With these general conditions in mind, it may be well to ascertain if there exist any facts of a promising nature, which will contribute to make easier the work the United States has undertaken. It is undoubtedly true that the people of Cuba can be brought together on economic questions, if not on those of a political character. The United States has specifically disclaimed "any disposition or intention to exercise sovereignty, jurisdiction, or control over said Island," except for "the pacification thereof." If, therefore, the pacification can be more easily and surely accomplished by giving Cuba industrial freedom,--the right to buy in the most advantageous markets in the world, and sell where the natural demands for its products exist,--the United States has the right before all the world to carry out that programme. Spain never granted this right to Cuba, not even in the alleged Autonomist Government wrung from Madrid when war with the United States seemed imminent and Spanish diplomacy was in the last ditch. The signs and omens for crystallising public sentiment in the Island of Cuba on all industrial questions are far more hopeful at the present moment than are those which indicate the possibility of establishing a stable government, and thus leaving the management and control of the Island to its people. There is now no opposition nor rivalry of different interests among the Cubans, as the strong and important industries in Cuba, most of them agricultural, are of such a nature that they may all thrive at the same time. Until now the condition has been different, because the prosperity of all Cuban industries has been thwarted and impeded by the protection and privileges which the Spanish Government had to grant to the Peninsular industries, whose interests (always in opposition to the legitimate wants of Cuba) have ever been systematically preferred to those most vital in the Island. Another fact is that the productive energy of Cuba and the fertility of its soil are so great, and the real needs of the population so very small, that the process of accumulating capital will become very rapid, after the worst results of the late war are over and a settled and stable government has been established. How far the natural resources of the country will contribute to this result will soon be understood and appreciated. Heretofore, the yearly increase of public wealth has been a very doubtful quantity, and it has never been possible to build any hope on that ground, because all industrial profits have been absorbed by Spain, without leaving any surplus to provide for the accumulation of capital and the material progress of the Island. The consequences of the Spanish colonial system have been such that even before the present war Cuba was already ruined. The 1895-1898 war has completed and aggravated to the utmost degree the material ruin of the Island. The ultimate result of this industrial thraldom has been the never-ending removal of