In spite of strict orders from the rectors and professors and covert threats from the Spanish Government officers, no student has attended lectures on the 27th of November since 1871, when seven students were unjustly accused by the Spanish Volunteers of having desecrated the tomb of a patriot. It was in vain that a brave Spanish officer, called Capdevilla, showed that the scratches on the glass of the coffin were covered with moss: all he succeeded in doing was to provoke the Volunteers, who did their best to kill him, and to spoil his career; he lived twenty-seven years more and was never promoted. He died in Santiago. The students were executed two days after their arrest. When the son of the man whose tomb had been the cause of so much villainy went to Cuba for his father’s remains, twenty years after that event, a notary public attended the ceremony and the son was a witness to the declaration that all was in exactly the same condition as at the time of the burial. A monument was erected to the memory of the students after the Spanish Cortes had declared that they had been innocent of the charge that had been brought against them. There is a significant statue of a blindfold woman with broken scales in her hand on one side of the monument whilst History on the other side appears recording.
After this disgraceful act it is not surprising that the students of Havana University furnished such a ready contingent to the ranks of the rebellion.
When in Havana last September the author, accompanied by Admiral Sampson, paid a visit to the Boys’ Technical School. It was just starting up again after the blockade, and though there were not many scholars, the opportunity was afforded to observe the possibilities of this admirable institution. Many specimens of the boys’ work were given to the author, and on returning to the United States some of them were shown the President, who expressed gratification at these signs of industrial life and a hope that the school would be provided for in the new budget of the Island. The Havana Provincial School of Arts and Trades is an institution for the promotion of technical knowledge among workmen and the training of youths (preferably artisans’ sons) in the theories and practice of trades. It is maintained at the expense of the Deputation of the Province of Havana.
The first courses given in this school commenced in 1882. In 1889, thanks to the efforts of its founder, Don Fernando Aguado y Rico and some zealous assistants, some shops were added to the school. They succeeded in having an increase allowed in the appropriation voted by the Provincial Deputation. The present cost of the school is $16,350 a year. This school is absolutely a free school. The instruction is divided into day courses and night courses. In view of its limited resources, to provide for boarders in the institution has, thus far, been impossible, consequently all the pupils are day scholars. A good deal may be said of Mr. Aguado’s work in this school. It is to be regretted that, like so many others who work for the public good, the results should not correspond to the labour. He conceived the idea of creating this school a few years after graduating from the University of Havana. After several unsuccessful attempts he managed to start his enterprise, and since then the improvement of the instruction and the general welfare of its scholars have been the main object of his life. The acquisition of a lot of ground and the building of a suitable house for the shops for mechanical training have been the most important steps taken since the foundation. The new building is outside the city and is high and airy. Part of the ground purchased will have a building erected for an agricultural and industrial museum.
It is to be regretted that this school, which is the only one of its class in Cuba, should furnish accommodation for only the limited number of 491 pupils. A city of 250,000 inhabitants, like Havana, should be able to provide more for this object. It is to be remarked that, out of the number mentioned, as many as 316 take night courses.
There is perhaps no branch of instruction that may lead to such important developments in Cuba as the training of her youths in the mechanical trades; the want has been felt for a long time, and with the only exception of this school no efforts have been made to alleviate it. The Cuban, being naturally quick, makes a good mechanic, but unless he is trained to his work and has some knowledge of technicalities he can never reach the degree of skill which the modern mechanic requires to master his trade. However bright a man may be he can never acquire perfection in any branch of industry if he confines himself to the results of individual practice and personal observation. In a place like Cuba, where the wealth and prosperity of the country depend materially on one industry like the sugar industry, which is worked with huge machinery, there is no excuse for bringing over every year foreign engineers and mechanics to oversee any important repairs that may be necessary, or to erect new plants. One would expect that being constantly on the ground, seeing daily the working of this machinery, those interested would acquire such complete mastery of the processes that, far from having to depend on outsiders, they would be making and suggesting improvements. The explanation is, as has been stated, merely the want of technical knowledge; give the Cubans complete mechanical instruction, technical and practical, and tangible results will be seen in a remarkably short period. Let us hope that Mr. Aguado will continue working with the zeal and ardour that he has shown heretofore, and that ere long he may enjoy the satisfaction of seeing his work completed in a way that may exceed his most sanguine expectations.
Havana feels the want of good hotels. There are some where a certain degree of comfort may be had by paying high prices, but even then it falls short of what can be obtained in other places at very much lower rates. Travellers in Cuba have to be satisfied with taking what they can get in this respect, as among those of so-called first-class standard there is little difference between one hotel and another. Anybody who has been in Havana during the winter months can have no doubt how profitable an investment would be an hotel on American lines. As every steamer arrives there is a rush for rooms most uncomfortable for travellers, to say nothing of their disappointment after they have succeeded in securing what, judging by the rate, they expect to find an unusually fine apartment, and which actually turns out to be a small whitewashed den, with very second-rate furniture and an iron bed. No curtains, no carpets, and bare walls. The most frequented are the Inglaterra and Pasaje hotels. Besides these, there is the Louvre, which, though much smaller than the other two, is beyond comparison more comfortable and better furnished.
There are several theatres in Havana. The Tacon, now owned by American capitalists, is the third largest in the world.
The Church of the Merced (Mercy) is the most fashionable in the city. The Belen (Jesuit) is the most frequented. It has, connected with it, a school, a laboratory, an observatory, and a museum of natural history. More men go to the Church of Santo Domingo than to any other because more pretty women go there.