The daily morning journal and courier., 1899-01-13
THE PHILADELPHIA OF CUBA
CLENFUEGO WHICH MAY SOME
 DAY BE THE CAPITAL.
The Center of One of the Richest Sugar Producing Sections in the World. Especial Correspondence of the Journal
 and Courier)
Cienfuegos, Dec. 29, 1898.


 and Courier.)
 Cienfuegos, Dec. 29, 1898.
 As this city of the fiery cognomen is Just now the most interesting place in Cuba, where the stars and stripes will De officially unfurled early in January, the tide of visiting Americans has turn ed this way from Havana. And the old town-which, by the way, is pronounce ed as if spelled See-an- -foo-a-g gose, is well worth visit for it's own sake.
 As everybody knows nowadays, since the once misty geography of Cuba has become matter of consequence to the outside world-Cienfuego lies on the south coast of the island, about fifty miles east of Trinidad-the latter occu- pying the exact center of the shore line. It is the southern terminus of the most important railway line in the is- land, which passes through the pro- vinces of Havana, Matanzas and Santa Clara; and several steamship lines, American, English and Cuba, also make 1t regular port of call. Before the war, Cienfuegos rejoiced under the pseudonym of "The Philadelphia of Cuba"-as much because it came near- CT than any other place on the island to being what Yankee term 'wide awake as on account of the consider able enterprises of several Pennsyl- vania in the vicinity. The cruel for tunes of war; however, have put 1t sound asleep again, in slumber so pro- found that nothing can awaken 1t but GabriePs trumpet or Major Dusenbury in the role of middle-agad, bay-wir- dowed Prince Charming, with his po- tent wand, the American flag.
 The zig-zag journey from Havana to Cienfuegos involves an all-day ride, be- ginning at dawn and ending in dark ness, with four changes of cars and no end of dust, heat and discomfort Trav- elers must bring both food and water, for neither are to be had along this most important railway line of Cuba except the rum and harsh, red wines of the country at wayside stations and small loaves of sour bread, dirty and hard as brick-bats carried in low, flat baskets on the heads of bedding gamir It is devoutly to be hoped that when the American-Indies Company gets hold of this line, as is promised in the near future, in connection with the new road it is about to build from the Casa Blanca wharves of Havana to Metan- gas via Triscoria-the comfort of the travelling public will receive some at- tention Hitherto the island railways, 1 built by English capital have been run 1 by so-called conservative" English | men, whose ideas of conservatism seem | to have demanded the snails pace and | stupidity
 Even in the darkness of night, as you emerge from a railway depot much bet ter than that at Havana, and ride in a decent cab through broad, well-lighted streets to a good hotel, you receive an impression of tn e progressiveness of Cienfuegos, quite foreign to the coun- try. And daylight confirms the opinion. Instead of the narrow, crooked alleys, rambling up hill and down, which dis tinguish it's older nelghbors, Santiago and Trinidad, Cienfusgos' streets are straight, well-paved and level, laid out with the regularity of checker board, and were long ago lighted with gas, while those of Havana were yet de- pending on oil lamps. The fact is, the town is already so Americanized as to be somewhat of a disappointment to the average. curiosity-hunting tourist, who misses the musty picturesqueness of Espana antigue.
 Bright clean and with a surprising air of newness, it reminds one of the school-boys shining morning face" and explains at a glance the talk one hears so much of nowadays in Havana of transferring the capital from it's four century hopelessly disease seat to this side of the island. Cienfuegos common place, two-storied freshly painted houses might belong to any interior town in the United States, and are all so nearly alike that man coming homa at night must need be comparatively sober not to mistake his { neighbor's casa for his own The pres- ent population is officially reckoned at ; 46 900, including number of English and American merchants and planters who are, Cor were before the war) en- { gagged in the sugar and tobacco trade. l, Santa Clara province, of which Cien- , fuegos is the sea-ward outlet you know, , Is the chief sugar-producing section of f Cuba; and in better days the tobacco , was not far behind. La Opin- $ ion, the local newspaper, asserts that T before the war the average annual ex- f port of the neighboring plantations amounted to 60,000 hogsheads of sugar; !; and I dare not tell you it's figures on z lest you doubt the veracity of |, that venerable organ. The harbor, a T. deep inlet behind the sheltering keys f of Doce Leguas-innumerable wooded :, sets which Columbus named 'the f Queens Gardens" in the green mazes f of which his caravals wandered aim z essly many days-is safe and commo- q 1ous; and this is one of the rare trop- 4 cal ports in which steamers come up to . ] wharf, as at New York, permitting Q passengers to land without the omni- f present small boats. " DO you ask, "How did the town come k ,y it's singular name?" We have all h cad the romantic story of how Colun1- c ,us, winding in and out of the thousand W ,ights and coves of Doce Leguas, S with the translucent blue of n he water, the silvery beaches fringed n with cocoa-palms and the soreward a