The Plymouth tribune. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1901-1911, 1903-12-31
QUEEN OF THE ANTILLES
BEAUTIFUL, WONDERFUL CUBA,
ONCE RENT BY WAR, NOW
HAPPY AND Prosperous

MOT Mucn Opportunity There at This
Time for Men From the states Un-
less Well Equipped With capitaI-h
Great Future Not Remote.
Havana, Cuba, Special: There are
several steamship lines connecting va
rious ports of the United States with
this enchanting island. Walking the
streets Of any of her cities, you will
meet citizens from nearly every state.
Of an evening when the bands arc
playing on the plazas you will meet
fair-faced women from nearly every
city in the Union, particularly at this
time of the year. Some are merely
sightseers, others the wives and
daughters of men engaged in diplo-
matte callings, families of men en-
gagged in professions. in manufactures,
in commerce and trade, or engaged in
agricultural pursuits.
Yet Cuba is not an unpleasant place
of residence in the summer season
contrary to the universal belief of
those who have never visited the
island. the summers are not uncom-
Portable. l am told by permanent res
idents that they 1on't feel the heat so
much as the hot periods of the states.
However, there is a luxurious in To-
lence in the air itself, and ones energy
soon runs down
Since the American army took pos
session and Colonel Warnings white
wings" cleaned the streets and by
ways, putting Havana in a SOUND SAN
itary condition, it is one of the health
lest and cleanest cities in the world.
Yellow fever has been banished for
ever
Cuba is doing fairly well as an in
dependent republic. but there is not a
little internal dissension, and some
day when a cigarette-consuming ma
tive fires on a revolver and starts a
revolution the people will rise up and
ask annexation. Porto Rico, a near
neighbor, has prospered so amazingly
under our benign rule that Cuba looks
toward statehood herself. Cuba's nat
largely by American capital: and un-
der American sovereignty. as it were
still greater prosperity will be as
sured when complete control is had
There is an agricultural bureau that
is flooding America with literature
and settlers from the States are sought
TO reclaim from riotous nature the
millions of acres in rich soil now heav-
lily numbered with forests and a tropi-
cal jungle. Lands that were under
cultivation up to the recent war soon
grew up in a wilderness and must be
cleared anew, so luxuriant is the
growth of tree and plant life. There
are several small settlements where
Americans are engaged in growing
tomatoes, onions, etc. Irrigation is
pretty generally required, but if prop
erly provided three and four crops can
be guaranteed. The soil Is so rich
that sugar-cane need not be replanted
az In the States, but yields crop after
crop for ten or fifteen years before
running out. Cane culture, tobacco
and orange growing are great inter-
ests in the island. Improved methods
In the cultivation and care of pine
apples have met with gratifying re-
suits. Bookkeeping is destined to be
q profitable industry also. Stock-rais-
ing is beset with great difficulties in
Cuba. however, and 1t will be many
years before satisfactory results may
be looked for. l find that fear of tor.
nadoes is the greatest terror old resi-
dents experience. These disturbances
occur at certain seasons of the year
and often wipe out of existence great
estates.
If the country ever fills up with
Americans these settlers must come
from California or the southern tier
of states. Most certainly farmers and
fruit-growers from the middle and
northern states would be pretty sure
to make decided failure in following
their usual avocations here. The sci.
ence of farming and fruit growing and
truck gardening would have to be
learned all over again
BY personal observation found the
soil not any more productive than
the lands of south Alabama or west
Florida. In fact, the hogs that supply
Havana and all the other cities come
from the farms about Mobile and Pen
sacola, and most of them are of the
long, lean 'razor-back' variety that
run wild in their native country.
Several men that 1 met said they
were not pleased with the instability
Of public affairs, and they were going
back to the States. One man in par
ticular, from near Decatur, ILL.,, said
that he had made careful tour of
the South before going to Cuba, and
has now decided that there are great
er opportunities in the rice lands of
Louisiana and Texas, but that in d.
versified agricultural pursuits he
thought the territory contiguous to
Mobile and Pensacola the best. He
had been on the peninsula of Florida
that the same army Of mosquitoes and
insects that made life in the summer
an agony at Tampa, Palm Beach and
Sanford were abundant also 10 Cuba.
He remarked that the higher cut-over
pine lands near Mobile and Pensacola
were always entirely free of these
pests, and he believed that section
would be the great cattle producing