The Washington herald., 1920-04-04
'WETS' RUSHING
TOCUBAN MECCA
Several Millions In Ameri-
can Capital Invested III
Havana Hopes.
CAFES NOT VICIOUS
Many New Hotels Started to
Take Care Of Expected
American Influx.
CAFES NOT VICIOUS

Several millions of dollars IN
American capital arc being invest
ed in Cuba in the conviction that
citizens of the United States cannot.
or will not. dispense with the sport
ing life. say a Havana dispatch.
This investment is actually a
wager.
I'VE are betting that Americans
can't be made good by laws" said
Jack Margolis, Michigan roadhouse
proprietor and owner of the New
York bar there. Margolls has put
many thousands into hotel stock
and into his saloon business and is
confident OF making a fortune.
Knocking Havana.
Things are tame down here
right now" NJ. ID. Brown. man
ager of Oriental Park. the Cuba
American Jockey Clubs track,
said. There has been a lot of
propaganda in the States, especially
among the Florida resorts, knocking
Havana. They have spread the re-
ports that it costs SIS a day to live
down here, that flu is killing hun
dreds, that the town is full of
crooks and the labor situation bor-
ders on revolution. Next year, and
in years to come. this will be the
pleasure-capital of America. 1t will
be gayer than Paris"
What, then, are the present facts
about gay life in Havana"
Tanner Than Frisco.
New Orleans and San Francisco,
up until recent reform movements
and prohibition came into force, al
together outdistanced Havana in the
extent and abandon of their night
life.
And there is nothing even re-
motely reminiscent of old Broad
way.
There are, in Havana. three cafes
where music and dancing are Of
fered on anything like the scale of
an ordinary American cabaret. One
of these cafes is in a suburb. Jazz
music. dancing and drinks are the
attractions. The cafes are not vi
cious in any sense. and the attend
ance is never large.
Slim Crowds Mt Races.
At the splendid track of the
Jockey Club. with weather and rae
ing conditions nothing less than
perfect; with L long line of book
makers and of pari-mutuel booths
eagerly taking bets. the weekday
crowds are thin in the extreme. On
Saturdays and Sundays. the big
days, We saw. perhaps, a IS per cent
attendance. OF the front-row boxes,
the only one occupied was the press
box.
The flu rumors. passport compli-
ca-ioHs and the lack of hotel accom-
modations are given in explanation
of the tame aspect of Havana, from
the sporting viewpoint.
Havana's is daily newspapers
made no mention of an epidemic.
Hotel Rooms s16 Per Day.
The hotels now in operation GER
tainly do not appeal to American
tastes nor American pOcketbooks,
since the typical spender in the
United States always likes to feel
that he is getting a show for his
money.
Rooms that in midsummer rent
for $3.50 a day are now bringing in
SIG. With bath" means nothing in
the young life of Cuban hotel pro-
prietor Sometimes the bath tub
roosts in the middle of the bedroom.
Sometimes 1t is directly adjoining,
in which case it's privacy is purely
Gctional. The porter keeps his mops
and pals in your bath, the barber
obtains his cold water for shaving
from your bath. strange persons in
wade it at all hours, and the lock
won't work!
Many Like Havana.
There has been, and is. much prop
Uganda afloat regarding Havana as
a tourist center. 1t is evenly di
vided, for and against. Outside of
the hotel exploitation, prices are
reasonable: the city is clean, splen-
didly policed and full of natural at
traction. Its drives and buildings
are picturesque and when the
American capitalists who are put
ting up hotels have completed the
Job, the city will have a strong ap-
peal for cold-weather refugees.
But the wild yarns of Havana as
a second Babylon; as a capital of
ieverish gayeties, thronged with
spenders, are hatched in the minds
come here, but can't, or else these
tales are circulated by irresponsible
press agents.
Conservative Cubans are not at
all interested in seeing their me-
tropolis advertised as the mecca for
sporting characters. and II is Ameri-
can cash that is being expended in
the construction of the three or
four new hotels which will be
opened next fall.