“5. The grant of a loan from the Imperial Exchequer for the establishment of central factories in Barbadoes.

“The subject of emigration from the distressed tracts also requires the careful attention of the various governments, though we do not find ourselves at the present time in a position to make recommendations in detail.”

The fact is, Captain L. D. Baker, of the Boston Fruit Company, and the other companies engaged in the banana and orange business of Jamaica, have pointed a way out of the present difficulties, and that industry, in the course of a short time, bids fair to be as important as the sugar industry was in former times. Last year this single company shipped five million bunches of bananas to New York. There are now over one hundred thousand orange trees planted in Jamaica, which in a few years will be bearing finely and give additional prosperity to the country. With the American fruit market inadequately supplied, and the English market practically untouched, there is hope both in Jamaica and Cuba—especially Santiago province—for diversified industries created by rapid transportation. The recent establishment of a fleet of fast steamships between New York, Philadelphia, Boston, and Baltimore, and the various ports of Jamaica, and the probability that these or similar lines will be established between the United States and Cuban ports, are all factors of promise for the industrial future of both the British and the American West Indies.

While Jamaica is a well-governed country, and its revenue is all honestly expended for the public good of the people, it is far from an economically administered government. Order is thoroughly established, laws are obeyed, justice for the humblest is easily obtainable, education is general, sanitary matters admirably administered, roads maintained, the rights of all conserved, and the revenue honestly collected and expended. In these particulars the government of Jamaica differs widely from that which the author found in Cuba. In that unhappy Island all is absolutely the reverse of this. The cost of governing Jamaica, however, is nearly twenty-five per cent. of the value of its commerce, whereas the cost of governing Cuba—if gauged by the actual revenue raised—under Spanish rule ranged from 12½ to 15 per cent. of the value of its commerce. The comparison, however, is of little value, because Cuba got nothing for the money exacted by taxation, while Jamaica not only gets all, but also the taxpayers are informed in advance of the purposes for which much of the money is wanted, and the sums thus raised are rigidly applied to the purposes for which they are appropriated. The most useful lessons for those responsible for administering the affairs of Cuba can be learned by a study of the Jamaica Budgets. The methods of raising the needed revenue are intelligent and simple, and the method of expenditure not only enables the authorities to get as much as possible for the money, but also makes possible the strictest accountability. The Legislative Council of Jamaica discusses every item of the budget as closely as the Town Council of Glasgow or the County Council of London, both model public bodies, so far as honesty of purpose goes, even if some of their legislative experiments fail. The humblest Jamaica negro, if he can read and write, may at least know the purposes for which the revenue he pays in taxes is expended. He may even have the pleasure of deciding which of these items of expenditure he regards the least important. At the present moment the annual cost of education, $350,000, is regarded as too high, and a proposition to reduce it to $250,000 is pending. The total expenditures of Jamaica have reached nearly $4,000,000 and additional revenue is necessary to meet these expenses. The customs tariff is in course of revision, with a view of increasing the revenue, and many articles formerly on the free list will have to be put upon the dutiable list, while the general ad valorem rates of duty must be raised from 12½ to 16-2/3 per cent. Before going into the future sources of revenue, it may be well to look at the present sources, and for that purpose the subjoined table has been compiled from official sources:

COMPARATIVE TABLE OF REVENUE OF JAMAICA, 1896-97
Revenue.Pounds.Dollars.
Customs321,7801,608,900
Excise122,735613,675
Licences7323,660
Stamps23,947119,735
Post-Office24,072120,360
Telegraph5,36426,820
Tax on Stock[3]
Court Fees8,28441,420
Tax in lieu of Education Fees11,24356,215
Fines, etc.4,41222,060
Jamaica Railway2081,040
Reimbursements35,969179,845
Miscellaneous13,99269,960
Revenues now appropriated181,663908,315
Interest on Sinking Funds14,19970,995
Savings Bank3,92719,635
Total773,5273,867,635
Immigration Revenue.
Capitation Tax, etc., Laws 7 of 1878 and 14 of 1891,1,4767,380
Miscellaneous2051,025
Total1,6818,405
Appropriated Revenue.
Poor Rates39,339196,695
Kingston Streets4,35421,770
Market Dues
Pounds
Main Road Revenue, Law 17 of 189028,091140,455
Parochial Roads45,538227,690
Sanitary7,86239,310
Fire Rates, Kingston1,5617,805
Trade, Metal, Hawker, and Gunpowder Licences,
Surplus Fund[4]13,27166,355
Gas Rates, etc.3,79318,965
Parochial General Purposes4,50322,515
Agricultural Produce Licences Law, 37 of 18963,68518,425
Miscellaneous8,54442,720
Advances from General Revenue in aid of Funds21,122105,610
Total181,663908,315

Customs, excise, and appropriated revenue, as will be seen above, are the principal sources of income, while the expenditures for the same period are divided under the following heads:

COMPARATIVE TABLE OF EXPENDITURE OF JAMAICA, 1896-97
ExpenditurePounds.Dollars.
Charges of Debt82,417412,085
Governor and Staff7,36836,840
Privy Council62310
Legislative Council2,46912,345
Colonial Secretariat5,61228,060
Director of Public Works17,97989,895
Audit Office3,62918,145
Treasury4,63423,170
Savings Bank3,27516,375
Stamp Office1,1065,530
Post-Office and Telegraphs35,910179,550
Revenue Departments39,969199,845
Judicial45,611228,055
Ecclesiastical2,92714,635
Medical59,307296,535
Police60,889304,445
Prisons and Reformatories27,836139,180
Education67,540337,700
Harbour-Masters and Harbours and Pilotage2,74113,705
Colonial Allowances and Military Expenditure12,81464,070
Miscellaneous29,571147,855
Census
Steam Communication1,8009,000
Stationery and Printing7,98939,945
Library and Museum2,40412,020
Plantations and Gardens6,48432,420
Railway[5]
Main Roads and Buildings80,467402,335
Pensions, etc16,96284,810
Purposes now supplied by Appropriated Revenue135,842679,210
Total Expenditure from Income765,6073,828,035
Sinking-Funds, etc14,19970,995
Total Payments from Income779,8063,899,030
Less Debt Payments as above14,19970,995
765,6073,828,035
Add Expenditures from Moneys raised by Loans8,12540,625
Total773,7323,868,660
Immigration9794,895

A glance at the above tables and then a glance at the budget of Cuba, which will be found in a subsequent chapter, is all that is necessary to show the vast difference between the British and the Spanish methods of dealing with the fiscal interests of their colonies. The business-like methods of the one, and the blind, slip-shod methods of the other, are in sharp contrast. In dealing with Cuba, it may be difficult to follow entirely these English methods of accounting at once. The sooner, however, the United States inaugurates its own clear methods of national bookkeeping and official accountability, the quicker the people of Cuba will appreciate sound business principles in the conduct of their own affairs. It makes no difference whether Cuba is annexed to the United States or established as an independent government; these lessons must be learned in either event, or the Island will come to grief. It is hardly necessary to do more than call attention to the principal items of expenditure.