The sun., 1900-08-12
CLUB LIFE OF THE CUBANS.
NAVY ATTRACTIVE FEATURES IN
THIS KIND or DIVERSION.
Chief Club in Havana Il the Union-Its Qaar-
ters and Satisfactory APP ppointments Method
by which II Is Kept Rally Cuban-Its In
auence In Public Ilfe-Other Clubs There

|
1t much OF that attractiveness which has lee
! in Americas chief city to the establishment
OF SO many palatial centres for the gathering
| together OF the men who really make the me
| tropolls what II is. To the clubman In Ha
vana his club Il his all. because the numerous
| distractions afforded to men OF wealth In the
| great cities Of America are almost completely
lacking there Notwithstanding this fact the
club has not taken the place in the life OF Cubar
men as whole that II has In New York. Phia'
| dolphin, Chicago. Boston and st. Louis. Ia
devotees are fewer. and the shrine where they
worship so less more unpretentious as to make
a comparison well nigh impossible.
In trcth there is but one organization In
Havana which is a club in the sense in which
that word is used in Europe and America. II
Is purely social In character and differs therein
| from all the other so-called clubs or centres
which subserve in the main political or bene-
| fetal purposes. or else are devoted to the en-
| joyment OF games Of chance without police
| the Union Club, and 1t is so maintained as to
reflect great credit upon Cuban gentlemen.
| II comprises within its membership practically
| all Of the Cuban aristocracy OF birth. brains
and Of wealth, not only Of Havana. but Of tho
as an organization ever to be thrown for or
against any proposition. social or govern
mental. opposition TO its expressed verdict
probably would avail naught II the decision
lay with the people. It's leaders, however.
have always used the utmost care to keep the
club purely social In character. frownihg upon
political agitation within its walls, and SO 1t
has managed to keep whole and prosper through
all the ordeals which Cuba has had TO meet.
In the old days. when Spain ruled, her Of
ficers, even to Blanco and Weyler. were wont
TO meet socially in Its halls with the men who
longed for the liberty Of Cuba to the laying
down Of their lives and now in their stead
are some Of the officers OF our own army made
as welcome there as the soldiers OF Cuba Libre.
Cuban annexationists and Cuban separatist.
mingle freely and with friendship. leaving
their politics at the door when they enter To
be sure they sometimes amicably discuss
events OF the day and sometimes get excited
In their arguments. but, none the less. the clubs
well wishers within Its membership have made
and gained the point that the club be not al
lowed TO degenerate into political machine
controlled in the interest Of any clique or party.
While the only requisite for membership Is
that man shall be a gentleman. the Cuban
element has Gkay kept control Of the govern
ing body OF the club. The club was founded
by Cibans. and its organization was SO ar
ranged that no matter what the character Of
its membership, its affairs should I've always
controlled by Gibans. This was effected by
having two classes of members. fundddores
and nunernrios. The latter class has all the
privileges Of membership paying the same
dues, but they are excluded from the right to
vote. The fundadores are, much the smaller
class and control absolutely the club an airs.
They alone have the right to vote and they
-ee to II that among them the Cuban element
is always in the majority.
So far IA the numerarios are concerned, 10
makes no difference whether the majority of
them are Spaniards. Cubans ox Americans,
so long as they are congonial gentlemen, be-
cause they have ,il no r,, power 10 determine 'he
glance appear somewhat inhospitable, has
been and is now really essential for the common
welfare of the club, inaslnuch as the Cuban
element Is not only the dominant one but ls
the least changcable. This is the Cuban'-
horne. lie Is here from the day of his birth
until the day of his death. II transient ele-
ments were allowed TO gain control of the or
ganization there would be no guarantee against
constantly recurring changes which, in the
end could not but be harmful.
The Union Club was founded in January,
1850, with tho Marques de Casa Calderon az
President, the Count de Ia Reunion de Cuba as
Vice President and the MARQUES de Sandoyal
as Treasurer. II established itself on the second
floor of the building at Neptune and Zumeta
home to-day. While lis quarters ara not lux
uriuusly p1latial, they are admirably suited
20 club purposes. They are large and ex-
tremely cool, being open to tho breezes on
three sides. They comprise n large entresol,
a grand saloon, reading room where all tho
Leading newspapers and periodicals Of the
United Statos and Europe are kept on file,
with fine polyglot library rs well, a card room,
billiard room, chess room, fencing room. bath
room and cafe. There are thus combined here
abou, oil ~" diversions which men can OBJ
tain In Cuha outside of the social whirl
Nowhere else can recreation be 50 easily OBJ
tanned in such elegant surroundings as here,
and i is no wonder that the club is extremely
In the United States clubs are usually most
crowded IN the evening In Havana this hap
pens late m the afternoon. Until o'clock the
come troOping in and in half an hour there is a
crowd. The pool tables-Cubans care not at
all for billiards and have no tables-f up.
Judges of the .iudiepcid and most er,Idite doc
tors knocking balls into the pockets with an
accuracy and enthusiasm unsurpassed in the
States by individuals OF very mnch less dignity.
combinations than he does about three-c,shion
caroms, and 10 argue with him that pool Is un-
scientific ana unworthy OF attention as com
pared with billiards is a thankless task The
cardroom--for there Is nothing in the world
that Cuban gentleman loves better than
fr,SHd-is soon the scene of half a dozen games
NIPIed' nucl skill ana no Ilt'Ir excitement IL
displayed. From the soid DC drmds comes the
clashing OF rapiers, as JOSE Martinez Olivia.
one OF Havana's masters with the sword Is
teaching tho members how to uphold their
honor at he call of the code duello. for the
American Intervention has not yet succeeded
In turning the Cuban gentleman from this
method Of redrcssine his wrongs.
In the chesSroom, on In one corner removed
from the noise the devotees OF this thinkers
game sit themselves down to fight out their
everlasting tournaments. Just IA chess fends
do the world over, In the entresol sit groups
ices or drinking the mdest and most nofensive
Of drinks. Whatever may be the vices of the
Cubans even their most vir,ilent enemies ian
not accuse them of being addicted to drink
Very rar~ly do they drink anything stronger
than tiny glass OF vermouth. or possibly a
noon or evening Their preference Is for soda
water with pieces OF pineapple and lemon In n
Ia give u navor or some other equally harmless
but cooling decoCtion.
And II II to be regretted that their ideas "a
TO the drinking habits Of Americans are quite
They abhor man who gets drunk and makes
n nuisance of himself and they are inclined 10
expect that almost any American Is likely 10
do this. When the United States took control
OF the island and Americans became an inte-
gral part of the population naturally some OF
them sought admission to the Union Club
There was no objection on any ones part 10
allowing them the privilege OF membership,
but the first inquiry made on the proposal of
an Americans name was Does he drink much?"
This question being satisfactorily answered
the way was cleared
One Of the best features of the club IL the
bathroom. and between 5 and o'clock IL
swarms with members who. through fencing
pool PLAYING or excited card playing. have
sweatcd themselves into an Uncomfortable
Tha kat