Putnam patriot., 1924-05-16
March 2ath

Aafth @3ths
 Manuel and Ramon Pic came for us today at o'clock in their big Cad lilac to take us out to their sugar plan tation at Hahana Central, thirty-five miles out of the city. We left Ha- Yana by the usual route through the Nedada and Marianao. finally taking a road which ran just back of the coast line through a number of small towns At first the ride was through an entirely suburban district. We passed villas set back from the road in lovely gardens. The country itself was sufficiently interesting. High palms lined the roadway. and now and then we passed a hut made of the leaves and bark of the same tree.
 Manuel pointed out to us from time to time certain houses tn an unfinished state. begun. he said. by many who had made money during Cuba's years of war prosperity, but unable to finish the structures after the collapse of 1920. Americans of means. wanting winter home. could buy these half finished houses for song.
 The Real Cuba
 When we were finally out of the zone of Havana We began to see the real Cuban country. All the little towns clustered along the roadside, the houses open to the four winds. and all the shops and cafes. just as in the city, possessing no front whatever. As it drew near to five o'clock We began to meet the men coming from working in the sugar fields. They were all on horseback and many of them had great punches of cane leaves tied to the back of the saddles.-fodder for the livestock at home. These men, the "caballeros," were more like the pic tured Cubans than any We Tad seen They wore the high peaked straw hats, blue working shirts open at the neck. and the sun had burnt their fac es to the color of chocolate
 Twenty miles out We turned inso the private road leading to the plantation and we were suddenly in the midst of field upon field of sugar cane. some of 1t towering to the height of a New England cornfield while great spaces in other places were cut down almost to the earth itself We passed solid and comfortable farmhouses where the lease holders lived and now and then under a clump of palms We saw huts of palm bark with stark naked little picaninnies running about in the clear ing At the chief farmhouse we came Co the head of the plantation private railroad, and there left the motor for nine mile ride to the sugar factory situated on the company's private har- bor.
 Hsbana Central
 ua ,.-a I T s. one of the largest sugar plantations in the immediate vicinity of Havana. IL | is also one of the oldest The great sugar factory employing over a thou sand people, stands on the site of the l first sugar house established nearly ] two hundred years ago. In the center of little village of it's own stands the old hacienda. where We were warmly welcomed by General C.. the nresi- dent of the company and the actual head of the business, and also famous figure in contemporary Cuban history.
 quarter of mile away from the i factory we caught the smell Of the i crushed cane. At first it was pleasant and sweet, then it became overpower- i ing, and finally, to one of the party at least, 1t was siekening, The planta- 4 1 its great acres divided into various ! farms which are leased out A private railway brings the cut cane in to the l factory on fiat cars. The finished sugar departs for Havana from the company's own dock in it's own schoon- CTS and steamers. The village sur rounding the factory is q modern and up-to-date settlement. There are cot ( .t..ta barracks for those who are unmar- ried. There are extensive offices and a line of sanitary barracks for the laborers. The modern spirit of sani- tation and cleanliness which came to Cuba with the American occupation now dominates and infuses Cuban in- dustry in all parts of the island.
 In the Sugar Factory
 After we had seen the hacien- da and the gardens that surround it. We started on our tour of inspection of the factory which runs tiuy auti night with the exception of six hours between daybreak and noon on Sun days. We saw the cane going up ward from the freight cars to the runway and thence into the crusher We climbed ladders. jumped over moving chains. looked down into boil ing molasses. tock refreshment some fifty or SO feet above the floor from white clad servant, saw the dried cane being burnt as fuel in roaring furnaces far below. and finally. drip ping with precipitation and sick to nausea with the cloying smell of mo- lasses we sank into arm chairs on the hacIenda gallery md beaRed for aa-i