New-York tribune., 1900-08-21
CUBAN VIEWS OF THE UNITED STATES

Cubans and Americans alike may be said to
owe q substantial debt Of gratitude to the pro
iectors Of the vacation visit Of Cuban school
teachers TO this country, spent for the most
part in study amid congenial surroundings in
Cambridge and now ending with little outings
to this city, to Philadelphia and to Washington.
Suggested. no doubt. with other thought
than to give the men and women now facing
the problems Of popular education in Cuba an
insight into American school and college meth
DDS, the brief stay Of our tnsular visitors prom
ises to result in even broader and more general
benefit For the sojourn here of thirteen hun
dred such quick witted observers of manners
and customs cannot fail to add materially to that
sum of mutual knowledge and appreciation to
the paucity Of which may be traced most If
not all of the misunderstanding which have
clouded the recent relations between Cuba and
the United States. The friendly judgments Of
American character and purpose which the re-
turning instructors are likely to spread among
their cOmpatriots will We hope and believe, go
far toward stilling those suspicious and preju-
dices which anti-American agitators are for
their own purposes continually revivtng in the
minds Of the Cuban people If SO, the Cam
bridge trip may turn out to be a signally eff
fective aid in promoting mutual good feeling
and establishing that native confidence in
American policy which can alone guarantee the
approaching Constitutional Convention from
sohism and wreck.
Intercourse such as the Cuban teachers have
profted by in the last ten weeks has doubtless
exploded many misconceptions of this country's
attitude toward it's West Indian ward. The
American in Cuba from whose manner and ut
terances the native islander is forced TO draw
his conclusions is too often fired with that in
tolerant zeal which would sweep Cuban Gus
toms and institutions away in a moment to
make room for a government and society fash
ioned after the American plan. The cOnserva-
tive Cuban who hears the gospel of Ameri-
canizatiOn dinned into his ears sees only as the
result Of the new order Spanish law abolished
the Spanish language set aside and English
speech and English methods triumphant In
business and commerce-and turns away from
the picture with discoura cement and contempt
His typical American is the promoter, to whom
the island and It's resources are merely another
oyster, to be opened by the sword or some
other equally available implement The Cuban
teachers, who have discovered what little charm
this view of National duty and opportunity has
for the average American at home, can be
counted on to reassure their alarmist friends
and neighbors. Inversely the intelligence
adaptability and cultivation shown by Har-
wards thirteen hundred guests must have
greatly strengthened the impression-too little
current hitherto in this country-that Cuban
life rests on a substantial basis Of education
and manners, and that elf-government may
not be the least Of the capacities with which
the Cuban people have been endowed
Just now, when Cuban leaders like Senior
CisnerOs are appearing in Washington to pro-
test against the conditions laid down for the
election Of delegates to the Constitutional Con
ventioD and threatening to start a secession
from that Convention unless certain explana-
| tions and promises are offered, it is well to re
member that the politicians of Cuba speak. as