1,500,000. The tax in the Peninsula is $10 per capita, but in Cuba it is $20. The net value of the production of Cuba is $35,000,000 or $40,000,000, and the taxes are from $27,000,000 to $30,000,000. To redeem $1,200,000 of paper currency the Government had to borrow money at 10 per cent., besides exchange, commissions, &c.; that is, to pay one debt by contracting a greater one. In most countries the interest on the public debt remains with the inhabitants, but in Cuba the entire sum of $12,000,000 goes abroad annually. The economic condition of Cuba may have been somewhat influenced by the low price of sugar, but that alone never could have produced the present ruin of the island. It is occasioned by artificial circumstances, which the Government can remove; in fact, the impediments which the Government imposes, requiring the island to follow the antiquated régime, is the chief cause of its embarrassment. In Germany and France the Government is giving all possible encouragement to the production of sugar, whereas that of Spain is only imposing burdens and obstacles. The price of sugar in the Peninsula is 35 to 40 reales per arroba, while the planters of Cuba would be glad to get 20 reales; but they cannot send it to Spain because that market is closed to them by the high duties imposed. And the same policy is pursued as to tobacco. Assimilation with the Peninsula and identity of laws is the remedy in great measure for the present evils of Cuba. It has no credit in the world because of its constant deficits. It must have the financial guarantee of the nation. In that way only can there be satisfactory consolidation of its debt, which now amounts to $198,000,000. Referring to the failure of the commercial treaty, he said that there was a marked inequality in the powers of the two Governments in the negotiation of the treaty, greatly to the disadvantage of Spain; that the latter was fully authorized not only to sign but to ratify the treaty, while on the part of the United States the ratification was subject to the approbation of the Senate. The minister of ultramar, replying to the criticism of former speakers, said that the Government in its efforts to remedy the situation of Cuba had been contending against the triple plagues of the low price of sugar, the decline of the public credit, and the depreciation of private property. The Government could not work miracles. In seeking to make an arrangement of the public debt with the creditors, the latter have always asked not only the guarantee of the national treasury, but that the payment should be transferred to the Peninsula. Perhaps this may be done some day; but at present public opinion is not prepared for it; no minister of any party would dare to assume the responsibility of it; no minister of finance or cabinet would approve it, nor would the Cortes accept it. If the Government should wait for equality of powers to negotiate a commercial treaty with the United States, there would never be a treaty, for the Executive of that country never possesses the power to ratify without the approbation of the Senate. The failure of the ratification may be attributed to the fact that the treaty was submitted to the Senate just after the Presidential election, and was really caused by the change of parties in the Government. It must be borne in mind, in discussing the budget, that the customs receipts have been diminished by a 25 per cent. reduction of the tariff, and the modus vivendi with the United States, which abolished the differential flag duty, has also lessened the revenues. The deficits for the past three years have also to be provided for, amounting to $20,000,000, to be covered by a 6 per cent. loan secured by the stamp tax. For this loan there will be an increased charge of $2,000,000 by way of interest and sinking fund. The redemption of the paper currency begun by the Government has reduced the discount from 240 to 230. The national treasury has during the year sent $6,000,000 to relieve the Cuban treasury. Surely the Government must have some credit for what it has done and is doing to relieve the financial situation of Cuba. Señor Calverton, as to the proposed loan, was disposed to authorize not $24,000,000 only, but $100,000,000, if it would restore the social and economic life of Cuba; but what he did not wish was to load down Cuba with debts which were of no utility. Señor Villanueva, of Havana, asserted that with the twenty-four million loan contemplated by the budget the Cuban debt would amount to between $220,000,000 and $230,000,000. Who could assume the charge of such an inheritance, or how could a basis for an adjustment be reached? The Government had shown little foresight as to the negotiation of the treaty with the United States, as it ought to have taken into consideration that a national election was pending, and that it might result in a change of Government there. He recalled the history of the events attending the loss of the countries of the American continent to Spain, when no party would acknowledge responsibility for the evils or seek a remedy, but matters were allowed to drift along without paying attention to complaints, until the two continents were lost and Spain was responsible for the event. The same indifference was being manifested in regard to Cuba. Do you wish that a similar event shall happen now? Señor Duran y Cuervo, of Santiago de Cuba (of the committee) said: Spain will today aid Cuba, as it has done in past times, with the blood of its best sons to save the nation. As it has spent its blood, it will also be ready to exhaust its treasury for the Antilles if it becomes necessary; but it would be neither noble nor patriotic to abuse this generosity; the time has not yet come for the nation to assume the Cuban debt. Something has been said outside this chamber about suspending payment of interest on that debt, but he did not believe there was any deputy who would approve such a proposition. What would be its result? The bonds are mostly in the hands of foreigners, and their Governments would demand the fulfillment of the pledge of the customs, and the Spanish nation would suffer a greater shame than Egypt. Señor Armiñan, of Havana, said it was necessary to maintain a strong army in Cuba for many years, as the peace now existing was only an armed peace. But a notorious injustice is being done the army. How can you expect volunteers or enlistments in an army to which is due from four to six months' pay? Your discussion here of the army section of the budget is all "in the air," and without any practical result, for the army in Cuba is always in deficit. It has already lost three back payments entirely, and with present arrears it is likely to lose another. Have not the bondholders been receiving their interest punctually in gold while the regiments have not enough with which to buy their rations? I do not say that the interest obligations are not sacred, but they are obligations which may admit of delays; but the first necessities of life of the soldier will not admit of delays of any kind-the stomach can't wait. If the financial system now pursued is continued, the day will come when the entire revenues will not be sufficient to pay the interest of the debt. The people which at the cost of such great sacrifices discovered and peopled a new world will cease to be a nation if it allows that piece of soil, which we still preserve in America, to cease to be Spanish. The minister of war, in answer to inquiry, stated that recruiting offices had been opened in Spain for the army in Cuba, but that up to the present only three volunteers have presented themselves in the Peninsula. It was now contemplated to let out the recruiting by contract. Never Señor Labra, deputy for Porto Rico, formerly deputy for Cuba, had never entered upon the discussion of a budget under such bitter and sad feelings as now. was such indifference manifested. Here we have been discussing this important subject in the presence of only seven or eight deputies. You may make the budget what you please, $36,000,000 or even $40,000,000; as Cuba can only pay eighteen or twenty millions, you will always have to increase the floating debt, until at last bankruptcy will come. And this is the road on which you are hastening Cuba. The situation of the island is grave, gentlemen deputies. Individual effort can do nothing; all should be united, and yet the deputies of Cuba are all divided. Think, think much of the significance, on the one hand, of the failure of the treaty with the United States, and on the other of the appearance of filibusters. For prudential reasons he would not dwell upon this topic. If we make no effort to prevent the loss of the island, we shall lose our prestige in Europe. It is dishonorable in a people to have reached the height of greatness to declare itself incapable of maintaining the Empire which its ancestors left it. A little while ago he was reading the great debates in the English Parliament during the war of Revolution in the United States, and he found them identical with those pronounced here. What happened to England? She lost the United States. But England corrected its errors and gave reforms to Canada. The minister of ultramar, to correct the statements made as to deficits in past budgets and the inability of Cuba to pay the present one, presented a table of statis tics to show that up to the 11th of June the collections for the fiscal year had been $22,000,000. He said that all the financial troubles, the twenty millions deficits, the loans, and the debt, had their origin in the impious war which the island suffered seventeen years ago—the unhappy war of separation; thence came all the calamities. of Cuba. Senor Sagasta, ex-prime minister and recognized leader of the Liberal or Fusionist party said: If many nations of Europe are making great sacrifices to acquire colonies, the nation which has them ought to make great sacrifices to preserve them, and in this sense he believed and said that the Spanish nation ought to make all the sacrifices it can to maintain and preserve the island of Cuba. The day in which Spain can, in view of the state of its treasury and finances, arrange the debt of Cuba, it ought to arrange it, and the day in which it can give its guarantee for its loans, it ought to give it. We believe that autonomy (in Cuba) is a danger, and we aspire to assimilation, approaching it with that prudence with which it is necessary to advance when grave matters are considered. But, gentlemen, what is assimilation? Why, assimilation is the constant aspiration toward equality of rights; but equality of rights with equality of duties. He did not understand that one of these could be demanded without admitting the other also. As it appears that the treaty with the United States has failed, it is necessary to supply its place with tariff reforms, preparing Cuba for the opening of the Panama Canal, so that it may then be converted into a free port. The minister of ultramar, again speaking, concurred entirely with the doctrines announced by the illustrious chief of the Fusionist party (Sagasta). In economic aid the limit is the possibility in the power of the forces of the country. In politics, assimilation by a prudent road, and if at the end of the road there is greater development of liberty, so much the better. In the present moment it appears that the misfortunes of Cuba happily commence to diminish. He had the honor the day before to read a letter from an important official of the island announcing better times. Listen to the words of the last communication from the worthy captain-general. Is it not true, gentlemen deputies, that these words make hope to revive in the breast? "With the failure of the filibuster expe dition coincides the increasing price of sugar. These events have created a favorable reaction. Gold has rapidly fallen six or seven points. Planters are encouraged; possibly credit may improve, now ruined both in and out of the country." Señor Becerra, ex-minister of ultramar, said: If it were possible for Cuba to become free, liberty would be impossible for it; it would go from one decline to another, from one state of anarchy to another, until one rate would exterminate its rival, or until Cuba would be annexed by the United States, a vigorous and industrious race, but much more harsh and less yielding than the Spanish race. There is no salvation for Cuba except by and through Spain; and I ought to add that there is no salvation for Spain if we lose Cuba. He and his political associates (the extreme Liberals) hoped to see the day when every decree published in the Gaceta de Madrid (the official paper) should be ipso facto applicable to Cuba and Porto Rico. While there are those who nobly and honorably advocate autonomy, there are also those defending these ideas who seek for the separation of Cuba from the mother country. If Cuba should cease to belong to Spain, it would become the depot of the negroes of the United States: it would be a means of the latter country freeing itself from those to whom it gave freedom. In giving full rights to Cubans, it ought to be assumed that on receiving those rights they would not employ them against the [mother] country. Senor Portuondo, of Cuba, was one of those who had regarded the treaty with the United States as only an incomplete and partial solution of Cuba's embarrassments, but there were those who looked upon it as the cure for all its ills. But the treaty has disappeared; that hope has vanished. What now will you attempt? Have you no remedy Nothing but to pray Providence to help us? Blessed be your faith! No; a remedy must be found. No. 384.] No. 554. Mr. Bayard to Mr. Foster. DEPARTMENT OF STATE, SIR: It is the President's especial desire that, in taking leave of His Majesty on the termination of your mission, you should find appropri ate means of conveying the deep sympathy which the people of the United States, and this Government in their name, bear toward the sorrowing people of Spain by reason of the great calamity that now rests upon them, and express our prayerful hope that the dark cloud of pestilence may soon be lifted from the nation. I am, &c., SIR: I have to acknowledge the receipt of your No. 361, of the 22d ultimo, informing me of the notice given you by His Majesty's Govern ment that it accepts the award of the Italian minister in the Masonic case, and will make payment as agreed. You will please make a responsive declaration on the part of the United States, accepting the said award as final. I am, &c., No. 556. T. F. BAYARD. No. 382.] Mr. Foster to Mr. Bayard. [Extract.] LEGATION OF THE UNITED STATES, Madrid, August 7, 1885. (Received August 21.) SIR Referring to your No. 372 cf the 20th ultimo, relating to the decision of Baron Blanc in the case of the Masonic, I have to report that I transmitted your letter to the baron with a note on the 5th instant, and to-day received his reply inclosing a letter addressed to you, which with copies of my note and his reply, I inclose herewith. Noting your instruction as to the transmission to the Department of the original decision of award, I will embrace the first secure means of sending it to the legation at Paris or London to be thence forwarded in the pouch. I am, &c., [Inclosure 1 in No. 382.J Mr. Foster to Baron Blanc. JOHN W. FOSTER. LEGATION OF THE UNITED STATES, EXCELLENCY: Confirming my note of the 29th of June last, I now have great pleasure in inclosing to your excellency a letter addressed to you by the Secretary of State of the United States, expressing the President's high appreciation of the service you have rendered in the arbitral decision in the case of the Masonic. I improve, &c., [Inclosure 2 in No. 382.-Translation.] JOHN W. FOSTER. LEGATION OF ITALY, EXCELLENCY: I take the greatest pleasure in expressing to your excellency my most heartfelt thanks for your note of the 5th instant, with which you have been good enough to transmit to me the letter of the Secretary of State of the United States, containing the expression of his Excellency the President of the United States of his kind appreciasion of my performance of the duty conferred on me by the two Governments of deciding as arbitrator the case of the Masonic. I take advantage of the courtesy of your excellency, because I greatly desire to transmit to his excellency the Secretary of State of the United States the inclosed reply to the flattering communication with which he has been good enough to honor me. Accept, &c., BLANC. [Inclosure 3 in No. 382.-Translation.] Baron Blanc to Mr. Bayard. LEGATION OF ITALY, EXCELLENCY: I hasten to convey to your excellency the expression of my profound gratitude for the benevolent appreciation couched in such flattering terms transmitted to me in your esteemed note of the 20th of July last, which his Excellency the President of the United States was pleased to express on the accomplishment of my mandate of arbitrator in the case of the Masonic. I should be grateful to your excellency for being the medium of expressing to his Excellency the President the sentiments of respectful gratitude evinced by me for such a high testimonial and for the honor that devolved on me on this as well as on another occasion which your excellency was kind enough to recall, to smooth difficulties arising between the Governments of the United States and Spain. I improve, &c., BLANC. No. 384.] No. 557. Mr. Foster to Mr. Bayard. LEGATION OF THE UNITED STATES, Madrid, August 10, 1885. (Received August 24.) SIR: I am in receipt of your No. 377, of the 25th ultimo, referring to the moiety of the fine imposed upon the Ocean Pearl at Matanzas, Cuba, and I have taken note of your instruction respecting the consideration of the question in the pending treaty negotiations. It may be proper to recall the fact that during my residence here I have had occasion frequently to bring this subject to the attention of the Spanish ministers of state and of ultramar. With my No. 49, of July 30, 1883, I inclosed to the Department a copy of a note of the 26th of the said month which I sent to the minister of state, presenting at considerable length the complaints of American shipping on account of Cuban custom-house regulations, and especially referring to the injustice and hardship of the moiety system of fines. The Spanish customs moiety system is somewhat similar to that which existed a few years ago in the United States custom-houses, and which, on account of its unsatisfactory results, was modified by the law of Congress now in force. In conferences which I have held with the minister of ultramar, he states the operations of the Cuban regulations to be as follows: When a fine is imposed on a vessel or cargo for a breach of the tariff laws or regulations, one half the fine becomes the property of the informer. The legality of the fine may be contested by judicial or administrative proceedings in the way proscribed by the regulations, and if by this method the fine is declared to have been illegally imposed, the whole of it is remitted; but when this method is not adopted, and resort is had to the supreme Government for a condonation of the fine, the remission only relates to that part of the fine which pertains to the Government. In such cases a technical violation of the law is usually admitted, and an appeal is made to the executive on the ground of an absence of intent to defraud the revenues. The action of the Govern ment in condoning the fine does not affect the question of the legality of its imposition, and hence the right of the informer to his moiety is not taken away by the executive pardon. |