Industrial Cuba Part 43

"No vessel shall be allowed to clear for another port until all her cargo shall be landed or accounted for. All goods not duly entered for payment of duty within ten days after their arrival in port shall be landed and stored, the expense thereof to be charged against the goods.

"Prior to the departure of any vessel from any of the ports herein designated, the master shall deposit with the proper officer a manifest of the outward cargo of such vessel, specifying the marks and numbers of packages, a description of their contents, with names of s.h.i.+ppers and consignees, with a statement of the value of each separate lot; also names of pa.s.sengers and their destination.

A clearance will then be granted to the vessel. No prohibited or contraband goods shall be exported.

"TONNAGE DUES: At all ports or places in Cuba there shall be levied the following tonnage dues, until further orders:

Per Net Ton.

(_a_) On entry of a vessel from a port or place not in Cuba $0.20

(_b_) On entry of a vessel from another port or place in Cuba, engaged at time of entry in the coasting trade of Cuba .02

(_c_) The rate of tonnage dues on a vessel which enters in ballast shall be one half of the rate imposed by subdivision (_a_) or (_b_), and one half the tonnage dues imposed on a vessel entering with cargo shall be refunded if the vessel clears in ballast.

(_d_) A vessel which has paid the tonnage tax imposed on entry from a port or place not in Cuba shall not be liable to tonnage tax on entering another port or place in Cuba during the same voyage until such vessel again enters from a port or place not in Cuba.

(_e_) The tonnage tax on entries of a vessel from a port or place not in Cuba shall not exceed in the aggregate $2 per net ton in any one year, beginning from the date of the first payment.

The tonnage tax on entries of a vessel from other ports or places in Cuba, engaged at the time of entry exclusively in the coasting trade of Cuba, shall not exceed 40 cents per net ton in any one year, beginning from the date of the first payment.

"The following shall be exempt from tonnage dues:

"A vessel belonging to or employed in the service of the Government of the United States; or a vessel of a neutral foreign government not engaged in trade; a vessel in distress; or a yacht belonging to an organised yacht club of the United States or of a neutral foreign nation.

"The tonnage of a vessel shall be the net or register tonnage expressed in her national certificate of registry.

"LANDING CHARGES: The tax of $1 on each ton of merchandise imported or exported, hitherto imposed as a subst.i.tute for tonnage taxes, is abolished.

"The present exemption of coal from this tax is continued.

"The present export tax of 5 cents per gross ton on ore is abolished.

"SPECIAL CHARGES AT SANTIAGO:[19] The harbour improvement taxes at Santiago de Cuba will continue to be levied, as at present, as follows:

Each steamer entering $8.50 Each sailing vessel entering 4.25 Each ton of cargo landed from a steamer .25 Each ton of cargo landed from a sailing vessel .125 Each ton of coal landed from a steamer .125 Each ton of coal landed from a sailing vessel .10

"COASTING TRADE OF CUBA: To facilitate the occupation and control of Cuba by the military forces of the United States and the restoration of order, the laws now in force restricting the coasting trade of the Island to Spanish vessels are hereby modified as follows:

"(_a_) Vessels of the United States may engage in the coasting trade of the island of Cuba.

"(_b_) The officer of the Army of the United States in command at any port of Cuba in possession of the United States is empowered to issue a permit to a resident of Cuba who owns a vessel, which shall ent.i.tle such vessel to engage in the coasting trade of the Island: _Provided_, That the owner and master of such vessel shall upon oath before such officer entirely renounce and abjure all allegiance and fidelity to the King of Spain or to any other foreign prince, state, or sovereignty whatever.

"Such permits shall first be approved by the general in command of the forces of the United States in Cuba.

"Vessels ent.i.tled under this paragraph to engage in the coasting trade of Cuba shall carry a distinctive signal, which shall be a blue flag and the union of the flag shall be a white field.

"The form and manner of the issue of permits provided for in this paragraph shall be prescribed by the Secretary of War."

The following table of distances is given for reference:

Key West to Havana 93 miles " " " nearest point on Cuban coast 86 "

New York to Havana 1413 "

New Orleans to Havana 475 "

Cape San Antonio to Cape Catoche, Yucatan 125 "

Santiago to Kingston, Jamaica 200 "

Santiago to Greytown (entrance Nicaragua Ca.n.a.l) 700 "

CHAPTER XXVII

EDUCATION AND RELIGION

Whatever the Cuban people may have thought of Spain and her methods, it is plain that in one regard, at least, the child deemed its mother a pattern of excellence and followed her example far beyond the pattern,--and that regard was education. Spain has always been at the head of the ignorant list among European countries, but Cuba is far worse, for she has the sloth of climate against her, in addition to other handicaps, and the people are slow to avail themselves of even such opportunities as they have. Indeed, the opportunities seem not to be lacking for a great many, for there are laws for general education, even compulsory education, and there are schools and colleges; but neither those for whose benefit the laws were made nor those to whom their execution is entrusted care to work any harder than is necessary, and the result is that the proportion of scholars to population, including all kinds of schools, is as 1 to 40. The rates in the United States are 1 to 4.39, except in the South, where they are 1 to 8.

Nowhere in rural Cuba does the country schoolhouse prevail as we know it and feel its influence all over the United States, and possibly, quite surely indeed, it will never exist there as it does with us; but a great deal of improvement can be made, and to the 300,000 children of school age in Cuba who do not yet know their a, b, c's, may be given an opportunity to get, at least, a little sip at the fountain of learning.

Although the country schoolhouse was entirely absent, in the city there was a pretence of having so-called "common schools," but their teachers were usually selected by politicians, and the pay was so small and precarious that even the political "sc.u.m" did not become school-teachers until every other chance was gone. What these teachers were like may be guessed at nearly. On the subject of common-school education, Mr.

Charles M. Pepper, in a newspaper letter from Cuba, says:

"It is tolerably clear that military control will not be able to do much for Cuba in the way of education. The most that can be done will be to encourage the reopening of munic.i.p.al schools and to sustain the local authorities in rigorously enforcing the laws against truancy. The reconcentration has left large numbers of children on the streets. After a time, when homes are found for them, it will be important that they shall go to school. Before that the various towns will have to get the schools opened and provide means for keeping them open. That will come when the munic.i.p.al revenues again appear, and these revenues will be slow in making their appearance. As for the teachers, there is little prospect for those from the United States. It is a common delusion that the need of Cuba is a school system of which the basis is the English language. One tongue is all that the ma.s.s of the children can use during their primary schooling, and that is the tongue which is heard all around them. Reading, writing, and arithmetic can be taught in Castilian as well as in English. The first two are taught the easier because in Spanish every syllable is p.r.o.nounced as written.

"A large number of young Cubans who have been educated in the United States are now wondering what they will do to earn a living.

Most of them are thinking of getting office. The best office that they could seek would be that of schoolmaster. If any educational system can be provided under which they will find employment, their energies and their knowledge will not go amiss. Most of them are full of sentimental patriotism. They want to help raise their people above the plane to which Spanish rule had degraded the ma.s.s of the inhabitants. The schoolroom is the place in which to do it, and it is the only place. These educated young Cubans will be better employed in teaching than in talking politics or in fretting about the independence of the Island.

"This is said only of the munic.i.p.al schools. I do not know when a system of country schools can be established in Cuba. The present problem is to get what is left of the reconcentrado population back into homes in the country, and to raising crops which will support them. Some progress has been made. Next year they may all be back on their farms and on the plantations. Then it will be possible to plan schooling for the children of the fields. In the meantime the education of the few Cuban youths at American colleges does not solve the question. That is praise-worthy in its way, but the ma.s.s of children in Cuba cannot be transferred in a body to the States, nor is it desirable that they should be taken away. They have got to be given their schooling in the midst of the surroundings to which they are born. That can only be done by planting the schoolhouse. It will not be a little red one, most likely will not be painted at all, for the bamboo frames and the palm thatching do not need to be painted. When the country schoolmaster (or perhaps under the new conditions it will be the country schoolma'am) becomes part of the rural life of Cuba the future will no longer be blank."

While it scarcely seems necessary to comment upon matters of the past, which will soon undergo such changes as scarcely to be recognisable, still history is interesting, and a short description of the University of Havana, the chief educational agency of the Island, its purpose and its future, by Dr. Joaquin Lastres, will not be inappropriate. It may be said of the University that it has branches in all the provinces, and numbered before 1898 about 3000 students, 1800 of whom were in Havana.

Dr. Lastres writes as follows, under date of September, 1898, in Havana:

[Ill.u.s.tration: OLD ARCH OF THE JESUIT COLLEGE, HAVANA.]

"The University of Havana, which is the highest inst.i.tution of instruction in the Island of Cuba, has, ever since its foundation in 1721, had a personality of its own, and consequently it has never been considered a property, or dependency of the State; but, like munic.i.p.alities and deputations, has const.i.tuted an inst.i.tution, self-supporting as regards the State. Since its foundation it has occupied buildings that have not been State property. At the beginning, its own property and income maintained it; but in 1842, without removing its own judicial individuality, the State undertook its maintenance in exchange for the confiscation of its property and income. The _Inst.i.tuto de 2 Ensenanza_ (The Inst.i.tution of Elementary Instruction) is only a dependency of the University under the same judicial conception, owing to its having subst.i.tuted the old College of the University, which in its turn was formed of several schools teaching different branches of learning, which were within the sphere of the University's jurisdiction at the time of its foundation in 1721.

Consequently, this elementary school has to-day the same judicial character as the University.

"The property and estate seized by the State in exchange for the obligation to maintain this inst.i.tution were numerous and important; a full statement is to be found in the Treasury Department of this city. Among the properties may be mentioned quit-rents in favour of the University, the building occupied by the old College of Pharmacy, the building occupied by the University 'Inst.i.tuto,' the important sums of money delivered to the State when it undertook the maintenance of the College, and several other effects. Some of this property has been already expropriated by the State partially or totally.

"By the law of the 24th of March, 1883, published in the _Gacota de la Habana_ on the 5th of the following May, it was decided to construct a new University, the necessary funds to be raised by the sale of the building occupied by the University and Inst.i.tuto, the sale of State property not yet expropriated originally occupied by the old city walls, provided this property be free of all inc.u.mbrances, the sale of other lands in Havana belonging to the State not yet disposed of, gifts and subscriptions that may be obtained for this object by the Governor-General of the Island, and the amount annually fixed in the budget of the Island as an appropriation to this end. The subscription was never started, nor was any appropriation made for it. The same law that a.s.signed the means of raising the funds declared it a public benefit and liable to compulsory appropriation.

"The royal decree of the 7th of July, 1883, ordered the Governor-General of this Island to commence the construction of the University building, and blocks eight and nine of the old city walls were chosen by the State architect. The corner-stone of this building was solemnly laid at 9 o'clock A.M. of the 23d of January, 1884, his Excellency, the Governor-General Don Ignacio-Maria del Castillo y Gil de la Torre, as President, in the presence of the authorities, corporations, civil functionaries, and a number of invited guests. This stone remains in the corner where it was placed in the grounds chosen for the new University.

"By decree of the 9th of August, 1886, the Botanical Gardens of this city were ordered to be a dependency of this University, as they continue to be.

"The scant scientific material of this University, and the valuable collections of the Havana _Inst.i.tuto_, and also the modest appurtenances of the Matanzas Inst.i.tution are all the exclusive property of the colleges in which they are, as they have been acquired by the same and they have the legal right to their possession.

"The library belongs to the University, as nearly all the books came from the Pontifical Library; the appropriation made by the State in the annual budget for the University Library has scarcely sufficed to provide for its care. A good proportion of the books are donations of professors and private individuals, and are mostly valuable acquisitions.

"As all the present furniture of the University is new and has been paid for with the proceeds of the academical dues of the different faculties, in other words, with the University funds, it must be considered as University property. The archives of the secretary's department referring to the files of those graduated from the University should be retained as the University has an individuality of its own, and these doc.u.ments being purely of a personal character can have no interest for outsiders. Files of an administrative character and those relating to examinations and degrees should certainly be kept in the University archives. Those professors who decide to remain in Cuba should have their files kept in the secretary's department of this University; those who may wish to be changed to some university in Spain, or who may not renounce the Spanish citizens.h.i.+p, may obtain at their own expense a certified copy of their files or a certificate of their services duly legalized, the originals to be kept in the archives of this University so long as its individuality be retained.