Richmond daily palladium. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1876-1904, 1902-01-14
PALMA TALKS OF CUBA
RepL biic'S President Eiecs Out
Ines His Plans.
SAYS WILL GEFER BE Az SEXGD


Evacuation OF American Troops.
Hone. For a Capital Ike wash
in-ton-
In the great sitting room OF the old
farmhouse ut Central Valley y Y
Senior Tomas Estrada Palma. the re
Gently eIec,ed president OF Cuba. re-
ceived q New YORK World reporter the
other evening With old fash oned 20
likeness. with courtesy suggestive OF
the dignity of the Spanish hidaigo. the
old gentleman welcomed tie news
paper man and motioned him 10 a
chair
TO nv mind the most important
thing for Cuba at this time is the edu
cation OF her people. he said The
foundation of Cuba 5 future prosperity
will be the education of the children
OF this generation. | shall advocate
the most liberal system of public
schools throughout the island- The ed
ucatiou of all children must be com.
pulsory.
Another thing | shall pay great at
tention to is the sanitary welfare of
the island yellow fever has injured
the island commercially in the past.
and it must be stamped out at any
cost The cities must and shall be
kept clean and everything done to
make q yellow fever epidemic impos-
sible. | have been much interested III
the experiments which have been made
regarding the spread of yellow fever
and other diseases by mosquitoes. and
the matter WIZ receive my attention.
Il shall model many things on the
plan Of the nited States government
| have lived in this country long
enough to know what real progress
means ana how It is accomplished.
shall have plenty of assistance 10 that
end There are many men in Cuba.
young men especially. who have been
educated in this country. and they
will b, Of great use now in making the
Cuban rcpGbiic 4 model one
Fave you bought anything about
your cabinet:
No. except that it will not be large
| believe four or five secretaries will
be sufficient. OF course. there will be a
secretary of state and Il secretary of
the treasury. Then | should say there
would be Il secretary of the interior
and a secretary of agriculture. | can
not sec much use for the others
DO you think the time VIII come
when Cuba will become part of the
United States:'
No The Cubans have fought too
many years FIR freedom and indie
pendence not to bold on to it row that
1t is coming to them. | know that it
will lie a great many years before
Cuba knocks at the door of the United
States for admittance, if ever. We are
a Spanish people and we do not care
to be merged into the United States.
The immigration from Spain will be
very large in Cuba in the next few
years. Already since the war over
10000 Spanish immigrants have set
tied in Cuba and more are coming al
the time. They have faith in our re-
public"
do you think the delay in granting
Cuba independence was necessary"
Not at all. The Cubans We're per
fectiy able to govern themselves two
years aCo-as much so as they are
now. surely We are peace loving
people. We bear 10 hatred toward the
Spanish people We are not revenge
for all they have done for Us. but we
want the independence for which we
fought so long"
The New York Herald quotes Senior
Palma az saying: Il do not know
how soon the last of the American
troops viii be withtlra WI FROM Cuba
We are confident of the perfect good
fa5r Of l,n fad
make no demand for the immediate
evacuation of the island.
Rural guards will be formed to take
the place of standing army aud for
the purpose OF meeting any ener-
geney that may arise The Cuban
people desire to show that they do not
need American troops in the island to
keep order and peace. They have an
appreciation of their own duties. and
they will be proud when that day ar
rives that will permit them to stand
before the nations of the world free.
independent. well governed. prosper
Gus and at peace.
Some system of coinage must be
devised for Cuba. but that will have
to be left to the future. 1t is so easy
to depress the currency and coinage of
a weak nation that | would prefer to
have some arrangement made whereby
American money might circulate in
Cuba as standard Ii may be that this
can be accomplished I believe that il
would have "A good effect upon our
trade relations
We have outsta ndiug bonds to the
amount of S3.oOooOO that have been
recognized. These bonds begin to bear
interest the day our government is IS
tabliShed One of our first duties Will
be TO provide for their payment Cap
tia must be encouraged and hostile
legislation minimized The railroads
of Cuba should be amaIgamated into
one system. as under the present plan
freight rates are unnpcesSa riiv hic,h