Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1898-09-30
CONDITIONS IN CUBA
Things in a Desperate State and Daily
Growing Worse.
Plantations Lying Waste and Few
Planters Able and Willing to Re-
build Labor Lacking.
Of The Evening Star.


OFF KEY WEST, September "a 1893.
The Comal, costing Uncle Sam about $500
a day rent is still lying at Key West wait
ing for orders; her cargo is getting to be
about as valuable as one would expect a
perishable cargo to be after being shut up
in the hold of a vessel in southern waters
for a month; the Cubans are hungrier than
they were a month ago, and the commits
sioners at Havana are going peacefully on,
fixing UP their hotel so as to be comforta-
BILE for a long stay, and exchanging polite
notes with the Spaniards, who, l have no
doubt, want to go off somewhere to laugh
occasionally as they think of the easy time
they are having.
We are indignant over the treatment the
Comal has received at the hands of its
own government, but that Is as nothing
compared to the prospective delay in the
evacuation of Cuba, as stated by the pa
pers we have Just received.
Devastation.
A great mistake was made by our govern
ment In not providing in the protocol that
Spanish rule in Cuba should end at once,
and that it should come under United
States military rule, as at Santiago. This
rule does not seem to give wonderful salts
faction, but 1t is infinitely preferable to
that Of the Spanish. A much greater mis-
take will be made If the SDaniards are al
lowed to hang on there for sixty days or
more. Things are in a desperate state in
Cuba. and every day they are getting
worse. The Spaniards and Cubans are still
in arms over the island. and ready and
willing to clash on small provocation; the
Cubans still hungry and food is still
scarce: they are liable to make raids on
anything eatable they can find. and bring
on trouble. Plantations all over the island
are laid waste; the season for planting to-
bacco sugar cane and vegetables Is now
beginning, and few planters dare to rebuild
their houses and replant their lands while
the present uncertainty and danger exists.
When willing. as in a few cases. the nee
essary men and animals to work cannot be
found. The mules. horses and oxen have
mostly been devoured or seized by the
troops. and the men of Cuba are still afraid
to trust themselN es in the interior after the
terrors of guerrilla warfare they have seen
in the past. There are fortunes to be made
in Cuba in the next few months in tobacco
raising and truck gardening. but very few
will be made. Those who have enough
money left to make the venture are afraid
to make it.
Our interpreter owns large plantation
twenty miles from Havana. All the time
we were there he was trying to find some
one to take charge of it and rebuild and re.
plant. He finally found a friend willing to
take the job, but was totally unable to pro-
cure the ten necessary laborers.
Guaranteed.
We are having taste of Florida quaran-
tine law now. Being within almost calling
distance of United States land, we are not
allowed to set foot on 1t for fear we may
have yellow fever. We have lain here for
Etne days now, and nothing has developed,
hut the doctor says that If we lie here
eight months we can't come on shore with
out previously being fumigated at Tortu-
gas. That would ruin our cargo. Yet the
Mascotte runs to Havana twice a week,
takes on passengers and brings them here
freely.
The doctor explains that they only bring
certified immunes. One Key West citizen
came In from Havana with his eght-year-
old son on the last boat They had been
there week. The doctor failed to explain
why their clothes would not carry the fever
as we'll as ours, nor how that boy came to
be immune so young. There is one of our
copy book maxims that ought to be chang
ed to read: The pull is mighty and will
prevail"
But we have the satisfaction of knowing
that the Galveston people are just as afraid
OF Key West as Key West is of u.s. and
guarantees them and spoils their business
Just as much as they do ours.
A. c. TOWNSEND.