Rock Island Argus., 1899-01-07
-. = - =,
SMUGGLING IN CUBA.
spaniards and Patriots Is Unite In Beat
ing the Government.

Ing the Government.
The entire coast line of Santiago prov
ance is indented with innunerable little
bays, coves and lagoons which wind in
ma ous On'oug the hills and afford excel
lent shelter for the small craft engaged in
smuggling. The water in these little hav-
I, ems is sufficiently deep TO float the largest
OF schooners, says Santiago correspond
ent, and they have no trouble in running
into them ard hiding until they unload.
The smuggled goods come from Havana,
jamaica, Porto Rico, Hayti, Santo Do
mingo, Martinique and the southern states.
The smugglers, captains and crews are
| Americans, Englishnen, Jamaica negroes,
Haytians and occasionally CGbans. The
Cubans are very scarce. They show as lit
tie enterprise in Illicit pursuits as they do
in the legitimate walks of life. Tobacco
and liquors aro the main articles SNUG
gled. TIE tobacco comes from Havana.
No first class tobacco is raised in this part
OF Cuba, and the Pinar del Rio leaf is at a
premium. 1t brings such a good price that
the srnugglers get handsome profit. The
Cubans are great consumers of wines, too,
and inasmuch as the supply of the Span
ish vintage is about exhausted. French
clarets from Martinique and English varie-
ties from Jamaica fetch fair prices, The
presence of so many Americans has created
an unusual demand for beer, and enterpris-
ing Yankees have begun to get that bev
erago in on shady schooners. When the
stuff is landed it is loaded on nimble Gu
ban mules and horses and brought over
land into the city. The favcrite way of
concealing contraband stuff is to pack it
away in bales of freshly cut green grass.
Many Cubans about Santiago make
their livings by cutting the long, rich
grass from the sunny hillsides and bring
ing it into the city to sell to American off
GERS for their horses. They came in every
day with from two TO five horses, and no
one paid any attention to them until few
days ago an officer of the revenue service
discovered by accident that they sometimes
had other things besides green grass on
the backs Of their animals. Two months
ago, when Santiago was in Il more or less
disordered state, schoonerS with contra
band goods under their matches sailed
boldly past the Moro and slipped quietly
into the picturesque, forest protected in
lets of the harbor to discharge their car
goes. The establishment of signal station
and 4 revenue officer at the MORO has bro
ken this practice up in the daytime, hut
some of the moro daring of the smuggler
captains attempt to run in after nightfall
even now. After a contraband cargo is
once landed it is practically useless to at
tempt 10 prevent its being brought into the
city. Two regiments of cavalry would not
into tho city, and the expense entailed
would he out of all proportion to the evil
TO be corrected.
Prominent merchants at Santiago say
that smuggling will increase steadily
throughout the province as trade and in
dustry pick up under the impetus of Amer
lean enterprise. 1t is not believed, how
ever, that it will ever reach the proper
tions attained under the Spanish govern
~1 hC
the Spaniards made a smuggler of overy
merchant in the province TO greater or
less extent, and the Spanish custom house
officers themselves have been accused of
having had a hand in the trade.
There is nearly as much Illicit business
done in smuggling out tobacco as there is
in smuggling in other stuff. The offenders
in this instance arc mainly patriots. Ev
cry Cuban camp in the Mnyuri district,
where fair quality of tobacco is pro-
duced, has been growing n patch for years
past. The CubanS never thought of pay
ing the export duty when the Spaniards
were running the island, and they haven't
changed their habits since the stars and
stripes replaced the red and yellow ensign.
The Americans have not occupied the
Mayuri district IN force yet, and most
of the tobacco sent out is boldly ship
ped from Mayuri and other ports along
the bay of Nipe. When it is inexpedient
to do this the tobacco is sent overland
across the border into the province of
Puerto Principe and shipped from some
Spanish port along the north coast.
No matter what the public attitude of
the patriots and Spaniards may be, they
act together when n chance of making
money presents itself, and there is album
dant evidence that several of the patriots
by com binations with Spaniards made lu-
crative profits out of the tobacco traffic
even when the insurrection was at its
height. Some of these have brought their
goods into san Luis Songo and even San
riago to sell, Grd Iren who have acconpa-
MED the trains have taken back home |
along with the money derived from the |
sale free rations issued from ration dis |
Gepots by soft hearted American |
officers.