The times., 1898-12-17
URGENT NEEDS OF CUBA.
special Commissioned Porter Sub
mIts His Report.

Robert P. Porter, the special commits
sloner to Cuba and Porto Rico, has sub
mitted his report to Secretary Gage. 1t
conditions of the island of Cuba His re-
port reads In part:
''It Is apparent that the most urgent
need of the island is tariff that will
bear lightest In directions where the peo-
pie can least afford the burden of t7xa-
tion and heaviest on commodities required
by the well-to-do and those engaged in
large enterprises.
''It has not been thought advisable to
make radical changes in the administra
tive branches. nor to change weight and
measures into United States equ.va ents,
because the people of Cuba are accus-
toned to the metric system. Unit-d
States currency. however. has been sub
stituted for the Spanish pesos. The tariff
proposed reduces all duties about go per
cent on the old Spanish rate and will av-
erage fully two-thirds less than the rates
now exacted by the authorities In Cuban
ports in possession of Spain.
"A suggestion has been made in rela-
tion to the administration OF the currency
regulations OF the island to the eject
that United States paper currency of any
kind circulating in Cuba should not be re
turned by banks for circulation in the
United States. but disinfected and sent TO
Washington for destruction and reiss ue.
Cuba has no banks In the national
SenSe-althnuph there ON
private ones.
There are many forms of obnoxious
taxes in Cuba. Foremost among them Is
the consumption tax on the killing Of
cattle. Another tax is the 'cedu,a, or
head tax, which varies IN amount from
a few cents to 800. according to the rank
and Importance OF the individual.
'rhe consumption tax, the 'cedula..
and the revenue from lotteries must nee
essarily disappear with the advant of
United States administration OF affairs.
There are free public 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. In the cit
les 1t was found that only small portion
of the school population attend school.
~ itt ptbbC sNi1opl SN Stem must bt
Immediately established, for much of the
misfortune and suffering which Cuba has
undergone may be traceable 10 the neglect
of education. Some statistics show only
one in forty of the laboring classes able
to read and write
Manufacturing in Cuba is limited to a
few industries in Havana, to the manu-
facture of sugar and tobacco, and to ma
chine shops and small foundries scattered
over the island for the convenience OF the
railway companies, sugar centrals. and
harbors. There is little hope for indus
trial enterprise in the broader sense until
the sanitary conditions have been i'm
proved in all industrial centers of the
island. The initiatory success of man
ufacturing in Cuba must depend upon the
importation of skilled labor from the
United States or Europe.
The railway system of Cuba. consisting
of seven companies. the aggregate length
Of which is only 917 miles, is entirely in
adequate in bringing the extreme ends of
the island together, Santiago and Havana
in point of time being as far apart as San
Francisco and New York
That the wounds OF Cuba will soon heal
with the rapid promotion OF work is un-
doubiedly true. 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 1,5o0 laborers for the mines,
while three large planters stood ready be-
tween them to employ 100 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 or died of dis
ease or starvation
ut should be borne in mind that the
Cuban harvest is in the Winter months.
and that some plan must be at once in
augurated by which those who want work
can be Immediately brought to those anx-
ious to give them employment
The need of homes in Cuba is one OF
the most pressing. The condition of those
who labor on the plantations is truly de-
plorable. A complete state OF savagery
would be preferable to the condition OF
some Of those employed on the sugar es-
tates, who toll from early sunrise to sun
set on rations of the plainest sort and live
in huts built of the bark of palm trees
matched with the palm leaf
I'm recommending changes of rates In
the several schedules of the Cuban tariff
now in force in Cuban ports in possession
Of the United States. your commissioner
has been guided by the following consid-
.rations: The necessities of obtaining suf-
fcient revenue to administer the affairs
Of the island; a reduction of duties in
those cases where Spain retained in the
minimum rate column exorbitant rates;
an increase of duty in the schedule re-
atinS to spirits wine and malt liquors in
which the reduction by the adoption of
he minimum rate column is altogether
100 great; change of rates that have been
for the purpose of encoura ging
ocal industry in Cuba; changes from spe-
,ific duties to ad valorem in cases where
he former method of levying duties re-
suited in Inequalities and, in some cases.
injustice, alike to importer and consignee-
The aim has been to make the specific
-ate of duty average not over Is per cent
If the present market value of the i'm
ported commodity.
The average per cent. of reduction be
tween the Spanish rates and those adopt
ed by the United Sta ties for all imports is
s. per cent Brick and other articles for
building purposes have been reduced %
per cent, making the duty less than %
per cent. The duty on crude oil going
into Cuba Is five cents per gallon.
"As It did not seem advisable to in
crease the duty on rope and cordage
your commissioner has decided that II
would be wiser to make the articles free.
This will in no way interfere, so far as
your commissioner has been able to as
certain. with any native industry. If a
duty of 50 per 100 kilos should be placed
upon these commodities the flourishing
rope factory In Havana would undoubt-
edly be wiped out of existence and one of
the few opportunities of Cuban labor and
for the diversification of employment in
that island lost. Spun jute for the manu-
facture of sugar bags only has also been
made free of duty.
animals and animal wastes employed
in industry. is an important schedule in |