Industrial Cuba: Being a Study of Present Commercial and Industrial Conditions, with Suggestions as to the Opportunities Presented in the Island for American Capital, Enterprise, and LabourPorter, Robert P. (Robert Percival)
History
Industrial Cuba: Being a Study of Present Commercial and Industrial Conditions, with Suggestions as to the Opportunities Presented in the Island for American Capital, Enterprise, and Labour
Porter, Robert P. (Robert Percival)
Cuba -- Description and travel; Cuba -- Economic conditions
In accordance with the President's instructions, every officer and
member of the police force will be required to subscribe the following
oath, which will be printed in both Spanish and English:
"I do solemnly swear that I will bear true and exclusive faith and
allegiance to the Government of the United States existing in the
Island of Cuba, and that I will faithfully and obediently perform
my duty as a member of the police force of Havana under the said
Government. So help me God."
The uniform of the new Havana police officer will consist of straw hat,
dark blue blouse and trousers, tan-coloured shoes, and white gloves.
The public works needed in Havana are sewers, pavements, a new
slaughter-house, buildings for the police, fire, and health departments,
and new hospitals. All of these will require a very large sum of money,
and the ability of the city to raise this money is not yet evident. For
the present, all that can be done is thoroughly to clean, disinfect, and
repair the existing public buildings, either owned or rented, so as to
make them habitable for the public officials, both American and native.
The means of communication are entirely inadequate. They consist of
lines of tramways running out to Jesus del Monte, Cerro, and the foot of
the Principe Hill. The tracks are in bad order, the cars are old and
dirty, and they are drawn by three horses each. The live stock is in bad
condition, and the stables are filthy. These lines are owned by a
company called the _Ferro Carril Urbano y Omnibus de la Habana_, under a
concession granted February 5, 1859. The same company also runs, in the
suburban districts, a few lines of very small omnibuses, drawn by two
mules. The service is extremely bad. In addition to these facilities for
transportation there is a "dummy" line, running from the centre of the
city to the western end of the Vedado, a distance of about four miles.
The track is in bad order, and the service is unsatisfactory.
Undoubtedly one of the first enterprises that will be pushed to
completion in Havana will be an entirely new tramway system, with
mechanical traction. General Greene recognises the necessity of this
when he says in his report:
"There is a great need of a thorough and modern system of electric
street railways in this city. While the streets are narrow, yet a
single track could be laid on each street, near the curbstone on
one side, in such a manner as not to impede traffic. It is a
question, however, whether these tracks should be laid prior to the
laying of the sewers, which would cause the tearing up of every
street in the thickly populated portion of the city."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account