The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1899-03-30
The News That Isn't Reported.

From the remarks made by Postmas-
ter General Smith concerning what he
saw in cuba as well as from other
sources of equal reliability the infer
ence is warranted that a good bit of
the fuss and bother in our relations
with that island indicated in the daily
press dispatches from Havana is sU-
pcrfiCal and liable to be received with
undue anxiety in this country. The
rivalries between this and that native
faction for recognition and emolument
and the incidental instances Of brig
andage or other lawlessness which
form the themes of most of the news
sent to American papers from Cuba
are really circumstances of minor inn
pCrtance, like the cave-ns. kold- ups
and highway robberies scattered broad
cast through the press under a. SCTan-
ton date line. \ man living 800 miles
away from Scranton and having no bet
ter knowledge of it than that which is
conveyed in these exaggerated news
that Scranton is little else than a coll
lection Of caVe-holes with Molly Ma
guire features on the side. Such man.
gathering his information from meager
and unreliable sources, would miss en-
tlrely the quiet but steady evolution in
education, religion and public spirit
which is tho real characteristic of our
city.
And so with regard to cuba We arc
told from day to day in 4 fragmentary
way Of the scraps and scandals Of
Havana, Of the Vanities, jealousies and
individual Cubans ana of the difficult
| les in administration which are to be
| expected as matters of course in view
! of the peculiar and delicate circum-
| stances OF our intervention in Cuban
| affairs; but what we do not hear
! about i'm adequate detail on compre-
| hend appreciatively is the quiet but
steady progress in sanitation, public
| education, public cCnveniences and
| economic reconstruction and rehabilita-
tion which though not exploited in the
! public press, is after all the great fact
! in the whole situation. Here, for eX-
! ample is just one instance: Assistant
! secretary of War Meiklejohn." says a
dispatch from Washington "has re-
ceived an official report from the GUS
toms service at Havana. In a CONNER
cial sense the report shows nattering
conditions. The opposition to the more
honest and exact system Of doing bust
80
| government, which first manifested it,
| self on the part of importers when the
| customs houses of the island passed
! into American hands is gradually pass
| ing away The subordinate places in
the entire customs service of Cuba are
filled by natives. On the customs rolls
Of Havana are carried 276 employees
at an aggregate monthly salary of So
500 in American gold. During the month
Of January ~ vessels of all kinds, OF
a total tonnage of 219,3O7 tons, entered
the port Of Havana, and 1Sl, Of a tCta
tonnage of 1862 tons, cleared from
that port for foreign ports. The tota
collections for the port during the
month Of January, 1893, amounted L
$743, ,53S."
These few quoted words are hardly
sensational enough to attract very gen
cral notice from the Great body o.
American newspaper readers, vet they
} signify immensely. A writer for Har
pers Weekly has told recently in
series of articles about the difficulties
encountered by our customs collector
at the beginning Of their work in Hav
ana, Every merchant in the city OBJ
iected to paying the exact duties de
= manGed. They had been accustome,
= to making false invoices and sharing
! the difference with the Spanish Off
cials The clerks objected to workinl
{ for an exact salary without the priv
r ilege of "swiping" from the public till
t All hands clerks, importers, vessel
: owners-rebelled because they had n
% conception of the advantages of a,
} honest system conducted impartial
: and above board, and because they be