Evening star., 1901-10-30
3 U SIN E s s2tk Gu 3 A
SAID TO BE POOR HECAUsE OF UN-
SETTLED CONDITIONS.
Chief Clerk Bristow Tells of Better
ment Of Postal service-soon
ON Payinfna.i..

Mr P. II. Bris.ow, chief clerk of the in
sular postal department of Cuba, has ar
rived in Washington to report to post Of
flee officials, and he brings the statement of
a banker Of Havana, With whom he talked
Just before leaving the island, that business
in Cuba was seldom, or never, as bad as 1t
Is now. The stagnation Is ascribed by the
banker directly to the uncertainty incident
to preparations for changing the govern
| ment. Tobacco and sugar, to the amount of
$12, 100000 in value, awaits some settled con-
dition of tn" affairs of state, independence
or annexation. Mr.. Bristow said he was not
in position to affirm or deny the banker S
assertions Of excessive dullness in the bust
ness world Of Cuba.
About the only big business enterprise
| which Mr. Brtstow reported to be actively
in progress were the building of the rail-
road from Havana to Santiago by the COM
pany of which Sir William Van Horne is
the leading spirit, and the advertising of
northern goods by a company which uses
billboards, and seems bent on disfuring the
entire landscape of the Queen of the An
TILES in as short time as possible
Speaking Of the new postal service which
the United States has established in Cuba
in place of the peculiar public accommoda-
tion of this sort under Spanish rule Mr..
Bristow said:
THE department of posts of Cuba is
modelled after that of the United States,
but it is not so extensive, of course, and
therefore it has not so many subdivisions.
1t includes director general NJ. c. Fos-
nes a chief clerk and these bureaus-ap-
pointment and transportation, money or
der and registry, stamps and supplies and
translation. There are four special agents,
corresponding to the inspectors of the
United States service, and there are 234
post offices and postmasters. The Havana
post Office is as complete as any post office
in this country, and in about twenty large
cities there are carriers. The postmaster
at Havana is Cuban, and his salary is
So, 500 year. The other postmasters are
paid various sums down to S36 a year. and
two of them are women.
1.-The transportation Of the malls in Cuba
is chiefly a problem Of the sea between the
cities, because the railroad does not extend
very far. Mail goes from Havana to the
other cities north coast or south coast
steamers. To and between inland points
the mail is carried over star routes by
wagon, on horseback, on foot, and to a
limited extent on the railroad. The mail
cars are equipped as in the United States,
and clerks travelling in them sort the mail
en- route In the old days the mail was
thrown on the train in bulk and sent that
way to its destination
Railways Garry Mail Free.
transportation in Cuba is that the railroads
have to carry the mail for nothing. Their
charters demand it. r., II Il.
"Under the Spanish regime all the Off
cials, even the priests, had franks, which
gave them free use of the mail service.
Now nobody franks his mail, but many
persons are privileged to use the penalty
envelope, such as government officials use
in the United States for official business.
All SuperintendentS of prisons and insane
asylums, military and civil officials and all
other persons who represent public bus
mess Of any kind use the penalty envel-
opes. A firm in Cuba has just begun the
manufacture Of vaccine, and the manufac-
turers get the use of the penalty envelopes
because they are distributing the virus for
public use in all parts of the island.
THE volume of mail is growing, but the
great increase is in the use of the money
order system. That was something un-
known while Spain ruled the island. The
department of posts of Cuba is not yet
quite self-sustaining:'' 81 ",tt