Evening star., 1938-11-20
Cuba Wants Our Help
Basa Here to Get Aid Lifting Island Out of Doldrums

Inc UnlteQ states uTSL turned us
tender, protective glance at Cuba when
the Louisiana Territory was bought from
Emperor Napoleon of the French in 1903.
The history of relations between this
country and Cuba has grown fat since
President Jefferson concluded that the
island could be either menace or
protection of New Orleans and the Mis-
sissipis mouth. and now the Caribbean
pearl once again has caught the especial
interest of the Federal Government.
Leaving banquets in his wake, Col.
Fulgencio Batista, the army chief of
Cuba, and, in effect, the Cuban govern
ment, has been touring a part of the
United States. The coloners presence
here emphasizes the beginning of new
development in Americas Cuban rela-
tions. that fits in the State Departments
diplomatic picture of heightening PAN
Americanism and the War and Navy
Departments scheme for q national de-
fense built around purely Western Hemi-
sphere considerations.
When Batista stepped off the train at
Union Station here 10 days ago the first
American hand he grasped belonged to
Sumner Welles, Undersecretary of State.
Welles and Batista have no reason for
mutual love; five years ago, when Welles
was Ambassador to Cuba, each was
trying to thwart the other. But the
world has changed in five years. Hitler's
threat to democracy has become acute.
Americas will for preserving diplomacy
through inter- American cooperation has
been intensified. Cuba is vital factor
in the preservation. So Batista is well
coined, and his desire that the United
States help improve the begged economy
of Cuba is needed.
Attitude Stated in 1923.
The United States solicitude over Cuba
was best expressed early in the 18th CEN
tury by Hugo Nelson, the Ambassador to
Spain The time was 1923, the year of
the Monroe Doctrines PRONUNCIATION. AS
sort of special comment on the point OF
view which motivated the doctrines is
suance, Secretary of State John Quincy
Adams suggested to Ambassador Nelson
that he speak of Cuba to the Spanish
government. which then held the island
as territory. Said Mr.. Nelson in
Madrid
Cuba, almost in sight of our shores.
from a multitude of considerations has
become an object of transcendent i'm
portance to the political and economic
institutions of the Union.
Its commanding position with refer
ence TO the Gulf of Mexico and the West
Indies seas, the character of its popula-
ton. its situation midwest between our
Southern Coast and the Island of San
Domingo, its safe and capacious harbor
of Havana, fronting long line of our
shores destitute of the same advantage,
the nature of its products and its wants.
furnishing the supplies and needing the
returns of commerce immensely prof
liable and mutually beneficial, give it
an Importance in the sum of our ma
tional interest with which that of no
other foreign territory can be COM
pared and little inferior to that which
binds the different members of the
Union together
The economy of Cuba and the policies
of the United States for the past five
years have been intertwined even more
than in former days. The Roosevelt
administration gained the general re-
spect of the islanders in 1888 when it re-
fused to intervene in military fashion
in the revolution which spelt amen for
President Gerardo Machado and the be-
ginning of the quick rise for Batista that
raised him suddenly from sergeant to
colonel
Fiscal Affairs in Turmoil.
For while the islands economy was
healthy, but now it is in the doldrums
So severe is the financial strain on the
government, indeed that the budget for
the military has been cut, even though
the militarist Batista runs the show and
even though military interests are an
imposing factor in the development of
the United States point of view that
brought about Batistas invitation here.
1t was late in October that Col. Ba-
tista accepted the invitation of Gen.
Malin Craig, chief of staff of the Amer
ican Army, to pay visit to Wash
ington. The acceptance followed by only
few days the release of doleful re-
port by the Cuban Chamber of Com
merce in the United States, in New York,
emphasizing that the depression plight
in which Cuba found herself some
months before was growing more acute.
The sad picture told by the report goes
like this:
Foreign trade-During the first seven
months of 1898 exports amounted to 81,
848, 900 pesos, a decline of 80, ,491 900 pesos,
as compared with the same period of