Democratic Sentinel, Volume 20, Number 24, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 19 June 1896 — Points About Cuba [ARTICLE]

Points About Cuba

The Cuban flag has five broad stripes, three of blue and two of white. A blue triangle diminishes from one end, and on it is one silver star. England and Australia are the only other islands which exceed Cuba in natural resorces. When not wasted by war Cuba produces, with a large share of her soil untouched $100,000,000 worth of sugar and tobacco annually, besides the products of orchards and forests, rivers and mountain mines. Where the soil is not a deep dark red it is so black that it shines as though it were oiled. The whole color scheme is brilliant and beautiful. At present there are about 125,000 Spaniards and 75,000 Cubans engaged in fighting each other. Whenever a regiment reaches Havanna there is a show of festivities. Pillars of triumph are erected at the landing place decorated with laurel and the Spanish colors. The presentation of birds along with flowers is a Spanish custom. Soldiers who secure birds bear them proudly on the butts of their rifles. The population of Cuba is a little over 1,631,000. The whites generally outnumber the colored people, there being but 528,798 of the Africans and mulattoes on the island. The leader of the Cuban rebellion is Maximo Gomez. His home is in San Domingo and his wife and children are music teachers and seamstresses. He has a son who has not engaged in the war, remaining at home to cultivate his SIO,OOO farm.