Democratic Sentinel, Volume 21, Number 48, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 3 December 1897 — TRADING IN SPOILS OF WAR. [ARTICLE]

TRADING IN SPOILS OF WAR.

lankces Profiting Handsomely by Wreck of Cuban Indnatry. Other nations’ extremity is usually Uncle Sam’s oportunity. With hie customary cutanea* and foresight ho has availed himself of the distracted state of Cuba to make money in a rather odd way. When the war in Cuba had been raging f<ssome time and the industries of the unhappy island were at a standstill It occurred to the astute manager of the Nassau smelting work# that there was money to be made by purchasing the wrecked machinery that lay rusting in the fields and factories of Cuba while the engineers and planters to whom the plants belonged were fighting for freedom against the Spanish soldiers. The idea was acted upon at once. Six months ago there left for Cuba an expedition which consisted of seventy-five men, whose only weapon was an unlimited credit upon which to draw, for the purpose of buying up the entire machinery of the Island at the cheapest prices for cash.” The Spanish authorities at first looked upon the expedition with suspicion and at one time it seemed as though the entire contingent of peaceful traders would be arrested and thrown into Morro castle as filibusters In disguise. They succeeded, however, in demonstrating their peaceful intention* and forthwith proceeded to scatter over the island, looking for the owners of the engines, boilers, plows, tobacco raising plants and sugar plantation implement* that the Cubans left to the care of anyone who happened to take a fancy to them. Where no owner could be discovered, for the reason that Spanish bullets had left the property ownerless, the Spanish officials were only too glad to proclaim themselves the rightful possessors of the property and allow the agents of the smelting works to carry off the rusting machinery at their own price. As fast as it could be bought up the machinery was shipped to New York, chiefly as old metal, and to-day in the shops and yards of the smelting works can be seen the remnants of what were once, in the piping times of peace, the plants with which the Industrie* of Cuba brought wealth to the coffers of the planters and manufacturers. If there is any vestige left in Cuba of its former industries it Is certainly not the* fault of the seventy-five men who are engaged In buying up as old metal the machinery of the war-torn island. When the war is ended—if it ever docs end—the Cubans will have to begin all over again and buy entirely new plants throughout the length and breadth of the land before the wheels of Industry will be able to hum once more. Then Uncle Sam will score again, for the new machinery will probably be bought from him.—New York Herald.