The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1899-05-03
THE COLOR LINE IN CUBA
THE SPANISH PUT NEGROES on An
EQUALITY WITH WHITES.
Industrial and Social Freedom Main
tained-Causes That Have Led
to This Result.
Havana Letter in New York Tribune.

Havana Letter in New York Tribune.
1t is perhaps one of the graces or the
Spanish civilization in America that it has
drawn with so lenient and wavering finger
the line which, according to our severer
Anglo-Saxon standards. separates the eau
casian from his fellows of darker skin and
race. Tropical suns and tropical passions
are. of course. great Jewelers.. and an i'm
memorial mixture Of bloods has doubtless
smoothed the way to that partial oblitera-
ton of race prejudice which 10 the Amer
lean mind is one of tn oscurest and least
ineligible traits of the Spanish-American
character. Spanish rule IN the Western
Hemisphere has much TO answer for. Its
crimes and plumbers are spread on every
page of history. 1t was corrupt. rapacious.
cruel and selfshly oppressive. But in its So
cjal tolerance of the dark races Spanish
policy seems to have breathed a milder and
humaner spirit than Anglo-Saxon civiliza-
ton 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. poll
tics. industry, the liberal arts and social
life.
In opportun,ty-which is the real test of
is far less restricted than it is in the United
States. Here in Cuba practically all en-
pigments are open to him, and he enjoys
without question those civil privileges which
so many States in the Union have already
wrested from him. and which in many
others he retains only as a fiction of law.
No contrast in Cuban life is. therefore.
brought home more sharply to the Amer
ican observer than the sudden fading out of
that barrier of race intolerance toward
whose extension and solidifica ton popular
opinion seems now to be tending more and
more in the United States.
DISTRUST IN 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 outnumbers the white. and
where the African-Indian strain is purer
and stronger, the white minority shows an
unmistakable dstrust of the darker race,
and deprecates its possible domination under
any scheme of popular sovereignty. Hayti
and San Domingo the two so-called repub-
lies across the Windward Passage, are a
constant menace dangled before Oriental
eyes. In a political 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 ma
5ority, and where the negro blood has been
iiberally diluted, apprehensions Of political
friction have little or no foundation, and
negro extends to every phase of life. In
dustrially the black is free to enter any
trade or occupation for which his capacity
to exclude him from the more skilled and
remunerative employments. In the cigar
factories. the shops, the newspaper offices.
In 10 IT,, IS~,x - -
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 theater one sees negro musi-
clans in every orchestra, and dark-skinned
stage.
Racial equality is enforced, moreover, in
the use OF all public conveniences and the
American who came to Havana last winter
to open an hotel and bar undertook the ex-
pertinent of applying some Of the prescriptive
customs to which he had been educated at
home and told some friends privately that
the American drinks he advertised would be
dispensed Ito white men only" Before long
aawa an ordor h uLJpPeo INTO rhe care ana
tatiously refused to fill. The rejected appli-
cant happened to be a general in the Cuban
army and prominent members of the Mill
tary Assembly, and on his complaint 10 the
military authorities the cafe proprietors IL
cense was suspended for two weeks. Since
then his hospitality has known no fastidious
distinctions or race or complexion.
EQUALITY ON A STEAMER.
Making a trip the other day from Cienfue-
gos to Santiago. found almost opposite me
at the captains table the celebrated guer-
rilla chieftain Quintin Bandera. a veteran of
both the last insurrection 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 out cardcase
and passed a dozen cards to the nearest
passengers, number &C whom were Ameri-
can army officers. Their identity thus es-
tablished. the general and his staff-three
men and one woman, who wore a lieuten-
ants uniform and had seen active field
service-mantained a friendly and unembar-
raised conversation with the captain and
the rest of the company all the way TO San
tiago. The situation did not pass without
comment, however, from the ships interpre-
ter, a small Cuban. hailing from Tampa,
eral and his staff were out Of hearing: THAT
makes one laugh. We do not 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
civilites and social recognition. 1t does not
stop short. indeed, of the free and acknowl-
edged mixture of bloods. For there are hun
dreds Of recent cases on record Of marriage
between whites and blacks. and 1t is un-
usual thing to see together in the Havana
parks or theaters highly respectable couples
whose skins are. in the anthropological
sense. the whole range of the color spectrum
apart.
Reasons for the freer and more equal life
of the races in Cuba are not difficult to
find. The Cuban blacks are, as a whole. de-
cidedly superior in character and attain
ments to their fellows in the United States.
A dark skin is not here the badge Of hope
less inferiority and isolation. There are no
Jim Crow cars on the Cuban railroads.
The island schools. such as they are. are
open impartially TO all compilations. The
field of industry is equally Free and for the
solace and discipline of religion the negro
is not forced to depend, as in most States
Of the Union. on a self-constructed estab-
lishment rejecting in the main only the
cruder and more primitive religious fancies
to discover black men of all shades who
have risen to positions of influence through
personal merit and ability, and not by the
mere weight OF racial pressure. expressing
itself through "colored vote" In the in
surrection just ended no leader stood higher
in the affections of the revolutionary party
than the brilliant and dashing mulatto gen.
eral, Antonio Maceo. In the now defunct
Cuban Military Assembly no orator spoke
with greater effect and eloquence or exer-
cised greater influence than, Juan Gualberto
was, was in the main. a negro revolution.
For the blacks furnished. perhaps four
fifths OF its fighting strength and fully half
of its military leaders. II is a common jest
in Cuba that no one ever saw a white Gu
ban in the ranks OF the Army OF LIBERIA
tion," and II Is TO the endurance of It's dark
skinned soldiery more than TO any other