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.