Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1902-11-25
AMERICANS IN CUBA
Most of Them Are After
Land.
WARNING THE UNWARY
NOT TO PUT FAITH IN SOME
COMPANIES.
Development Of Street Railway Will
Aid Colonization-Benedt to
the Island.
WARNING THE UNWARY

Special Correspondence Of The Evening Star.
HAVANA, November 10. 1902.
Americans are coming into Cuba pretty
rapidly. They are of the right class. Most
of them are after land That is where they
show good sense. 1t Is about the only way
to get rich or to live in comfort without
being too rich. A newcomer who puts his
money into land or engages in genuine In
vestment enterprise is going to distance the
fellow who has nothing but schemes.
Among the Americans who are coming
are all types. Some Of the real capitalists
do not control quite as much money as rney
are credited with, yet there are investment
projects which have capital back OF them.
and which with conservative management
are likely to succeed. A good many synol-
Gates still exist on paper, and Will never
get further than that. Others nave prought
money to Havana and have 1t in the
banks.
With the commercial and financial
classes who do the business of the city that
is the only real test of whether an Ameri-
can enterprise is genuine or not. III they
have money deposit they can also have
credit, and they are given the recognition
to which they are entitled. But II they are
going to get the money later and bring 1t
down to Cuba, the Havana banks treat
them politely and pass them on.
Selling Of Franchises.
ut was a late discovery of American cap
italists that the Foraker law did not seri-
ously interfere with legitimate investments.
1t simply prevented a lot of spectators
from peddling franchises in the United
States Since the Cuban government was
established there has been no general law
passed regarding franchises. For the most
part the old Spanish laws continue in
these mnnicinal other
franchises may be obtained. Some impetus
has been given to plans for water works,
street car and electric lighting projects,
gas and SO forth. But as rule the Cuban
municipalities are not rushing headong into
public improvements. Most of them are
still too poor, and the resources Of local
taxation are too uncertain. American capt.
talists have found this out. and they also
have become conservative. Where they are
going into municipal improvement projects
1t Is only after careful investigation
It Is rather of the individual American
than Of the syndicate that 1 mean TO
write, because SO many inquiries still come
from individuals whose future mus, depend
on the capital which they can bring and
utilize in sums from one thousand dollars
upward. Swindling land companies keep
on advertising that they have plated off
lots in Paradise, otherwise known as. Cuba.
They will sell certain amount of swamp
savannahs to credulous persons who
buy without knowing anything OF the geog
island. Some persons of responsibility, who
ought to be in Jail. lend their names to
the legitimate colonizng enterprises.
these schemes. They throw a cloud over,
Warning the Unwary.
There is a limit to which the unwary can
be warned. Where half dozen people are
thinking Of coming to the island, they will
save money by sending one of their num-
Der in advance before they invest a dollar.
And where the single Individual has only a
thousand dollars he will do wisely to set
aside third of 1t for the expense of trip
to Cuba. l have met so many Americans
who bought lands from companies or whose
standing they knew nothing and then come
to Cuba to take look at their properly,
that the suggestion of first coming to Cuba
and then buying the property is constant
ly recurring one.
With soil of boundiess richness Cuba also
has a considerable quantity of Door lands
That is the kind of land that the swindIing
companies buy in order to Sell to gullfble
persons in the United States. Americans
now have a further means of informing
themselves because the United States has
a consul general in Havana and consuls in
the other chief cities whose reports to the
State Department have value.
These are general hints or pointers Prob-
ably no one who has the prospectus habit
and takes for gospel what he reads in those
works of boom literature will pay heed to
them. Others who may want to know can
take the information for what they think
1t worth.
American who is coming to Cuba now got
the best notion from one of the Cuban i'm
migration inspectors They all come first
class" he said, "and while in one sense
they are emigrantS, they don't appear on
the records as such. I asked one man how
much money he had with him. and he
asked me would 1 rather be pitched over
board or would he put me to sleep right
there on deck. 1 know he was mad and 1
didn't ask any more Americans who we
thought were emigrants how much money
they had with them
Nominally Cuba has in force the imrni-
grafton laws of the United States and the
inspectors have the right to satisfy them
selves that the immigrants are not going to
become public charges. As this inspector ex-
planned. he should have known better than
to ask first-class passenger, and he won't
do it again.
The American Colonist.
A fair proportion of the Americans who
are coming in acting on the advice of
friends neighbors. These have passed
two or more summers The American colo
mist Is apt to be discouraged during the
first rainy season, but after the second one
he finds that 1t isn't so bad, and he writes
to his neighbors telling them to come
along.
The opening of the railway which Sir
William Van Horne and his associates have
built across the island is going to be a basis
for large development and colonization en-
terprises. But the conditions of soil in the
eastern provinces are not different from
those that prevail throughout the island
and information which will answer for
colonist In one province will be lust as
good for another section.
For Cuba herself the chief benefit from
the American immigration Is going to be in
diversifying her products. A good deal that
Is academic Is written about diversified in
dustries in Cuba. Whenever sugar or to-
bacco Is depressed the Cubans are told that
what they ought to do Is to diversity their
Industries. Prof. James Bryce came over
from England last winter and told them
so. A French professor of political econo-
my and German beet sugar expert gave
the same advice. Nearly every American
gives 1t.
This advice is very good. It cannot how
ever. change the foundation fact that the
chief wealth of Cuba is and always will be
her sugar and tobacco. The only question
Is the degree to which these can be varied
and even after many years successful ex-
pertmenting the value Of Cuha's diversi-
fed products in any given season can only
be fraction Of the value of the sugar crop
But this Is no drawback to the Individual
or to the group whose opportunity lies in
getting away from sugar cane cultivation
For capital on a fairly large scale but
which Is not large enough to GO into SUI
gar plantations and mills, the cattle In
duStry in eastern Santa Clara Porto Prin-