Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1909-06-04
THE REPUBLIC OF CUBA
BIZ FREpERIO ]. HAsKIN.
ODD PHASES OF HAVANA LIFE,

HAVANA. Jan. 22.-Havana is a modern
city of the size of Washington. 1t has
300. 900 Inhabitants, and about one-third OF
them are negroes, exactly the same pro-
portion as in the capital of the United
States The city is modern in the sense
that nearly all of the advantages of the
age of steam and electricity are obtain
able, in the sense that the hotels are
thoroughly cosmopolitan. Yet there are
many things that are out OF the ordinary,
and which are distinctively Cuban, al
though some of them have their origin In
the United States government
For instance. there Is the money sys-
tenn. An American business man who has
lived in Havana for nine years has learn
ed 10 carry no less than five purses in
bis pockets at all times. One is dedi-
Gated to American silver. another to
American gold and paper, the third to
Spanish silver. and one each to Spanish
gold and French gold. Each one of the
sixteen daily newspapers in Havana car
ries at its masthead the daily prices Of
money exchange. But the current market
prices do not rule in all business trans
actions so that great care must be ex-
ercised.
When the Americans first took hold on
Cuban affairs in 1899 the unit of the mon
etary system was the Spanish peso of one
hundred centavos. At that time it was
worth sixty cents in American money.
That rate of exchange was then estab-
lished, officially, and it remains in force
so far as the government and the char
tered public service corporations are con-
cerned AS a matter of fact the Spanish
peso is now worth eighty-four to eighty
seven cents.j In ordinary commerce the
exchange is at that figure One may take
an American dollar into any one Of the
scores of money changing shops, each dis
| playing the sign "cambio de moneda, ."
and get about $1.15 in Spanish silver.
| But at the postoffice, or at the railway
office, or on the street car, the Spanish
dollar is worth only sixty cents. As Span
ish silver is the money of the people. and
| is almost the only currency in use in
daily transactions, and is the standard Of
prices in all mercantile establishments
the arbitrary standard works a great
hardship. 1t also opens the avenue for
considerable populations on the part OF
government employees. A stamp clerk at
| branch postoffice cen easily make an ex-
Etra hundred dollars in a week by selling
stamps for Spanish money at sixty cents
and then, turning that money into Ameri-
can at eighty-five. settling in American
money from his own pocket. The wise
man carries all sorts of change. and he
makes money by it. The banks have two
sets of books. one for Spanish money and
one for American. Checks must show
what kind of money is on deposit to be
drawn against. In the larger transactions
Spanish and French gold are generally
in use. AS the people have no other
money but Spanish. the steam railroads
Lon = e-Fw -
profits by the double system Of exchange
Some day Cuba may have a money sys-
tenn of its own, certainly one of the cry
Ing needs of the hour is a reform In
the currency system.
The banking, like every other consider
able business in the island, is In the
hands Of foreigners. The Spanish con-
troll the mercantile business, and they
likewise do most of the banking business
Canadian banks are much in evidence
and. since the days of the war, American
banking capital Is a prominent factor
The Cubans themselves have little to do
with the banking of the country, except
as they have been taken into partnership
by the Americans.
The clash of American notions and
Cuban ideas sometimes leads to ridiculous
situations. One of the newest and finest
buildings in Havana is the Hotel Seville.
Architecturally. It is a replica Of some
famous Moorish palace. Practically, it is
designed to be the first really, truly,
American hotel in Cuba. Every conven-
fence invented by Manhattan hostelries
was installed before the hotel was open
ed for business. Even the rates were
reminiscent of Broadway. The proprie-
tors, a Spanish Cuban firm which already
owned several hotels in Havana. decided
that they would complete the list of at
fractions by giving their walters an
American schooling. Head walters and
several assistants were imported from
continental Europe via New York. They
| had been long enough in Gotham to adopt
the Anglo-Saxon methods whatever may
have been the quality of their English.
These foreign head walters began to do
revolutionary things. They declared that
walters must not smoke in the dining
room while serving patrons. The Cuban
walters swore they would not give up
their cigarettes, but they concluded to
confine their smoking to the kitchen. Then
the tyrannical head walters ordered the
whole staff to shave. their mustaches. A
Cuban reveres his mustache as an Arab
reveres the beard of the Prophet. This
was an Outrage u WllAGil liit iOb bAtON "a
Cuba Lbre could not submit Between
a Job and mustache there was but one
possible choice-the job must go.
Whereupon the English speaking guests
of a dozen hotels found themselves face
to face with the problem OF ordering
Spanish breakfast from a Cuban person
who knew not the significance of the
words 'ham and eggs" There was
walters strike The walters lost out. of
course. and the raw strike breakers got
the Jobs But the waiter in the Havana
hotel may be seen today blowing the blue
cigarette smoke through the ends Of his
curling mustache. 1t was victory Tor
Cuba Lfbre.
The institution of marriage has been
greatly popularized since Anglo-Saxon
ideas of morality followed the stars ana
stripes into Cuba. The religion OF CUBA
is Mortified at the frequency of divorces