BoletiÌn mercantil de Puerto Rico. (San Juan, P.R.) 18??-1918, 1902-04-04

There are two American views of,
the Cuban problem One is had in
the United States another view is had
in Cuba. Naturally the perspective is
not quite the same.
| heard an American call the situa-
ton as he saw it in Cuba ''the inside
outfview" He meant that the people
in the is1and-not simply the C,lbans,
but the Spaniards and the other Euro
peans, and also his own countrymen-
had their own way of looking at things
He was beginning to look at them in
| the same manner.
Americans in Cuba are SO many just
now that what they see and hear
counts Without previous warning they
came down on the island this winter,
not like 1ocusts but like hony bees.
Instead of devouring the substance of
the land, their pocketbooks distilled
prosperity for the hotel keepers, fan
stores, the curio shops, the pawnshops
and great number of similar indus
tries. Their patronage rejuvenated
baseball, made possible some real jockey
races and caused the old Basque game
of "pelota" to jump inio tremendous
vogue. The American visitor bet on
this game as recklessly as the Spaniards
do.
All of the newcomers have money tC
spend. The hotel keepers get the most
Of it, and promptly put up prices SC
per cent. This is the third increase Of
the sort since the military occupation
The visitors pay the charges without
growing They are having good
time because they have just found oul
what a world of tropical wonder the
island of Cuta is. Old settlers in the
American colony do not begrtldge
them their enjoyment 1t is the first
season in which they have not had
cause to feel ashamed of the most OF
their countrymen who thought that
since the flag was UP they would come
down and under its folds gather in the
loose change which a country that had
suffl red war and d ISOLATION might have
lying around. Instead the class of
Americans now in Cuba and which is
still coming is spending its own money,
and where it looks for business oppor-
tunities has the idea of making real
investments instead of floating 100 per
cent. schemes. Every one remarks on
the substantial character OF. the Amer
lean visitors solid men with their
families who put up with the incon-
veniences of overcrowding without znur,
muring, because they find enjoyment
enough to compensate for the lack of
personal comfort.
l did not know how many Ameri,
cans were here until after vain at
tempt to negotiate at the various hotels
for room. Finally by insisting on
the vested rights of an old settler | was
enabled to sign the protocol of treaty
for quarters, with the promise that it
will be ratified before midsummer. The
happy hotel keepers all urged in their
own defense that they must take care
of the newcomers first.
Some notion of what this thrush
means already is had by the people of
Havana A clearer conception of it
was given one afternoon in the cafe of
the hotel by Sir William Van Horne
as he watched group of newly arrived
Americans. "Do you know" he said,
that nineteen out of twenty of these
people are men who have made their
own money, and do you know, too
what that means? They are here for
good time now-nearly all Of them, I
see, with their families; but you'll find
good many of them, while they have
come on pleas Ire, have their eyes about
them for bushes. There will be more
of that in a year or SO, and then there
will be an era of American investment
in Cuba.
Mr.. Van Horne, as the head of a
great enterprise, which did not wait