Evening star., 1922-05-07
CUBANS DENY ISLE
IS AMERICAN BAR
Say Prohibition in United
States Has Not Proved
Bonanza for Havana.
BY ANTHONY CZARNECkI.
Special Correspondence Of The Star and Chi
cagO Daily News.


Special Correspondence Of The Star and Chi
4 cago Daily News.
HAVANA, Cuba, April 20.-Cuba
and the Cubans have been greatly
misrepresented to the outside world
they do not like it. Since the prohi-
! bition laws went into effect In the
| United States the idea seems to have
gone abroad that this island has
| turned itself into a vast bar to quench
! the thirst Of thousands of American
tourists.
This l do not find to be the case
at all. Havana, il is true, is not
dry" but is no more wet" than
London or Paris or other large Eu-
ropean cities are now. or any wetter
! than New York and Chicago were be-
fore the Volstead amendment. From
all the many people with whom l have
talked on the subject / have received
emphatic denials of and protests
against what tney designate as this
calumny upon Cuba. 1t is denied that
there have been caravans of thirsty
Americans journeying here for the
sole purpose of imbibing liquor which
they cannot obtain legally III the
United States.
Reputation Haits Tourists.
Both business men and tourists are
coming here in perhaps somewhat
more than the usual numbers, but the
drink dispensers assert that prohibit
tion in the United States has not been
bonanza for the saloon keepers in
this city, and the spreading of the
idea that Cuba has become an Ameri-
can bar is greatly regretted for the
effect i. will have in keeping away de-
sirable tourists. 1t is noted, too, that
gradually the tourists who now come are
forgetting their old custom of gener-
GUS imbibing of intoxicants and are
behaving as they. did before prohibi-
ton was thought of in the United
States.
Cubans. as rule, drink intoXicat-
ing liquors and enjoy the use of them.
but treating. which was so prevalent
in the United States and was the
cause of so much drunkenness, is not
in vogue here. There is the usual
number of dance halls, cabarets and
saloons that cater to tourists from
the United States and elsewhere. as
well as to the residents of the island.
but the number is said now to be
rather decreasing. than increasing.
Most of the Cubans buy their intoxi-
eating beverages at general food
storeS-a sort of Cuban grocery-and
an intoxicated person among the resi-
dents of the island is a rare sight.
Americans Promote Gambling.
In Havana and other Cuban cities
there is open gambling, betting on
horse races and much playing of the
lottery. Much of the gambling and
horse racing is the result of the dis
couragement of race-track gambling
in the United States. and every year
there is regular procession of
American followers of the ponies to
the island. Indeed, many of the reg
ular habitueS ard several of the en-
ployes of the gambling houses and
the race courses are Americans who
live here the year round.
while apparently il is true that
Cuba has not turned itself into a
huge American bar, it is undeniable
that much of the Cuban importation
beer and wine is purely for American
here agents --of the government at
Washington reported that a very
large percentage of the Intoxicating
fluids that come across the seas to
Cuba finds its way through various
channels to the Atlantic and gulf
ports of the United States Agents
of the United States government
watch various points along the Cuban
coast where linuor is brought in and
sent out clandestinely on vessels of
various sizes and descriptions. and. in
some cases. on airplanes and hydro
planes, the purpose of their vigil be-
ing to prevent its getting to the
United States.