Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1905-03-11
BY a. W. LEE.

cetps show a surplus over the expendl-
lures, the net balance for the year end
ing June 80, 1904, being $5~,860,372.37.
Taxes on both country and city prop
erty are as yet very light and are
based entirely on income. Real es-
tate that is producing nothing pays no
taxes. The average income tax is said
to be about ten per cent, and a person
owning a home in Havana that costs
$4,000 will pay a tax from $40 to $50
a year, as the rental value of such a
home is at this time about $500 per
year.
Licensed Liquor Traffic.
The liquor traffic is licensed In the
city, the amount of license varying
with the size and extent of the bust
ness carried on. The average saloon
license is said to be about 500 a year.
The consumption Of spirituous liquors
is very light, and there seems to be no
drunkenness whatsoever. During a
two weeks sojourn in this city have
seen but one drunken The social
evil is completely segregated, and I'M
der the most complete police surveil-
lance. 1t Ices not make itself mani
fest publicly in any portion Of the city
usually visited, and the evil is less
manifest to the public than in Ameri-
can cities.
"Encada TERRA Su Uso."
EN- cada TERRA su uso," said Sancho
Panza in accounting for the peculiari-
ties of the houses in eel Toboso."
| Translated into English this means
that every country has a way Of it's
own and Havana's way has certainly
been determined by the Havana eli
mate. Everything is arranged with ref
erence to GOODNESS. The central fea-
ture Of the Cuban home is the 'pa-
to-" the interior court about which q
house is built. This is paved, open to
the sky and surrounded by arcades and
galleries. All the rooms open on it;
below are the parlors in front, the
kitchen in the back, and If there be a
horse we shall find the stable back by
the kitchen. There are no chimneys,
no stoves, and not eve ireplaces in
the Cuban houses. The cooking is
done on charcoal ranges, in kitchens
that are partly in the open air. This
open air system of Cuban life has pro-
duced as a natural result an openness
of living. The grilled windows, af-
fording full view of the interior of the
house, give a measure of domestic
publicity which Is strange to the north
ern eye In warm, sunny, open air, Ha-
vana, people live in their homes in the
public view, eat and drink and visit in
public view. and even do their court
ing where they may be seen of all
men, for the conventional trysting
place is the front window. the lover
leaning against the bars on the out
side the inamorata within, the iron
grating between, and another member
of the family always present to hear
everything that Is said. The rooms of
Havana houses are very large, and the
ceilings are high, eighteen feet being
the average. The floor is of tile or
cement without carpet, and a great
deal of marble is used in the interior
work, there being many magnificent
marble %staircases to be seen in the
finer homes which must cost large
sums Of money. Upholstered fur.
niture Is unknown; cool cane and
wicker prevail. There is no distinctive
residence quarter in the city, though
the advent of the electric street car
line is now rapidly developing some
magnificent residential suburbs. 1t is
one of the anomalies in this city that
a costly house and a carpenter shop,
a rich mans mansion and a shoemak-
er's shop may be directly alongside
each other in any part of the city
proper.
Winter Climate Like Summer.
The Inter climate of Cuba is GER
tainly superb, and it is said that the
summer climate is always very delight
full. being only about II degrees