The daily morning journal and courier., 1899-08-11
TOBACCO IN ISLAND OF CUBA
VISIT TO THE LARGEST "A ACTORT IN
 THE WORLD.
Over Two Million and a Half of Cigars and Cigarettes Tnrned Out Day Interesting Features Noticed.

Trinidad de Cuba, July 9.-You can
 not be said to have 'done" this lslc ol
 "tobaco puro" until you have visited .
 typical Fabrica and inspected the whole
 fragrant roll big and little, beloved oi
 most men and many women. Ferhapi
 the best place in which to pursue youl
 Investigations is the great Fabrlea de
 Honradez. in Havana-the word hon.
 radez being Spanish for honesty.
 The factory occupies an entire city
 square, from Cuba street to San 4gna-
 cio, and in prosperous times turned out something over 2500,0O0 cigars and cig- arettes per diem.
 On entering the building you are
 met by a courteous gentleman ot Ches- terfieldian department, who speaks pigeon English after the Cuban fash ion and whose sole avocation in life is to exhibit this establishment. First he shows you through the counting rooms and offices, and then introduces you to the register, an enormous tome contain ing thousands of names and begs you to append your own. What treasure trove to the authograph- hunter that volume will be! On leaving the build ing each visitor is again conducted to the register and asked to write opposite his name his opinibn of the factory, with remarks of the peculiarities that have impressed him and any criticisms or suggestions he may feel disposed to offer. Among a multitude of sigma lures, illustrious and to fame unknown T |. NfX colt, Henry Irving, Anthony Trollope, Charles A. Dana, Richard Dana, M. Charney, Kingsley, Darwin, Agassiz, and a host of other shining lights of past generations, followed by those of later date, together with their hastily formula ted opinions. Some of the lat ter are amusing; others frivolous, con- cerning the pretty girls employed, or their appreciation of a liberal donation of the products of the place; while a few are in the ponderous style of Vim. w. Seward, who wrote: q am deeply impressed with the successful manner in which the proprietor of La Honradez has combined West Indian productions with American inventions, European talent and Asiatic industry"
 Had our ex- Secretary of State been writing the same to-day, he would have substituted native and African for Asiatic. because where formerly thou sand Chinese cool.es were employed there are now not fifty. In La Honra- deg, about half the workmen are of African descent and the color line has never been drawn. At least one-third of the sadly-hued, called by courtesy white" employees are Spaniards, and to this day it Is so difficult to keep the Cubane from quarreling with them that they are grouped by themselves, in sep arate rooms whenever practicable. All work by the piece, from eight to ten hours day; and the average earning is $2.50-a few experts making as much as five dollars per diem. Besides their wages, most of them are lodged free of cost, and all are allowed to smoke as many cigars or cigarettes as they like, of the ma sters tobacco and their own making-an item of no small conse- quence to the proprietor, when a thous- and men are smoking every minute, and only the best tobacco that grows, cigars from which retail at not less than 25 cents apiece.
 In the great room where cigarettes are IlduS, edCD oL lllG several IluHuTeu workmen is seated before a tiny table, on which he folds, fills, counts and does up in packages the fragrant little rolls It is astonishing what accuracy and ] dexterity they acquire from long prac- tice in handling and counting these | small bits of paper. Watch those whose business it is to enclose twenty-five | cigarettes in package, just as they | are bought in the United States; you | will see that they seem to do it by in- stinct without counting, but deter mining by single touch of the fingers l if there is one cigarette more or less | than the required number. Just as marvellous dexterity to old employees in the Bureau of Engraving and Printing, at Washington, acquire, counting cou- pons in the U. s. Treasury, and other important work for Uncle sam
 One small room, full of silent, busy Asatics looked like nightmare. All the grotesque figures, clad in blue dun guree, with eyes set in on the bias and heads clean-shaven, or with pigtails carefully twisted up in Psyche knots, or coarse black hair cut short and standing up like the brist1es in blacking brush--are scrupulously neat in their persons and attire, being re- quired to keep so by the rules of the esta ablishment. The dormitory where the contract laborers sleep is model of cleanliness and good order, its cots with snow white Spreads" and pillows and it's curious personal belongings of these exiles from the Flowery King dom. Scattered about the room are lit- tie Chinese gods exquisite carvings, instruments of alleged music. gambling boards, funny shoes of wood and straw and fans galore.
 All the workmen are required to wear a certain hat with La Honradez" stamped on the band: there is rigor- ous system, in the shape of fines, for any infringement of rules or derelic- lion of duty, and everything goes on with military precision One odd feat ure common to all Cuban cigar facto- ries, is the reader-a man employed on to entertain the others. He a kind of pulpit, erected near the center of the main room, and reads forenoon and afternoon, two hours at a .ime from newspapers and current lit ,rature. Exciting political questions Ire tabooed, for manifest reasons; and | 1t is the general testimony that much better work is done during the reading