Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-11-17
Continued From Third Page.

acquired furbelows. so they hied them
selves over to see their great ally, Uncle
Sam, and smiling themselves into his
presence, greeted him as he had greeted
them when the war had made brothers
of us all.
But Uncle Sam was awfully busy. He
had gone back into politics for one
thing and business for another. Look
ing over his spectacles at little Cuba, he
could only dln1ly remember ever having
been introduced. While he wasn't abb
rupt or anything. he couldn't quite see
how he could support the Cuban sugar
market without starting another war.
And lot of persons who called them
selves allies had not yet paid him for
the last one. Furthermore, he was
obliged to call Cuba's attention to the
fact that he had his own sugar indus
try to protect and that, as much as it
hurt him, he felt compelled to levy
duty on Cuban sugar, which was OBJ
viously a foreign product.
Not only many Cubans but all Latin
American countries can see that there
are advantages to be derived from look
ing upon the United States as a big
brother. They all like social functions,
and get much pleasure out of visiting
good-willers from their neighbor to the
north. They admit the force of Ameri-
can methods. innovations and up-to-
the-minute industrial efficiency. They
know that the more they encourage
the investment of American capital In
their countries the more prosperous
the countries become.
Oppose Intervention.
And yet there is something about
these people which prompts them to
guard the atmosphere in which their
forefathers have existed at the risk of
appearing backward and less modern
in habits and customs. There are
those with whom the writer has talked
who have admitted that they pre-
ferred to be misgoverned by their own
leaders than to experience interven-
ton on the part of the United States
with the possibility of more efficient
government. A lot of them doggedly
cling to the institution of revolution
in place of the ballot box. They all
! most prefer TO be ruled by a colorful
dictator than by man elected by the
people.
Some Of them even point to the fact
that the United States Itself came into
existence with q revolution. Others
view with distrust such American evil
dences of efficiency as prohibition arc,
the merging of industry, finance and
| labor into a more and more solidilled
form. They like their little enterprises
even though, from the viewpoint of an
efficiency expert, these little enterprises
lack enterprise.
One of the big problems Of American
vested interests in Cuba is to Keep the
place looking like a foreign country.
Even though it is a boat ride of only q
few hours from Key West to Havana,
and not any great journey from New
York by boat, the American tourist is
paying his money for a complete change
of atmosphere, such as can only be had
with visit to foreign land where one
speaks foreign tongue and does things
in a manner that is not in any way
reminiscent of ones home town.
OF course. wide-open drinking places
that cannot possibly be mistaken for
soda fountains help a long way. But
the Cubsns have heard so much Of the
American language that they have in
corporated into their conversation, even
| among themselves, such phrases as Jaw
rite" ''go-bye,' ''puncherd tire"
Lift Base Ball Slang.
When it comes to base ball, which is
played on every vacant let in Cuba by
native-born Cubans, our entire base ball
slang has been lifted bodily. so that the
American passerby, stopping to watch
| the game of his forefathers, gets shock
| in hearing Spanish interspersed dnter-
| spersed hardly expresses it, with the
| latest bleacher talk right from the Polo
| Grounds or the Yankee Stadium.
This sort of thing must not go on If
Cuba is to be kept Cuban even on the
| surface. Cock fights and the lottery
! have so far survived the American
influence. Although prize nights have
pretty well crowded out the former
! picking the right horse at the races
affords a certain amount of competition
as against lunches and premonitions
as to what number will win a fortune
in the lottery.
The more humble class of Cuban has
always loved to dress up, but princi-
pally for fiestas, holidays, weddings, etc.
and not for the routine of everyday
existence This was until the Ameri-
cans took charge. The American
authorities felt obliged to issue regula
tions as to the minimum of dress to bt
considered within the realms OF de-
cenCy, and so they added to the pants
There has been considerable cutlery
| lately that graft has broken out in the
national government of Cuba to such
an extent that Congress Omitted States
Congress of course) is going to investi'
gate 1t is this sort of thing that makes
even the most Americanized Cuban sore
He contends that Cuba should have
privileges at least equal to those afford
ed Chicago. Philadelphia and Other
American cities. He points out tina
graft would have to thrive to the poin!
where it would be a menace to big bust
ness in, say New York CT Philadelphia