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. CHAPTER VII THE CONDITION OF CUBA Here is a country, small in extent, it is true, but as rich proportionally in natural resources as any in the world. It exports over $100,000,000 worth of the products of its soil annually. Yet less than half of its productive area is turned to account, and of its cultivated tracts only a small proportion is subjected to intensive treatment. Bad government and ill-judged commercial policy have retarded the development of the country which, under favorable conditions, might to-day be producing five times its output and supporting a population five times as great as that which it has. It is importing large quantities of foodstuff that ought to be raised upon its lands and paying substantial sums for foreign labor that should be supplied by its own people. The economic condition of Cuba is as unfavorable as possible to the welfare of its population. Foreigners own practically everything in the country. The Island is exploited for the benefit of everyone but the natives.