The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1898-12-30
HAVANA N THIS DAY
No Longer a City of Shade
Seeking Loungers.
FILLED WITH STRANGERS
Anxious to Grow Up With
the Country.
filled WITH STRANGERS

Philadelphia, Dec 29-Fannie B. Ward
writes of Havana, for the Record: 1t is
impossible 20 ste forth in words ones
first impression Of this old, old town-the
"San Crstoval" whose foundations were
laid two hundred years before our great
Republic was born. They are a bewilder-
ing medley of glowing sunshine. brilliant
coloring and massive buildings, tottering
/ with weight of years, Of wealth and pow
erty, beggars and proud grandees, gaunt
starvation, and gayety, that seems never
/ TO have known care. Memories of Dons
/ and Hidalgoes, nlail-clad crusaders and
mDrderous buccaneers. caravals and gold
ladden galleons; expeditions of discoveries,
| freebooters and 1ilibIIsterers, come throng-
| ing to the mind: toee her with thoughts of
the later tragedies-of patriots, ragged and
hungry, in swamps and mountain fastness-
es, fighting for years against overwhelm-
ing odds in sublime devotion to the cause
of Cuba Libre, and of the most pitiabe
objects under the sun, the thirty thousand
pacifcoes who have been crushed to death
between the neither milestone of tyranny
the year, travellers fresh from the frozen
North, find Cuba a veritable land Of en-
chantment, with bluer skies and greener
fields and brighter vrdure than car be
seen anywhere else on earth. 1t is Next
co double-distilled; it IS the Italy Of the
Western hemisphere; a Gningring Of south
ern Europe with the far East, and a won
derful blending Of medieval times with the
end Of the nineteenth century. In any
other light than this the ancient capital
would look dingy and shabby beyond COM
pare; it is the marvelously clear atmo-
sphere which gives the fading paint.
weather-worn stones and crumbiing plast-
er Of these dilapidated structures the mel
low tints and softly brilliant color effects
that artists admire.
The first innovation one observes in the
Havana Of today. besides the presence of
American soldiers and the Stars and
Stripes futtering above f1ouse-tops in lieu
Of Spains red and yellow banner, is the
extraordinary activity everywhere appar-
emit Men no longer lounge in their door
ways or loiter along the shady side of the
street, as if the hardest work the world
held for them was that of killing time;'
but everybody is up and stirring, How ii
must astonish the natives, who have in
herited the idea from generations of lazy
ancestors that it is well to put off until
an indefinite manana the things which
should be done today. Nowadays Ameri-
can enterprises stare:s you in the face the
instant you set foot on shore. First there
is our new Government pier, now almost
completed at MarSanoa, near suberb of
Habana. For many years il has been
badly needed, but the Cubans were too
poor and their Spanish masters too in |
different to build it. Havana has never
had but one line og warves-those near the |
Custom House; and with the landing of !
our troops and supplies another was in |
dispensabe. The Marianoa pier has ten |
feet Of water at low tide, said to be sufff- |
cient for all lighterage. Just beyond it an |
unusual stir is visible, 100 men, with mules |
and carts and barrows, busy at railroad |
building. This new government line is |
only TO be seven miles long, to connect |
bacoa with the capital. Another scheme
TO be carried out in the near future is the
building of a second, more extensive pier.
near Casa Blanca, on the other side of the
harbor. It's wharf will be 400 feet long.
with 90 feet of water alongside, and OF
course warehouses and full facilities for
commerce and shipping will quickly fol-
low. Work on this warf has not yet been
begun. as the lumber and other materials
must be brought from the United States
Uncle Samuel will be responsible for its
cost. as well as for that Of the Marianoa
pier ard the short railway above men
toned.
They tell us that a longer road is to
be built under the auspices Of the Ameri-
can-Indes Company, of Trenton, n. J.
1t is Said that the company has SIS. OO0. 900
in hand all of which it proposes TO invest
in Cuba and Puerto Rico. and promises TO
raise as many more millions as may be
required. The line as projected will begin
at the Casa Blanca wharves. keeping close
10 shore for some distance and then strik-
ing eastward, via Triscoria, to Matarzas,
where it viii connect with the present rail-
way system Of Cuba. Il Will be construct
ed on the general plan of our Pennsyl-
vauia Road. doubIe-tracked most of the
way. and It is safe to say that all it's
win be made or purchased in
the United States. Hitherto the island
have been built and controlled
by Englishmen. furnished with rolling stock
from England and run by English engin-
GERS. The Indies Company have already
made a primary survey. Considerable
blasting, grading and filing will he ne
cessary, as the route traverses a rather
difficult section of rocky hills alternatew
win swamps.
The next hint of changed conditions
which greets ones return to Cuba is the
cab fare Formerly. as regulat-
al by local ordinance it was ~ cents for
each person one way from point 20 point
within city limits Now It's 30 cents. a
dollar, whatever the hackman can impose
upon the unsophisticattd The former
tariff was sufficient considering the char
acter Of the service, and no doubt more
profitable TO the owners Of the ramshacile
vehicles FOR in the old days everybody
rode whether going two or three blocks
or as many miles. whereas. at double and
duadruple the price. many viii count the
cost and treat themselves 70 healthfuI ex-
arc.se.
The securing OF proper Accommodations
In Havana has already become serious
ques don 10 newcomers. Crowds Of Ameri-
cans and Europeans arriving by every
steamer ind the hotels filed 70 over
flowing. Boarding houses, Is we know
them in the United States. do not exist
in Cuba There are a few apartment
houses. wherein scantily furnished rooms
may be Rented at the rate from ten 20 fifIy
dollars per mountaineering coffee and
limited attendance included. Shelter and
lodging thus secured. one may 20 70 some
hotel or restaurant for meals; or depend,
H. 49, ..rTr- j