The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1920-03-09
TOPEKA STATE JOURNAL
Information Bureau
FREDERIC j. HASKIN, Director.
Washington, d. G.
CUBA AS 4 RESORT.

said to have lost millions of dollars
a this year by reason of her failure to
please the ladies.
She does not cater to her visitors of
the homelier sex as skillfuly as she
might, either. but good many of the
men who came here this winter and
stayed only a few days would have
I fingered ON TO have another drink
I and another look al the races If their
! women-folk would have let them. ~
large percentage of the women be-
come bored after few days, and want
{ to go back to Florida.
/ Early this month it was reported
/ that nearly ninety thousand passports
for Cuba had been issued in the United
i States. 1t seems not improba BILE that
during the whole winter the number
who have journeyed hither will reach
a hundred thousand, which is GER
| tainly a large percentage of the popu
lation to visit a single winter resort.
/ And all of these migrants braved
1 serious difficulties to get here. They
! starved on the. trains, which never
| carry more than one dining car where
/ three are needed. They stood in line
at Key West for hours on end to
make the purely perfunctory state
ment that they had paid their income
taxes before leaving home, and they
/ paid the outrageous price of about
! twenty dollars each to travel the
| ninety miles between Key West and
| the island.
| This enormous crowd of people,
! therefore. came to Cuba impelled by
hstrong prediction in it's favor. And
! yet Habana is not crowded and has
not been crowded at any time this
| winter. 1t is far easier to get q room
| here than at Palm Beach, Miami or
| any other leading southern resorts in
| the states. Haban hotels are said to be
| a BILE to accommodate only twenty thou
sand visitors, so presumably there
| have been that many visitors here at
| one time this winter. This means that
most of the persons who have come
, here, instead of staying for the sea-
son, have STAYED only about fifth of
| the season. BY the same token, Ha
/ bana has made only fraction of the
| money out of her visitors which she
might have made.
| This failure. of Cuba to hold her
guests as long as she might is not due
to any indifference on the part of the
Cubans. They are eager for American
visitors and American money. 1t has
| been charged that they are impolite
and suspicious toward Americans. No
evidence of this could we find. The
| Cuban. on the contrary, seems to be
the most polite, good-natured, and
| tolerant of men. He meets you with
smile on all occasions, the polished
surface of his courtesy literally never
cracks, and he has the highest re-
SpeCt LUZ peISOildl ID0Ily, oliOhAii5
you to do just as you please, insofar
as he possibly can.
What Cuba lacks is not a friendly
and hospitable attitude toward her
guests, but the mechanism necessary
for their entertainment, especially for
the better half of them. The Ameri
can who goes to a resort expects to be
amused. He expects his hotel to pro-
vide him not only with food, and shell
| ter of the kind he likes, but also with
golf links and tennis courts and
| bathing beach and place to dance
and congenial society. If he wants
. to go fishing or hunting or horseback
/ riding, he expects merely to mention
| the fact at the desk to be assured that
| it will be arranged. He does not care
, to exercise his ingenuity in amusing
himself He expects the hotel man
agement to supply the ingenuity.
Palm Beach is a typical product of
the rich Americans desires. There
every minute of his time is provided
for. and every day a printed program
of the things he may do is placed in
his hands.
Now the Cubans will give you food
and lodging and the run of their city
and that is about all. You can have
a drink any time you please, of course,
but the man with money does not lack
for drink wherever he may be. There
is also a rubberneck wagon to show
you the city, and a few regular eXcur-
sions into the country, for the purpose
of seeing sugar mills and the like.
The races and Jai A1ai afford splendid
opportunities for gambling but the
may be seen in the United States. and
TAI Alai seems TO be little patronized
by visitors.
This is not an attempt to disparage
Cuba, which is really charming
nj AT1n writ for 11n rNIf
turesque and a taste for roaming may
amuse himself there almost indefi-
nitely- But the typical American tour
list is not accustomed to amusing him
self that way. and his wife and daugh-
ters are still less so. Every hotel lobby
in Habana is decorated with American
women who look bored. There are
not even any comfortable balconies
where they may sit and watch things
go by. So they gather in the Hobbies
each other that it isn't much of place
after all. And a few days later they
pick up and depart, dragging a pos
sibly reluctant hubby after them.
Where the American woman won't
stay the American man can't stay
Even SO. the visitors are at least 80
per cent masculine. and this shortage
of feminine society is also drawback
to the place as a resort. goodly
percentage of the men, too, have some
kick or other to make about the place.
Most of them kick about the food.
II haven't had anything to eat since
got here" said a little fellow from
Chicago. I've got to go back and get
me a sirloin steak
And yet excellent food of a kind
may be had in the Habana hotels and
cafes at very reasonable prices. A
great variety of sea food. very nicely
cooked, is on every bill of fare. The
Cuban cook is an artist in omelettes.
and he knows how to prepare chicken
and rice in several tempting ways.
The salads are good and a great va
riety of fruit is to be had. Incident
ally. this light fare is far more con-
ducive to health in the tropics than a
heavier menu. But the steaks and
chops and roasts to which the Arneri-
can is accustomed are lacking. The
native beef is grass-fed and stringy
and imported beef is very scarce and
expensive. The American nearly al
vavs orders beef from habit and is