Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1910-05-10
BY
Frederic
!. Hask;n
THE TROUBLE IN CUBA
The Race Question

white man in authority. The white man
is in his eyes the symbol of restrictive
discipline and that he does not like.
During the half century preceding the
establishment of the Cuban republic,
whether in actual war or in plotting and
planning, the revolutionary leaders en-
deavored always, and successfully, to
prevent a division among the Cubans
along the color line. Since the founda-
tion of the republic it's political leaders
of all parties have attempted to carry
out the same policy of Cancellation and
compromise. But in so doing they have
invariably promised more to the negroes
than they have been able to deliver.
In the last election, which resulted in
the selection of Gomez and Zayas as
president and vice president, the negroes
were promised an equal share in the dis
tribution of patronage. This promise
was broken. The Liberal party also
appealed to the negro vote by a pledge
to repeal the puritanical anti-gambling
laws which had been saddled upon the
Cuban people by the Americans. This
promise was redeemed. and as a result
a national lottery is robbing the people,
both black and white, of every cent they
manage to save after they have amused
themselves at the cock fights. The ne
groes are rejoiced that the restrictions
prohibiting cock fighting and gambling
have been removed; they are delighted
with the opportunity to buy lottery tick
cts; but they also feel the drain upon
their pocketbooks. Instead of attributing
their poverty-stricken condition to their
own vice of gambling, they are apt, like
a great many more enlightened people
in more enlightened lands, to charge
their financial difficulties against the ex-
listing government. This is another cause
for discomfort.
1t must be remembered that the Cuban
negro is entirely different from the negro
of the United States. The negro -
essentially a creature of his environment
The slaves brought from Africa to the
United States and those brought to Cuba
were surrounded by entirely different
circumstances. The American negroes
in slavery days were widely distributed
and nearly always were in the minority
in every community. While few south
eTn planters in the years Immediately
preceding the Civil war owned large
numbers of slaves, as a general rule
there were but few negroes on every
plantation and they lived in more or less
Very, very few of them were badly treat
ed, and the vast majority were cordially
devoted to their masters. This was prov
ed during the four years of the Civil
war VIII en- the great majority of the ne
groes remained loyal to their old masters
and stayed at home and cared for the
families of the men who were fighting
in the Confederate army. These south
ern negroes learned to initiate the man.
ners and customs of their white masters
forgot practically all of their barbaric
customs, and actually readjusted the
remnants of their savage religions 20
the requirements of the Baptist and
Methodist forms of the Christian faith.
In short, the American negro is civil
lied.
In Cuba the conditions were entirely
different. The negroes were massed in
large numbers on huge plantations and
were forced to work by task masters
who were cruel as only the Spanish know
how TO be cruel The negroes had prac-
tically no relations with the whites.
they learned little nothing of the
habits and customs of their arrogant
masters, and for the most part were
left to themselves. Under these condi-
items they maintained the barbaric rites
and customs which took the place of re-