New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1899-04-22
THE COLOR LINE IN CUBA.
WHERE SPANISH CIVILIZATION PUT
NEGROES ON AN EQUALITY
WITH WHITES

INDUSTRIAL AND SOCIAL FREEDOM MAINTAINED
CAUSES THAT HAVE LED TO
THIS RESULT
Havana, April II.
It is perhaps one Of the graces Of the Spanish
civilization in America that 1t has drawn with
so lenent and wavering finger the line which,
according to our severer Anglo-Saxon standards
separates the Caucasian from his fellows OF
darker skin and race. Tropical suns and trop-
zeal passions are of course. great Jewellers. and
an immemorial mixture Of bloods has doubtless
smoothed the way to that partial obliteration OF
race prejudice which to the American MIND is
one Of the obscurest and least ineligible traits
of the Spanish American character. Spanish
rule in the Western Hemisphere has much to
answer for. Its crimes and blunders are spread
every page Of history. 1t was corrupt, rapa-
cious cruel and selfshy oppressive But In It's
social tolerance of the darker races Spanish pol
icy seems to have breathed a milder and
humaner spirit than Anglo Saxon civilization
has so far been capable of; and the fruits Of this
spirit are to be seen to-day in the comparatively
unhampered role which the black man plays In
Cuba in war. politics. industry, the liberal arts
and social life
In opportunity-which Is the real test Of free
dom-the negro's lot in Spanish America Is far
less restricted than 1t is in the United States.
Here in Cuba practically all empoyments are
open to him, and he enjoys without question
those civil privileges which many States In
the Union have already wrested from him. and
which in many others he'retans only as fic-
ton of law. No contrast in Cuban life is, there
fore. brought home more sharply to the Ameri-
observer than the sudden fading out Of that
barrier Of race intolerance toward whose extern
sion and solidifcaton popular opinion seems
now to be tending more and more in the United
States.
DISTRUST IN THE EASTERN PROVINCES.
Not that Cuba has escaped entirely the racial
frictions and jealousieS which crop out on any
soil where differing bloods and compilations
meet. In Santiago and In the Eastern provinces
generally, where the black population outnum-
bers the white and where the African-Indian
strain is purer and stronger. the white minority
shows an unmstakable distrust OF the darker
race. and deprecates it's possible domination
under any scheme of popular sovereignty. Hayt
and San Domingo, the two so-caled republics
across the Windward Passage. are a constant
menace dangled before Oriental eyes. In po-
lltical sense the two races live therefore, in the
east in a state of half acknowledged truce.
But in the western half of the island, where
the whites are largely in the majority, ana
where the negro blood has been literally dliuted'
apprehensions Of political friction have httie or
no foundation, and the good-natured tolerance
granted the negro extends to every phase or lie.
Industrally the black is free to enter any trade
or occupation for which his capacity fits him,
and there are no labor unions to exclude MIN
from the more skilled and remunerative en-
Payments. In the cigar factories, the shops the
newspaper offices, in domestic service ana IN all
branches OF public administration white men
and women work side by side with black ones
and where the employer, following the social
bent of Latin civilization, furnishes the two
daily meals, all eat together at the common
table At the theatre one sees negro musicians
in every orchestra and dark-skinned performers
can be found on the Havana stage
Racial equality is enforced, moreover In the
use of all public conveniences ana the ENJOY
ment of all popular privileges An American
wbo came TO Havana last winter to open an hotel
and bar undertook the experiment of applying
come of the prescrptive customs to which ne
had been educated at home, and told some
friends privately that the American drinks ne
advertised would be dispensed TO white men
only" Before long a negro customer oroppeo
into the cafe and gave an order which the pro-
nrietor ostentatiously refused to FILL The re-
iected applicant happened to be general IN the
Cuban Army and prominent member or the
Military Assembly and on his complaint to the
military authorities the cafe proprietor's license
was suspended for two weeks: Since then his
hospitality has known no fastiolous oistiho'o"S
Of race complexion.
EQUALITY ON STEAMER.
Making a trip the other day from Cienfuegos
to Santiago found almost opposite me at the
CAPTAINS table the celebrated guerilla chieftaln
Ouintin Bandera veteran both of the last in
surrection and of the Ten Years War. Hardly
had the first meal begun when the general who
Is an African of the purer Eastern type, pulled
ont a cardcase and passed dozen cards to the
nearest passengers a number of whom were
American Army officers Their identity thus
established, the general and his stan-three
men and one woman who wore lieutenants
uniform and had seen active field service
maintained friendly and unembarrassed con-
versation with the captain and the rest OF the
company all the way to Santiago Tne SITUATION
did not pass without comment, however, from
the ships interpreter small cuban naming
from Tampa, who remarked one day when the
cusky general and his staff were out OF hearing
THAT make one laugh. We no think to eat
with black people in the United States
But the equality Of the races in Cuba goes
deeper than the mere exchange OF social civil
ties and social recognition. II does not stop
short indeed Of the free and acknowledged MKT
ure Of bloods For there are hundreds Of recent
cases on record of marriage between whites and
blacks and It is no unusual thing to see to-
gether in the Havana parks or theatres highly
respectable couples whose skins are, In the an
thropologica sense, the whole range or the
color spectrum apart.
Reasons for the frcer and more equal life OF
the races in Cuba are not dhcult 10 mo. Inc
Cuban blacks are, as a whole decidedly superior
I'm character and attachments TO :heir fellows In
the United states. A dark skin Is not here the
badge OF hopeless inferiority and isolation.