The daily morning journal and courier., 1898-12-26
THE HAVANA OF TO-DAY
THE INNOVATIONS ON EVERY
 SIDE.
A Queer MinglInS of Mcdiaeval Days and the End of the Nineteenth Gem tury-Return of the NanigOes, a Secret Organization of Criminals.

tury-Return of the NanigOes, q Secret
 Organization of Criminals.
 (Special Correspondence ot the Jourhal
 and Courier.)
 Havana, Cuba, Nov. 17.-It is impos- sible to set forth in words ones first impressions of this old, old town-the sSan Cristoval' whose foundations were laid two hundred years before our great republic was born. They are a bewildering medlay of glowing sun shine, brilliant coloring and massive buildings tottering with the weight or years-of wealth and poverty, beggars and proud grandees, gaunt starvation and gaiety that seems never to nave known a care. Memories of Dons and Hidalgoes, mail-clad crusaders and 1nurderous buccaneers, caraVals and gold laden galleons; expeditions of dis coverers, freebooters and filibusters, come thronging to the mind, together with thoughts of later tragedies-of pa triots ragged and hungry in sWamps and mountain fastnesseS, fighting for wears against overwhelming odds in sublime devotion to the cause of Cuba fibre, and of those most pitiable objects under the sun--the thirty thousand pa- cificoes who have been crushed to death between the neither milestone of tyr amy and rebellion. Especially at this time of year travellers fresh from the frozen north find Cuba a veritable land of entertainment, with bluer skies and greener fields and brighter verdure than can be seen anywhere else on earth It is Mexico double-dstilled; it is the Italy of the western hemisphere a mingling of southern Europe with the far east, and a wonderful blending of mediaeval times with the end of the nineteenth century.
 In any other light than this the an- rient capital would look dingy and shabby beyond compare; it is the mar velously clear atmosphere which gives the fading paint, weather-worn stones and crumbling plaster of these dilapi- dated structures the mellow tints and softly brilliant color effects that ar- lists admire.
 The first innovation one observes in the E1dVdud OI lO-udy y-DSSluco LliC Fl So- ence of American soldiers and the stars and stripes fluttering above house-tops in lieu of Spain's red and yellow banner lis the extraordinary activity every- where apparent. Men no longer lounge in their door-ways or loiter along the shady side of the streets, as if the hard est work the world held for them was that of killing time,' but everybody is p~and stirring. How it must astonish the natives, who have inherited the idea from generations of lazy ancestors that 1t is well to put off until an indefinite manana the things which should be done to-day! Nowadays American enterprise stares you in the face the in- stant you set foot on shore. First there is our new government pier, now almost completed at Marianoa, near suburb of Havana. For many years it has been badly needed, but the Cubans were too poor and their Spanish mas ters too indifferent to build it. Havana has never had but the one line of wlarves, those near the custom house, and with the landing of our troops and supplies another was indispensable. The Marianoa pier has ten feet of wa ter at low tide, said to be sufficient for all lighterage. Just beyond 1t an unu- sual stir is visible--one hundred men, with mules and carts and barrows, busy at railroad building. This new govern ment line is to be only seven miles long, to connect Marianoa, Regla, Iris coria and Guanabacoa 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 four hundred feet long, with thirty feet of water along side; and of course warehouses and full fa- cilities for commerce and shipping will quickly follow. Work on this wharf has not yet been begun, as the lumber and other materials must be brought from the United States. Uncle Samuel will be responsible for it's cost; as well as for that of the Marianoa pier and the short railway above mentioned.
 They tell us that longer road is about to be built, under the auspices of the American-Inde company, of Tren- ton, N J. IL is said that the company has eighteen million dollars in hand, all of which it proposes to invest in Cuba and Porto Rico; and promises to raise as many more millions as may be re- uuired. The line, as projected will be- gin at the Casa Blanca wharves, keep ing close to shore for some distance and then striking eastward, via Triscoria, to MatanZas where it will connect with the present railway system of Cuba. It will be constructed on the general plan of our Pennsylvania road double tracked most of the way, and it is safe to say that all it's equipments will be made or purchased in the United States. Hitherto the island railways have been built and controlled by Englishmen, furnished with rolling-stock from Eng land and run by English engineers. The Indies company have already made primary survey. Considerable blasting, grading and filling will be ne- cessary. as the route traverses a rather difficult section of rocky hills, alterna- ted with swamps.
 The next hint of changed conditions which greets ones return to Cuba is the increased cab fare. Formerly, as regu- lated by local ordinance, it was twenty cents for each person, one way from point to point within city limits. Now if is fifty cents-a dollar-whatever the hackmen can impose upon the unso- phisticated. The former tariff was suf- ficient. considering the character of the service, and no doubt more profitable