The Yale expositor., 1898-04-29
CUBA I!
That May be Of In
terest to Exposition Readers.


As the eyes of the whole world are
conferred on the island of Cuba, and |
the conflict anticipated in the waters |
surrounding it, it will no doubt be of
great interest to many of the readers |
of The Expostor to learn something |
of its history, its resources, and inhab- ,
tants. which are here given, gathered |
from various sources
Cuba, us is well known by every |
school boy, is one of Spain's colonial
possessions. and is one OF the largest of
the West India Islands. Christopher !
| Columbus discovered it in 1892, eighteen
| years after which his son, Diego, colon !
! lied il with SpaniardS. Cuba is 100
miles from east to west ana from so to
! 20 miles wide on an average. Its pres
ent population, composed OF Spanlards,
Creoies. mulatOes and negroes, numbers
about ,i23.0OU When the Spaniards
took possession OF the island. there were
on it some 100000 AbOrigines, which
took Just 40 years of SPANS cruelty to
wipe from Oft the face of the island.
] Havana. the capitol of the island,
from its favorable position grew very
RAPIDLY into Importance. but fell prey
i'm l53S to French priyateer, at which
time it was entirely destroyed, was re-
built, and again in 1904 it had another
set back from the same source, and in
! 1924 the butch scOOped il in. but soon
afterwards gave it back to Spain
Later in 1872, the British, under Lord
! Albemarle captured it. but, in 1863
under the treaty of Paris il was rest0r-
ed TO Spain. During the wars OF Ma
pOleOn who depOSed the then reignlng
family OF Spain, in 1903 Cuba declared
war on Napoleon, at which time spain
lost all her American possessions eX
cept Cuba As far back as 1910 the
discomfort which grew out OF the mis-
government by a foreign captain gen.
eral and by excessive taxation culml-
mated i'm 1896 into the most bitter
hatred and defiance when she was
denied q share i'm the benefits Of the
new constitution granted the mother
country. In 1868 MaXimO comes, a
native West Indian. organized force
and made brilliant fight for indepen-
dence and kept IL up for ten years,
and then made treaty with captain
General MarteneZ CampOs, securing for
the island some very important cOnceS-
sions In this 10 year war Spain lost
100000 men and treasure to the amount
Of S6O,OOO.UUO which was hoisted Oh to
the shoulders Of the CubauS. Taxation
without their knowledge or consent,
and the exclusion from every Office
which could give him any influence III
public affairs. and constant DEGREES
from the government at Madrid whose
effort was TO cheaper the two great
products of labOr-sugar and tobacco
and thus make the most OF this source
of revenue which went mainly into the
Golfers of the home government,
thus practically cOnliscated Cuban
labor without giving them in return
IetheT protection, prosperity or educa-
ton. The vast sums raised by taxes,
searching and grasping, were spent
not for roads, schools or public I'M
provements. but for the enrichment of
a swarm Of Overbearing proud foreign
ers BY this means spain has fastened
debt on Cuba of S2OO.uOOOOO, besides,
by system of oppressive taxation took
from them annually, S39.OOOO0O. These
are some OF the causes which led mp to
the present rebellion, which began on
Feb. -. 1898. and which has already
cost Spain much treasure and the spill
ling OF lots OF her best blood, and
which Marshal CamuOS in 1880, Butcher
Wcylcr ia 1896 and BJucu in 1891 with
2OaOtO men have utterly failed in
putting down. Havana the capitol of
the province of that name. h.ys an eSti-
mated population OF 100000, has
Sl3 public schools ana university.
Cuba is divided into six provinces,
each with a capitol Of the same name.
Havana. Matanzas. Piuar Del Rio,
Puerto PricipO. Santa Clara and Santi-
ago de Cuba. The Governor General
is assisted by council of Administra-
ton and the island is represented in
the Spanish COrtes at Madrid by l6
Senators and 30 deputies. The revenue
is about SD .G32. l43; expenditures.
S24OGl ,505 her total debt is about
S3il .737 .333: total exports SS2,0lS, Dps:
her imports So. 40l ,S62. Tobacco, sugar
and coffee are the principal products.
There are 1000 miles Of railway in OPP
! Grafton and 1890 miles of telegraph
lines. SPANS navy is quite formida-
ble-numbering / battleship, first-class.
; and one Of same class in process of
erection: | port defence ship. first
class cruisers, A: , lirst-class cruisers,
b; 6 second-class cruisers; % third
class cruisers. A: II third-class, Il: 80
first class torpedo boats, and 2 second
class torpedo boats, besides 10 of vari-
Gus classes in process of construction.
: All the iirSt-ClaSS cruisers A are new
vessels, not yet all completed but still
i'm the hands of the constructors. They
are well protected by II inch steel belts,
and the heavy gunemplacements have
S-inch steel armoring. These-the In
fanta. Maria Teresa, ViZcaya, Almi-
rant, Oquenda, Catalina. Cardinal,
Cisneros and Princessa de Asturins,
are of ZOO tons, 364 feet long. Go foot
) BEAM and can plow through the water
) at the rate of 20 knots an hour. The
navy of Spain has ,002 officers, 725
, mechanics and other employees, $4,000
sailors; the marines number about 900.
The navy like the army is recruited by
conscription
On the other hand the United States
: has naval force of 9S2 officers, 1900
seamen and a naval reserve OF $500;
and has 10 sea.going battleships, 2
, armored cruisers. | ram, q double tur-
l reted monitors, II single turreted mon
itors. is unarmored steel vessels, 10
4. gunboats, 4 special class, % torpedo
\ boats: and i'm addition to these we have