Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1901-01-18

of racing on some of the judges, who are
put up IN the stand to determine time and
pace and other questions.
Not long ago when there was racing. one
judge calmly insisted on the winner being
disqualified He gave excuse until his
associates pressed him. and then he ex-
planned, Il have 5000 on the other horse.
Since then he has not been invited to
occupy place in the judges stand at the
| jockey races, though his position in Havana
society has not been jeopardized.
Bicycling. which q year ago was the
rage. retains a fair degree of popularity,
but it has been banished from the Prado
to the suburbs, where there are plenty
of excellent roads. 1t is likely to lose
some of its prestige because continued ex-
ertion is not characteristic of the trop
les and bicycling has not become easier.
Another cause is the dislike of the Cuban
and Spanish women for short skirts and
for bicycle suits.
Gambling Repressed.
| Gambling in Havana has not been stamp
ed out and never will be, but it has been
repressed. and there is less of it in public
| than at any previous time. AT the Cuban
club which was most noted as gambling
club cards have been supplanted largely
by the discussion of politics and annexa-
ton, while at the Spanish Casino the dis
| appearance of so many military officials
has helped to limit card playing. The
American clubs which We're started for
| gambling purposes mostly have died from
lack of patronage. American missions at
last have caught up with American black
legs and Adventures, and the various
chapels which have been opened by Prot
eStant SectS have more attendants than do
the other places. This is Il pleasant change
to note.
| The lottery has not lost its hold entire
ly on the people. Yet since its suppression
there has been less effort to restore IT
! than might be imagined. As a state instl
| tuition it went when Spanish sover-
eighty went. and the people acquiesced as
they did in many other matters. The
Madrid Royal Lottery manages TO sell some
tickets and the police occasionally make
successful raid on some lottery vender or
cause a newspaper publisher to be brought
before 1.-The correctional courts for pub
fishing lottery advertisements. But there
is no more of this than there was in the
| United States after the suppression of the
Louisiana lottery.
The poorer classes do not have the OPP
portunity that was once afforded them for
playing policy or the Chinese charade,
| and notwithstanding that they are innate
gamblers, they manage to get along fairly
well without this privilege. The police
force which was organized by Supern-
tendent McCullagh of New York has
reached a fair stage of efficiency, and is
entitled to credit for suppressing many
evils which demoraliZed the whole popua-
ton. l think it may be said fairly that
Havana's morals have been improved Wis
ibly in the last two years. and that they
are now no worse than any city of q quar-
ter of a million Inhabitants which has
large cosmopolitan population Some forms
of social vice are far less PROMINENT ana
| less offensive than in the United States
ENCOURAGEMENT to Public Works.
Steady employment has been one of the
best means of bringing the mass of people
up to a higher standard. This has been
done partly by the American policy of en-
ccuraging pubic works and partly by pri-
| do for
temporary relief of the deserving poor by
modified form of a government pawn
shop. This Monte de PleGad was an in
heritance from Spanish rule. Like other
iHheritances of a governmental character
it was in a crippled condition. The 1nSu-
tuition was similar to the French pawn
shops which are sustained by the authori-
ties. That its original endowment was
from the proceeds of lottery did not al
feet its usefulness l called in at the shop
the other day and obtained some particu-
lars regarding its functions.
The Monte de Piedad is under the control
of the secretary of state and government
and therefore is not purely a municipal in
! stitution. 1t lends money at per cent an
nually for not more than six months, with
possible renewal of eight months, and
/ will not receive property valued at more
| than $500. 1t is unpopular with the usurers
| of Havana who are like their class every
| where in Directing to government inter-
| ference with private enterprise. They loan
! dt IuV 10 LOU per cent, DIS dSdlHSt o pei Scil
| by the Monte de Piedad The present
movement is for an increase of the capital
of the institution, which now is only 100000
This capital is loaned out all the time and
notwit outstanding the habit CubanS have of
getting into debt, and then regarding the
| debt as an oppression of the government
the Monte de Piedad has little trouble in
carrying on its business The testimony is
| that the people in straitened circumstances
who place their property there rarely fail
to redeem it and keep up the interest. The
Monte is one of the institutions which I'M
der the American management have been
great help to the poorer classes, and which
| also have managed to escape much fault
| finding from the critical Cubans.
| 1t is a diSgreSSion from pawnShopS to
| social customs, but the observation may be
made that Americans are more successful
in managing institutions of this character
than in changing customs and usages. or
than in teaching the natives the English
| language and the elements of polite educa-
| ton. The tendency to improve the native
| population is not confined to officials. One
enthusiastic individual who once a
| hoStler and who came with the army Of
| occupation, has established an institution
of learning for the benefit of Cubans and
Spaniards who want to become familiar
with English. He bears testimony to his
own success. In telling some American
visitors of his method and the surprising
results, he said: 1.-The reason because l gets
on so we'll with these here Cubians is that
l learn EN- SO quick
A Shining Light.
'The professor" he is called, is one OF
| the shining lights of the merican colony,
which feels that it has a mission to per-
| form in the island. THE professor takes
himself seriously and is without a sense OF
humor. In that he differs from an Amerl-
can official who was appealed to by a Gu
ban judge for some good book which would
| help him to learn English. The judge had
| studied the language in private and had the
| mechanical knowledge Of words which
sometimes accompanies such study. Is
| American friend presented him with the
| latest copy of Mr. Dooley's works, along
with the assurance that Archey road was
| the Chicago avenue of culture. The Cuban
| judge took his English dictionary and went
| to studying his Dooley faithfully, but re
now appears in cafes a victim of mis-
| paced friendship and refuses to see the
difference between American humor and
premeditated insult.
| There are numerous women refOrmers
| in Cuba, and 1t is needless to say that all
of them are Americans. The Cubans and
Spaniards speak kindly of this class and
call them '1ocos,' which is the Castilian
term for foolish or harmless insanity. 1t
might be translated back into English by
the word crank One of these women re-
formers announced that the first step to-
| ward elevating Cuba was to destroy the