The new electric lines connecting Havana with Guanajay in the west, and Guines towards the southeast, were joined to the United Railways, and a magnificent railway terminal was built on the old Arsenal grounds, acquired from the Government. This is a splendid modern four-story building of brick, stone and steel, with two artistic towers reaching a height of 125 feet, making it one of the most imposing edifices in the City. From this station trains arrive and depart for every part of the Island.

The combined mileage at present operating under the control of the United Railways of Havana is 1,609 kilometers or 963 miles.

From the viewpoint of commercial progress and utility it may be safely stated that Sir William Van Horne, by building the much needed connecting link of railroad between the eastern terminus of the United Railways at Santa Clara and the two terminals of the Cuba Company’s road at Antilla on the north coast, and Santiago de Cuba on the south, conferred on this Island a greater benefit than any other one man in that realm of affairs.

Immediately after the American occupation of the Island, Sir William Van Horne visited Cuba, en route to Demarara, British Guiana, and got only as far as Cienfuegos, Cuba. He later rode over the rich country lying between Santa Clara and the city of Santiago de Cuba, and in his fertile brain was promptly visualized a line of railroad passing through the center of the three eastern and largest provinces of the Island, and terminating on the shore of the two finest bays of Oriente, connecting this by rail with the west portion of Cuba. The Foraker Resolutions prohibited the securing of a franchise for the building of such a railroad, and but little encouragement was given Sir William Van Horne, while a number of obstacles were presented, including difficulties in securing right of way for the proposed railroad, without the right of condemnation. Owners of properties that were practically inaccessible, and whose products could not be exported except at great cost, were seemingly blind to the advantages that would accrue to them from the construction of such a line. This big-brained pioneer, however, who had only recently built the Canadian Pacific across the plains and mountains of the North American Continent, did not hesitate a moment in undertaking and carrying out his project of connecting the capital of Cuba with the rich and undeveloped territory lying to the eastward. Where right of way was not granted willingly he bought the properties outright, and built his railroad practically over his own farms and fields, with but little local assistance and no land grants of any kind.

The Cuba Company’s line, including the branches contributary to it and under its direction, measures 717 miles. The main line begins at Santa Clara and passes through Placetas del Sur, Zaza del Medio, Ciego de Avila, Camaguey, Marti, Victoria de las Tunas, Cacocum, Alto Cedro and San Luis, to Santiago de Cuba, a distance of 573 kilometers. From Alto Cedro a line was built north to Antilla, 50 kilometers distant on Nipe Bay, whence the greater portion of the freight destined for northern markets is shipped directly to New York.

Of the numerous branch lines, beginning in the west, may be mentioned two that leave Placetas del Sur, one extending north to Placetas and through connections to the harbor of Caibarien; the other, built in a southerly direction, to the city of Trinidad on the south coast. From Zaza del Medio, in the Province of Santa Clara, a branch extends almost due south to Sancti Spiritus, and thence, through connections with the Sancti Spiritus Railroad to Zaza on the shore of the Caribbean. At Ciego de Avila, the Cuba Company’s road is crossed by what is known as the Jucaro & Moron Road, built many years ago as a military line through the center of the trocha, or barrier, intended to prevent insurrectionary troops passing from Camaguey into the western part of the Island. This short stretch of railway connects San Fernando on the north coast with Jucaro on the Caribbean.

At Camaguey, the old Camaguey and Nuevitas Road during many years had enjoyed a monopoly in the transportation of products to the coast. The Cuba Company absorbed and incorporated the road, securing thus a valuable adjunct to its system. The Bay of Nuevitas was not of sufficient depth to permit large vessels loading at the old wharves, so the Cuba Company extended the road five kilometers to Punta de Pastelillo, where sugar warehouses and wharves have been built, so that sugar from all the mills of central Camaguey can be delivered aboard ship, doing away with the old system of lightering out to deep water.

From Marti, 60 kilometers east of Camaguey on the main line, a southeastern extension was built across country to the City of Bayamo, in the southwestern center of the Province of Oriente, 127 kilometers distant. Another branch built from Manzanillo on the west coast of Bayamo, 56 kilometers in length, opened up a section of country previously inaccessible. From Bayamo a road parallel to the main line has been built east to San Luis, 98 kilometers, furnishing an exit for one of the richest sections of the Cauto Valley, and also for the rich mineral zones that lie on the southern slope of the Sierra Maestra Mountains. This line from Marti to San Luis passes through one continuous stretch of sugar cane fields, extending as far as the eye can reach, north and south, throughout its entire length.

From Cacocum a short line of 18 kilometers extends north to Holguin. Up to the completion of this connecting link, the city of Holguin, in north central Oriente, had been connected with the outside world only through the medium of a short road terminating at Gibara on the Atlantic coast, where coasting steamers stopped weekly.

A branch from Placetas del Sur to Casilda, 90 kilometers, is in process of construction. Another will connect the city of Camaguey with Santa Cruz del Sur on the Caribbean, 98 kilometers away. At San Luis connection is made with the Guantanamo & Western Railway, where passengers for the United States Naval Station on Guantanamo Bay, and the rich sugar districts lying north and west of the harbor, are transferred.

The Cuba system is equipped with 156 locomotives, 125 passenger coaches, 5013 freight cars, 70 baggage cars and 131 construction cars. In the harbors of Antilla and Nuevitas twelve steamers, tugs and launches are employed in making the various necessary transfers of material from one point to another. On the lines of the Cuba system and its branches are 30 sugar estates and mills, with nine new ones under construction. Daily trains connecting Havana with Santiago de Cuba leave the terminal station at 10.00 P.M., making the trip in about 24 hours.

With the completion of the Cuba Company’s lines, the interior of the Provinces of Oriente, Camaguey and much of Santa Clara were opened up to the commerce of the world for the first time. During the years that have elapsed since its completion, a large amount of valuable hard wood, cedar, mahogany, etc., growing along the line, have been cut and shipped to nearby seaports for export to the United States and other countries. With the building of this line, too, some of the richest lands of Cuba were rendered available for the production of sugar, and today a vast area is under cultivation in cane, and four hundred thousand tons or more of sugar, with the assistance of this road, was delivered each year to the Allies who were fighting in France and Belgium. Thus Sir William Van Home’s foresight enabled the Republic of Cuba to “do its bit” in a very practical way towards the furtherance of the cause of universal democracy.

No account of the Cuba Railroad would, however, be complete which failed to make mention of the part played in its construction and initial organization by Mr. R. G. Ward, of New York City, whose energy and industry, first as manager of construction and later as manager of operation, combined with the character of the men by whom he surrounded himself are generally recognized as having been potent if not dominant factors in determining the rapidity with which the original main line of that railroad, extending from Santa Clara to Santiago, was built, and the promptness and thoroughness with which it was put into operation. The importance of this achievement is emphasized, when it is taken into consideration that the entire line was located and built without the right of eminent domain, which necessitated the acquisition of practically the whole of the right of way through private negotiation. It is stated that the cross-ties and rails were placed by track-laying machines of his devising, which, with crews of less than one hundred men, could, and often did, lay down three miles of full-tied, full-spiked and full-bolted track per day per machine. He also is credited with having inaugurated the policy of employing Cubans or residents of Cuba, whenever it was possible to obtain them to do the work required. Rather than import telegraph operators needed to run the newly constructed railroad, he opened and operated, free of all cost or expense to the students, a School of Telegraphy, under the direction of Horace H. McGinty, through whose administration nearly one hundred operators were qualified for positions in less than six months. Sir William Van Horne, who himself was an expert railroad telegraph operator, regarded this as a “marvelous achievement, creditable alike to Mr. Ward, to Mr. McGinty, and to the character and capacity of the young Cuban students;” many of whom have since held good positions in Cuba, in Mexico and in the Argentine Republic.

The Cuba Central Road of the Province of Santa Clara occupies third place in commercial importance among Cuba’s system of railroads. This Company’s lines were built largely for the benefit of the older sugar estates of Santa Clara, located around Sagua la Grande, Remedios, Caribarien, Cienfuentes, Isabel de las Lajas, etc. The main line of the Cuba Central extends from Isabel de Sagua, a port on the north coast, almost due north to Cruces, a junction on the Cuba Road midway between Santa Clara and Cienfuegos.

Another important division of the line runs from Sagua east to the seaport of Caibarien, passing through Camajuani and Remedios. The Cuba Central lines, while public highways in every sense of the word, may be classed among the roads dedicated largely to the service of the sugar planters of Santa Clara.

Among the independent projected lines of Cuba, the North Shore Road, at present under construction at several different points in the Provinces of Camaguey and Santa Clara, is one of marked importance. This road has its western terminal at Caibarien, on the north shore of Santa Clara, whence it extends eastward, passing through an exceptionally rich valley that furnishes cane to some half-dozen large sugar mills, and continues eastward through Moron, in the Province of Camaguey. It parallels the north coast, extending eastward across the rich grazing lands of the Caunao River, and stretching out further eastward, traverses the virgin forests that lie between the Sierra de Cubitas and the Bays of Guanaja and Guajaba. Leaving the Cubitas slope, it crosses the Maximo and eventually reaches deep water anchorage on the shores of the western extension of Nuevitas Harbor.

This line is at present under construction from Nuevitas westward and from Moron both east and west. In the winter of 1918-19 the line was finished from the deep water terminal on Nuevitas Harbor as far west as the Maximo River. When completed it will pass through one of the richest agricultural and mineral sections of the Island.

From the crossing of the Maximo a branch line is being built around the eastern end of the Sierra de Cubitas in order to tap the rich Cubitas iron mines, whose deposits are waiting only transportation in order to contribute a large share of wealth to the prosperity of the Republic.

CHAPTER XXXIII

MONEY AND BANKING

A perusal of Cuban history shows that within a few years after the country was settled, questions in regard to the exchange value of its moneys arose, which were not effectually resolved till the lapse of nearly four centuries later, upon the establishment of the Cuban Republic.

As with the other early Spanish colonies of the New World, the circulating medium was at first solely metallic. A credit currency was not suited to a primitive country, whose foreign trade was largely clandestine, open to piracy and other perils, its lawful commerce being limited to the port of Cadiz, Spain, under the monopoly of a board of trade known as the “Contratacion de las Indias,” succeeded in 1740 by the “Real Compania de la Habana,” till the English occupation in 1762.

The position of Cuba on the highroad between Europe and Latin America made its harbors the Mecca of the Spanish fleets of those days. The gold and silver mines of Mexico and South America poured their millions into the Island after the year 1545, when the deposits of San Luis Potosi were opened to the world, the volume of the output being brought to Havana before distribution to Europe and other parts.

Instead of ships making the transatlantic journey alone as at present, large merchant fleets, laden with immense treasure, were convoyed by war vessels at long intervals, as a safeguard against filibusters and buccaneers as well as to preclude possible competition.

In 1550 a monetary crisis occurred in Havana, owing to the failure of the governor, Dr. Gonzalo Perez de Angulo, to enforce the provision of the Spanish law, that the silver Real should be estimated at 34 maravedis, instead of 40 to 44, the commercial rate prevailing at Vera Cruz, Santo Domingo, Cartagena de las Indias and other points near the silver mines. The governor, actuated by private interests, claimed that conditions in Cuba justified the same rate as in these places, and that the legal rate of 34 to 1, if applied, would drain the country of its silver stock.

These views were also expressed by travellers going from Mexico to Spain, who were obliged to make a long stoppage in Havana, where their money was exchanged, insisting that they should receive the larger or commercial rate for their silver as in other places.

Not disposed to change his attitude in the matter, the Spanish King issued a royal circular reasserting the legal rate of 34 to 1 for Cuba, under a penalty of 100,000 maravedis, instead of 10,000 as fixed in his former order, for each violation.

The sovereign mandate was complied with, as peace and policy required, but this demand for a higher valuation of money in Cuba than in the mother country is taken as the origin of the premium afterwards placed on Spanish coin, with which the people of later times are familiar.

When in the year 1779 the Spanish gold onza was coined, its par value was estimated at 16 pesos in Spain. But in Cuba it was shortly afterwards taken to represent 17 pesos, or a premium of about 6%, which it continued to hold until the repatriation of Spanish money a few years ago. This premium was expected to keep gold in the country, at an excess valuation, along with the annual output of $800,000 in silver coming from Mexico, sugar and tobacco being exported from Cuba to North America and Europe as an offset thereto.

When the modern Spanish centen or alfonsino, and the French Louis or 20 franc gold piece, came into vogue, they were also admitted to Cuba at the same ratio as the onza, namely a 6% premium or 17 to 18 approximately, to the detriment of Cuban industry and commerce, throughout the course of the nineteenth century.

In the year 1868 Spain passed from a silver to a double standard, adopting the peseta as the monetary unit, equal in weight and fineness to the French franc and that of other countries of the Latin Union, composed of France, Belgium, Italy, Switzerland and Greece by the monetary conventions of 1865 and 1868. The Isabellan silver escudo, adopted in Spain as the unit by the law of June 24, 1864, was thereby demonetized.

But the Spanish peseta, consisting of gold or silver indifferently, while circulating freely in Cuba along with French gold and American currency in recent times till 1915, did not become the unit of value in the Island. The Spanish gold dollar (peso oro Espanol), an imaginary coin equal to five Spanish gold pesetas (of 24.8903 grains of pure gold each) considered at a premium of 106, weighing 21.13 grains of fine gold (as a result of the 6% premium), and circulating in the form of current Spanish or French gold pieces, was taken as the standard. By reason of such premium these coins were received in the country at $5.30 oro espanol for the centen (25 peseta gold piece) and $4.24 oro espanol for the Louis and doblon (25 franc and 25 peseta gold pieces of equal weight and fineness), which values they held till the last of Spanish money circulation in the Island.

The use of Colonial paper money in Cuba, during the wars with the Spanish government, did not substantially lessen the demand for actual coin, and it was not until after the Spanish-American War of 1898 that new conditions arose which afforded credit and security for the introduction of a composite system of currency.

When the American government was established at Santiago in 1898, one of its first acts was to stabilize the currency of the eastern part of the Island. United States money was forthwith adopted as the lawful medium and Spanish silver was eliminated accordingly. In the provinces of Havana, Pinar del Rio, Matanzas and Santa Clara, Spanish gold and silver continued in use, along with French gold and U. S. currency, at varying market quotations from day to day, until the adoption of a national standard by the Cuban Congress under the law of October 29, 1914, by virtue of which the Cuban gold peso, of weight and fineness similar to the American dollar, was declared the unit, and United States money a legal tender.

Under the authority of the Secretary of Finance, Spanish and other moneys were shipped abroad from Cuba as follows

Fiscal Year 1914-1915 (ending June 30th):
United States	$3,032,529.00
Spain	1,435,192.00
Canary Islands	66,000.00	$4,533,721.00
Fiscal Year 1915-1916:
United States	17,337,734.00
Spain	17,411,003.00
France	60,000.00
Canary Islands	38,300.00	34,847,037.00
Fiscal Year 1916-1917:
United States	317,253.00
Spain	24,332,707.00
Mexico	45,000.00
Canary Islands	13,240.00	24,708,200.00
Total, reduced to U. S. Currency		$64,088,958.00

Of the above shipments, those to the United States were principally for recoinage to Cuban gold of the new issue and were brought back later in national coin. They also include $5,934,810.00 Spanish silver (value in U.S. currency) sent to Spain between August, 1915, and June, 1917. This delicate operation was affected gradually and in such a manner as not to disturb the monetary or exchange values of the country. By June 1, 1916, all conversions of accounts had been practically made to the new system.

As a result of the new monetary law and its regulations, the entire supply of Cuban money was minted at Philadelphia, through the medium of the National Bank of Cuba, the Government Fiscal Agents, in the following quantities:

Gold Coins:	$20 pieces	$1,135,000
	10 pieces	12,635,000
	5 pieces	9,140,000
	4 pieces	540,000
	2 pieces	320,000
	1 pieces	17,250	$23,787,250
Silver Coins:	$1 pieces	2,819,000
	40¢ pieces	1,128,000
	20¢ pieces	2,090,000
	10¢ pieces	625,000	6,662,000
Nickel Coins:	5¢ pieces	340,450
	2¢ pieces	228,210
	1¢ pieces	187,120	755,780
Total Coinage			$31,205,030

The above national supply of coin, together with perhaps twice the same amount of U. S. currency in general circulation, has been found sufficient for the country’s normal needs, and Cuba thereby automatically becomes, in law and in fact, a part of the American monetary system of the present day.

As the country exports the bulk of its products and imports most articles of consumption and use, including machinery and implements, it follows that Cuba is in normal times one of the highest priced countries of the world, and under conditions due to the European War the cost of living is enormous.

To move the country’s resources annually requires the use of millions of dollars from abroad, which the banks obtain and circulate in legal tender (which means United States money and Cuban coin) according to local demands.

It follows, therefore, that the chief functions of banking in Cuba are Discount, Deposit, Exchange, Collections, Collateral Loans, Foreign Credits and the distribution of money throughout the country.

The principal banks serving the financial needs of Cuba are the following:

The National City Bank of New York. Capital, $25,000,000.

Banco Español de la Isla de Cuba. Capital, $8,000,000.

Banco National de Cuba. Capital, $6,860,455.

Banco Territorial de Cuba. Capital, $5,000,000.

Royal Bank of Canada. Capital and surplus, $25,000,000.

The Trust Company of Cuba. Capital, $500,000.

Banco Mercantile Americano de Cuba. Capital, $2,000,000; surplus, $500,000.

Banco Prestatario de Cuba. Capital, $500,000. (Makes loans on personal property, approved notes, mortgages, etc.)

CHAPTER XXXIV

PUBLIC INSTRUCTION

THINKING men and women, the world over, realize that the hope, security and well being of the future lies in properly educating the children of the present. From an educated community we have nothing to fear. Mistakes in government policies may occur, but where intelligence dwells, right and justice will soon prevail over wrong. Education to-day is universally recognized as the most efficient and potent safeguard against crime and lawlessness of all kind, and in no section of the world is the need of general education more gravely manifest than in the Latin-American Republics of the Western Hemisphere.

Education in all of these countries, from the beginning of their existence as colonies of Spain, has been, unfortunately under the control of the Church, and with the exception of Cuba, largely so remains to-day. Even in this progressive little Republic, the clerical influence on tuition, from the kindergarten to the university, is more or less prevalent. The influence of the priest and the prelate, exerted in the home, usually through the mother, still casts its shadow over true educational progress, especially among those of the gentler sex. There are, of course, many well educated women in Cuba, but they are women whose intellectual longings and aspirations could not be held in check.

True, some of the most brilliant men in Cuba have been pupils of church institutions, but men of this stamp and minds of this calibre held from birth all the promise and potency of greatness. Their intellectual lights could not be hidden under the proverbial bushel.

In 1896 the population of the Island was 1,572,791, of whom 1,400,884 were unable to read, 33,003 knew how to read but not to write, while 19,158 had received the advantages of what was termed higher education. Even this paucity of true knowledge was frequently superficial and sadly warped by obsolete tradition.

When, at the beginning of American intervention, that generous and able group of American officers under General Wood took charge of affairs in Cuba, the need of even a rudimentary education among the untutored masses was painfully apparent. A report of conditions prevailing was forwarded to Washington. Secretary Root referred the matter to President Eliot of Harvard, and as a result Mr. Alexis E. Frye was sent to Havana to establish in Cuba the American school system, or one as nearly like that in vogue in the United States as conditions would permit.

The selection of Mr. Frye was a wise one, and the people have never ceased to be grateful for the admirable and unselfish efforts of that remarkably clever teacher to place public instruction on a firm foundation in Cuba. After going carefully over the ground and studying the situation thoroughly Mr. Frye, working by candle light in a backroom of the Hotel Pasaje, drafted the school law and wrote the rules and regulations that today form the base of public instruction in the island. Soon after, Mr. Frye was appointed Superintendent of Schools. His salary was $400 a month, but every month’s pay check was divided into eight parts and distributed among those schools where it would do the most good. He would accept no recompense whatever for himself.

In the work of establishing a modern system of education in Cuba Mr. Frye received valuable aid from a remarkably gifted and brilliant young Cuban named Lincoln de Zayas. Dr. de Zayas was a descendant of one of the most prominent families in Havana. He had been educated in the United States, was graduated from the school of medicine of Columbia University in New York, was a master of some five or six languages, and knew the character of his own people. He assisted Mr. Frye in solving many delicate problems and in overcoming troublesome obstacles, many of which resulted from the former ecclesiastical control of everything pertaining to education. Dr. Francisco Barrero, a writer, student and poet, was made assistant director of education.

During the second year of American intervention, Mr. Frye interested Harvard University in the subject of Cuban education. This finally resulted in an invitation from that institution to a large body of potential Cuban teachers to come to Boston and enjoy during the summer months special instruction provided for them by the president and faculty of the University. Through Mr. Frye’s efforts and those of General Wood, then Military Governor of the Island, the Washington government became interested in the school problem in Cuba, and through the War Department furnished passage in one of the large American transports for all teachers who cared to visit the United States in the interest of Cuban education. Some 1600 teachers, mostly young ladies, were selected from applicants in various parts of the Island, and conveyed on the U.S. transport General McClellan to the city of Boston, where they were comfortably lodged and cared for during a period of three months as guests of Harvard University.

The direct educational benefit derived by these young Cuban teachers was almost incalculable. A great majority of them had no knowledge whatever of the English language, and knew but little of the outside world. The press of Cuba in those days was limited in its fund of general information or other matter that might be of educational value to the reading public. Nor had education, especially among women, been encouraged during the days of Spain’s control over the island.

The summer work at Harvard was a revelation. The educational seed fell upon receptive soil, and the young teachers who were fortunate enough to be selected as guests of that institution gave an excellent account of themselves in work that followed during the early days of the Republic. Incidentally Mr. Frye chose one of these young teachers as his companion through life. After Mr. Frye’s departure, Lieut. Hanna, at the suggestion of General Wood, made some changes and additions to the public school system of Cuba, conforming it somewhat to the methods then in vogue in the State of Ohio.

With the installation of the Cuban Republic in 1902 public instruction came directly under the supervision of the Central or Federal Government, and the Secretary of Public Instruction was made a member of the President’s Cabinet, adding thus dignity and importance to that branch of work on which the character of succeeding generations depended. Unfortunately for the cause of education it has been found rather difficult to separate the Department of Public Instruction from a certain amount of political interference, which has tended to mar its efficiency and retard progress.

With the beginning of the second Government of Intervention in 1906, Dr. Lincoln de Zayas was made Secretary of Public Instruction under Governor Magoon, and with his untiring devotion to the cause of true knowledge, as well as his keen insight into the modern or more improved methods of teaching, interest in public instruction in Cuba was greatly revived, and English began to assume a far more important role in the primary and grammar schools than in former days.

The services of an excellent teacher, Miss Abbie Phillips, of California, was secured as General Superintendent of English throughout the Republic, and under her direction was formed a corps of remarkably competent Cuban women, who accomplished much in a short time towards making the study of English in the public schools more popular than it had been. With the death of Dr. de Zayas the cause of public instruction seemed again partially to relapse into its former desuetude. Yet in spite of the misfortune that thus befell it, the work has proceeded more satisfactorily than might have been expected, owing to the strong desire on the part of the youth of the Republic to learn, and to shake off the fetters that had previously kept them in a kind of a respectable ignorance.

During President Menocal’s administration the resignation of the Secretary of Public Instruction gave opportunity for the selection and appointment to that office of Dr. Dominguez Roldan, who has endeavored to inject new life into the cause and to place this important branch of the Government once more in a position that will command the respect, not only of the people of Cuba, but also of the outside world. New school houses, designed expressly for the purpose, are replacing the old and inadequate buildings that were formerly rented. The study of English, that had been discouraged by his predecessor, is being again revived, and many steps in the cause of learning are being taken whose wisdom will become evident in the near future.

In 1913, when Mario G. Menocal assumed the direction of the Government of Cuba, there were but 262 schools in the island, while to-day there are 1136, showing an increase of 1074; with 335,291 pupils attending. No fewer than 1746 teachers have been appointed and added to the Department of Public Instruction in Cuba. In addition to this two night schools have recently been established, one in Santiago de Cuba and one in Bayamo. Four kindergartens, or “School Gardens,” as they are now termed, have recently been established in the Province of Santa Clara.

At the present time, throughout the Republic of Cuba, there is a total of 5,685 teachers in the primary schools. Among these are included 116 teachers who render special service throughout the different sections of the country, 19 teachers of night schools, 118 teachers devoted to school gardens, 40 teachers of cutting and sewing, 26 teachers of English, 21 of Sloyd, and 4 teachers devoted to instruction in jails. In 1915 a normal school, co-educational, was established in each of five of the Provinces. Havana has two normal schools, one for boys and the other for girls.

During the year 1918 a school of Domestic Economy, Arts and Sciences, known as the “School of the Home,” was established. The object of this school, as that of similar institutions, is to prepare the future wife and mother so that she may be able to undertake in an intelligent manner the direction of the home. Among the subjects taught are accounting, domestic economy, moral and civic obligations, hygiene, the care of infants and of the sick, cutting, sewing, dressmaking, basket-making, and elementary physics and chemistry, which form the base of scientific cooking. In addition to these, gardening, the care of animals, ordinary and higher cooking are taught; also washing and ironing, dyeing, the removing of stains, and the proper method of cleaning and taking care of shoes. In order to make the school popular and to insure its success, a society of patriotic and intelligent women has been formed, from which much practical benefit is expected in the future.

In order to provide for and to permit the scientific development both physical and mental of the Cuban youth, the Department of Public Instruction has established a separate institution, with an experimental annex, for the purpose of studying the eccentricities and aptitudes of Cuban children.

The order of sequence of public instruction in Cuba, as previously stated, has followed very largely that of the United States. The school gardens are followed by primary and grammar schools, all suitably graded, and the course of studies is more or less similar to that of the United States.

The Institute of Havana, located for many years in the old convent building just back of the Governor General’s Palace, occupies a place between the grammar school and the University. The course of studies and scope of this institution is similar to the average high school of America. New buildings are being erected for the accommodation of the several thousand boys and girls who attend the institute, and with its removal to more commodious and congenial quarters, this important seat of learning will be reorganized with greatly increased efficiency.

The National University of Havana was founded under the direction of monks of the Dominican Order on January 5, 1728, and until the installation of the Republic occupied the old convent that afterwards served as the Institute. To-day the University of Havana can boast of one of the most picturesque and delightful locations occupied by any seat of learning in the world. It crowns the northeast corner of the high plateau, overlooking the capital of the Republic from the west. Its altitude is several hundred feet above the plain below, with the Gulf of Mexico close by on the north and old Morro Castle standing at the entrance of a beautiful harbor, that stretches out along the far eastern horizon, sweeping afterwards toward the south. The city of Havana fills the center of the picture, while in the immediate foreground nestle the forests of the Botanical Gardens and the Quinto de los Molinos, or summer residence of the former Spanish Governor Generals, with their beautiful drives sweeping along the front and up to the crest of the plateau.

The broad stone staircase at the entrance to the grounds is quite in keeping with the dignity of the place and the numerous buildings devoted to various departments of learning are harmonious in design and commodious in appointment. A giant laurel, with an expanse of shade that would protect a small army of men, occupied the center of an old courtyard that once belonged to the fortifications commanding the Principe Heights.

To these buildings will soon be added another to be known as the National School of Languages, at a cost of $150,000. This edifice, sumptuous in its appointments, will be dedicated largely to the reciprocal study of Spanish and English. American students who wish to perfect their knowledge of Spanish will be invited from the various universities of the United States to visit Cuba, at stated periods of the year, for the purpose of studying and improving their acquaintance with this language through direct contact with the students and professors of the University. The latter, on the other hand, will be afforded an excellent opportunity to perfect their knowledge of English by mingling with visiting students from the United States, and it is believed that the result of acquaintances and friendships, formed in this way, many of which will be sustained through life, will add greatly to those bonds of friendship and mutual understanding that resulted from America’s assistance to Cuba in her War for Independence, and that for a thousand reasons should never be permitted to relapse or sink into indifference.

The national or public library of Cuba, located in the Maestranza, one of the most substantial of those old buildings that have come down from the days of Spanish dominion, was founded during the first American intervention by General Leonard Wood, on October 18, 1901. It is open to the public every day of the week except Sunday, from 8 to 11 in the morning and from 1 to 5 in the afternoon, except Saturday, when access may be secured at any time between 8 and 12 in the morning.

The library contains at the present time about twenty thousand volumes. This does not however include a great mass of pamphlets and unbound manuscripts, documents, papers, etc., which form a valuable part of the collection. These volumes are largely in Spanish, French and English, and include all of the more important branches of human knowledge. Among them may be found an excellent collection of the best encyclopedias and dictionaries of those languages.

Its collection of American History is extensive; in addition to which may be mentioned a valuable collection of works on international law, given by the eminent jurist Dr. Antonio S. de Bustamante, who represented the Republic of Cuba at the Peace Conference in Paris at the conclusion of the Great War.

Among other gifts to the public library may be mentioned a series of large, beautiful, artistic drawings in colors, that represent all that is known of the Aztec and Toltec life existing in the Republic of Mexico at the time of the Spanish Conquest in the early part of the 16th century. These engravings have been drawn and colored with marvelous care. They are assembled in the form of an atlas which permits close study and makes one of the most interesting and valuable contributions of this kind to be found in any part of the world. They were presented to Cuba by General Porfirio Diaz, President of the Republic of Mexico.

Arrangements have been made to catalogue the volumes of the library. For this purpose experts have been secured and the space amplified, and when this work is completed, while the library will not offer the luxurious quarters of institutions of its kind in other countries, it will be useful and accessible to those who wish to avail themselves of its services.

CHAPTER XXXV

OCEAN TRANSPORTATION

TRANSPORTATION is the handmaid of production. Where transportation facilities are faulty, exchange of commodities is necessarily restricted to local demands, and commerce with the outside world is practically impossible. Good harbors are among the first essentials to foreign trade, and with deep, well protected bays, Cuba has been bountifully supplied. Every sheltered indentation of her two thousand miles of coast line, from the days of Colon, has been an invitation for passing ships to enter. The wealth of the island in agriculture and mineral and forest products, has made the visits of these ocean carriers profitable; hence the phenomenal growth of Cuba’s foreign commerce.

In spite of the stupid restriction of trade enforced by Spain in the early colonial days, contraband commerce assumed large proportions during the 17th century, and when England’s fleet captured Havana in 1763, the capital of Cuba enjoyed a freedom of foreign exchange never before known. Quantities of sugar, coffee, hides and hardwoods, large for those times, demanded transportation during the second quarter of the 19th century. Foreign trade, too, was greatly stimulated in Cuba by conditions resulting from the Civil War in the United States. The rapid development of the sugar industry following this war soon called for more permanent lines of ocean transportation.

The interdependence of produce and transportation is well illustrated in the early history of what is now known as the United Fruit Company. In 1870, Captain Lorenzo D. Baker was in command of a small, swift coasting schooner en route from Jamaica to Boston. On the wharf at Kingston lay some 40 bunches of bananas, a few of which were ripe, others lacking 10 days or more in which to change their dull green coats into the soft creamy yellow of the matured fruit. Captain Baker was fond of bananas, and ordered that the lot be placed on board his schooner, just before sailing. Fortune favored him and strong easterly beam winds brought him into the harbor of Boston in 10 days, with all of the bunches not consumed en route in practically perfect condition. Many friends of Capt. Baker, to whom this delicious fruit was practically unknown, got a taste of the banana for the first time. Among these was Andrew W. Preston, a local fruit dealer in Boston, who was greatly impressed with the appearance of the fruit, and the success which had attended Captain Baker’s effort to get the bananas into the market without injury.

Mr. Preston reckoned that if a schooner with a fair wind could land such delicious fruit in Boston in ten days, steamers could do the same work with absolute certainty in less time. This far sighted pioneer and promoter of trade realized that three factors were essential to building up an industry of this kind. First, there must be a market for the product, and he was confident that the people of Boston and the vicinity could soon be educated to like the banana and to purchase it if offered at a fair price. Next, a sufficient and steady supply must be provided. Third, reliable transportation in the form of steamers of convenient size and suitable equipment must be secured, in order to convey the fruit with economy and regularity to the waiting market or point of consumption. True, he at first failed to interest other fruit dealers in the project. “It had never been done and consequently was a dangerous innovation that would probably prove unprofitable.” But Mr. Preston had visualized a new industry on a large scale, and with the faith of the industrial pioneer he finally succeeded in persuading nine of his friends to put up with him each $2,000, and to form a company for the purpose of growing bananas in the West Indies, of chartering a steamer suitable for the transportation, and finding a market for the produce in Boston.

The details were worked out carefully and the first cargo purchased in Jamaica and landed in New England proved a decided success. During the first two or three years the accruing dividends were invested in fruit lands in Jamaica and everything went well. Not long after, however, it was found that a West Indian cyclone could destroy a banana field and put it out of business in a very few hours. More than one field or locality in which to grow bananas on a large scale was necessary to provide against the possible failure of the crop at some other point.

In the meantime another broad minded and determined pioneer in the world of progress, Minor C. Keith, a youth of 23, was trying to build a railroad some 90 miles in length from Puerto Limon to the capital, San Jose, in the highlands of Costa Rica. The greater part of this road was through dense jungle and forest almost impenetrable, with nothing in the shape of freight or passengers from which revenues could be derived until the road was completed to the capital. Mr. Keith had a concession from the Costa Rican Government, but the Government had no funds with which to aid the builder in his enterprise, and this young engineer, through force of character and moral suasion, kept his two thousand workmen in line without one dollar of money for over 18 months. Food he managed to scrape up from various sources, but the payday was practically forgotten. In the meantime, some banana plants were secured from a plantation in Colombia, and set out on the virgin soils along the roadway through which Mr. Keith was laying his rails. These grew marvellously, and not only supplied fruit for the Jamaica negroes engaged in the work, but soon furnished bananas for export to New Orleans, and thus was started a rival industry to that of Mr. Preston, on the shores of the Western Caribbean.

It was not long before Mr. Keith, who struggled for 20 years to complete his line from the coast to the capital of Costa Rica, came into contact with Mr. Preston. These captains of industry realized the advantages of co-operation, and in a very short time organized the United Fruit Company, which is probably the greatest agricultural transportation company in the world to-day. Its various plantations include lands in Colombia, Panama, Costa Rica, Honduras, Guatemala and Jamaica. Large plantations of bananas belonging to the company were until recently on the harbors of Banes and Nipe, on the north coast of Oriente, in the Island of Cuba, but these were subjected to strong breezes from the northeast that whipped the leaves and hindered their growth. Then too, it was soon discovered that these lands were better adapted to the cultivation of sugar cane, hence bananas of the United Fruit Company disappeared from the Nipe Bay district, to be replaced by sugar plantations that to-day cover approximately 37,000 acres and in 1920 will reach 50,000 acres. Over 200,000 acres on the coast of the Caribbean are devoted to the cultivation of bananas. About 30,000 head of cattle are maintained as a source of food for the thousands of laborers, mostly Jamaicans, who are employed in the fields of the United Fruit Company, which comprise an aggregate of 1,980,000 acres; while 743 miles of standard gauge railway, together with 532 miles of narrow gauge roads, are owned and operated throughout the various plantations.

In the year 1915, 46,000,000 bunches of bananas were shipped by the United Fruit Company from the shores of the Caribbean to the United States, while the sugar plantations owned by the Company on the north coast of Oriente Province, in Cuba, produced sugar in 1918 that yielded a net return of $5,000,000.

In order to provide transportation for this enormous agricultural output this company to-day owns and operates one of the biggest fleets of steamships in the world. Forty-five of these ships, with tonnages varying from 3,000 to 8,000, especially equipped for the banana trade, and with the best of accommodations for passengers, have an aggregate tonnage of 250,000; while 49 other steamers were chartered by the company before the war, making the total tonnage employed in the carrying trade approximately half a million.

Nearly all these steamers, which connect the coast of the Caribbean with New York, Boston and New Orleans, touch, both coming and going, at the City of Havana, thus giving that port the advantage of unexcelled transportation facilities, and connecting Cuba not only with the more important cities of the Gulf of Mexico, New York and New England, but also with Jamaica, Caribbean ports, and the South American Republics lying beyond the Isthmus of Panama, along the western shores of that continent.

No steamship line perhaps has been more closely related to the commercial development of Cuba than has the New York & Cuba Mail Steamship Company. This line had its origin in a carrying trade between Cuba and the United States started by the firm of James E. Ward & Co. The members of the firm were Mr. James E. Ward, Mr. Henry B. Booth and Mr. Wm. T. Hughes. The Company was incorporated under the laws of the State of New York and formally organized in July, 1881, with Mr. Ward as President, Mr. Booth as Vice President and Mr. Hughes as Secretary and Treasurer. When first organized the Company had only four ships, the Newport, Saratoga, Niagara and Santiago, with a gross tonnage of 10,179. Between the date of its organization and its transfer to the Maine Corporation, or during a period of 26 years, the company acquired 19 vessels, with a total gross tonnage of 84,411. In addition to the above the company has operated under foreign flags eight other ships aggregating a tonnage of 26,624.

The four original steamers mentioned above were owned in part by the builders, Messrs. John Roach & Son, and a few other individuals. The original firm however sold its ships to the Company at the time of its reorganization. Of the vessels acquired by the company, the majority were built under contract by Messrs. Roach & Son, and Wm. Cramp & Sons’ Ship and Engine Building Company. Among the ships that were purchased and not built especially for this company, were the two sister ships Seguranca and Vigilancia, built in 1890 for the Brazil Line. The steamships City of Washington and City of Alexandria were originally owned by the Alexandria Line, and passed into the hands of the Ward Line after its organization. The Matanzas, formerly the Spanish steamer Guido, that had left London with a valuable cargo of food, munitions and money with which to pay off Spanish troops in Cuba, was captured by the American forces during the early part of the war with Spain, in an attempt to run the blockade that had been established, and was afterwards sold by the American Government to the Ward Line.

The business of this company, after its organization, began with a passenger and freight service connecting the cities of Havana, Santiago and Cienfuegos with New York. With the acquisition of the Alexandria Line, the service of the company was extended to Mexico, and a number of ports have been added to its itinerary both in Cuba and in Mexico. The line to-day maintains a service on each of the following routes: New York to Havana and return; New York to Havana, Progreso, Yucatan, and Vera Cruz, returning via Progreso and Havana to New York; New York to Tampico, Mexico, calling occasionally on return voyages at other ports when cargoes are offered; New York to Guantanamo, Santiago, Manzanillo and Cienfuegos, returning according to the demands of shipping interests; New York to Nassau, in the Bahamas, Havana, and return. The sailings average about five a week and schedules are prepared from time to time to meet the requirements of trade. Passengers on this line are carried in three distinct classes, first cabin, intermediate, and steerage, the vessels being constructed with reference to suitable accommodations for the various classes.

The principal railway and other connections are as follows: At New York in general with all railroads terminating at that port, as well as all foreign and domestic water lines that move traffic via that port; at Havana with the United Railways of Havana and the Cuba Railroad; at Tampico with the Mexican Central Railway for interior points in Mexico; at Progreso with the United Railways of Yucatan for Merida, Campeche and other interior points; at Vera Cruz with the National Railways of Mexico and the Interoceanic Railroad for interior points of Mexico, as well as with the Vera Cruz and Pacific Railroad for interior points of Mexico and the Pacific Coast; at Puerto Mexico with the Tehuantepec National Railway, for points on the Isthmus of Tehuantepec and on the Pacific Coast. Connection is also made at Vera Cruz with the Compañia Mexicana de Navegacion for traffic to Tuxpam, Coatzacoalcos, Tlacotalpam and Frontera, ports on the Gulf of Mexico. At Santiago connection is made with the Cuba Eastern Railway and Cuba Railroad for points throughout the interior of Cuba; at Guantanamo with the Cuba Eastern Railway and at Cienfuegos with the Cuban Central Railroad.

The company has contracts with the United States Government for the transportation of mails between New York and Havana, and between New York, Havana and Mexico. It also has a contract with the Bahamas Government for the transportation of mails.

The following is a list of the vessels owned or operated by the company.

Steamers:
Havana	Matanzas
Saratoga	Antilla
Mexico	Camaguey
Morro Castle	Santiago
Esperanza	Bayamo
Monterey	Manzanillo
Segurancia	Yumuri
Vigilancia	Guantanamo
Seneca
Tugs and Steam Lighters:
Colonia	Auxiliar
Nautilus	Comport
Neptuno	Edwin Brandon
Hercules

The total gross tonnage of the steamers and tugs above mentioned is 84,000 tons.

One of the oldest and most important lines in the carrying trade of the Caribbean is known as the Munson Steamship Line, and was founded in 1872 by Walter D. Munson. The trade began with sailing vessels but the increase in traffic was so great that these were soon replaced with steamers. The steamships in the service of the Munson Line to-day number 140, with an average tonnage of 2,500 tons each, dead weight.

These vessels sail from nearly every port in Cuba, connecting the Island with nearly all of the Atlantic and Gulf Coast ports of the United States. The passenger steamers of the Munson Line ply between New York, Nuevitas and Nipe Bay of the Province of Oriente. The passenger steamers, although not touching at Havana, are equipped for the accommodation of passengers that leave from the ports of the eastern provinces of the Island.

During the late European War twelve of the Munson steamships were placed in the service of the United States and three under the British flag.

The Peninsular and Occidental Steamship Company operates a daily passenger, mail and freight service between Havana and Key West, Florida. Since 1912 this company has maintained practically a daily service between the two ports and maintains also a bi-weekly service between Havana and Port Tampa, Florida. Owing to the frequency of the sailings, the P. & O. SS. Co. is considered the official mail route between the United States and Cuba.

The company operates also the Florida East Coast Car-Ferry freight service between Havana and Key West. This service was made possible by the extension of the Florida East Coast Railroad from the southern points of the peninsula out over the long line of keys that terminates in the Island of Key West.

The erection of this viaduct, built at an enormous expense, of stone and concrete, was the realization of Henry W. Flagler’s dream of modern transportation facilities between the United States and Cuba. The car ferry service was inaugurated in January, 1915. At the present time two of these great car ferryboats, with a capacity of 28 standard freight cars each, make a round trip every twenty-four hours between the two ports. These two vessels transport approximately 1,150 cars in and out of Cuba every month, carrying over 35,000 tons each way in that length of time.

Since the inauguration of the service more business has been offered than can be handled during certain months of the year, and it has been found necessary to refuse large quantities of cargo destined for the Republic of Cuba. The advantage of this service to the Cuban fruit and vegetable growers has been very great, since they are enabled to load in the Cuban fields freight cars belonging to almost every line in the United States, so that this produce may be shipped direct, without breaking bulk, to any market in the United States.

In the year 1870 the Pinillos Izquierdo Line of steamers was established between Spain and the Island of Cuba. The home office of this line is in Cadiz, Spain. Their vessels are engaged in freight and passenger service touching at the following points in the Peninsula: Barcelona, Palma de Majorca, Valencia, Alicante, Malaga, Cadiz, Vigo, Gijon and Santander.

En route the Canary Island and Porto Rico are also visited while the terminal points on this side of the Atlantic are New Orleans, Galveston, Havana and Santiago de Cuba. All of their steamers carry mail. Their fleet consists of nine steamers with a combined tonnage of 78,000 tons as follows:

Infanta Isabel	16,500 tons	2000 passengers
Cadiz	10,500 tons	1500 passengers
Barcelona	10,500 tons	1500 passengers
Valbanera	10,500 tons	1500 passengers
Catalina	8,000 tons	1000 passengers
Martin Sáena	5,500 tons	800 passengers
Balmes	6,500 tons	800 passengers
Conde Wifredo	5,500 tons	800 passengers
Miguel M. Pinillos	4,500 tons	500 passengers
	78,000 tons

The Southern Pacific, originally known as the Morgan line, established a transportation service between Gulf ports and the Island of Cuba many years ago, beginning with two side-wheel walking-beam steamboats of about 800 tons dead weight. They were heavy consumers of coal and had a speed of from 9½ to 11 knots. A few years later the steamers Hutchinson and Arkansas, both side wheelers, were added to the fleet. Still later the single propeller steamers Excelsior and Chalmette, of about 2,400 tons each, were placed in the service of the Southern Pacific Line. These combined freight and passenger boats were well built and seaworthy fourteen knot steamers, of an equipment considered modern at that time. The Louisiana entered the service in 1900, but owing to an error in loading freight, it turned turtle at the docks in New Orleans and became a total loss. The Excelsior and Chalmette are still maintaining an efficient weekly service between New Orleans and Havana.

The Compagnie General Transatlantique, generally known as the French Line, connecting western France, Northern Spain and the Canary Islands, with Cuba, Porto Rico, Vera Cruz, Mexico, and the city of New Orleans, was established in 1860.

St. Nazaire on the Bay of Biscay in France is the headquarters of this line. Their steamers touch at Santander and Coruña on the north coast of Spain; at the Canary Islands, Porto Rico, Martinique, Santiago de Cuba, Havana, Vera Cruz, and New Orleans. Their fleet consists of 13 ships with a combined tonnage of 153,500 tons.

The steamship Lafayette, of 15,000 tons, is equipped for the accommodation of 1,620 passengers. The Espana, of 15,000 tons, carries 1,500 passengers; the Flanders, of 12,000 tons, carries 1,250 passengers; the Venizia, of 12,000 tons, carries 700 passengers; the Navarre, of 10,000 tons, carries 1,000 passengers; the Venezuela, of 7,000 tons, carries 500 passengers.

The Caroline, the Mississippi and the Georgie are each steamers of 13,000 tons. The Honduras is a 12,000 ton ship; the Hudson 11,000 tons; the Californie 10,500 tons, and the Virginie 10,000 tons. The seven last mentioned vessels carry cargo only.

During August, 1919, the 7,000 ton steamer Panama Canal arrived in Cuba from Japan, inaugurating a new steamship line between Japan and the United States, touching at Cuban ports. The line is known as the Osaka Shosen Kaisha, of Osaka, Japan. The fleet consists of 186 steamers plying between Japan and different parts of the world. The headquarters for this company has been established at Chicago, Illinois, owing to connections that have been made with the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul Railroad.

Steamers eastward bound from Japan will bring rice and general cargo, most of which will be consigned to the Island of Cuba, owing to the heavy consumption of that article of food in that Republic. New Orleans will be the terminus in the United States of the line. On the initial trip of the Panama Canal 50,000 sacks of rice grown in Japan were consigned to Cuban merchants in Santiago de Cuba and Cienfuegos. The return cargoes will be composed largely of cotton, taken aboard at New Orleans, and with sugar and tobacco shipped from Cuba to the Orient. This line has begun with one sailing each way per month, all steamers touching at Havana for freight and passengers.

The Customs regulations of Cuba require five sets of invoices for Havana and four for all other points; which must be written in ink, in either English or Spanish. If they are typewritten the original imprint must be included, but the others may be carbon copies. Invoices must give the names of shippers and consignees, and of vessels; marks and numbers, description of merchandise, gross and net weights by metric system, price, value, and statement of expenses incurred. If there are no expenses, that fact must be stated. Prices must be detailed, on each article, and not in bulk. Descriptions of merchandise must be detailed, telling the materials of each article and of all its parts. Descriptions of fabrics must tell the nature of the fibre, character of weave, dye, number of threads in six square millimeters, length and width of piece, weight, price, and value. All measurements must be in metric units.

At the foot of each sheet of the invoice must be a signed declaration, in Spanish, telling whether the articles are or are not products of the soil or industry of the United States. If the manufacturer or shipper is not a resident of the place where the consulate is situated, he must appoint in writing a local agent to present the invoice and the agent must write and sign a declaration concerning his appointment. Stated forms are prescribed and are furnished by consuls for manufacturers, producers, owners, sellers and shippers.

Freight charges to the shipping port, custom house and statistical fees, stamps, wharfage and incidental expenses must be included in the dutiable value of goods, and must be stated separately; but insurance and consular fees must not be included.

Each invoice must cover a single, distinct shipment, by one vessel to one consignee. Separate consignments must not be included in one invoice. Invoices under $5, covering products of the soil or industry of the United States must be certified in order to enjoy the provisions of the reciprocity treaty between the two countries. Invoices and declarations must be written on only one side of the paper, and no erasures, corrections, alterations or additions must be made, unless stated in a signed declaration.

Domestic and foreign merchandise from the United States must be separately invoiced. Invoices are not required on shipments of foreign goods of less value than $5.

Fabrics of mixed fibres must be so stated, with a statement of the proportion of the principal material, upon which the duty is to be computed. Cotton goods pay duty according to threads, and silk and wool ad valorem. Samples of cotton goods are taken at the custom house, and should be provided for that purpose to avoid mutilation of the piece. Duties on ready made clothing are based on the chief outside fabric. A surtax of 100% is placed on ready-made cotton clothing, and a surtax of 30% on colored threads.

Two copies of each set of bills of lading must be given, but on merchandise of less than $5 value need not be certified.

Invoices covering shipments of automobile vehicles must state maker, name of car, style of car, year of make, maker’s number on motor, number of cylinders, horse power, and passenger capacity.

If after an invoice has been certified it or any part of it is delayed in shipment, the steamship company must mark on the bill of lading opposite the delayed goods “Short Shipped,” but the invoice need not be recertified. The consignee should, however, be informed.

The list of articles admitted into Cuba free of duty comprises samples of fabrics, felt, and wall paper, of a prescribed size, samples of lace and trimmings, and samples of hosiery, provided that they are rendered unfit for any other purpose than that of samples; trained animals, animals, portable theatres, and other articles for public entertainment, not to remain in Cuba longer than three months; receptacles in which fruits or liquids were exported from Cuba and which are being returned empty; furniture, clothing and other personal property of immigrants, or of travellers, showing evidence of having already been used; agricultural implements not including machinery; and pictures, posters, catalogues, calendars, etc., not for sale but for free distribution for advertising purposes.

The importation into Cuba is forbidden or restricted of foreign coins of anything but gold, save those of the United States; gunpowder, dynamite and other explosives, save by special permit of the Interior Department; and silencers for firearms. Arms of more than .32 caliber, .44 caliber revolvers, and automatic pistols require special permit.

Consular fees for certification are: On shipments worth less than $5, nothing; from $5 upward and less than $50, fifty cents; from $50 upward and less than $200, $2; over $200, $2 plus ten cents for each $100 or fraction thereof. Extra copies of invoices, 50 cents each. Invoice blanks, ten cents a set. Certifying bills of lading, $1.

Cuban consulates are situated in the United States and its possessions as follows: Atlanta, Ga.; Baltimore, Md.; Boston, Mass.; Brunswick, Ga.; Chattanooga, Tenn.; Chicago, Ill.; Cincinnati, Ohio.; Detroit, Mich.; Fernandina, Fla.; Galveston, Tex.; Gulfport, Miss.; Jacksonville, Fla.; Kansas City, Mo.; Key West, Fla.; Los Angeles, Cal.; Louisville, Ky.; Mobile, Ala.; New Orleans, La.; New York; Newport News, Va.; Norfolk, Va.; Pascagoula, Miss.; Pensacola, Fla.; Philadelphia, Penn.; San Francisco, Cal.; Savannah, Ga.; St. Louis, Mo.; Tampa, Fla.; Washington, D. C.; and Aguadilla, Arecibo, Mayagues, Ponce, and San Juan, Porto Rico.