Delaware gazette and state journal. (Wilmington, Del.) 1883-1902, 1901-12-26
CUBAS PRESENT PROBLEM.

As more than the Reader" whose
communication apr cared In your issue
of December 18Th are puzzling over the
| question OF Cubaa present trouble, 1
beg to submit the following statement,
based upon many months OF study in
that island as correspondent of the
Evening Post.
The primary CAUSE OF Cuba's present
economic distress lies in the failure OF
the government of intervention, from
the earliest days of its occupation of
the island, to give due note and heed
to the key OF the entire situation. All
of Cuba's uprisings III the past in
GLIDING that of 1890 have sprung from
protest against oppressive and repres-
sive enonom Conditions Political
agitation and armed revolt have been
but means TO an end, relief from econo-
milo burdens. This fact our government
failed to realize, or, If realizing IL,
failed to act upon il. The effort OF
the administration has been directed
towards political, legal. and admins
trat We Isiorin. The economic welfare
OF the island has been all but ignored.
With the establishment Of peace, as
the result of American Intervention in
their latest outbreak. the Cuban people
bul hCb W Gu5tuiuhty
with most communicable patience ana
persistence. But the task wns too
great for their resources. The war had
destroyed their farming tools and their
working cattle. Their folds hnd been
laid waste, and nearly ons.half OF the
sugar mills Of the island had hean
wrecked ana burned. Few of either
owners or renters, whether large
planters nr small farmers, had dollar
with which to reoommence their bust
ness.
These people haze made manful
fight, hoping for better days, and, Ia
tho words of Secretary Root, relying
upon fair and generous treatment by
the United States, \ inoited by
our precept and trusting to our friend.
ship" They have fought practically
without help, and in the face OF a fall
ing market. The vast increase in the
output OF European bounty fed eugars
not only Rlutted the market on that
side of the Atlantic. but also depressed
the price OF sugar in the markets of the
world to lower figure than it had ever
before reached. This increased outnut
operated to the exclusion OF Cuba q
sugar from the markets OF England and
the Continent, and left to the island
only the markets of this country. Under
present quotations, which offer no pros.
pact OF rising, 30 per cent of Cuba's
planters stand to lose from oue.auarter
10 three quarters Of a cent on every
pound OF sugar produced and offered for
sale. This has but one meaning-rain
to the planters, poverty and hunger to
scores of thousands Of laborers, and
social disorder which may require sup
PRESTON at the hands of American
troops.
Americas responsibility for Cuba en-
tends to her economic as we'll as to her
political welfare. Cuba's greatest
grievance against Spain was the i'm
position by the mother country OF laws
which restricted Cuban production and
robbed the Cuban people Of The fruits
OF their industry. Had the island been
allowed to rosper in it's material
affairs, there would have been little or
no protest against the POLITICAL system.
Today Cuba is poUrer and more economi.
cally hopeless than she was ut any time
IN the last century, when her protests
tuok the form OF armed revolution.
The real question Of today Is whether
the United States is 10 repent In Cuba
tins history of its predecessor. IL no
action be taken within the coming
weeks, we shall either turn over to the
incoming Cuban government wreck
which presents no possibility of sucoess-
iul administration, or a situation will
bs created which will necessitste an
Indefinite continuance of the govern
ment OF intervention.
This danger has not been unforeseep.
thoughtful observers Ia both countries
have noted the gathering Of the cloud
Hut comment upon IL was unpopular
and disregarded. In his report OF June
2Oh, 1899, Gen. James ii. Wilson, then
military governor of Matanzas and Santa
CLARA provinces, the producers of 40
per cent OF tire sugar output of the
Island, had the prescience and the
temerlty to state that he was $50 con
WINGED OF the futiiry Of approaching
the problem OF reconstruction from any
other direction that Ihe must again
urge the necessity of some action to
relieve the wants OF the agricultural
population and to put agriculture on a
SOUND basis with the least possible
delay
SeDor perfecto l.acosts. the Cuban
Secret Try of Agriculture, in bis Yeport,
states that up to December 3Ist, 1890,
mo order OF general nature has heen
issued by the intervening government
relating to our agriculture. (" Under
date OF March 10Th, 1901, the same
authority officially states that, up TO
that date. mo order Of general char
aoter has been issued in conpection
with agricultural matters.''
Going no further back than last
winter, may quote from the columus
OF the Cuban press. La Independencia |
OF Santiago said:
But it appears that the necessities
of politics which ought to be laid |
aside when it is question of economi- |
cal xistence-overshadow all othsr
considerations The fields were aban. !,
doned altogether. aud preference was
v ven to the cities. And, while opy
millions were squandered on military
stables, in asphalting streets which
could wait for two years in the state
they we're in before, in creating sine.
cures for bureaucrats, our poor country
people who came out of the war with
out clothes for their bodies and with.
out homes, with no means whatever 10
take un their former laborious and uro.
ductlve life found themselves in tba
today
Ell Nuevo Pals says,
And what has the Intervention done
during the two years which have gone
byY Nothing for our permanent in
terests; nothing to encourage our nro.
duction nothing for our extinct credit
nothing to favor our agriculture,
aotnlne TO revive our paralyzed in.
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