Show OUR CUBAN LETTER 1 I Busness Opportunities for Americans In CubaHow Capital Capi-tal May be Profitably InvestedRich Tobacco Lands and Sugar Estates May I be Bought for a Soqg I I I Correspondence tho News Havana Cuba April 27 18981 have received late a good many letters of asking about business opportunities In Cuba and the prospects there will bo for profitable Investment of capital v6hen the war Is I over Speculators have already turned their eyes that way 1 divers schemes In view I have been particularly looking up the chances for the average American who Is not overburdened over-burdened with cash and does not exPect pect to sit Idly by and get rich In a season but Ij willing to do a reasonable obI amoui of work for fair returns When the war ends as of course I must In the Independence 01 Cuba the new republic will have tot to-t n at the bottom economically a veil us politically The Island Is 00 largely agricultural that I future proo perlty at least for some generations to come depends upon the rural districts Beyond a few tobacco factories there have never been any manufactories 01 account In Cuba and the wasted no wnte tlsiuciof Industrial life o only draw new Wood from the soil Those where wh-ere acquainted with the queen of the Antilles In her gOlden days 01 prodigal L Prosperity would hardly recognize her rog In the nefastl dies A trip through the r country reveals unexampled desolation 1 burned fields and orchards ruined 1 buses and sugarmills and often hungry people Last month I made a J railway journey from Havana 210 miles 11 toward the Interior la all that tile r lance I Saw only two cornfields and 16 not a single garden or occupied an To hue Bald my traveling companion A Wht Uils Island most needs Is I tomb it ones and truly It looked i 0 There th As Plenty of corn standing though I moi0ke and flamcti could be seen In every direction The ougar VxUntThat very ul 9oIttn miles In extentthat fir r y rage In them for a long time and fut leave a considerable portion un lve it hf abl ra01 This jeur the cane was A reeled with weeds for lack of labor Lei Ins and I Ylel6d much 1cm than the Cuts t0onory far amount of Juice I and that was C1 below the usual value being dark ad ned by a large admixture of scorched a corcbO Iat tw Was well I worth cutting Is be eihJI l whenever Permission could e Obtained a I from Maximo Gomez the 11 wicent chief Thle Spanish author readily gave Perml Ion to grind j f guaranteed them protection I white up I t It Vtltof 10 This the mother unwore led country generosity was not on I 01 oil IslY for tile welfare of Cuba11less not but Pay the becaus 0 It helped to tell for rmy and Provided a goott place 0 U4 envisioning I soldiers I A cry large I Portion the of 81 a I bytelaps sue uhb to at all etc anti Yellow I eve Yphold vornitives I I sic their Bret season In the rf trest IndleV 1 li 1r find Move be th a who onerirly l its 1 r fs until acellinitting strength Process must be cared trr returns Scion as re tk benSed from the hospitals they leave ri Iol fl locl sent to the I tio plantations where at lob 1hhtiltheY were sure of getting wine og t a IM Mt gn them Ita GUArdduty does not tax cavity I < r a1 when fully recuper they mr of arla Ileabli j he utill2ed again I in the 0 hit I the men Solves ainuse thern s Did 1khkhI a eerdlng to et their natural bent IVa l es 8 thn enl morn Pleasing to them falsees to false of R their unwilling enter pW te PId with very fat bage 01 this Paper might IA v6hl I have Of their cruel I pranks v8Z tten l ont told to ete Gus me J tile dlI dl I I ellace and forbil are t ate Imply I ygevlI bui i a tile I rootlet h1le lnl 01 but Iwo or thr G bZ aboA a nt the 40 miles Ssn I n beyond Oertrudli Cardenas planta tn Inpefny f soldiers were the 0 pro Pee le I io 16 led at 14 years I 1 1 I 0 ono 01 the poor reonoentrado quartered quar-tered on tho por pllC was going joyfully to his parents hut one morning carryIng carry-Ing a hunk 01 beef In a sack which the planters steward had given him The soldiers overhauled him and demanded de-manded to know what was In the sack The boy took to his heels In affright but was speedily captured and brought Into camp Meat was scarce and the soldiers almost a hungry intrados as i the re ConCentmdus so they decided that the boy had stolen I In van he Pea tested and begged that the steward be sent for he was tied to n convenient palm tree and while th soldiers cooked and ate the meat was flogged at Intervals during the dayto make him confess they said Being released at nightfall tile boy triad to crawl home but died on the way On another plantation whenever anew nw lot 01 rccncentroe were brought In the captain 01 the guard detained all the girls and gooloklng women In his tent and Afterwards old them to hisot soldier making a jocular one lon ot alor Jackknlvcn food rations ra-tions etc o the men had no money the highest bidder being allowed Ort choice On the Santo Toma plantation in Plnar del Rio province lived an honest old colored man a veritable Uncle Tom whose only son was supposed to have joined tho In urnt One day when amusements ran7owt ran low I was decided to kill time with the old man lie was brought to Cpand ordered to disclose the where nboul 01 his son This ho could not do had he e desired having no idea where the constantly mOving rebel army ar-my was situated The soldiers tied him to a tree and flogged him awhile lhout vail he couldnot or would not tell Then the compee hIm to dig his own grave land kneel beside 1 nnd Into It he fell plened by a < score of bullets The planters say that In any event there must soon be acute famine In Cuba because nobody within the zones of cultivation and the garrisoned places has planted vegetables other foodproducts for two years past but ban devoted himself to roiling crops which would bring In most money In order to hurry his family out of the country Most of them took to to baccoplanting as promising quicker results than sugar The Insurgents cannot stop the production of tobacco as easily D they can prevent cane grinding and maybe they nro less dig posed to Interfere with Il any Cuban Cu-ban would rather forego his bread and certainly his sugar than clgareltes I I paw one particularly flnelooblng tobacco farm and was Informed that It belonged to the captain of the local guerillas Ills place was duly fruord ed by Spanish troops which 1 grot de Uilled at government expense and he also paid the Insurgents not to molt his crop by giving them onethird tho value of It Last winter several Americans took advantage 01 the times and made large purchases I of tobacco lands At present the tobacco Industry Indus-try Is I good for nothing principally owlnr to Weslers decree at two years ago forbidding the exportation of Hn Iwnn leaf tobacco Tile Insurgents retaliated by burning factories and all the stored tobacco they could lay hands on But the marquis of Tcnerirte op pears to have been a thrifty fellow awl a-wl as a butcher Already a millionaire mil-lionaire he made another foruno out of his celebrated order for many so called American tobacco firms exported thousands of bales In spite of the prohibitory decree pretending that It was a diplomatic transaction between Washington and Madrid The real secret tins that Wejler graciously per milled shipments to b made by those who gave him liberal commlaslons The very best tobacco raising region In the world Is I Cubas Vueita Abate but today every plantation In I Is abandoned aban-doned and In ruins After Wcjlcrn I little game became known the rebels attacked It with spjeclal fury and destroyed des-troyed upwards of four million pounds ot tobacco in a few months It will toke twenty Years for this famous region I gion 10 become n flourishing an I was in January ot 1S96 But the Incomparable Incompar-able soil climate and natural conditions condi-tions rmain unimpaired by wars wild nlarum and those who come In with n little money when pence Is I re stored may buy Ibo best tobacco lander land-er cheaply and become Croesuses In due course Among the refugees at Key West I met an xeugar planter who was anxious to sell his estate and for a Cuban he seemed to have developed remarkable re-markable adaptation to the ways ot the trading Yankees Ills metlnd was to edge up to every group of men he saw talking together and Join In the conversation Presently he would be heard l may the soil of Cuba Is too rich thats what the matter with the Island then he would go on relating what ruinously large crops he had himself been raising so remarkably largo that they had Invited destruction by envious rebels and Spaniards and Invariably ended by Inquiring mho wanted to buy 30000 acres of the finer sugar land In Cuba worth 110000 thc th-c for 30 cents the acre To be sure his plantation house and mills are In ruins but he pointed otA what profit could be made on the same In the line of scrapIron and old bricks Up to date he has not found a purchaser I heard one man tel hIm that lie auld rather have three meale acres 01 corn and potato In Ohio Ionnsyl vanla or Illinois than the whole 30000 of Cubas best under present ondl tlons ton Somebody will no doubt be making money out 01 Cuba ruined home and m Usy within the next few month The boilers and machinery and other < Junk of thousands of destroyed flan stations can be had for almost nothing but the market tr scrap Iron must he outside 01 the Island The brick and mortar would hardly be worth buying but might be used on the spot In rebuilding re-building Now grasses and wild vines growing over tho melancholy heaps have softened their harsh outlines and made them n picturesque feature of the landscape but they are not to be can sidered 1 as nn element toward building II the resources 01 rural Cuba Inapt In-apt a 01 the war several syndicates with an eye to the future have lately purchase arge tracts of land Last winter a company of New Englanders bought eight thousand ncros In the I beautiful Trinidad valley near Bintla go They aro not doing anything with I now but soy they can afford to wait for years and then realize heavy Interest I Inter-est on the money Invested As to business enterprises on a smaller scale they are Innumerable for men fei m r money and more energy A few acres In market gardening gar-dening with their continuous I crops from one years end to another would perhaps yield et quickest and largest returns for the am amount of cap list Chickenraising too has always bn a strangely neglected Industry In Cuba Fowls and eggs figure conspicuously conspicu-ously every day in the SpanlshAr loan mnu but nobodY on the land has ever gone Into the business 01 Sure plying the demand on a large scale with Incubators and brooders a in the United States All winter before the present sleg began eggs sold In Invnnn at a dollar the dozen and poultry fifty cent the pound and what It Is I now goodness knows with beef at th last advices 3 a Pound A mon with eyes In his head and the buminers InsUnct o the nvemgo American I Pee avenue for ab1o Investments 01 money and Fabor rrontnhl every direction soon am < peace la restored In the Island It seems a pity to take advantage of tho peoples misfortunes but many ore the tine old cassa In Havana and other cities which will be bought I for a song These stately Palaces 01 Inporlahed grandeur with their mar tile floors and plaro corridor ismi Inner court yards their fountains and palm trees are fairly begging for purchasers pur-chasers owing to the financial distress at their owner I coos particularly hard with the proud hldalagixt to have la sell their property to the hated Yankees who are looked upon n 0 horde of greedy shopkeeper As If any nation under the sun could bo more greedy for gale than Spain has shown herself since the earliest day of the Conquest Every where In SpanishAmerica you hear a great deal about the Invincible valor ot Spain and the sordid character of the Yankees Their literature tells us that Spanish patriotism Is unconquerable while North Americans love dollars more than country and that when the latter seeks to meddle 1 In the affairs I of Cuba Illustrious Spain will teach them a leon In International man ner A pamphlet widely distributed In HOann nol long ago furnished rich reading to the few American Nho re retained In the city I said that In the event of the aforesaid meddling all Europe would rush to the rescue of Spain whose everglorious history constitutes the grandest page In the annals of the world I reminds the moncygrasplng Yankees that when It comes to war valor to I n necessary element ele-ment and that thy must not think they can fight Spains heroic soldiers with dollars i nlonel Then the little book goes on t give the denouement It describes the Invasion of Cuba by American troops recounts battle after battle In which the Immense I superiority super-iority of American numbers Is I always overcome by the invincible valor of our Illustrious army And finally a ter an unbroken chain ot military triumphs tri-umphs for Spain extending over a Series o monthnn culminating In a Munnlng detest for the United States the Yankee humbly sue for peace pay SpaIn a heavy Indemnity and i withdraw with-draw front the Island l with many apologies having learned that Spain Is I unconquerable by reason 01 the superb valor 01 her sons TANN1E BIUQIIAII WARD |