Show W T THE UPLIFTING OF CUBA american enterprise and money being put into the island already a railroad has been built through the richest portion special correspondence I 1 T the close of the span va Ish american war the railway system of cuba was almost entirely con 45 fal d q fined to the western 21 I 1 and an narrower pelf balf of 0 the island and consist J ed of a number of corn com parott ively short lines extending from havana westward to pinar del rio southward across the island to Ba tabano eastward via matanzas to santa clara and connecting with cardenas bagua sagua agua la grande and Calba Cai banen rien on the north coast and cienfuegos Clen fuegos on the south coast east of santa asanta clara through the interior half halt of the embrace ing nearly 70 per cent of its area there were but a few short I 1 nes extending from the coast toward the interior one of twenty miles from the south coast to another of forty five miles from nuevitas Nue vitas on the north coast to puerto principe an other of thirty miles from the city rf t santiago to ponupo and san luls luis an other of twenty two miles extending northward from guantanamo and a fk 3 0 W 4 V 0 4 Z 7 I 1 custom house landing havana narrow gauge line of nineteen miles from gibara on the north coast to holguin in addition to these there was a spanish military railway traversing the famous trocha from bucaro on the south coast to san fernando on the north coast the whole of the great provinces ft af santiago and puerto principe and the eastern half of the province of santa claa clara embracing as 0 be bt fore stated nearly 70 per cent of the island were almost with out railway facilities and the interior of this part of cuba was therefore available for little more than cattle raising from santa clara eastward to the longitude of santiago the country is well raised above the sea Is traversed by innumerable streams and largely covered by heavy forests with all manner of valuable and even precious woods and the lands throughout are rich beyond comparison and adapted to sugar cane tobacco cotton and cocoa and to bananas oranges p no ne apples and other tropical and subtropical fruits the mountains along both coasts and toward the eastern extremity of the island contain iron copper man canese and other ores and minerals and on the hills and mountain slopes is grown coffee of the highest quality important iron and manganese mines have been worked for years in the vl cikity of the city of santiago and the opening up of the interior will no doubt make many ither other mineral deposits available the spanish government had tor for existing franchise under which the work could be undertaken and no legislative authority to grant a fran chise and moreover the foraker amendment forbidding the granting of franchises in cuba cub a during the united states military occupation stood in the way early in 1901 it occurred to sir wll wil liam van home horne then on a casual visit to cuba whose attention was directed to the extraordinary resources of the country that it wasl was possible to build the tae railway without a franchise and upon laying the mitter matter before a num nuni her ber of gentlemen of high financial standing in new york and elsewhere he found no difficulty in securing ing the necessary money for carrying out the project the work proceeded without a bin hin drance or interruption and it was sub ly completed when the pill tary government proclaimed a general railroad law embracing the best tea fea tures of the railroad laws of ot the unit ed states and canada the last rail on the section between puerto principe and santiago was laid on nov 6 1902 and on the section be tween puerto principe and santa clara five days later and two years after tha the grading of the line commenced and the entire line between santiago and santa clara was opened for local braf fie on dec dee 8 1902 the line Is of the usual american standard with 60 pound rails and 2 ties to the mile and IS 19 already largely ballasted with rock the line Is a di ill one and has very light grades its bridges are numerous and are mostly of ipas masonry onry and steel ard similar in character and strength to those of the best american railways and its cul cui verts are mostly of masonry or con crete its equipment both and passenger is s milar to that of the best american lines iines the ownership of the greater part of the lands of cuba in large areas Is the chief handicap upon the develop ment of the island for in the past it has been almost impossible for a man with small means to secure a farm of his own the company quite early recognized this disadvantage and set about its correction through the pur chase bt of some hundreds of square miles of land mith a view to dividing it into small farms units of thirty to forty acres and these small farms will shortly be offered to approved settlers at low prices and on very easy terms and it is the intention of the company to so provide for the grind ing of sugar cane and the shipment of fruits and vegetables as to insure the success of these settlers A good many large holders of land along the railway have already indi bated their intention to td follow the comp company anys s example in subdividing and selling to settlers a part of their of 1 1 ZA 16 tacon theater and hotel Ing ingleterra laterra fifty finy years recognized the importance of a central railway system to con hect havana with the eastern end of the island and during this time had made many attempts in the way of offers of liberal concessions and guar antee to secure its construction but without success after the close of the spanish amer lean ican wai an interest in this ecter erter prise was manifested by bv a number of private companies but there was no Pol holdings dings and the success of this plan is expected to result in its general adoption in the vicinity of the rail way and even in its spread to other parts of cuba the company has started out with freight and passenger rates averaging less than half halt the rates which have prevailed in cuba in past years real izing that moderate rates are feces sary to the healthy development of the country |