HAVING sought light and information in relation to the future political government of Cuba from both Cuban and Spanish sources, for the Marquis de Apezteguia is more Spanish than Cuban, it may be well to ascertain if any useful lesson may be found in British colonial administration. With this thought in view, the author, after completing the work in Cuba, made a brief visit to the island of Jamaica. Through the courtesy of the American Mail Steamship Company, the S.S. Admiral Sampson stopped at Santiago and thus enabled me to reach Port Antonio, Jamaica, in seven hours. At this point I met Captain L. D. Baker, the head of the vast American fruit interests of Jamaica, and with him visited Kingston and had an interview with the Governor-General of Jamaica, and with the heads of nearly all the Departments of Government. In this connection it affords me pleasure to mention the name of Dr. James Johnston, member of the Jamaica Council for St. Ann’s Parish and member of the Commission now revising the revenue law of Jamaica. Dr. Johnston was a fellow-passenger on the S.S. Sampson, on its return voyage to the United States, and furnished much valuable explanatory information in relation to the government of Jamaica, for which this opportunity is taken to express thanks.

The information thus obtained and the data gathered from the various blue books and the reports of the Royal Commission on the British West India Islands, all have a special bearing on the problem the United States is now confronting in Cuba, and hence on the political future of the Island. Better to appreciate the present aims of British administration in Jamaica, one should read the following extract from an article in the December number of Scribner’s Magazine, by the Right Honourable Joseph Chamberlain, British Colonial Secretary:

The Spanish idea in its government of Cuba was purely and absolutely the idea of possession, and the facts pointing to this will be abundantly set forth in the several chapters in this volume relating to the fiscal, commercial, and industrial condition of the Island of Cuba. The work of reconstruction already so auspiciously begun by the United States Government in Santiago, and described in a subsequent chapter, is absolutely in line with what Mr. Chamberlain aptly terms the root idea of British administration in the tropics. The primary obligation of the United States in Cuba is to maintain peace, the safety of life and property, and equal justice for all, irrespective of race or class. The final instructions given by the President of the United States, last August, to the author, leaving for Cuba, were to the effect that the United States desired to secure no tribute from Cuba, that the work of reconstruction must be performed in the interests of the people of Cuba, only, and that the profit to the United States must come in the increased prosperity of the people of Cuba, and in the benefits accruing from a peaceful, instead of a constantly warring neighbour. According to Mr. Chamberlain, this is the fundamental principle underlying England’s operation in her tropical colonies.

ON THE ROAD TO CASTLETON, JAMAICA.
ON THE ROAD TO CASTLETON, JAMAICA.

In comparing British administration in Jamaica with any possible operations of the United States Government in Cuba, the fact of the great difference in the population must be considered. In Jamaica not over 15,000 of the 700,000 population are white. When England began to treat this island as a trust, and not as a possession,—say about 1834,—the population was made up of 311,070 slaves, 15,000 whites, 40,000 coloured, or brown people, as they are called in Jamaica, and 5000 free blacks. In Cuba a majority of the population are white—the census of 1887 showing 1,102,889 white and 528,798 coloured—in all provinces; Matanzas, with forty-five per cent. coloured, and Santiago, with forty-two per cent. coloured, representing the strongest coloured sections of the Island. That half a century of British rule in Jamaica has improved the population of Jamaica, nearly all of whom were slaves when the work was begun, is self-evident, though it is equally true that similar government in Cuba would have resulted, by reason of the preponderance of white population, in more far-reaching results. That is, Cuba, under such a government as England has given Jamaica, would, in all reasonable probability, have numbered at this time a population of from four to five millions, with a greatly increased commerce, diversified industries, magnificent main and parochial roads, an adequate railway system, many prosperous and well-built cities, and a degree of prosperity and civilisation far in excess of that which the United States officials found when they took possession of the Island. With the disadvantages of race, with the scars of slavery, and, until recently, with the single industry of sugar and its allied product, rum, the policy set forth so clearly by Mr. Chamberlain has been successful in making habitable and law-abiding and measurably prosperous a tropical island which might have been in a condition little better than that of savagery.

To be sure, England has not made Anglo-Saxons of these people, but it has made of them peaceful, law-abiding, and, in the main, self-respecting citizens. There is little doubt that the bulk of the inhabitants of Jamaica are in a position which compares not unfavourably with that of the peasants of most countries in the world. The facts given farther along show that the condition of the labouring classes of Jamaica is infinitely better than that of the labouring classes—especially the coloured population—of Cuba, who are in a deplorable state, even on plantations where work is abundant. The number of holdings in Jamaica is 92,979, of which 81,924 are under ten acres each. In 1882 there were only 52,608 holdings, of which 43,707 were under ten acres each. Even allowing for the fact that some persons may hold two or more plots of land, it is clear that the island already contains a very large and increasing number of peasant proprietors. The Crown Land Regulations offer facilities for the settlement of the labouring population on the land, and as sugar estates are abandoned some of them will probably fall into the hands of small cultivators. In the last ten years the number of savings-bank accounts of the amount of twenty-five dollars and under has nearly doubled. The census returns of 1891 show that in the ten years, 1881 to 1891, there had been an increase of thirty per cent. in the number of persons able to read and write. The acreage of provision grounds has increased more than thirty per cent. in ten years. There are 70,000 holdings of less than five acres. The area in coffee, usually in small lots, increased in ten years from 17,000 to 23,000 acres. More than 6,000 small sugar-mills are owned by the peasantry. The number of enrolled scholars was 100,400 in 1896, as against 49,000 in 1881; while the actual average daily attendance at schools had increased from 26,600 to 59,600. These facts indicate considerable advance, though no doubt in certain districts the people are poor. The Royal Commission appointed to investigate and report on the agricultural, commercial, and industrial condition of the West Indies came to the conclusion that the depression in Jamaica was the result of the almost entire dependence of the island on a single industry. Here is what they say:

The special remedies recommended were as follows:

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:

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:

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.

First of all come roads. England has discovered that good roads are not only an important factor in mountainous countries in keeping order, but also the basis of industrial development and prosperity. In the budget given above the following items must be added together in order to ascertain the amount expended in 1897 for roads:

Here may be found a good illustration of England’s policy which is a great contrast to the policy of Spain in Cuba. No money has been spent on the roads of Cuba, all of which are in a deplorable condition. Attention should at once be given to this important question and a liberal sum out of both local and general revenues of the Island set apart for this purpose. The debt of Jamaica is not excessive; it is in the neighbourhood of $10,000,000, with an annual charge of about $400,000. Police and medical charges are about the same, averaging about $300,000 each, or in all $600,000.

In this connection attention is called to the annual expenditure on roads in Jamaica for fourteen years:

The necessity of liberal expenditure for maintaining the health of the community is of first importance. A study of this budget may be found a preparation for the subsequent study of the Cuban budget, to which the reader’s attention will be invited presently.

The present Jamaica tariff was evidently framed with the two ideas of revenue for the island and a market for British goods. Food products, for example, such as bacon, beef, beans, bread, butter, cheese, corn, meats, oats, oil, pork, rice, salt, sausages, wheat, sugar, tea, coffee, and many other staple articles are all on the dutiable list, some paying a fairly stiff rate of duty. On the other hand, many articles of merchandise, bricks, bridges, carts and waggons, clocks, diamonds, machinery, locomotives, and a host of other things, which England supplies the island, are all exempted from duty. Under a general ad valorem clause, 12½ per cent. is collected on all articles not enumerated. The enumerated list of the Jamaica tariff is not large, so a large amount of merchandise has been actually imported under this clause. The proposed new tariff, which will probably go into effect next year, takes many articles off the free list and puts them on the dutiable list. It also increases the ad valorem rate to 16-2/3 per cent. This has been found necessary because there has been a deficit in the revenue. The new tariff is expected to yield £400,000, or about $2,000,000, and from internal revenue or excise £150,000, or $750,000, and £250,000, or $1,250,000, from appropriated revenue which will really come from the land and householders. Here it is summarised:

If this amount can be secured, the revenue of Jamaica will be a trifle more than expenditure, and the result will be happiness. If not, expenses must be reduced. Some members of the Legislative Council favour this latter plan. The Commission has the whole fiscal question now in hand, and within a short time will probably reach conclusions.

There is much more of interest that might be said about the present economic condition of Jamaica, but the points herein brought out appear to be the only ones that bear especially on the problem continually facing the reader in a volume dealing with the industrial and commercial reconstruction of Cuba. It will also be interesting to compare the British method of colonial administration with the idea set forth in the previous chapter by the Marquis de Apezteguia, whose point of view in such matters is wholly Spanish. That is, the idea of possession is paramount. The Marquis evidently has no faith in the ability of the United States to administer the affairs of Cuba as a trust.