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)
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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
Methods of local administration differ so greatly in different provinces
in Cuba that the wisdom of appointing a governor or commander for each
province is unquestioned. As much latitude as possible should be given
to these officials. The provincial governors should have power to decide
all questions appertaining to local matters, for the fewer the
references to Havana the sooner the people of Cuba will realise the
difference between Spanish possession and United States occupancy. For
military purposes, the government of the Island may be easily vested in
one central authority at Havana. For civil purposes, each province
should be made as absolutely independent as is possible, with general
supervision by the commander of the United States forces. The secret of
General Wood's success in Santiago is entirely due to the fact that he
has good judgment, the courage to use it, and full power in Santiago
Province to exercise both. The supervising power over the civil
department-commander should be made, as far as possible, advisory on
such matters as relate to the general welfare of all the people of the
Island, but all department questions should be scrupulously relegated to
the provincial governors. There will of course have to be some general
scheme inaugurated as to the collection and the expenditure of the
general revenue, but before this can be intelligently arranged it will
be necessary to designate what revenue shall be considered local, what,
if any, for the exclusive use of the department, and what may fairly be
regarded as revenue applicable for the general purpose of the whole
Island. In thus distributing the revenue, the greatest care should be
exercised not to hamper the provincial governor by an arbitrary division
of the purposes for which the money must be expended, until he has been
given ample opportunity to ascertain the needs of his department. A
country undergoing such changes as Cuba is, cannot be judged by ordinary
circumstances, and the most successful results will certainly be
obtained by giving the generals in command of the several provinces the
rein, and with the excellent example of the commander of Santiago before
them tell them to go and do likewise. Apportionments and divisions of
revenue will come later. The present emergency demands large sums for
sanitary purposes, for cleaning up cities, for fighting disease, for
renovating public buildings, for maintaining order, and for establishing
a decent, efficient administration of public affairs. These operations
must be done quickly and be planned chiefly by the judgment of the man
on the spot, acquainted with local conditions. The results of a free
hand are plainly visible in Santiago. The same policy must be followed
elsewhere, or summer will bring dangers from which the unacclimatised
population may well seek to escape.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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