The Republican journal., 1899-06-29

ivory mans word is as good as his bond
verbal contracts usually serve for
wii..en ones. Former Consul General
"''iiams says that when be was mer-
onant In Habana it frequently happened
'na' transactions involving many thous-
anus OF dollars, with complicated provis-
IONS That might easily lead to dispute, were
carried on without a scrap of writing,
anu were always promptly settled.
Inc patriarchal way in which the Span
.sn merchant, great or small, manages
LIS business in Cuba, is curious and
'inacks OF medieval Spain. Going into
any shop or store between the hours of 10
a. M. and noon, you see table spread for
oieak1ast In some dingy back corner
among the boxes or barrels. meats or
groceries, with a small loaf of bread
at each plate and the inevitable bottle of
claret in the middle. In all cases the
clerks and employees live with the shop.
Keeper and his family, eating at the same
taole and sleeping somewhere in the place
Vi business. Many of the larger mercan-
Tie establishments of Habana have spec
lal dormitories for their workmen. 1t is
an economical arrangement on both sides.
1or though the wages are smaller, the
clerk can save more who has no outside
expense, and sooner arrives at the goal
1or which all are striving-a business of
MS own. The best of feeling always pre-
walls between employer and employed,
though the hours are long and the work
hard; and both master and man are polite
to servility to customers But for shrewd
bargaining they beat the Yankees all hol-
low. With the exaggerated courtesy of
the Latin race and many verbose com
pliments they may hagg)e for hours over
some small difference in price, and then
put off the trade to manana, hoping the
prospective buyers will return another
day and yield the extra penny or two of
profit which they think may be gained by
holding out. The Spanish property own
ers have about as much idea Of self gov
eminent as United States baby! Believ-
ing implicitly in the monarchial institu-
lions to which he was born, and having
never had any hand in Colonial affairs, he
is densely ignorant of all the tenetsIof re-
publicanism, and will need to be educat-
ed up to the rights and responsibilities of
citizenship.
AS to the colored opponents of annexa-
ton to the United States-they are found
in all ranks, social, political and military
The color line was never drawn in Cuba
until the advent of Americans, for the
simple reason that tincture of African
blood filters, in greater or less degree,
through all classes, high and low; the
kinky hair, reddish eye balls and peculiar
tint Of hnger-tips that distinguish the
descendants of Ham cropping out in the
most aristocratic families. Between the
whites and real blacks, exact social quail :
ty always prevailed. As everybody knows,
the insurgent army was largely made up
of negroes. The black officers, having
borne the heat and burden of the day,
naturally look for recognition il the future
government of the island they have helped
to liberate. And, just as naturally, when
''Pa' is high in politics, his thick-lipped
wife and daughters will expect to consort
as equals, with his political associates,
though they be of the loftiest "F. F. VS."
You may imagine how these people, who
comprise nearly two-t thirds OF Cuba pop
ulation, have relished the talk Of Ameri-
can Adventures of the brass band type
who have t1ocked to the luckless island
and asserted that ''the Niger will find
his place when Cuba belongs to the Unit
ed Statesr' Reading of the lynchings and
roastings at the stake of his race in our
own South, he is by no means anxious to
find such place, and will fight annexa-
ton with all the force that is in him.
FANNIE BRIGHAM WARD.