The Birmingham age-herald., 1916-03-19


 nearly all American cities are cheap ana flimy compared with Havana and it's wonderfully built houses They are practlcaily all of solid brick or con- crete, with cement floors covered with beautiful Cuban tile similar to that used in the Birmingham Athletic club Ine roofs are flat and covered with llle. The owner argues that 1t is cheap CT to build right in the first place than pay repairs on cheaper house.
 Real Estate-The standard price for lots in the new residence district of Havana is s10 per square meter. or s5000 for lot approximately 3ox15o feet in size. In outlying suburban dis tricts the subdivisions look very much like those in the states, except they are better prepared, and are adver- Used as low as $1 per square meter.
 Iaxation = Vacant lots or wild acreage which has never been culti vated are not taxed in Cuba until thev are improved and capable of bringing Ill revenue. The assessing authorities estlmate the normal rental per annum of each piece of property, take 30 ner cent or that and then divide by 12. In other words, they endeavor to collect one-twelrth of the net income as taxes
 Servants-Most of the servan+s around Havana are from Spain. There are many thousand immigrants iron, that country every year Twenty dol lars per month is the standard waga together with a room, and very often servants bath Most of. them cannot eau ana write. As a class they are honest ana faithful, but are slow to learn and very destructive of china etc. Native Cubans are said to ha i'm possible as servants, as they combine every bad quality which a servant can possess. cen
 Aitchens-The modern Cuban kitcb- en IS similar to the American kitchar Tn many respects, except for the Snan- lsn stove Imagine a concrete tahIa w.n three or Tour charcoal pots built into It, and you have the Cuban s+o,,a To prepare an ordinary meal tha os1. oooI. mas to kfndle fire in each Of +ba .nree or Tour pots All the cookino is done on this primitive apparatus woos IS scarce around Havana and an aver age Family will often use sS or se of chaircoal per month.
 Fences-In old Havana the houses are built up to the sidewalks and pa- tlos In the middle or rear furnish :. breathing place for the family. Tn all or the new districts, however. the american influence is being felt ana the houses are set back from the side walk so as to leave a front yard. This IS surrounded by a high iron fence with locked gate, in order to keen out thieves and trespassers. Some fam mes, m order to leave the gate un- iocheo, run chain through the legs or their porch furniture and thus lock it up
 water SuppIy-Havana is said to nave one of the best water supplies or any city In the world. It comes from group of springs eight or nine miles out It Is beautifully clear and Is not filtered in any way. It runs into the city by gravity and is not pumped at any polnt. For this reason, and the fur fher reason that Havana is one of tbe closest built cities in the world wa ter is very cheap. A five-room house pays $4 year for water, The pIan+ Is owned by the city.
 Breakfnst-Working hours in Ha- vana would run Birmingham business men crazy. Work starts at or o'clock in the morning. At 10 o'clock
  flee clerks stop for "breakfast" ana are off until 1 o'clock. Other houses vary these hours somewhat, but ev- erybody must stop sometime during the morning for 'breakfast."
 Smokeless TOwn-Havana ts one of the cleanest big cities in the world The only domestic fuel used is char coal, except in some districts where fc introduced, The electric company. the railroads and few factories burn coal but this Is not enough to smut up the town. The big industry of Havana is cigar and cigarette making and no power is required by them, as this is entirely hand operation.
 Arca-Havana contains only about 25 square miles and is supposed to have about 350.000 inhabitants. In oth- CT words. it is half the size of Bir- mingham and has over twice as many people. There are only few buildings in the place over two stories in height. so the people must of necessity live very lose together. The old style was for a man. his family and some of the clerks to spend their entire lives in the store and in the patio in the rear.
 Gambling-Cuba is gambling na- tion. The government. of course en- courages this with its lottery, with drawings every 10 days. The govern ment retains 30 per cent of all money received from the sale of tickets and distributes 70 per cent in prizes. It is now considering the advfsability of licensing private lottery companies to operate so the field can be worked even more thoroughly. They have a number of garden games" around Ha- vana, where four girls engage in ten- nis games. The spectators sit around the court and bet on the outcome. Ap- parently every form of gambling is en- couraged