The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1899-01-23
SALESMAN'S VIEWS
OF HAVANA.

E. G. Simmons has received an IN
teresting letter from one of his sales
men, who is at present visiting Ha-
vana. 1t treats of Cuba from a COM
mercial and moral standpoint as he sees
it and tells of the advantages and dis
advantages which he observed.
The letter follows:
Il will take up Havana first, because
all roads lead to it. Havana is the
Rome of Cuba. Upon entering Havana
Bay you pass MORO Castle on the left
towering high above the mast heads of
ships, builded upon solid rock, and as
you pass you ask the question: What
would have happened if Admiral Samp-
son had attacked it in the late war?
Through a narrow inlet you pass into
the Bay of Havana Very soon you
notice the wreck of the Maine, now
green with water moss and scum three
to five feet above the water line, a very
sad-looking sight.
Your ship once made fast, your first
transaction commercially in Cuba is to
arrange to be put ashore in lighters
Their owners swarm about your ship,
crying the advantages Of their craft:
The continuous Splashfng, surging and
rowing of these small lighters complete
~ stir up the still water of the bay
and soon you fully realize that half of
truth has been told you of the terrible
filth in Havana Bay. Have you ever
got on the windward side of a sour Mis-
souri, hog pen on a hot day? If so you
can form some idea of the odor arising
around a ship in the bay after its wa
terS have been churned.
You bargain to be carried to the GUS
tom house, where your baggage is eX-
amined, or rather dumped out and
piled back into your trunk or hand
grip. You speak English, the custom
officer speaks Spanish; hence the grum-
bling you do passes unnoticed. Ones
next tranaction in Cuba is to hire the
services of a carriage and driver. You
in America may ask Why not walk up
town. Well here you won't go far car
rying valise, for the sidewalks are II
- oh wild nd xrol~ 0V@nE Hr60 or
Once in the carriage, you soon forget
all about the night before at sea, and
the smell and stencil of the bay.
Your attention is at once attracted
to innumerable two-whee1ed carts,
drawn by one small mule; thus is COM
merce on land in the city of Havana
transacted, so far as hauling of goods
is concerned. If one had a four-wheeled
wagon one would have to drive straight
to the end Of a street for room in which
to turn around. Then the thought
strikes you, Will it always be so, or
will the business part of Havana be
moved back to the hill two miles dis
tant, now occupied by residences? Rea-
son would suggets the change.
"Glancing at the buildings, you OBJ
serve that there isn't a chimney in sight
on the houses, no smoke stacks tower
ing heavenward, no smoke of any kind.
You wonder how people cook, and what
becomes of the smoke. 1 believe am
safe in saying that in Havana, city
of 300 900 people, there is not one cook
stove in use, such as are observed in
America Cooking is done on stone
stoves, heated with charcoal; hence no
chimneys are needed. Is it possible for
an American stove foundry to do busi-
ness here?
well sim going uptown riding along
you hear the continual jabber of the span
ish language, which you cannot under
stand. At intervals along. the street are
other rubbish, filth or other rotten stuff,
but the scene is too great, the brain too
active to mediate on the unsanitary con-
ditions. A glance out of the other side
of the carriage shows something lying IN a
doorway or leaning against windoW
this is the wretched part of It all-the
poor, begging-not one, but hundreds. You
pass them every few feet on all streets, and
you have before you the effects OF Spain
qnercileSs, oppressive hand No wonder
these people long with a yearning for lib
wouldn't be? A little further on and you
come to Central park, which is very beau
tifuL It is a square of ground of about
five acres, with wide street surrounding
clean, and you have an opportunity to
see out few feet on either side Your
carriage stops and you get out at the
grand Hotel Inglaterra. You ask your
driver his bill and you are told tres pesa-
ta'-60 cents You ask the baggageman
uptown and are lucky if you get off with
a dollar. You step into the hotel and JIM
quire their rates, and are told 81 per day
and up, and it's mostly up the average
being from 81 to 50 per day, European
plan. and you ask yourself if a good. first
sgo broke in the hotel business in Ha-
yana-'