New-York tribune., 1901-08-04
IMMIGRATION IN CUBA.
COMPLAINT OF SIR WILLIAM VAN
HoRNES COMPANY IMPORTING
NEGROES-SPANISH SET
TIERS WANTED

nsign perhaps the most important question now
coming up for settlement relates TO immigration
tlere IN Cuba the number OF farmhands continues
% grow less every day. and this is also true of
ether kinds OF workers Industrial and AGRICULTURAL
y7,,ropean immigration different parts Of America
continues, but without reference to this island.
Here no serious effort has yet been made by the
mowers that be 20 take up for consideration and
action this extremely important question. All that
has so far been done in this respect is limited a
few slight efforts. too vanished and appar-
entity forgotten
But this IS matter that cannot be easily brushed
aside. II demands earnest and serious attention.
because much OF the future welfare the island
wrapped up in II. In Cuba as in many parts of the
United States, every day increase in the
towns and cities OF the numberless crowd of as
prants for public office. for positions OF high and
low degree. The number Of those who flock to the
centres OF population TO seek a means of earning
a living in various commercial and mercantile Occu-
patlOns. notably in the manufacture of tobacco
grows apace And while the number thus increases
OF those who In the cities live the expense OF the
producers OF wealth. the population OF the fields
OF the farms and plantations decreases. and It Is
becoming more difficult every day to find working
men Who are willing TO TN the land and cultivate
the fields
The dangers which arise from such an abnormal
state Of things not remote They are only too
near AZ hand, as the newspapers are beginning to
find out and the public is beginning to understand
BY no means the east or more is the possi-
bnity, which has in several begun 10 be a
fact that the foreigners who have already invested
capital IN the Island aud those who may herea fter
90 so VIII take advantage OF The decrease OF farm
lshorers 10 start toward Cuba currents or ohtec-
uonable immigration, which in time Will afford new
clements az dis rider and constitute grave menace
TO The future welfare OF the island both on account
OF the sources from which the immicrants are
brought and because in many instances they will
be oncuIt Of assimilation by the present population
NEGRO WORKMEN BROUGHT IN
As the chief organ of the commercial element IN
Havana pointed out the other day this Is exactly
what has happened already. In spite of the prom
ise OF SiT william Van Horne's Cuba company 10
bring il ten thousand Spanish workmen AT once
and as many more might be needed il seems
that they prefer negroes from Florida and Jamaica
Many OF these have lately arrived at Santiago de
Cuba, and II is announced by the nanaeerneD, .,
me press or the interior may be credited that this
importation Of jamaican and Florida negroes win
be continued as far as the Cuban companv cons,d
ers convenient
IS Tor this and similar reasons that Cubans
-ano Spaniards alike have every now and then com,
plained that an American company concerned NOR.
with promoting its private interests than with the
welfare OF the island. has undertaken 10 build the
NentTA4 Railway with other rule than its
caprice and no other law than its will and wish
and al without any objection the part OF the
autnoIlties, who ought TO keep the industrial and
9 me9rcantile activity Of the company within reason
maj TSe S'r,I 81 course, neary everybody agrees
nOa nor lE ~ necessary 10 rehearse the reasons why
completed But N this S must 9aGHDohe 6 nn line should be
saTa Ior the interests of the public. Neither the
Puolc welfare nor the future of the island should
pe COMPROMISED or JeopaFdized. Otherwise the con-
e OF me railroad Will be too costly and so
end cause its ruin. wiz :" tue
After the decision of the Porto Rican cases Inv
the supreme Court il was known here IN UavaDs
that the Treasury Department at Washington Was
from getting into the United States bl s rs
Porto Rico. Congress never guarded this gate a.
! IL. II
me objectionable class of immigrants to get 81 feIv
at pleasure To guard against this the tnited
on tSe 2senmeni 2 has taken precautions 10 keep
Tqly the departures from Porto Rican ports 10 The
PRECAUTIONS AS TO CUBA.
No such precautions have as Vet been taken in
the case Of Cuba. The Cuban immigrant door has
not been guarded In this respect II is hardly An
answer 10 say that Cuba is foreign territory and
''al therefore, the United States adopt the
same precautions with regard to Cuba as have
,o ff,loIt-d @ IN the case OF Porto Rico There IS
no olher government here than that established
remedy. The danger is one Tor S'nhs Sppag r 'Le ne
siS,I sc iSiace Is hu9drtd miles and travel Is con
iali!, smuggling Of unlawful immigrants must be
Looked for through this channel II is common talk
sort OF thing has been done. Chinamen being will
Southern ports Of the United States. j" 'Ne
some discussion has taken place in the local
haliway house for paupers and diseased persons
rom abroad. Criminals and cOnvicts in many in
stances are willing and able pay for round
about trip by way of Cuba the United States IL
n clrcumlocution ads in covering their tracks
The Chinese will go anywhere endure any hard
snip and pay almost any price for the privilege
ef reaching the United States. which TO them is
i is perhaps early to write with great GER
who viii control the Cuba Of the future What
60 and natural characteristics are deveoped
ne leading traits must always be those OF ag-
IcuItuTal people. Cuba Is essentially an agrf-
prepared sooner later to TN the fields the
Forests and work the mines The white natives OF
the Spanish peninsula who have In the past come
10 Cuba have shown that they can work in the
and soldiers who have settled In the island have
generally proved good laborers. Formerly the gov
ernment lent State aid for the encourag cement OF
immigrant families settling in Cuba privileges
Were given families similar to those which were
granted to soldiers whose time had expired and
who settled in the island.
5 me , futuTe, as IN the past labor VIII be mainly
% see Cuba "Amercanized' will be disappointed
exclusion law will undoubtedly be enacted. Such a
eignrrs ae Tor eeIf-rreseTvatfon ard rational od
knows the agricultural needs of the country. holds
to-day 10 white Immigration The old Autonomist
party in its first declaration OF principles spe
clhcaly for white immigration. The Cuban Re
publican party platform to-day contains plank in
Favor q Spanish and American white immigration.
y, WIN ~ preference 10 the Spanish Representatives
Tor the future lies only in immigration that Is
eased on the famy. This is true although fl may
capital
HAVANA PAPER COMPLAINS.
II is not surprising, therefore, find. for instance.
the ''Disrio de la Marina" saying that IL the Cuba
Company on undertaking the construction OF the
Central Railway had tried 10 harmonize its in
terests with those of the public. instead of being
danger 10 Cuba, the building OF the railroad
|ouie haye favored The KIND 81 %91eh
ION distributing among them the uncultiVateo