The Montgomery advertiser., 1906-10-21

women engaging in business Is very strong. Many unfortunate occurrences l must he attributed to this fact: for l even in this land of perpetual summer poverty is hard to bear, and food must | be procured somehow.
 Among the men of Cuba religion is merely a name. As a rule, they do not attend church. There are hundreds of noble fanes scattered over the island which are practically deserted. We at- | tended a service in the Cathedral d week ago at which two priests were 1 officiating with only us two Ameri- l cans for auditors. In Bahai Honda. a town of 1900 inhabitants. which Is memorable because 20,000 of its inhahi- l tants died during the war with Spain, | the average attendance at church Is | from eight to twelve persons. drawn l from two families. During last holy | week the number of persons present at one of the handsomest churches in Santiago de Cuba was twenty. Tn Ha- | vana the proportion of the faithful Is larger. but the ratio to the total popu- lation Is very slightly. If at all. larger 1 For political and family reasons an occasional man may be found faithful ! in the performance of his religious du- 1 ties. There are signs of improvement in many places. The condition, how ever, Is full of significance for anyone
  seated springs from which the conduct | of the Cuban people arises
 Our cause of the indifference of the Cuban men to religion Is found in the
 fact that many of the Catholic priests | are Spanish, and were supporters Of the Spanish regime in Cuba during the war of independence. Any person who
 has affiliated in any way with the
 Spanish regime is unpopular in Cuba
 to this day. The people do not forget integrity and competence are condemn
 ed on that ground alone.
 One encouraging feature of the situa
 tion Is the craving among the common
 people for better things. Ever since the
 withdrawal of the American troops,
 five years ago, this large but mute
 class in the population has sighed for
 their return. They want the United
 States to remain in control, confident
 that under the paternal hand of Uncle
 Sam they will get a better chance in
 moral. physical and intellectual ways.
 In fact. up to the moment when Mir.
 Taft took control. Cuba has had the
 body of a republic, animated by the spirit of monarchy
 The prevalence of the minor vices
 among the Cubans cannot well be ex-
 aggerated. In the rural districts the farmers can hardly keep pigs or chick
 ems. This kind of property Is consid- cred legitimate prey by all the hungry
 wanderers that happen to pass. In the
 cities nobody trusts anybody else. l Brothers going into partnership with brothers bind one another by stringent } contracts and heavy penalties Prom } ises amount to nothing. except in bus mess. where the Spanish merchant may be relied upon to comply with his en . agreements, verbal or written. in his } course of time. Procra situation Is a failing which all classes share alike l A positive agreement to do a certain thing on certain date gives no cleW as to the day when 1t will actually be performed. Among house servant. = pilfering Is accepted as a part Of thu domestic arrangements. The mistres of the household makes allowanc,
 therefor in her budget. The stealth, Is generally only of small articles. a
 everything of real value is always kep under lock and key.
 The prevalence of dishonesty is, en v couraged by the curious character o the laws and the farcical administra tion of justice Secretary Taft seem , already to have been impressed by G, recessity for reforming the abuse , which have arisen in this departmen n of the administration. He has sen for Major Crowder, an expert in Cuba
 law. and it Is understood that he vii II be trusted with the revision of the on |. tire body of jurisprudence. Tn strange character Of the laws may b '' inferred from the fact that a perso F, meeting with an accident in the stree |. cannot be touched until the nearei ', judge. or his properly authorized rep U. resentative. has visited the spot. view U ed the victim and noted the surround . ings. The idea is that if any crim ~ las been committed. in this way ever
 possible clew to its perpetrator will b
 discovered.
 -| In practice. however. men who hay been run over by street cars have bee
 known to bleed to death in the street
 of Havana, while the public passed b
 unable to help, and the ambulanc
 summoned for the purpose, had to kea s at a safe distance. Men have bee
 known to be hurt in some relativei
 trivial way and to die from long e> ID posture to the sun while the abser
 judge was being searched for.
 seems strange that the prohibition
 touch the victim should apply to th
 ambulance service. but I am assure ,a that it does. Anyon. who has tr ,r temerity to offer first aid" in case ,- of injury runs the risk of arrest an o prosecution. The same fate is mett
 out to the pedestrian who is run ov' ,e by a cab. He Is supposed to keep O, "a of the street, where vehicles are pas. l in fic not only does he deserve any il
 fortune that oyertakes him, but meri t. chastisement at the hands of the al Is thorities In order to discourage othe ee from venturing where they have T or business The law Is hard upon u 1T, families of persons who drop dead
 the street. No matter how rich or r. es spectable, or how obvious the circur is stances that no crime has been con ne nittcd. the body must be token to Il ny morgue and subjected to an au;op! II before the sorrowing relatives can tal S charge of it.
 m m The moral status of thA people c' ss usually be inferred from the respt ct. or the lack of it. which they show to f e dead Cuba is full of contrasts when comes to this phase of manners. T ts Colon cemetery Is partly filled wi ,s costly monuments, but nothing cou ts be more doleful than the way In whi t's the bodies of the poor are shoVell
 away Graves are sold for $6 per a hv rum, and when the rent Is not fort ye coming, the bones are ev.oted. ' ur bodies are borne to the grave in ,ss wagon capable of containing several
 Cuce two corpses at a time are put re ! a sort of bier covered with sheet. ad are committed to the earth in hatct Ire of three without regard 10 sex. T of cemetery yields revenue of S3b DOO
 year The funerals O. rich people d so- often .cca sions for much parade. I - hearses of Havana are among the sights of the city. They are drawn ou many horses the number varying cl- cordine to the resources of the len ,aer6 somatimes as many as four p