The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1900-03-30

and nearly all the sugar ana tJHt."b
plantations and the enormous forests
Of Puerto Principe and Santiago l-le
largest and widest province OF alb are
az present absolutely mcu.,lvatsd and
uapr0Iuc-ive. Probably a compute
ion OF aII the land iu Santiago which
IS .u any sort OF use. Including the
cities and villages. would show THAI ss
Or % per cent OF the province is land
with which nothing Is being done. L.
e., as idle as if it were dense forest. -.
indeed. much OF 10 b.. Only about one
fourth OF the island is or ever has been
productive. Taking account OF the
cattle ranches on which there are no
cattle. OF the sugar plantations that
are abandoned because the mills have
been burned and there are no oxen TO
. haul cane. even II the mills were disable.
and OF OyergrOwu and ruined coffee
plantations and farms, il wCuId be
quite WiJhiu bounds 70 say that nine
tenths Of Cuba Is unprOductive OF any
thing save mosquitoes. malaria. and
land-crabs.
Spanish misrule and incompetence
were the reasons why this vast region
was not cultivated in former times.
Then the iusurrectiOn made develop
ment still more impracticable. Since
the war, uncertainty as TO the per-
maneuce Of American control has dis
couraged every one Of the hundreds of
Americans who have gone 10 Cuba with
the idea OF taking up land and develop
ing il. and they have done nothing.
The almost total absence Of highways
renders IL impossible to get products
to market, so far as most Of the island
is concerned. There is practically no
communication between different parts
Of the island away from Havana, Ma
tanzas and Cieufuegos, except by sea.
Two things, then, are absolutely req
uisite before the island can be devel-
| oped; assurance Of American control in
| future, without which, as has been
clearly shown, capital will not enter it,
and transportation facilities. II the
present scheme is put into effect IL may
/ be taken TO mean that the promoters
have been told that Cuba will not be
turned over to its inhabitants to run
on the lines of a South American re-
public; and also that the transporta-
/ ton question is going 10 be solved
forthwith. For, having bought up the
little railways there now, Sir William
Van Horne and his associates propose
10 extend this nucleus until every prov
ince is well tapped. They will first
build a central, or vertebraterial. line
from Cape Antoine, the extreme west
ern tip OF this long, narrow island. to
Cape Maisi. at the eastern end-about
700 Understanding as near the centre
of the island as economical engineering
will permit. Then they will construct
branches north and south to the best
harbors. which abound on the Cuban
coast; and these ribs, in conjunction
with the backbone, will afford an out
let for the products of nearly the whole
country.
Men well informed on this subject
have held the Cuban railroad system
would never be built in this way. 1t
would be impossible TO make a central
railroad pay, they think, because
freights would seek the seaboard in or
der to get sailing vessel rates to New
York and other cities, and no apprecia-
BILE amount of freight would go any
further overland than necessary. a
central railroad might eventually come,
but 1t would be by the gradual Gun
struction of connecting links between
a lot of little branch lines. The latter
would come first, and only after the
island was well opened up would it be-
come possible to travel from end to
end OF II by rail. If, however, this
broad and daring plan should be car
ried out, the result will be that the
branch lines will pay their way in
freights from lumber and tobacco at
first, and from all sorts Of products
later, and that the production of sugar.
fruits. coffee, cattle. and all sorts Of
vegetables will develop enormously
within a few years. Sugar will not be
the chief of the products to feel the
effects of the boom. because the plan
ters there are hard put to it TO obtain
enough labOrers now. This labor prob
lem will stand in the way Of the divI-
sion of Cuba among a few large prop
erty owners There are few places
in the world where so much OF value
can be produced with so little labor.
With railway system. wisely and fair
~ managed. a great many small farm
ers and men Of moderate capital would
be tempted to seek homes in Cuba.
despite the fact that it is connected
with New York by one Of worst steam
ship lines in the world.