Evening star., 1899-02-02

of New Orleans, who acted during the
Spanish-Ame-ican war as agent for the
Cuban insurgents in the southern states, at
the Raleigh. If the term has any odium at
tached at present l shall have to bear my
share of the burden, as my father was in
the Cuban army at that time and was killed
by the Spaniards shortly after my birth.
am the on-y child of my parents and am
almost the sole survivor of my family, as
the same war was the cause of the death
of fifteen of my blood relatives, including
six uncles.
No one doubts that Cuba will eventually
become an independent republic but at
present the most needfUl thing is the res
tclauon of peace and order. Cuba will be
much more capable of self-government
than the present republics of South Amer
lca were when they first fought for and
obtained their liberties. 1t lacks the In
u;an blood among its natives, and the peo-
pie OF this blood have proven themselves
incapable of self-sovernment, and therefore
are great drawback to the republics of
South America.
THE United States government is going
to have some very important and delicate
problems to settle in the island in the near
future. For example, the laws of the Span
iards have allowed what is known as q
perpetual mortgage system as regards the
| Catholic Church. Hundreds of years ago
a man may have died leaving to the church
a mortgage of say 5000 on certain
amount of landed property. His heirs and
any one to whom they might sell the land
are forced to pay the interest this lien.
although they may have attempted time
and again to buy In the original in
debtedness at or above its face value 1t is
the same system that obtained at the time
of the English reformation. under Henry
VIII. although, / believe, under slightly diff
ferent form.
The church owns in the Island of Cuba
M of doll Of ,ah
liens on the landed estates of the island,
and they will prove a great and almost in
sUrmountable obstacle to the progress of
the new regime if not settled in some way.
1t is thought that the church will be will
ing 10 compromise them ami take lump
sum in lieu of these perpetual liens which
in the past have sapped the vitality of the
island to so great an extent At any rate
there is little doubt that the question will
be one of the first and most important that
Will come up for consideration by the
American government in Cuba
Free silver is dying in the west" said
VIM. H. Phipps of st. Paul at the Airing
ton. ''and with 1t is dying the populist
party. l do not suppose that there has
ever been a time in the history of the great
middle west that the farmers have been so
prosperous as they are today. Prices are
good, and mortgages are disappearing ac-
cordingly. The populists are leaving their
standards and ffocking to the democratic
and republican parties. from whence they
sprung when hard times oppressed the
country. Minnesota and Michigan, the two
states with which l am best acquainted in
business way, are richer today than they
were ever before in their history and,
may add, as solidly republican"
'T am one of the stanchest republicans
In the world, but that does not keep me
from enjoying a joke at the expense of
member of my party" said II. S. Hubbard
of Ohio at the Shoreham In the follow
ing story 1 shall not mention names, as
the case will probably be contested before
the House at the next session of Congress,
but I will give it to you as it was told me
by the unfortunate victim. Down in one
of the cotton states in district where the
negro vote plays an important part in the
elections, there was a very hard fight be-
tween the republican and democratic nom
inees for the seat in the House. Both
sides were keen as briars to influence
votes, and all sorts of backwoods methods
were brought into practice.
FINALLY, few days before election, the
democrats saw that they had close call
for the seat and something had to be done
Accordingly two or three of the leaders
in the county in which the republican nom-
inee presided fixed up scheme. Five
letters were ana ADDRESS,
ed to the negroes residing at some little
distance from the nominees home. In
the letter was request from that gen.
tleman to the recipient that he bring the
letter along with him the day before cleo
ton and make a little personal call. Some
thing was mentioned about long service
and fidelity to the party, and also what
was more to the point there was deli
cate hint that the sum of S15 would be
turned over to the bearer to help whoop
things up election day.
Now, wages are not high in some parts
of the south and that SO looked like a
fortune to most of the voters who re-
ceived letters. Accordingly the unlucky
nominee had not gotten out of bed when
he was called to see man who had come
in fifeeen miles that morning ITO see you
in regard 20 dat letter of yourn which 1
hav' received, sab, yes, sah.'' The letter
was examined, and the nominee imme-
played upon him. He trieda to explain
how it was, but the first caller cost him
3d. He was soon followed by a second and
later they came in droves. The poor fell
low was nearly crazy by - o'clock as he
had received at least three hundred an
swers to the bogus letter. Some of the
callers brought their families along and
altogether there was the grandest DOW
WOW around that place for seven hours
that you have ever heard Of Finally the
spirit of the good republican could stand
the trial no longer. He took the 30 train
out of town and was not seen for two days
When he finally arrived home 1t was to
find that his defeat had been encompassed
test will be made on other grounds but
a rlfaf1tr