Omaha daily bee., 1901-02-06
Interesting News from Havana.

When we heard several weeks ago that
W. G. Schultz, vice president OF the +. r.
Rice Mercantile Cigar company, was going
to Havana on his annual purchasing tour
to make selections OF fine Havana to-
bacco for the Mercantile cigars. we re-
quested him to make a note of items which
might interest our readers and we are glad
to impart some of them in this item
I'm the first place when Mr.. Fred Opp
and myself reached Havana We we're agree
ably surprised to see how many improve
ments had been made in the city. The
streets are swept daily and kept exceed
ingly clean: all houses have now the best
sanitary arrangements and the different
parks in the heart of the city looked beau
tlful and could not be kept in n nicer con-
dition. Streets that are not already paved
are being improved and IL appears as
though they are going to make them last
forever. The Philadelphia syndicate is
stringng its wires for the electric street
car system and already have large num-
Der of beautiful cars which will take the
place of the old horse cars as soon as the
system is completed. There are hardly
any changes in the business establish
| ments; occasionally there are some signs
in the English language, but very few
American propretors. There seems to be
improvements III tue pOliNt
force; all of them are Cubans and wear a
nice blue uniform, caps and white gloves.
A great many Americans 20 to Havana,
but few OF them like the country and
| climate well enough to remain. The coun-
| try is slowly recovering from the effects
| OF the late war, but IL will be several years
| before the sugar and tobacco plantations
will again produce as formerly, on account
Of lack OF money and farm help. When the
| last war broke out 1t Is said that over $127.-
0000 900 were taken out of the country by
| the Spaniards who returned to Spain, also
| n number of farm hands returned to their
| native country. There were some synd
| Gates formed for raising tobacco, but II 's
| claimed their experience so far has been
sad one. Some Of them planted large
| quantity of tobacco last year, but for lack
OF rain and proper care 1t turned out poorly
and this year the halstorms in the center
sections have destroyed the entire crop. 1t
is reported that the many cigar factories
on the island lost money owing to the small
| crop OF tobacco and the enormous high
| prices they were compelled to pay and the
outlook for this year seems less encourag-
| ing, as there has been too much rain In
| the country. When person sees the small
| quantity OF good Havana tobacco in the
market IL does not surprise one to find so
many manufacturers in this country using
tobacco for wrappers which initiates Ha-
vana, but, OF course, costs less and makes
a much inferior smoke to fine Havana
filled cigar, wrapped with fine, imported
Sumatra tobacco The public. however. is
beginning to be very suspicious OF the So
| called clear Havana cigar Whilst ! sue
ceeded in procuring the quantity OF to-
bacco needed for the manufacture OF our
| Mercantile cigars, 1t was only after a
diligent search through the market and by
| paying enormous prices for the same. Ow
ing to the partial failure in last year 5
| crop and the loss sustained by the planters
there was considerable less planted this
year and the prospects are that next year
| the prices will not be lower, possibly
higher. There Is always a large amount
| of Havana tobacco raised which is very
poor in quality and does not even compare
| with our good domestic tobacco. On leav-
ing Havana we found a number of new
rules adopted by the government Before
a ticket can be purchased a doctors GER
tifcate has to be obtained, showing also
that a party has been vaccinated; then the
baggage is inspected before Il is placed
on board OF the ship and during certain
seasons OF the year all the baggage is
fumigated."