The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1899-06-25

nexatfon. but since they have seen the
methods OF the Americans. their abundant
capital and steady persistence in business.
self-interest has caused them to sing an
other tune. Now they have painted their
store fronts the Cuban colors and faunt
the Cuban flag. in order to keep the Cuban
trade and accentuate their hostility to
American military occupation. Th order
OF General Brooke, forbidding the bode-
gueros and cafe owners to sell any alco-
holic liquors to American soldiers, added
fuel to the flame of hatred. From time out
of mind they have turned many honest pen
MES by selling drinks TO Spanish soldiers,
and now that those good customers were
gone. why not to the usurpers? When a
few of the bodegas and posadas were closed
and their owners heavily fined for breaking
the law. they became intense in their hos
tility to American control. and the climax
was capped when the finest cafe in laval
was shut up without legal process, because
one of its walters sold a gin fizz to a
drunken drum major. 1t was no use TO
plead that the ignorant employee mistook
the drum major for a major general; the
proprietor had no recourse until the mill
tary authorities, having made sufficient Eek
ample" Of him. permitted the place to re-
SPANIARD VS.. CUBAN.
In spite of his ignorance and avarice. the
Spanish property owner in Cuba, being
thrifty. hard working. honest In his way and
disposed to be peaceable-has in him more
Of the elements of good citizenship than
the average Cuban. He came from Cata-
lonia, Asturia or the Basque provinces, or
his father did-usually with no capital but
strength and industry. He began a chore
boy or farm hand TO some ~bodeguero or
planter, who had been a few years ahead
of him in Cuba. willing to work from 4 a.
m. to II p. m. until the inevitable end was
attained OF a shop, or land, or inn of his
own. The Spanish word bodego means wine
cellar. but here it stands for any sort of
general supply place., where everything eat
able and drinkable is sold. from jerked
beef to claret- In all cases the Spaniard's
| dignity has kept pace with the advance in
his fortunes, from chore boy to merchant or
landed proprietor. and though he may not
be able to distinguish the price mark on
his own goods and signs his name with an
X he rides in his carriage at the head of
island aristocracy. 1t is an actual fact that
many of them have no system of keeping
accounts but by chalk marks on the door.
Where the merchant is unable to read. write
| UT ClpUtI, Ill UuSlltSS ltQull liz lutCN az
complishments must be deputed to hired
clerks. But the Spaniard, having plenty of
native shrewdness. rarely ''gets left" as
they say in America. You may be certain
that he has a good margin of profit on all
transactions, and though giving credit in
what looks like a loose sort of way he in
variably collects the interest on his mort
cages, while waiting for the default in prin-
| cipal which will insure the whole thing fall
ing to him I'm the end. Checks and drafts
are rarely used, though many of the mer-
camille and shipping firms do a banking
business as well. Shylocks by nature, their
standard of commercial integrity is so high
that every mans word is as good as his
bond and verbal contracts usually serve for
written ones. Former Consul General VIII
liams says that when he was a merchant
in Havana it frequently happened that
transactions involving many thousands Of
dollars. with complicated provisions that
might easily lead to dispute, were carried
on without a scrap of writing, and were
always promptly settled.
The patriarchal way in which the Spanish
merchant. great or small, manages his bust
ness in Cuba is curious and smacks OF
medieval Spain Going into any shop or
store between the hours Of 10 a. m. and noon,
you may see a table spread for breakfast
in some dingy back corner, among the boxes
or barrels, meals 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 shopkeeper and his family, eating
at the same table and sleeping somewhere
in the place of business. Many Of the larger
mercantile establishments of Havana have
especial dormitories for their workmen II
Is an economical arrangement on both sides,
for, though the wages are smaller. the clerk
can save more who has no outside expense
and sooner arrives at the goal for which all
are s~triving-a business Of his'own.
THE NEGRO ELEMENT.
The best Of feeling always prevails be-
tween 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 hollow. With the ex-
aggerated courtesy of the Latin race and
many verbose compliments they may bag
gle for hours over some small difference in
price, and then put off the trade to manana,
hoping the prospective buyer will return
another day and yield the extra penny OF
two of profit which they think may be
gained Dy nOlOlng out. Inc spanish properly
owners have about as much idea OF self-gov-
eminent as a United States baby. Believing
implicitly in the monarchical institutions tc
which he was born, and having never had
any hand in colonial affairs, he is densely
ignorant of all the tenets of republican,sm
and will need to be educated up TO the rights
and responsibilities of citizenship.
As to the colored opponents of annexation
to the United S~tates-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 a tincture OF African blood fill
ters, in greater or less degree. through all
classes, high and low, the kinky hair, red
dish eye balls n peculiar tint of finger
tips that distinguish the descendants OF
Ham, cropping out in the most aristocratic
families. Between the whites and real
blacks exact social equality has not ex-
listed, but social liberation, in its widest
extent, has always prevailed. AS everybody
knows, the insurgent army was largely
made up OF negroes. The black officers. hay
ing borne the heat and burden OF the day,
naturally look for recognition in the future
government Of the island they have helped
TO liberate. And just as naturally, when
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