“On its political side the black population of Cuba has a definite status. Social equality does not exist, but social toleration prevails. There is no colour line. Visitors to the Island invariably remark this fact. In places in the interior I have seen the coloured serving-woman occupying a box at the theatre with the family, and no one seemed to be the worse for it. The custom is not general, yet the toleration of the white and black races is strong enough for an incident of this kind to pass without notice. I have heard Americans say it won’t do at all after the Island is Americanised. One ambitious young fellow from a Southern State said to me that he was going back because the coloured race occupied too prominent a place in Cuba. He did not speak with bitterness or intolerance. He had been brought up under different conditions and felt that he would not be in harmony with such surroundings. Those who feel as he does had better stay away.
“The part taken in the insurrection by the blacks has unquestionably strengthened their future influence. In order to depreciate the white Cubans the Spaniards were in the habit of giving all the credit for the warfare of the bush to the black insurgents. Some Americans have thereby been led into error. When the insurrection began the population of the Island was about two-thirds white and one-third black. That proportion was maintained among the insurgent troops. In some of the regiments more than one-half were black, but in others they did not amount to twenty per cent. In the beginning Maceo drew a large following in the eastern provinces, and this was almost entirely of blacks.
“When the insurrection spread over the entire Island the disproportion between the two races was removed. Many of the officers among the insurgents to-day are blacks. They have few officers of the higher rank, because most of these were killed. Of all the insurgent generals who are seen in Havana—and there is a legion of them—the one who attracts the most attention from Americans is General Ducasse. He is a mulatto, and was educated, I think, at the French military school of St. Cyr. A brother, more famous than he, was killed during the last year of the insurrection in Pinar del Rio Province. This General Ducasse is of polished manners and undeniable force of character. A few weeks ago I read an address of his to the black insurgents, in which he counselled them with moderation, and impressed on them the duty of preparing for their new responsibilities.
“These coloured Cubans have at no time been clamorous for recognition. They seem disposed to ask less than is due them. At least they are not forward in their demands. Back of all this is a consciousness of their own strength. In the States a jovial piece of advice used to be given the negroes—‘Don’t hit the white man, but if you do hit him, hit hard.’ Such advice would be unnecessary in Cuba. It is not probable that a temporary influx of Americans with inherited race prejudices will ever succeed in creating a colour line in political affairs. If that should happen the black Cuban would not need to be advised about hitting the white man hard. He would hit both hard and quick, and it would be a long time before Anglo-Saxon civilisation recovered from the blow and proved its superiority. Fortunately, this is never likely to happen. The black man will share the future of Cuba with the white man.
“The race has far more than its proportion of criminals. Some tendencies toward retrogression have to be watched. But in the midst of many discouraging circumstances the unprejudiced student must recognise the great advance that has been made. When Cuba has a system of common schools the advance will be greater. What is significant in the present is that the black man has been doing very well. He will continue to do well, and even better, if too many people do not stay up nights worrying other people with their fears of the future.”
CHAPTER VIII
SANITARY WORK IN CUBA
UNDERLYING the prosperity and happiness of the people of any country is health, for without it there can be no strength, no energy, no success, even if all other conditions be favourable. This is true of every section of the world, and is notably true of Cuba, which with almost every advantage that nature could bestow has ever been feared for its malarious diseases, the fatal typhus, and the dreaded “yellow jack,” which acknowledges no master save the frost. For years the world has quarantined against Havana, and other cities have drawn away from this sister in the tropics as from one plague-stricken. Yet this condition is not of nature’s making, but of man’s, and by man shall it be changed into something better. Spain in herself was a tyrant contagion and everything she touched became diseased and rotten to its vitals. And this terrible condition was not only physical, but moral, for moral uncleanness is sure always to follow physical uncleanness. This truth constitutes a corollary out of which has grown the maxim, “Cleanliness is next to Godliness.”
The first consideration, then, with the American authorities who have undertaken to clean Spain’s Augean Stables in Cuba is sanitation; and already the best thought and knowledge and experience we have are being brought to bear upon the stupendous task before us.
As has been stated, Cuba is not naturally unhealthful for a hot, wet country; and among the mountains in its interior and in many places along the coasts, removed from the filthiness of aggregated population, the average mortality is not higher than it is in lands of better repute for healthfulness, and the general health is quite as good. As might be expected, there is not that strength and robustness of physique characterising the people of the higher latitudes, nor is the climate conducive to the pink-and-white health of northerners; but though the people are less rugged of constitution and frame and lungs, and lack the outward signs of northern health, they are by no means constant subjects for physicians’ care and they are anything but chronic candidates for the cemetery. Even in the nasty cities they are not all so, for there are many who are able to have their own houses well located, and to adopt modern methods of sanitation for their own private use. But the public health is not considered of importance, and there is not a city in Cuba which is not wofully lacking in good water, good drainage, and good health. One or two towns, which in America would have a contagion flag run up over them, are so much cleaner than the average that in every description of them by any writer appears the statement that they are said to be the cleanest towns in Cuba. It may be said in this connection that the towns are not large.