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bridges being of stone or iron, and the station buildings substantial. English engines are used, which make 45 miles per hour. The Government assisted in the construction of the road by making valuable concessions of land with right of way its entire length and by guaranteeing 8 per cent. per year upon the stock of the road for a period of ninety-nine years, when it is to become State property. So far, adds the Consul, the road has paid more than 10 per cent. per annum to shareholders.

Mr. Elliott also states that the Compania Transatlantica (Manila-Liverpool) maintains a monthly service to Europe; that there are four lines of steamers to Hong Kong, and many local lines plying between Manila and the provinces, the largest having twenty-eight steamers of 25,000 tonnage. GUAM (LADRONES).

all branches of the administration, civil and military; while in Havana and each of the six provinces military governors have been or are being appointed, who will receive instructions from the Governor General.

Area and Population.-The area of Cuba is about 45,872 square miles. Ten per cent. of the area is cultivated, 7 per cent. is unreclaimed, and 4 per cent. is under forests. There are large tracts of country still unexplored. The population of the island in 1894 was given as 1,631,696, of which 65 per cent. was white, the remainder being negro. The capital, Havana, has 200,000 inhabitants; Matanzas (1892), 27,000; Santiago de Cuba, 71,307; Cienfuegos (1892), 27,430; Puerto Principe, 46,641; Holguin, 34,767; Sancti Spiritu, 32,608; Cardenas (1892), 23,680. Education was made obligatory in 1880. There are 843 public schools in the island, and Havana has a university.

The Island of Guam or Guahan, the largest in the Marianne or Ladrone Archipelago, was Consul Hyatt, of Santiago do Cuba, in a ceded by Spain to the United States in 1898, report dated January 8, 1897, and printed in Consular Reports No. 197 (February, 1897), and will probably be used as a coaling station for the United States navy. The island is P. 262, says that the area of Cuba is about about 32 miles long and 100 miles in circum-equal to that of the State of Pennsylvania, the ference, and has a population of about 9,000, length being 775 miles and the width varying of whom about 6,000 are in Agaña, the capital. mineral wealth, and climatic conditions of the from 30 to 160 miles. The productive soil, The inhabitants are mostly immigrants or the descendants of immigrants from the Philip- communities of the world. island entitle it to rank among the foremost The soil is a pines, the original race of the Marianne Islands marvel of richness, and fertilizers are seldom having become extinct. The recognized language is Spanish, but English is also spoken. used, unless in the case of tobacco, even On the island there are 18 schools, and nine though the same crops be grown on the same tenths of the islanders can read and write. land for a hundred years, as has happened in The island is thickly wooded, well watered, tains are of coral formation, while the lowlands some of the old sugar cane fields. and fertile, and possesses a roadstead. of eastern Cuba at least seem to be composed CUBA. largely of fossils of sea matter from prehistoric times and are extremely rich in lime and phosphate, which accounts for their apparent inexhaustibleness.

Government.-Cuba after having been continuously in the possession of Spain from its discovery, was by the peace preliminaries and by the definite treaty signed by the Peace Commissioners at Paris, December 10, 1898, and ratified by the Senate February 6, 1899, and by the Queen Regent of Spain March 17, 1899, relinquished by Spain, and thus has the position of an independent state. The direct armed interposition of the United States in the struggle against Spanish domination has, however, brought the island into close association with the United States Government, and though Congress has affirmed Cuban independence, the island is now held in military occupation by the United States forces. So long as the occupation lasts the United States Government assumes and discharges the resulting obligations with respect to the protection of life and property, and a military Governor General has been appointed, who will control

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Although founded and settled more than fifty years before the United States, Cuba has still 13,000,000 acres of primeval forests; mahogany, cedar, logwood, redwood, ebony, lignum-vitæ, and caiguaran (which is more durable in the ground than iron or steel) are among the woods.

If all the land suitable to the growth of sugar cane were devoted to that industry, it is estimated that Cuba might supply the entire Western Hemisphere with sugar. The island has already produced in a single year for export 1,000,000 tons, and its capabilities have only been in the experimental stage. The adaptability of the soil for tobacco culture has long been known. Cuba takes great pride in the quality of her coffee, and until the war the plantations were flourishing.

The land is not suitable to the cultivation | of cereals, and probably no flouring mill exists on the island.

Finances.-The estimated revenue for 1897-98 was 24,755,760 pesos (a peso equals $0.965), of which 11,890,000 was from customs; ordinary expenditure, 26,119,124 pesos, of which 12,602,216 pesos was for the debt, 5,896,741 pesos for the Ministry of War, and 4,036,088 pesos for the Ministry of the Interior. The extraordinary revenue was estimated at over 80,000,000 pesos. The debt was in 1896 put at about £70,220,000, of which £10,000,000, was due to the Spanish treasury. The interest on the debt is estimated to impose a burden of $9.75 per inhabitant.

Minerals. According to Consul Hyatt, Cuba is capable of taking high rank in mineral wealth. Gold and silver have not been found in paying quantities. Copper was mined at Cobre by the natives before Columbus discovered the island, and there is strong proof that native copper was carried across to Florida and used by the Florida Indians hundreds of years ago. From 1828 to 1840 an average of from $2,000,000 to $3,000,000 worth of copper ore was shipped annually to the United States from these mines.

The iron mines of Cuba, all of which are located near Santiago, overshadow in importance all other industries on the eastern end of the island, constituting the only industry that has made any pretense of withstanding the shock of the present insurrection. The Juragua and Daiquiri iron companies (American), with a combined capital of over $5,000,000, now operate mines in this vicinity and employ from 800 to 1400 men, shipping to the United States from 30,000 to 50,000 tons of iron ore per month, the largest portion of which is used at Bethlehem, Steelton, and Pittsburg, Pa., and Sparrows Point, Md. The ore of these mines is among the richest in the world, yielding from 62 to 67 per cent. of pure iron, and is very free from sulphur and phosphorus. There are numerous undeveloped mines of equal value in this region.

In the Sierra Maestra range, on the southern coast of Cuba, from Santiago west to Manzanillo, within a distance of about 100 miles, are found numerous deposits of manganese, an ore indispensable in the manufacture of steel. As nearly all the manganese used in the United States comes from the Black Sea regions of Europe and a smaller quantity from the northern part of South America, it is but reasonable to suppose that the products of these near-by mines will be in great demand when the conditions are such that they can be operated in safety.

In the district of Santiago de Cuba, at the end of 1891, the total number of mining titles issued was 296, with an extent of 13,727 hectares. Of the mines reported and claimed, 138 were iron, 88 manganese, and 53 copper. Commerce and Industry.- Railroads and other highways, improved machinery, and more modern methods of doing business are among the wants of Cuba; and with the onward march of civilization these will doubtless be hers in the near future. Cuba, like other tropical and semi-tropical countries, is not given to manufacturing; her people would rather sell the products of the soil and mines and buy manufactured goods. The possibilities of the island are great, while the probabilities remain an unsolved problem.

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The number of landed estates on the island in 1891 was estimated at 90,960, of the value of 220,000,000 pesos, and rental of 17,000,000 pesos. The live stock consisted of 584,725 horses and mules, 2,485,766 cattle, 78,494 sheep, and 570,194 pigs. The chief produce is sugar and tobacco. The quantity of sugar produced in the year 1894-95 was 1,004,264 tons; 1895-96, 225,221 tons; 1896-97, 212,051 tons. The insurrection and incendiarism in the island ruined the prospects of sugar cultivation in 1896. The tobacco crop on an average is estimated at 560,000 bales (1 bale 110 lbs.), 338,000 bales being exported and the remainder used in cigar and cigarette manufacture in Havana. In 1896 the cigars exported numbered 185,914,000. Tobacco leaf exported in 1895, 30,466,000 lbs. ; in 1896, 16,823,000 lbs. The decrease in cigar exports and decrease in leaf exports is due to decree of May 12, 1896, forbidding tobaccoleaf exports except to Spain. Cigarettes exported in 1895, 48,163,846 packets. Nearly all the tobacco and nearly half of the cigars go to the United States. About 80,000 of the inhabitants are ordinarily engaged in the cultivation of tobacco. Mahogany and other timbers are exported, as are also honey, wax, and fruits. The chief imports are rice, jerked beef, and flour. The Spanish official returns state the value of the imports from Cuba into Spain for 1896 to be 21,898,215 Spanish pesetas ($1,216,355.49), and the exports from Spain to Cuba 134,461,675 pesetas (825,951,003.27). In 1897 the imports of the United States from Cuba amounted to $405,326,637, and the exports from the United States to Cuba $100,456,712.

Railways. According to a report published in Special Consular Reports, "Highways of Commerce," there are ten railway companies in Cuba, the most important being: the Ferrocarriles Unidos; upward of 1000

1

miles of main line belong to these companies, and there are, besides, private branch lines to all the important sugar estates. The Ferrocarriles Unidos has four lines, connecting Havana with Matanzas, Batabano, Union, and Guanajay. The roads pass through the most populous part of the country and connect Havana with other lines.

Panama; the Compagnie Française de Cables
Sous-Marins has a line connecting Havana
with Santiago de Cuba, Haiti, Santo Domingo,
Venezuela, and Brazil.

The only three towns in Cuba having cable connections are Havana, Cienfuegos, and Santiago de Cuba.

Telegraphs, Telephones, Etc.-The The Western Railway was begun some forty telegraph and telephone systems in Cuba beyears ago, and in 1891, when it was acquired long to the Government, but the latter is by an English company, had reached Puerto de farmed out for a limited number of years to a Golpe. 96 miles from Havana and 10 miles company called the Red Telefonica de la Hafrom Pinar del Rio, the capital of the province bana. Nearly all the public and private buildof that name and the center of the tobacco-ings in the city and suburbs are connected by growing district. The line has been completed telephone. to Pinar del Rio, and improvements have been made in the old part, many of the bridges hav- DECLARATION ing been replaced by new steel ones, the rails renewed, modern cars put on, etc.

ENCE.

OF INDEPEND

In Congress July 4, 1776. The unanimous
Declaration of the Thirteen United States of
America.

When, in the course of human events, it be

The other companies are: Ferrocarriles Cardenas-Jacaro, the main line of which joins the towns of Cardenas and Santa Clara; Ferrocarril de Matanzas, having lines between comes necessary for one people to dissolve the Matanzas and Murga, and also between Matan-political bands which have connected them zas and Guareiras; Ferrocarril de Sagua la Grande, running between Concha and Cruces; Ferrocarril Cienfuegos-Santa Clara, connecting those towns; Ferrocarriles Unidos de Caibarien, from Caibarien to Placetas; Ferrocarril de Puerto Principe-Nuevitas; Ferrocarril de Guantanamo.

with another, and to assume, among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the laws of nature and of nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that The Marianao Railway also belongs to an all men are created equal, that they are enEnglish company, with headquarters in Lon- dowed, by their Creator, with certain unaliendon. The original line, belonging to Cubans, able rights, that among these are life, liberty, was opened in 1863, but liquidated and was and the pursuit of happiness. That to secure transferred to the present owners. The line, these rights, governments are instituted among only 8 miles in length, runs from Havana to men, deriving their just powers from the conMarianao, with a branch line to a small vil-sent of the governed, that whenever any form of lage on the coast. During 1894, over 750,000 government becomes destructive of these ends, passengers were carried, this being the chief it is the right of the people to alter or to abolsource of revenue. The carriages are of the ish it, and to institute new government, laying American type, and are fitted, as well as the its foundation on such principles, and organizlocomotives, with the Westinghouse automatic | ing its powers in such form as to them shall brake; the rails are of steel, weighing 60 pounds per yard.

Ports, Interior Transportation, Etc. -In 1895 the port of Havana was visited by 1179 vessels, of 1,681,325 tons; in 1897, 231 vessels, of 309,758 tons, visited Cienfuegos. There are 54 ports in Cuba, of which 15 are open to commerce. There are 19 lighthouses. Cables.-There are four cable lines connected with Cuba. The International Ocean Telegraph Company has a cable from Havana to Florida; the Cuban Submarine Company has a cable connecting Havana with Santiago de Cuba and Cienfuegos; the West India and Panama Company has a cable connecting Havana with Santiago de Cuba, Jamaica, Porto Rico, the Lesser Antilles, and the Isthmus of

seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate, that governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shown that mankind are more disposed to suffer where evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same object, evinces a design to reduce them under absolute despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such government, and to provide new guards for their future security. Such has been the patient sufferance of these colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former systems

of government. The history of the present | For protecting them, by a mock trial, from King of Great Britain is a history of repeated punishment from any murders which they injuries and usurpations, all having in direct should commit on the inhabitants of these object the establishment of an absolute tyranny over these states. To prove this, let facts be submitted to a candid world.

He has refused his assent to laws the most wholesome and necessary for the public good. He has forbidden his governors to pass laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them. He has refused to pass other laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless these people would relinquish the right of representation in the legislature-a right inestimable to them, and formidable to tyrants only.

He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.

He has dissolved representative houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.

states:

For cutting off our trade with all parts of the world:

For imposing taxes on us without our consent:

For depriving us, in many cases, of the benefits of trial by jury:

For transporting us beyond the seas to be tried for pretended offenses:

For abolishing the free system of English laws in a neighboring province, establishing therein an arbitrary government, and enlarging its boundaries, so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these colonies :

For taking away our charters, abolishing our most valuable laws, and altering, fundamentally, the powers of our governments:

For suspending our own legislatures and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.

He has abdicated government here, by declaring us out of his protection, and waging war against us.

He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.

He is, at this time, transporting large armies of foreign mercenaries, to complete the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of cruelty and perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the head of a civilized nation.

He has refused, for a long time after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the legislative powers, incapable of annihilation, have returned to the people at large, for their exercise, the state remaining, in the meantime, exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within. He has endeavored to prevent the population of these states; for that purpose obstructing the laws for naturalization of foreigners, refusing to pass others to encourage their migra- He has constrained our fellow-citizens, taken tion hither, and raising conditions of new ap-captive on the high seas, to bear arms against propriations of lands. their country, to become the executioners of their friends and brethren, or to fall themselves by their hands.

He has obstructed the administration of justice, by refusing his assent to laws establishing judiciary powers.

He has made judges dependent on his will alone for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.

He has erected a multitude of new offices, and sent hither swarms of officers, to harass our people, and eat out their substance.

He has kept among us, in times of peace, standing armies, without the consent of our legislatures.

He has affected to render the military independent of, and superior to, the civil power. He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his assent to their acts of pretended legislation,

For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us :

He has excited domestic insurrections among us, and has endeavored to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers the merciless Indian savages, whose known rule of warfare is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes, and conditions.

In every stage of these oppressions we have petitioned for redress in the most humble terms; our repeated petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a tyrant is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.

Nor have we been wanting in attentions to our British brethren. We have warned them, from time to time, of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the cir

cumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity which denounces our separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, enemies in war, in peace friends.

We, therefore, the Representatives of the United States of America, in General Congress assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the name, and by authority of the good people of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent States; that they are absolved from all allegiance to the British crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is, and ought to be, totally dissolved ; and that as free and independent States, they have full power to levy war, conclude peace, contract alliances, establish commerce, and to do all other acts and things which independent States may of right do. And for the support of this declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor.

NEW HAMPSHIRE.

Josiah Bartlett,
William Whipple,
Matthew Thornton.

MASSACHUSETTS BAY.

Samuel Adams,

John Adams,

Robert Treat Paine,
Elbridge Gerry.

RHODE ISLAND.

Stephen Hopkins,
William Ellery.

CONNECTICUT.

Roger Sherman,
Samuel Huntington,
William Williams,
Oliver Wolcott.

NEW YORK.

William Floyd,

Philip Livingston,
Francis Lewis,
Lewis Morris.

NEW JERSEY.

Richard Stockton,
John Witherspoon,
Francis Hopkinson,
John Hart,

Abraham Clark.

PENNSYLVANIA.

Robert Morris,
Benjamin Rush,
Benjamin Franklin,
John Morton,
George Clymer,

JOHN HANCOCK.

James Smith,
George Taylor,
James Wilson,
George Ross.

DELAWARE.

Cæsar Rodney,
George Read,
Thomas M'Kean.

MARYLAND.

Samuel Chase,
William Paco,
Thomas Stone,
Charles Carroll, of Car-
rollton.

VIRGINIA.

George Wythe, Richard Henry Lee, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Harrison, Thomas Nelson, Jr., Francis Lightfoot Lee, Carter Braxton.

NORTH CAROLINA.

William Hooper,
Joseph Hewes,
John Penn.

SOUTH CAROLINA.

Edward Rutledge, Thomas Heyward, Jr., Thomas Lynch, Jr., Arthur Middleton.

GEORGIA.

Button Gwinnett, Lyman Hall, George Walton,

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Resolved, That we, the citizens of Mecklenburg County, do hereby dissolve the politi

cal bonds which have connected us to the mother-country, and hereby absolve ourselves from all allegiance to the British crown, and abjure all political connection, contract or association with that nation, which has wantonly trampled on our rights and liberties and inhumanly shed the blood of American patriots at Lexington.

:

"Resolved, That we do hereby declare ourselves a free and independent people are and of right ought to be a sovereign and self-governing association, under the control of no power other than that of our God and the general government of the Congress. To the maintenance of which independence we solemnly pledge to each other our mutual cooperation, our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor."

Two other resolutions in the same document, regarding administration of the law and regulating the militia, having no present value, are omitted.

CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

(Went into operation first Wednesday in March, 1789.) Preamble.—We, the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union,

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