
| the Antricanization of Cuba. Rural life
| Will also be improved. The bohios and
| ranches in which the peasant classes live
| are as comfortable the sod huts and
| shackS of Kansas. for instance. With
their Notwithstanding of palm bark and
| their thatching of palm leaves they look
| like haystacks. The difference is in the
| dwellers. The man in Kansas who lives
! In a sod hut after awhile is going to
/ nave d cOllll OFlaDle dwelling mouse, with
| barns and granaries. The Cuban who lives
in bohio has never thought that there
was anything more in life for him.
| Under the Spell of Discourngement.
| Around Artemisa are two or three cane
| fields which are fresh and green. They
| may have cane for the mills to grind by
| February. Other fields sCant and
stunted or choked with weeds yet they are
worth clearing with a view to a crop a
year from now. The people are still un-
| der the spell of encouragement. so many
| have died. said the conductor who has
| brought his train out of Havana every day
for fourteen years. During the inSurrec-
| ton he did not always get it to the end
| OF the route, but he does not appear to har-
| Dor ill-fecling against the insurgents. He
| told me that every day now he carried out
| one or more Cuban families, refugees who
| We're returning to their homes in the coun-
| try. One two three families a day
| does not rapidly build up half-ruined
province, but ii is an encouragement After
| Weyler had thrown 10000 troops into Pinar
| del Rio it became known as the province
J of cadavers. The cadavers We're Cuban
| pacticces and Spanish soldiers in equal
| ratio. | was told today the story of the
stockade cemeteries and the parish record
| which showed in a single year mortality
| greater than for the hundred years pre-
| vious 1t was an old story, and its only
| present value is to aid to an understanding
| of the labor vacuum that exists in rural
| Cuba.
| In spite of the drawbacks, some people
| are going to work, many probably as
are needed. The need of oxen has been
| greater than that of men, This void
| tinues. Another trouble is that the planta-
| tions in the neighborhood are owned by
| a few persons. who must have 4 consider
able amount of money with which to work
| their estates Some of these owners have
| not yet returned. None of them apparent
| ly secured capital fer this seasons plant
j ing. A fine road leads from Artemisa to
| Guanajay. For a mile out of the village
| the road is bordered by royal palms of a
height that l have sean nowhere else in
| the island. There also solitary ceibaS,
grander than the magnificent oaks elms
| Of the states. Many avenues lined with
palms laurcls lead back from the main
| road to the estates. Some of these fine
! country houses were destroyed, but in the
| immediate neghborhood of Artemisa most
! of them escaped destruction. The sight of
| these fine places in the midst of jungle
| as wild as tropical nature itself is oppres-
| Sive. But it is also a sign of hope. The
| estates themselves too valuable and too
productive to continue jungle. Whatever
| the embarrassments of their owners, the
I