Show Cubans Still Tn In Great ire at Distress General Rivera Secretary of Agriculture Describes the Islands Needs No Money Noney With Which to Rehabilitate the tile Plantations p People Forced to Live as Savages No Further Danger From Uprisings False Reports Sent Abroad Copyright 1900 by b George Reno Rent Special Correspondence Havana Cuba Feb 28 General Ruis Ruts Rivera Riera secretary of agriculture com corn commerce comi i merce and industry who has just re returned reI returned turned with ith General G Wood from a tour I of or Investigation through the province provinceS east of ot Havana has assumed perhaps the most moat difficult task of any member of ot the cabinet Upon his bin shoulders falls primarily the 1 duty of solving the great gr at problem of rehabilitating the island agriculturally after art r the av awful ful and widespread devas deas devastation devastation tation of ot war The secretary himself says S of or the situation Were the re ye resources sources and necessary capital at hand handI I the task would be a comparatively aim sim simple I pIe one because both soil and climate are always ready read to do their then share As AsIt AsIt Asit It is we lack Jack roads bridges horses mutes mules mul oxen farming implements and seeS seed see we lack Jack everything but what na nature nature nature I ture herself affords But General Gen ral Rivera is preeminently I I 1 I a II iTh GENERAL RUIS IN HIS ms OFFICE a man of action a man of quick and comprehensive judgment and he has jumped into the work before him with all the energy and enthusiasm which marked his service as a soldier in the late war warI Major General Ruin Ruis Rivera was born I In Porto Rico he has been identified vv with ith every movement for the independence ence of Cuba since his bis early youth He fought with Antonio Maces Maceo in the Oc Or Occidente Occidente and v when hen Maceo was killed took command of his forces directing the battles of the Rubi hills perhaps the most bloody blood and hard bard fought of any in the recent recant Cuban war It will be remembered that a little later Rivera was wais 1 wounded captured and confined In Caha He refused to accept liberty on en m the Hie condition of or not again taking up arms ar ns against Spain and was sentenced to imprisonment for tor life on Ceuta He was a prisoner there until released at atthe atthe atthe the termination of ot the can war ar when he was liberated at the request t of ot the United States He was appointed civil governor of Havana province under General Brooke Gen General GenI General eral Wood V selected him as a member fh I of the cabinet i on account n of o his well known energy integrity in and anti executive j ability General Rivera speaks good English and stands as the represents representative tive tIe of everything that is progressive in InI Cuba His HiJ views with reference to the I 1 present condition of the islands its nee and its possible future are high highly highly ly valued by Governor General Wood Hard Lines In Ia Eastern Cuba Those provinces which lie east capt of I Havana namely Matanzas Santa Clara Puerto Principe and Santiago go de Cuba said ald General Rivera a day da or two ago have always been given over overto overto overto to the making of sugar and the breed breedi i ing lag of cattle The herds of the great I meadow s of or and adjoining provinces were entirely destroyed d troed by I the armies of Spain and the insurgents I gents genOa None was left lett for breeding pur puri purposes i poses posea even een and to Introduce new stock stO k from outside sources will necessitate an i expenditure of much money To replant the vast cane fields of ot those provinces and to rebuild the great sugar plants which were burned during the revolution will wilt require a aI I still larger laIber amount of or capital Up to the present time tima this much needed sinew sin w of peace as well as war has bas not been forthcoming except in a few for fortunate fortunate fortunate localities As a natural result the condition of the people of the Ori On Oriente ente e today is serious As there are but r tea few fe mills TO grind cane and no cattle I Ito to hard herd there Is little or no work for fOrI I Ithe Ithe the country people to do And as the j cities and towns depend upon the pros prosperity of the surrounding country countr they I also are in straits The city of Espiritu Santa Clara Ciara situated in one of the richest and most beautiful re regions regions gions In all Cuba Is almost depopulated depopulated depopulated ow owing ing to the enforced emigration of p who must leave or starve to death Each Ea h or countryman who owns or can rent a piece of ot land raises enough nough sweet potatoes corn yucca etc to fill nil the mouths of his own family famil but having hayIng neither neithel farm farming farming ing jug Implements im nor animals with which to cultivate te a large laIbe tract and totally lacking in means of transportation to a market he ha has been heen debarred from the privilege e of trading farm products for fO shoes and clothing and compelled to live lIe a life closely resembling that of the savage In one respect he is worse off than the savage for tor the latter can bear and use arms but the Cuban has not the privilege of or owning a shotgun with which to provide meat for his household Cubas Great Need Is Money Of or course this state of affairs pro duces more or less discontent not of necessity n with the American adminis but with conditions in general with life itself Hunger is the greatest demoralizer and breeder of or crime in the theW I world W rfd nId To be behun hungry and at the same time to be good goad to be on natural n tural I your Our better self is very difficult I know vv whereof hereof I speak I have been there Of course the remedy for the I present condition is money And of course the chief reao for fO r the present lack of capital in Cuba CUb is an absence r of confidence on the part pad of capitalists because of at what is called the political situation to speak more definitely the I capitalists are afraid of pos up risings which would render property insecure I This lack of confidence may ma be at atI I almost solely to the criminal I and maliciously false reports which I have been sent from the island since i i the fall of Santiago by b men who have I j been either misinformed or malicious and disseminated through the public I press and by word of mouth through throughout out the United States These reports have made sensational reading matter marten matterand matterand and naturally many man of the people have believed them A correspondent who sends such matter from Cuba at the present juncture Is as culpable as the theman 1 i man who cries c Jes fire In the theatre or i circulates falsely a story sto of a banks financial embarrassment Capital is proverbially timid and every individual who has lent his tongue or pen to the I Ir r creation of such false reports has been i i guilty directly or indirectly of caus causing ing much unnecessary suffering if not I actual death by starvation i Capitalists I I II i Lack of enterprise on the part of some of the Cubans who have Me wealth remaining to them has also stood in inthe inthe inthe the way of ot the Islands progress These men own following in the rut of the old oldS Spanish S regime Jaws have been bosh withholding their own capital instead of lending It ther to the needy nedy farmer fae hoping the tb in lit ina i lita benevolence the a moment of paternal government would come cense ce to 80 t the te rescue rue of ot the small farmer and n establish a a bank bak which ml would advance him funds sufficient to purchase horses hor und and mutes mules mule seeds s various materials mater and ad farming fanning fang utensils At the te clubs of nearly every eve city ct which I have baze ha e recently visited visite In corn com company cm pany with General Generl Wood I have as assured a assured py these genial but gentlemen that tha the hope hop was a a a forlorn one that the government gov could not not and would not if it could go into i the th banking business and that th every eve Cu Cuban C Cuban ban ba planter plater who had any capital left lef would do well wel to lend It I to needy ney and deserving farmers who would soon sn form fon around each eh central a colony that corned cornedI would be profitable to nfl all al con concerned cn I assured ar them tem that there ther w was no nomore n more snore effective way to encourage the e introduction of foreign capital than t fearlessly to invest ivest all a the native capi capital cpi capital tal tl which could be b commanded corde This Ti suggestion has ha been taken ten in the te right spirit and ad I believe beleve will 1 soon sn bear bea fruit frit in the te shape of renewed Indus Industries iou industries tries te One of the te first things thing we must mut learn leam lea is to rely upon un ourselves Others will wU then feel fel justified in putting faith fi in us Agitators Have Little Standing There is in Cuba Cua a a certain class cla of ot and ad halcy agitators tors tots who tae tace te advantage ae of every in incident i incident which gives them an a excuse to jump jup to the stump and cry Down Do w with ith those in power They are ar on In prin principle pr ciple ago agin ai the government But not one of or these the men fought in the late l te revolution and although the Latin is an ast excitable one these race a te peace pe patriots secure eure but few inconsequential listeners listener and ad would get no followers if i they tey offered to lead led The great majority of the te people have hae accepted the e pledge made me by con C greta g In joint resolution to Cuba Cba and a to the he world at large laTe and an are aie a willing willingto to walt wait wat upon the judgment judg a and con convenience cn convenience veniece of or the United Unie States in re regard re regard gard to the time at at which the reins rems of government the Cubans are a to be b Burned ure over ove to While the Foraker Forer resolution has haa ha undoubtedly delayed daY improvements somewhat som what and temporarily impeded in industrial industrial a ime progress here it has nevertheless less le saved us u from fm losing many fran franchises f chi most moat mot worth having havin And A it has h served re another excellent eclen purpose it i has shown that tt its i author auth and d the great gt majority of ot the people of ot the tho United Un States intend to 10 eee see s that th we have ab absolute a absolute solute sute fair fa play py There Te w were ere a few Cuban leaders leer who wh sometimes rIe doubted doubt the good g faith feith of ot the th administration You ou rail can cn not n Mm them ton when you y reflect r upon the te many my instances in which Spain Spam Spai broke her r aol sl emIt pledges to t us u But President Mc c Kin ys message to congress and an the th vigorous methods of f reform and mth an pro progress gress adopted opt by General Gen Wood Wo since sine his hi Inauguration have dispelled most mt of ot this thi and an today toy the grumblers in Cuba Cub are ar mostly mt Americans and anda a a a few Cubans Cuba who wh wish wih to attract att attention by posing pong as a patriots in a country for foe fo whose wh Independence they did but l Stale fighting True Tre Patriots In I Line There Tere were also as a few feis fe excellent men me who through modesty and ad a a natural unwillingness to ally ay themselves with wih the intervening government have hv held aloof alor and a thus t u given rise re to the report that they were v ere opposed to and resented opp rte the authority of oe the United Unie States on oe o the th island at this time But the te instant the interpretation given to their conduct by the th unthinking unthinkIng ing public was wa made clear cea to them tem they the fell promptly prot into int line Une and an accepted positions for which they the were especial especially ly I fitted fite Today the last of them the Gen General Generl eral erl Pedro Pero Diaz Diax Dla General Geer Jesus J su RabI and General Augustin are ar holding office under the flag fla of o inter Intervention enton as commissioners of forestry foet and an guardians of public lands lan in their ther respective districts district This ought to dis dispose dl dispose pose ps of or the much bruited and absolute absolutely ly unfounded reports that there is I dan danger da danger ger ge of or future uprisings In Cuba Cub GEORGE GEQRGE RENO |