The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-10-28
BUILT HOUSE OF TOMBSTONES.
FRIAS BOUGHT THE GRAVEYARD
AND HE rs FRUGAL.

HAVANA, Oct. Is.-"You people up in the
States,' said an Englishman long resident
n Havana, seem to me to lave started
ont TO make this Cuban problem a. COM
piicated a. possible. Really II is a simple
question. Five years z you turned a
complex machine over TO these children
to run. Well, they have run it-into a
ditch-and they have smashed 1t into
flinders.
"Now. you've come down here with a
wrecking gang. you've pulled the machine
out Of the ditch and you'rc tinkering with
i. What are you going to do with It when
you've got IL into shape again.
You have unfortunately committed your
selves. You have, through your President
and your State Department, promised~to
hand over the machine for these came chill
dren to fool with once more. I don't know
why-I suppose political considerations
Of which an Englishman can know nothing
have driven you toit, but so far a. the good
Of Cuba and Cubans is concerned you
have committed yourselves 10 a policy
that can have but one ending.
These children will certainly smash
that machine again. So sure az the sun
rises and sets they'll land it in the ditch
once more. The only question is. How long
will il take EN- this time?
The opinion thus expressed by an English
man ia practically universal among the
foreigners of Havana, and indeed among
all persons who have money invested in the
island. They agree hat the knowledge
that Cuba is now to have her last chance TO
show that she is ca pable Of self -government
may have a restraining effect upon the
leading men in Cuban affairs, but they have
no hope that quiet and good government
will last long in the island once the strong
hand Of the United States is withdrawn.
There is no way Of forming an intelligent
personal opinion as to Cuba's future except
by trying to get some clear idea Of the tenn
permanent OF the Cuban. One does not need
20 he possessed Of extraordinary powers Of
observation to arrive at the conclusion that
the Cuban temperament differs In many
particularsf from that possessed by any other
nation in this hemisphere.
What other nation, for example, would
tolerate a man like that cheerful iconoclast
Senator Frias? The name met MS nothing in
America. Few Americans unfamiliar with
Cuban Affairs have ever heard Of him. Yet
Frias is one of the most salient symptoms
Of the deadly political malady from which
Cuba is suffering.
This man has been one Of the most malev-
olent influences that have directed the
malign course Of that group Of Cuban po-
litical pirates who chose to call themselves
Moderates. He was the head and front
Of the party in Cienfuegos. and at the time
Of the final catastrophe to the republic
represented that district in the national
Senate. More unoontroverted accusations
Of graft have been directed at him than at
any other one man in the island.
There was the matter OF the Cienfuegos
water works, for example, and a score OF
other enterprises in which Frias and Judge
Reilly were involved as open or silent part
ners. The friends Of the murdered VII
luendas are not slow to lay his death at
GRASS door, either, and at length things
got so hot for him in Cienfuegos that he
did not dare show his face there. He Is in
Havana to-day and has not for months
dared visit the town he represents in Con
gress. But one does not wonder 80 much
that Frias has survived the charges of
graft. Many persons have done that be-
fore him, both in Cuba and in America.
What most amazes is that he could have
survived that little matter OF the Espada
Cemetery.
The Espada was one of the oldest cemete-
ries In Cuba. Through the influence of
Bishop Broderick, who has left Cuba, not
altogether, say his enemies, to the detri-
ment OF the island, Frias came into possess
sion Of this ancient city of the dead. II was
his purpose to employ the land for COM
mercial purposes.
But the Cienfusgos Senator was a prao-
IDEAL man. He saw that there were thou
sands OF fine headstones in that cemetery,
and he resolved that they should not be
wasted.
Consequently, when the bodies were re-
moved Frias saved all the headstones and
had them shipped to CienfuegOs. Here he
built himself a fine house and the stones
In that house are the headstones from
Espada Cemetery. That house Is standing
to-day. Frias lived in it up to a few
months ago and would live in it to-day
II he dared show his face in Genfuegos. I
saw a man from Cienfuegos yesterday.
"Frias got the best Of me in a business
deal" said he, and not only that, but the
headstone from my grandfather's grave
forms part OF the pavement OF the court
yard Of Frias's house."
Yet this genial person has lived and pros
pered in Cuba for years.
It Ia not 80 difficult to understand, how
ever, after one has become familiar with
one Of the most extraordinary customs Of
this extraordinary land. In Cuba you
do not, as a rule, buy or own your plot
in O cemetery. You rent or lease IL. As
long as the lease runs the grave is properly
cared for and respected. but no longer. II
the lease runs out and is not renewed the
body is promptly exhumed and thrown into
q vast one pit.
This custom is not peculiar to Cuba. It
prevails in some other Latin American
communities. IL seems to be the Cuban
idea that q few years 10 all the care that
anybody il entitled to n that it doesn't
matter what happens to IL after that, which
explains, in some degree, why Senator
FriAs's amazing residence a never pro-
voked such q riot as would not leave n
OF it's tombstones upon another.
The Cuban, in short, Is q child OF to-day,
q creature OF the moment. Permanently or
thought for the morrow Is not among his
many qualities. You sec IL in the city shops.
II you 20 shopping you are very politely
received, the most engaging attentions are
showered upon you and you are robbed.
smilinRly and politely robbed. It never
oomlrN 10 the Cuban RhopkeeDer tn at IL