Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1902-03-10

4r F the weIl-nigh unanimous judgement
of all intelligent observers in the island
may be accepted as correct, the stu
alton in Cuba urgeAtly requires imme-
date relief by the reduction of the
duties now imposed upon Cuban products
imported into the United States II there
is anybody who dissents from this view
have not met him since coming here, al
though / have talked with men OF all
classes, foreign and native, from Havana
to Cienfuegos.
The condition of congestion and stagna-
ton may be inferred from single state
rnent which is taken from local neWspa-
per in Havana, and which Is doubtless eX-
act. This journal declares that there are
now 100000 bags of sugar in the warehOus-
&c of Havana. as against So, 600 at the same
time last year, and that at that port the
exports to date amount to no more tnah
AZ 0O0 hays. The tobacco interest suffers
Similarly. but perhaps not altogether as
badly. Some claim that 1t suffers even
worse than the sugar interest
A protective tariff at its best Is an ex-
nression of national selhshness and COM
mercial cowardice, but in this case, when
ali the history of our relation to cuba is
taken into account, it does not fall snort
of being positively infamous.
We forced upon Cuba our demand that
the United States should exercise super-
vision of treaties with other powers OF
course this was done not alone Tor the
plrpose of safeguarding ourselves against
possible aggressions from without; we had
an eve on commercial treaties as Wen
Now with this power Of supervision IN
our hands we hinder Cuba's trade with
others while with our tariff laws we al
most forbid trade with ourselves. The case
of the dog in the manager is scarcely as
l. craf
straw he could not eat. we get nothihs
from our folly and meanness-not straw.
Our policy Is as insane as 1t is injurious.
When General Weyler adopted his pol
lev Of Recommendation in Cuba all America
burned with indignation. But the tenden-
CIV of our tariff on Cuban products is 10
make the whole island a camp OF recon-
centrados. With this congestion OF pro-
ducts brought to pass by our prohioitery
duties we make the planting Of cane ana
tobacco improbable and impossible ana
while thus running the agriculturists we
overthrow the bankers who have MADE
advances on the crops already made.
Our policy If persisted in, tnereIore'lnus
inevitably blast both urban and rural
nrosperfty. And this we do for a people on
behalf of whose liberty we went 10 war
Offering up for their liberation sacr1nce
Of precious lives and immense treasure
viii we allow that chapter Of our ma
tfonal history, which for time seemed
like a chapter Of International chivalry'
to be dimmed by the continuance OF poi
lev as cruel to the Cubans as II Is dis
ereditable to US.
Multitudes have been indignant az the
attempts made to blacken the records OF
gallant Laen of the navy. VIII we allow
the honor of the whole nation to be stain
ed in order to crafty Mr.. Oxnord and MS
associates? Our assurances have been
given to mankind that our motives in
our Intervention in Cuba were unselhsh
iunpulses of humanity; shall these profess
sions be belied on the first temptation,
and that too on temptation so snaH!
Here is a little island having a smaller
area than that of Georgia by 1000 square
miles and having a less population than
Georgia by above 10000 souls. Only four
of the six provinces produce sugar or to-
bacco in any considerable quantity. Now
is it not ridiculous for the entire sugar
and tobacco interests In our great coun-
try to fall into paroxysms of fear be-
cause four little provinces Of one little
island are granted a fair chance to sell
their products in the United States?
And the matter win appear still more
ridiculously when it is remembered that
we do not produce in the United States
more than a fractions very vulgar frae-
tion-of the sugar which the country con-
sumes. This means that our protective
tariff lays tribute upon all the people of
the United States and at the same time,
deals Cuba a staggering blow-an in the
interest of a small number of people en-
gagged in the sugar business-mostly in
the beet sugar business. Mr.. Dooley's
proposal of the beet as our national flower
is amply justified by this extraordinary
partfality which we manifest for its pro-
ducers If this partially is to be perpet-
uated the proposal of Mr.. Dooley should
be adopted forthwith. But Mr.. Oxnard
seems to have misgivings about the per-
manence of our fondness and makes hay
while the sun shines. A press dispatch
from New York printed in one Of the
Havana papers informs the Cubans that
1t has become known here that Mr.. Ok
nard, the president of the Beet Growers
association. has just closed contracts for
the supply Of beet sugar which extend
over the next five years" This is the way
this infant industry takes care of itself
while bawling for pap from the public
purse. When it gets grown there is no
it would strangle Cuba; then perhaps it
will undertake to choke the western
world.
OF course this economic question af-
fects every other issue in Cuba. Educa-
tional, Social moral and religious inter
ests must all be influenced when the very
necessaries of life by which the people
are saved from perishing are touched.
Now under the military government
above s., OO0, 600 are annually spent on pub
lie education. When Cuba's own govern