Omaha daily bee., 1906-02-25
CUBA IN PRESENT DAY MOOD
Land of Prosperity and Laziness has a
Great Future.
SUNSHINE AND TOURISTS, IN PLENTY
G. w. LIninger writes EntertsiniBgIy
of the People and the Outlook
of the queen of the
Antilles

vEDADA. Cuba, Feb 1S.-To the Editor
of The Bee: You ask for my impression of
the island of Cuba. In a word, the posi-
bilities are great. much greater than had
anticipated when here before the war. 1
saw at that time that war was inevitable,
but now since that question is settled and
our government has cleaned them up and
given them a start, everything is changed
and we see great improvements everywhere,
particularly out in the suburb of Vedado,
where Il large American colony has sprung
up with fine buildings, parks and boule-
wards The sea wall is several miles in
length and will eventually reach out to this
suburb. The wall is some five miles long
and gives the place a substantial and met
ropolitan appearance.
The Prado, over n mile long through the
center of the city of Havana and over 800
feet in width. has been extended to the
sea opposite old Moro Castle. OF an even
ing and particularly Sunday evening. one
might well imagine himself in Paris on the
Champs Elysees or Inter den Linden in
Berlin.
Mixture of Race Astonishing.
Here the best of bands furnishes music to
thousands of promenaders. The great diff
ference is the people. All shades of color
from the blacklist African up to the whitest
of north men are seen here. The mixture
of races that Columbus found here seems to
have been going on ever since and the
original natives have long since disap-
peared. improvements are going on every
where Even on Sundays the work on the
streets continues. A walk along a mile of
wharfs shows the amount of shipping going
on daily. Twenty to thirty seagoing vessels
in the harbor at one time, and these from
all quarters Of the globe There is ten times
more shipping done here than I had sup
posed. Prosperity seems to have struck the
island and everything is high. Good prices
are obtained for all kinds of goods and liv-
| ing is expensive, except Off those who live
off the fruits of the land. A fine trolley
system of cars runs in every direction in
the city and out into the country for miles.
The roads are generally of macadam. About
25c,OO0 people live in the city and the popu-
lation of the entire island is given at 5000,
COO The island is about eighty miles wide
and nearly 1000 miles long. The mercury
reaches as low as 50 degrees and high
as 90 degrees. These are the extremes.
! Since arrived two weeks ago it has av-
| eraged from 70 to so degrees. Everybody
is wearing summer clothes, although 1t is
midwinter. The climate is very moist and
particularly good for throat trouble My
cough left me in few days after arrival.
Big Hotel Needed.
Many Americans are building winter
| homes here. Last week every hotel IN
the city was full and running over. Pri-
| vate families were compelled to open their
| doors for time The arrivals for one day
were over 400. The greatest need today is
| for flrst-class. up-to-date American hotels
| to accommodate thousand people When
| Flagler or the Florida East Coast rail-
road, which is now building from Miami
to Key West. is finished and they put on
line of steamers that will land passen-
gers In Havana in four hours, then you
| will see a stampede for this point that
will simply swamp them. There is more of
| interest here and the climate is better
than in Florida and the people will come.
This island has not yet been entirely
explored. There are immense forests of
mahogany that have not been penetrated.
Thus far they have relied upon tobacco
and sugar, and these two items alone have
made the people wealthy. The soil is rich
| and will grow almost anything and when
quick transportation is furnished with the
completion of the Florida Railroad Cuba
will become the winter garden for the
great Northern cities. Unfortunately the
people are like all hot country inhabitants
lazy-and the labor question is a most i'm
portant one both for domestic and field
help. There are some Chinese here, but
! not enough. Labor saving machinery Is
being asked for now and more will come
Autos Are Numerous.
l think | am safe in saying that several
hundred automobiles are running here In
the city of Havana and several large ears
are labeled See Havana by Auto" with
guides. We have made several excursions
into the country and expect to take some
more during the coming week. Take II
all in all. this will be a very large city
some day not far distant and l feel now
as I have always felt, that it should be 0
part of the United States.
G. w. LININGER.