Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1899-01-07

street. He had just had dinner at one of
the cafes, and was going home to go TO bed.
How are you tonight" l asked. His reply
was emotional. Il am dead, dead he said
without any notion of being melodramatic.
They've made me do more work these last
two days than l had to do in the five years
before. You Will excuse me, but l was up
at 6 this morning and | must go home"
But he was persuaded to stay long enough
to tell something of the second day. and to
throw a friend, who was with me into fits
of merriment. It, too, had been a tropic
day. Everybody had been expected to
work. Some of the employees had had their
breakfast hours cut short, breakfast here
being the lunch hour of the states They
had also been late in getting their dinners
So had Collector Bliss for that matter and
also Donaldson. out as a result of the
energy order was beginning to come out of
the confusion.
Some Changes Likely.
1t is not necessary to follow the expert
ences of my Cuban friend further. He
thinks ne cannot long survive if the new
regime continues at the present pace, but
he will stand it. He played in the foot ball
eleven of one of the American colleges and
has considerable stock of strength left.
What is worth knowing to the people of the
United States is that the old conditions are
being remedied. Some mistakes may be
made in administrative methods. They can
be quickly remedied. Some changes that
seem practicable may not prove SO on trial.
They can be given up The broad general
fact is that goods can be shipped from
the United States with the certainty of
their paying fixed tariff rates. Hereafter,
while the American shipper will have no
adVantaS e, he will not be at disadvantage
through his Willingness to do business hon
estly. The Spanish and the other Euro
pean merchants were at first doubtful
this point. They could not conceive of so
complete a change in official systems.
Honesty is SmDIa that mr.
ed to them a dream. They put a little
faith in the adventures who turned up
and hung out signs as American customs
brokers. 1t did not seem unreasonable to
under American administration what had
been so easy under Spanish rule. But that
delusion has gone, and the Havana import
at the outset are satisfied that the best
thing for them is to be square" The mer-
chants have trouble in getting along
with Collector Bliss and his assistants. That
helps.
Enough Cubans for Places.
One point in the internal administration
Of the custom house is of interest to a con-
siderable class in the United States There
is no room for appointments The second
day the employees We're thrown into a panic
by the inquiry which was made into the
civil list They heard the ominous question,
What does this man do?" repeated SO
often that it alarmed them. l suppose that
INJURY Is sun SolHS OIi, anu lildl III q rev
days the list will be pruned. After that will
come the substitution of Cubans for Span
ish employees. A few of the Spanish en-
ployes are competent and will be retained,
but there will rot be enough of this class
to form a regiment. Probably substitutes
will be found for the vistas very soon 1t
is easier to secure honest administration by
having honest officials than by putting
checks and counterchecks on officials who
are ready to go little more than half way
in order to meet temptation. That is the
solution of the problem of the vistas
Trained experts from the Treasury Depart
ment or from the custom houses of the
larger cities may be needed temporarily in
order to bridge gap in the service. Shift
ing them to Havana does not mean that
there is an opening for the office-seekers
Collector Bliss says his instructions from
Washington are to give preference to Gu
bans. That is the policy he is following.
1t shuts out many worthy persons from
the United States. 1 know gardener
get a place in the custom house Some of
us convinced him that gardening was a
more promising profession and he is doing
very well by sticking to it, Other Ameri-
cans do not show much sense, or have
not the profession of gardening to fall
back upon. But it Is not fair for the
congressman other public men to embar-
rass the American officials in Havana by
sending constituents to them with demands
for places. The Cubans are numerous, and
enough of them are willing to take office
to insure that no positions will be left I'M
filled. General Lee pays for his popularity
with them by having to write a huge
number of cards with the suggestion that