THE PEOPLE OF THE COUNTRY (CONTINUED)
Among those best acquainted with Cuba and the Cubans, opinion differs
widely as to the negroes. There are those who go so far as to believe
that they will be a retarding factor in the development of the country,
while others consider them the most promising element of the laboring
population. Both these views are extreme, and, as a matter of fact, any
prediction as to the future of the Cuban negro must include a great
degree of pure surmise. What he has been is not a safe basis for
inference of what he will be under entirely different conditions.
Mr. Charles M. Pepper, who has had exceptional opportunities for
judging, declares that “the negro of Cuba is not an idler, nor a clog on
the industrial progress. He will do his part toward rebuilding the
industries of the Island, and no capitalist need fear to engage in
enterprises because of an indefinite fear regarding negro labor. In the
country, for a time, the black laborers may be in a majority. On its
political side the black population of Cuba has its definite status.
Social equality does not exist, but there is no color line. Social
tolerance prevails.... The part taken in the insurrection by the blacks
has undoubtedly strengthened their future influence.... The race has far
more than its proportion of criminals. Some tendencies toward
retrogression have to be watched.... With common-school education the
negro will do better. At present he is doing very well.”
As to this dictum, the Cuban negro may eventually do his fair share
toward the industrial development of the Island, but it can only be as a
result of a considerable change in his habits and a greatly increased
degree of efficiency. At present, extensive employers of labor pronounce
him inefficient, unreliable, and difficult of control. It is not to his
credit that they should import labor at great trouble and expense in
preference to employing him. If capitalists have ceased to be
apprehensive regarding the negro of Cuba, which is by no means
certain,--it is not because he has suddenly ceased to have a desire for
disturbance, with its attendant opportunities for loot, but because they
have greater confidence in the ability and inclination of the
authorities to suppress outbreaks with promptness, born of the
ever-present fear of American intervention, or a demand on the part of
foreign property interests for some share in the administration of
affairs.
Though individuality is not one of the negro characteristics, the
perpetuation of racial traits and temperament are pronouncedly
characteristic wherever they may be found and under whatever conditions.
The negro may be three centuries removed from his transplanted ancestor,
he may have more than one strain of white blood in his composition, he
may have adopted the most approved customs of the country in which he
lives, and may be to all outward appearances the most highly civilized
of beings, but for all that African nature is strong in him. Moreover
its promptings are not repressed from principle, but from motives of
self-interest. Given the opportunity to indulge them without fear of
consequences, and he will follow his inclinations unrestrainedly. For
that reason one-third of Cuba’s population must be as great a source of
anxiety as is the colored element of our southern States. This is not to
say that there are any good grounds for the sometimes expressed fear
that Cuba may become a second Haiti, controlled by the blacks, but is
intended to convey the belief, that in the negroes of the Island there
is a constantly present source of possible trouble.
The majority of Cuban negroes are descendants of slaves imported during
the past century, but a large number, like the maroons of Jamaica, come
from a stock which accompanied the earliest Spanish adventurers and
shared their hardships and dangers in a companionship that often
approached a condition of friendship and equality. Such a one was
Estavan, the negro who, with Cabeza de Vaca, crossed the continent of
North America, from the Gulf of Mexico to California, in the years
between 1528 and 1536. From this stock sprang the free mulattoes of the
Antonio Maceo type, a class superior to any that our colored population
contains.
Although emancipated at a later date, the Cuban negroes are in general
more manly and independent than those of the United States. This is due
to the social and the political recognition accorded them, but also to
the previous conditions of their servitude. Before the abolition of
slavery they were granted freedom of marriage, the right of acquiring
property, the privilege of purchasing their release by labor, and
license to seek a new master at their option.
The negro of Cuba is much more happy and content than his brother in
America. The burdens of life do not press so heavily on him. He has
greater opportunity of enjoyment of the three conditions most desirable
to the man of African descent, warmth, indolence, and a full stomach.
The climate and the physical nature of the country are entirely to his
liking. He thrives in Cuba and is more robust than the white native, as
well as more prolific, which is saying a great deal. He and his women
and children withstood the stress and strain of the reconcentration
better than did the _guajiro_ class.
I am fully aware that these statements seem to be contradicted by the
census returns, which show a marked diminution of the colored population
during the past half century. In the last United States report this is
accounted for by “the inability of the colored race to hold its own in
competition with the whites.” This does not seem to be sufficient
explanation, especially as there has been no competition to speak of
between the whites and the blacks in Cuba. Without pretending to any
precise knowledge on the subject, I will hazard the suggestion that the
apparent discrepancy may be due to the defects in the censuses under
Spain, which were notoriously inaccurate, to the latter day tendency of
mulattoes to return themselves as “whites,” and to the fact that the
colored portion of the population has borne more than its proportional
share of the brunt of the later revolutions. Be that as it may, it will
be difficult for any one who is familiar with the lives and conditions
of the natives of Cuba to believe that “the man of color” is in any but
a favorable and congenial environment.
The dance is the favorite amusement of the rural population. As the
whites practise it, it is a monotonous movement to monotonous music,
entirely lacking the grace and variety of the Spanish dances. The
negroes merely writhe and wriggle to the slow beat of a drum. There is
always a suggestion of obscenity present, and sometimes religious frenzy
transforms the performance from the ludicrous to the weird. On such
occasions the dancers and the onlookers chant invocations to the saints
in an African dialect.
Certain religio-social societies, called _cabildos_, appear to have no
other purpose than the conduct of these ceremonies. The _cabildos_ are
supposed to be the only survival of the _nañigo_ clans, which the
authorities claim to have suppressed, although it is very doubtful
whether the organizations have been broken up. The _nañigos_ practised
all manner of sinister mysteries, witchcraft, voodooism, and the rest,
besides active participation in underground politics. No longer ago than
the time of the Provisional Administration some of their members were
convicted of killing and cutting up two white children in the
performance of their secret rites. Roman Catholicism and African
demon-worship have become grotesquely mixed in the ceremonies of the
negro secret societies. Goats and fowls are sacrificed to the saints of
the Church; the Holy Mother is invoked in barbaric terms, accompanied by
a symbolism that originated in the wilds of Africa.
Until comparatively recently the sixth of January was observed as “All
King’s Day,” when the negroes held high carnival all over the Island.
They took possession of Habana
[Illustration: A NARROW STREET, HABANA.]
and thronged the streets, dancing, gesticulating, shouting, and beating
drums, dressed in fantastic costumes made up of the gaudiest colors, and
carrying a variety of transparencies on long poles. The shops were
closed, and the whites remained within doors, for not infrequently rival
clans came to blows and serious conflicts occurred in the public
streets.
After the War most of the Spaniards left Cuba, filled with resentment
against Americans. When order and liberal government had been
established they began to come back, still filled with resentment
against the people who had interfered with their ruinous exploitation of
the Island. This feeling has rapidly died down. The Spaniard, who has as
keen and critical appreciation as any man of commercial conditions, soon
realized that he and his government were distinct gainers by the loss of
the Philippines and Cuba. He was no longer called upon to support costly
armies in those countries, nor to do his share of service in them. But
what impressed him most was that Cuba had become a much more desirable
place, on every account, in which to do business than it had ever been
before. As a consequence, natives of Spain have been immigrating to the
Island in constantly increasing numbers during recent years, and making
more money, whether as merchants, shop-keepers or laborers, than they
possibly could make at home in the same employments. They are good
citizens and capable in their several callings, but most of them are
what the Cubans call _intransigentes_--transients. The _bodeguero_ and
the field-hand alike view the country as a field for money-making solely
and have no thought of permanently settling in it, much less of becoming
naturalized. The shop-keeper looks forward to retiring as soon as he
shall have accumulated enough to enable him to live comfortably in some
rural district in Spain, and the laborer often goes back between
harvests, with his season’s earnings, to his native province, where he
has left his family. Of course the proper remedy for this condition is
the occupation by Cubans of the positions filled by the Spaniards, but
so far the former have displayed neither inclination nor capacity to
compete with the foreigners. Under such circumstances the Spanish
immigration may be looked upon as a desirable factor in the development
of the Island.
The commercial instinct and the qualities that make for success in
business are unusually strong in the Spaniard. This fact is not
generally realized in America. There must be two hundred thousand
Spaniards in Cuba, practically all of whom are steadily engaged in
profitable pursuits. It is doubtful if an equal number of native whites
are earning money day in and day out through the year, or any definite
period of it. Spaniards own large interests in the sugar and tobacco
businesses. Throughout the country they control the mercantile lines,
wholesale and retail. They are money-lenders in the small districts and
furnish the farmers, at exorbitant rates of interest, with the means of
raising and marketing their crops.
It is not at all surprising that the Cuban can not compete with his
cousin from the mother-country. I am very doubtful whether Americans
would be successful in the attempt. The Spanish business man is as keen
and shrewd a trader as you may find anywhere, and, moreover, he is as
precise in discharging his obligations as a Chinaman. He possesses
tremendous energy and pertinacity of purpose. Americans cherish a
threadbare and somewhat senseless joke which hinges on the word
_mañana_. It is entirely misapplied when aimed at the Spaniard in Cuba.
If he leaves anything of importance until to-morrow it is because to-day
is too full of performance to admit of addition. He is the first to rise
and the last to close his shutters in the community. Meanwhile he keeps
as closely on the trail of the elusive dollar as any New Yorker. But
there is this difference; he does his business without needless fuss and
friction.
In the city stores, the old-time system of apprenticeship is maintained.
The proprietors probably started in the position of the little office
boy, with the bloom of Catalonia fresh upon his cheeks, who sweeps out
the place when most folks are turning over for a final nap, and spends
an hour or more in straightening up after every one else has knocked off
for the day. He is a strong, cheerful little chap, content with his lot,
and doubtless encouraged by dreams of directing the establishment at
some future day. And this is no idle fantasy but a matter well within
the bounds of calculable attainment. The system is one of regular
advancement. When a partner retires, which he is apt to do at a
comparatively early age, the senior clerk takes his place and each of
the others moves up a step. As soon as an employe is in a position to
save something from his salary, he is permitted to invest it in the
business.
A sort of family relationship is maintained in the establishment. The
heads of it take the greatest interest in the business education and
general welfare of their employes, who are generally sons of friends at
home. All eat at the same table and all sleep under the same roof. The
juniors have to account for their time even after closing hours. Only
with permission may they leave the premises. Then they will probably
spend their evenings at one or other of the numerous societies which
have their headquarters in Habana and branches in other large cities.
These societies are social and beneficial in their functions. They
maintain night-schools, pay sick benefits, and provide burial expenses.
Some of them have a very large membership and extremely handsome
clubhouses. Every Spaniard on landing at Habana joins the society which
is composed of natives of his province.
At every cross-roads in Cuba and on every corner in the country towns
there is a _bodega_. It is always a grocery, often a general store.
Nine times in ten the proprietor is a Spaniard. His place may be a
dingy, dilapidated shack. His stock may consist of little more than a
barrel of the inevitable _bacalao_,--salt cod,--a few strings of onions,
and a dozen bottles of _aguadiente_. But it is safe to wager that he is
making money at a handsome rate of interest on his little investment.
Why is the Chinaman, who is the most inoffensive of beings, disliked
more universally than any other? It may be because he is such an
unsociable, self-contained, enigmatical fellow. In Cuba, as in the
States, he lives in the midst of the community and far apart from it,
restricting his intercourse with the natives to the necessities of
business. He may have been born in the country, and intend to die in it,
but, unless his mother was a native, he will never be anything else than
a Chinaman, even though he adopt a frock coat and a silk hat. He works
hard, lives frugally, and accumulates money by fair and square methods.
His sole indulgences are _fan tan_ and the opium pipe. He figures but
seldom in the police records, and then, as likely as not, through the
fault of someone else.
In the early part of the last century a number of Chinese were imported
under contract as
[Illustration: A CUBAN MILKMAN.]
laborers in the cane-fields. Each one had a metal tag strung round his
neck, with a number and the expiry date of the contract on it. Once
received on the sugar-estate, the coolie was reduced to a state of
slavery, measurably worse than that in which the negroes were held. He
had no privileges whatever, was miserably housed, insufficiently fed,
and received less consideration than the cattle and horses. When the
legal date of his release approached, his identification check was
frequently changed to make him appear to be another man with a
considerable period of service in prospect.
This condition of things went on for many years, until at length
knowledge of it reached the Chinese Government. A commission was sent
from China to investigate the matter, with the result that exportation
of laborers from the Celestial Kingdom to Cuba was stopped. Nowadays,
there is an insular statute against the importation, but they come in,
nevertheless, and find their way to the sugar-houses of the interior,
apparently without enquiry or interference.
There are more than ten thousand Chinamen in Cuba at present. A
considerable number are engaged as merchants and shop-keepers in
Habana, and many work truck-farms in the suburbs with much profit.
Perhaps the most remarkable of the many remarkable things about a
Chinaman is his adaptability. Any one seeing him ironing shirts in the
States might suppose that he was exercising an inherited talent. But he
never saw an iron before coming to America and took to the calling
because there was an evident unfilled demand for the work. He is not a
laundryman in Cuba, because when he arrived the field was already
occupied by the negroes. On the other hand, there was a distinctly felt
want of market gardeners, and John jumped into the opening without
hesitation. He would have acted with the same prompt decision had the
need been for burglars or balloonists. He takes up one line of work as
readily as another and whatever he attempts he does well. It matters not
whether the hole be round or square, his plastic personality will fit in
it snugly. When he went to Calcutta, he found that there was no one to
make shoes and paint portraits in manner satisfactory to the Englishman.
He calmly and confidently undertook to do both. It is quite unnecessary
to state that he succeeded. But when you consider the essential
differences between European and Chinese art, both in conception and
execution, as well as the fact that the Chinese emigrant is not usually
deeply versed in either, the result was simply miraculous.
Three favorite occupations of John Chinaman in Cuba are cooking,
peddling sweetmeats, and keeping a fruit-stand. In each of these fields
he has had to meet native competition, and in his quiet, forceful way he
soon overcame it, although in the second he had serious difficulties to
master. In short time he had learned to make better _dulces_ than the
Cubans had been accustomed to, but when it came to advertising his
wares, he found himself hopelessly handicapped by a naturally weak voice
when pitted against the Cuban hawker, who has no superior in the world
as a street crier. However, with the Chinaman, the next thing to being
confronted with an obstacle is to overcome it. John mounted a long red
box upon his head and on this drummed continuously with a hardwood
stick. In the course of time the Cuban women and children forsook the
man who bawled frantically for the silent man who beat a box.
The acclimated, it would be altogether incorrect to say the
naturalized, Chinaman in Cuba has been shorn of his pigtail, wears the
same free shirt, and pantaloons as the native, and is called José, or
Miguel, but if you should go into the back room of his store, you would
find a vase of joss sticks burning before the shrine of his repulsive
looking deity.
There are very few Chinese women in the country and John is usually a
celibate, but occasionally he marries a negress or mulatto. The children
are generally bright, and often good-looking. The Chinaman is an
excellent husband and father in such cases.
Probably all these sallow-skinned taciturn Celestials yearn for their
mother-country while they patiently plod through life in an uncongenial
environment. At least they have the satisfaction of knowing that when
they die their bones will be shipped back to be buried in the land of
their fathers. Meanwhile their numbers are increasing in Cuba and it is
easily conceivable that the country may have a Chinese problem to
grapple with some day.
Numerically the Americans are not an important element in the foreign
population but they represent more wealth and greater business than any
other. There are about seven thousand white citizens of the United
States, more or less permanently resident on the Island. A large
proportion of the sugar and tobacco estates, as well as extensive
railroad and mining properties, are in American hands. A few Americans
are engaged in wholesale business and a considerable number in fruit
culture. I shall have more to say about these in a later portion of the
volume.
The first American occupation was the signal for a number of swindlers,
loafers, and topers from the United States to take up residence in
Habana. They caused endless trouble to the American officials and
created a bad impression among the natives. By degrees this class has
been almost entirely eradicated and the Cubans long since learned that
they were in no sense representative of their countrymen. The American
in Cuba to-day is either a responsible business man, or an industrious
farmer, whom the people of the country look upon with respect, and with
whom they are generally upon the most friendly footing.