We must regard it as the supreme reproach of José Miguel Gomez that, with all his ability and energy, he lacked that supreme quality, the sense of civic responsibility, which Marti prescribed for Cuba and for Cubans. His shameful and unpardonable treason—a double treason, to his own party partner as well as to the government of his country—was not inspired by the genius of Marti. It did not comprehend the gigantic responsibilities which it so lightly sought to assume, but was marked with the irresponsibility which has characterized so many revolutions in other Latin American countries, and which has brought upon those lands disaster and measureless reproach.
Under the third Presidency which Cuba has enjoyed that responsibility is happily comprehended in complete degree. Not even Estrada Palma possessed a higher sense of duty to the state and to the world than Mario G. Menocal, nor gave to it more tangible and efficient exposition. Nor shall we incur reproach of lack of reverence for a great name if we perceive that in certain essential and potent particulars Cuba's third President is even more capable of discharging that responsibility than was the first. The younger, alert, practical man of affairs, expert in the duties of both peace and war, has the advantage over the elder sage whose life for many years had been cloistered in academic calm.
We might not inappropriately gauge the extent of Cuba's discharge of her responsibilities as a sovereign nation by the measure of her progress in various paths of human welfare. This is not the place for a comprehensive census of the island, or for a conspectus of its statistics. Ex pede Herculem. From a few items we may estimate the whole. In the days of unembarrassed Spanish rule, before that sovereignty was challenged by revolutions,[{357}] the island had a population of a million souls. It had between two hundred and three hundred teachers, and—in 1841—9,082 children enrolled in schools. That was one schoolchild in every 110 of the population. To-day the island has a population of 2,700,000, and it has 350,000 children enrolled in its schools. That is one child in every eight of the population. The contrast between one-eighth and one-one hundred and tenth is one valid and expressive measure of Cuba's discharge of her responsibility.
Under the administration of President Menocal the annual appropriation for public education is more than $10,000,000. There are six great normal schools to train the 5,500 teachers who are needed to care for the 350,000 pupils; and as the national government conducts all the schools there is no discrimination between poor places and wealthy communities, but an equal grade of teaching is maintained in all. Nor does the state stop with primary education, but provides practically free secondary and university education for all who desire it.
Shall we take public health as another measure of progress? In the half dozen years just before the War of Independence the death rate in Havana was 33 to the 1,000. By 1902 it was reduced to 22, or only a little more than in New York. To-day, under President Menocal, the death rate for all Cuba is only 11.2. In the registration area of the United States it is 14. In the United Kingdom it is 14.2, and Britain vaunts herself [{358}]upon its lowness. In France it is 19.6; in Argentina it is 21.6; in Chili it is 31.1. There are only three countries in the world with lower rates of mortality than Cuba; and they are New Zealand, with 9.5, Newfoundland with 10.5, and Australia with 10.6.
BONEATO ROAD, ORIENTE
No country in the world, probably, is more amply equipped with good road—for both industrial and pleasure purposes, than Cuba. Radiating from the capital and other important cities splendid automobile highways give access to all parts of the island, leading not only to cities and ports but also for hundreds of miles through enchanting scenery. Of such highways the Boneato Road, winding through the mountains of Santiago, in the Province of Oriente, is a superb example.
Again, consider what is still the chief industry of Cuba. Before the administration of President Menocal, these were the yearly sugar crops, in tons: