the tariff, that it is said he does not remain long in any particular place.

The attention of the American authorities is being called to the manner in which justice is administered in Cuba. The harsh Spanish laws Justice in Cuba. are still in effect, and the Cubans are enforcing them with as much severity as if they had not themselves appealed to the world to be freed from them.

The horrible incommunicado system is still in vogue. Under this law all suspected persons can, at the will of the judge, be imprisoned, kept entirely away from friends and counsel, and be forbidden to communicate with anyone. Witnesses are also arrested at the pleasure of the Court, and cases are not tried before a jury, thus placing the accused persons entirely at the mercy of the judges.

It is the intention of the authorities to abolish the incommunicado system immediately, and to introduce more modern ideas of justice in Cuba.

The Cuban Assembly and the Army List.

The three million dollars sent from this country for payment to the Cuban soldiers is still being rocked on the waters of Havana Bay. The Cuban Assembly refuses to give up the pay-roll of the army, and unless the paymaster who represents our government has a properly authenticated list of soldiers, it will be impossible for the work of paying to begin. The controversy between the Assembly and the

Cuban Assembly and Army List 499

American Governor shows no signs of being brought to a finish. General Brooke, with his ally, General Gomez, refuses to recognize

the Assembly, and the Assembly has locked the Army Lists in its official desk and will not surrender them. Meanwhile the Cuban soldiers are impatient over the delay

in receiving their pay, and the American authorities are annoyed because the companies by this time might have been disbanded and a number of the members could have been employed in police duty.

General Brooke is determined to have nothing to do with the Assembly, and has consulted with General Gomez to see if some other plan cannot be found for paying off the men. General Gomez suggested that each leader shall be called upon to furnish a list of the men under his command, but General Brooke is not altogether in favor of the idea, because it will take such a long time to carry out.

There is a rumor that if the Assembly does not give up the lists very shortly, General Brooke will issue a decree ordering the disbanding of the troops, declaring that all those who persist in carrying arms after a certain date will be treated as brigands.

Another report stated that General Gomez is disgusted with the Cubans, and is about to return to his home in San Domingo, and that General Brooke and Secretary of War Alger, who is now on a visit to Cuba, have seriously discussed the plan of returning the money to this country.

The Cuban Assembly meanwhile dispatched a Commission to Washington to inform President McKinley that the three million dollars offered was not sufficient to pay the troops, and that such a pittance as one hundred dollars a head would drive the soldiers to brigandage.

The Commissioners duly arrived in Washington and endeavored to see the President. They were unsuccessful in doing so. They obtained an interview with Colonel John Hay, Secretary of State, who promised to take their message to the President. In the message they asked that the amount to be advanced by the United States should be increased, or else that the Cuban Assembly might be authorized to raise a larger loan on its own account.

After a short interval the Secretary of State informed the Commissioners that the President would neither increase the sum offered nor authorize the Cubans to raise a loan for themselves.

The Assembly had decided to dissolve on Saturday, April 1, and on receipt of the messages

from the defeated Commissioners it was thought by some of the members that it had better do so. Soon after the messages from the Commission arrived, however, other cablegrams reached the Assembly which urged that body to continue in session, and declared that a large outside loan had been raised for paying off the army without reference to the United States.

Cuba and the Mortgages

501

Among the various matters which have demanded attention since the Secretary of War Cuba and the arrived in Cuba has been the quesMortgages. tion of foreclosing mortgages on Cuban real estate. The Cuban planters issued an appeal to the American military government asking that their mortgages might be ex

tended until their property, which was ruined by the war, had been put on a paying basis. According to the law, the holders of mortgages would have the right to foreclose them when the time for payment expired; but the owners protested against this as, owing to the political troubles, they have not

been able to work their estates or obtain any income from them.

General Brooke prepared a decree which would allow the proprietors whose properties had been completely destroyed three years' extension of mortgages; those whose lands were so far destroyed that they cannot for a time produce crops, two years' extension; and those whose plantations are producing only half crops, one year's extension. By these means it is thought that the time allowed may enable sufferers from the war to once more reach a sound financial condition.

The Secretary of War has taken the decree under consideration, and the planters beg him to render a decision on it before he leaves Cuba. They fear that if he carries the document to Washington, and sub

jects it to the delays which may arise in the War Department, many of the mortgages will have been foreclosed and the planters will be ruined before relief reaches them. A committee of planters will proceed to Washington to lay this matter before the President, and will call his attention to the urgency of the

case.

One year's respite on their mortgages has been granted to the Puerto Ricans. This plan worked so well in that island that it will in all probability be tested in Cuba, where the financial situation is much more serious.

A decided change for the better has taken place in Cuban affairs since the American occupation.

The Cuban Assembly Dissolves.

The Assembly, as you read in a previous paragraph, had strong hopes of raising funds independently, and refused to dissolve until every effort had been made to obtain a loan.

On Tuesday, April 4, a session was held in order to receive the report of the Commissioners who had been sent to Washington. These gentlemen announced the refusal of the United States to render aid and told the Assembly that the private individuals who had promised to make a loan, and who had upheld them in their defiance of the Americans, had been unable to produce the money when the time came to prove the genuineness of their offers. They argued, therefore, that nothing could be done but to accept the offer of the United States.