negroes to identify Ñañigoes solely with them, and to assume that all crime is committed by organized and banded negro criminals. Ñañigoism has come to be the general term for crime. This should be borne in mind whenever the doings of the Ñañigoes are reported from Cuba.

It is not my purpose to enter into a full discussion of the future political standing of the race of color in Cuba. Their place in the industrial element is of infinitely greater consequence, but it is worthy of recording that the industrial progress has been coincident with social toleration and civil recognition. The blood of the Latin races does not repel the African blood so violently as that which runs in the veins of their fellowCaucasians of the Saxon stock. Amid the ruins of Castilian empire, Spanish civilization has left one enduring monument in the Antilles. It has not denied opportunity to the black man, and the black man has risen to his opportunity. He has assimilated to the toleration of the Latin civilization, and his position today is a refutation of the theories of the pessimists.

It is probable that after a few years, when the currents of immigration flow in natural channels, the relative importance of the race of color, black or blended, will decrease, because relatively the proportion of the colored population will decrease. The culmination of their influence may be marked in the calendar of today. But this is not the end of opportunity. Unless an overwhelming wave of Americanism with race prejudice on the crest sets in, the future opportunities will continue as in the present and as in the past. That there is distrust at this period is undeniable. It has

been created by Americans urging their own ideas of inferiority, and telling the white Cubans that the only hope for them is in ignoring the African race. Towards this aggresive movement the blacks and the mulattoes have shown a natural resentment.

On the resumption of peaceful relations between the United States and Spain, the Cuban blacks manifested no antagonism to the American authority. Their leaders complained that they showed too great an indifference to their own future in the island whose freedom they had helped to win. The mulatto insurgent General Eligio Ducasse, issued an address in which he regretted the indifference of the race of color, which was due, he said, to the lack of civic valor. It was necessary for them to turn their faces to the light. He urged upon them the indefatigable propaganda of democratic theories, and proposed that they form a group and unite in order to work in accord with the white Cuban element.

This appeal and similar ones met with little response until the American newcomers, most of them of the kind without influence at home, raised the color-line. Then the solidarity of the race of color began to show itself. It might be converted into a harmful influence, for while not dominating the whole island, there are sections in which the blacks are numerically preponderant. In Santiago province, in the period from 1877 to 1887, the blacks increased four per cent, and in Puerto Princípe two per cent, though they decreased in the other parts of the island. This is one reason why

is to-day fearful of the

the white element in Santiago experiment of independence. But with the understanding of the purposes of the United States Government

and the knowledge that individuals who seek to raise the color-line do not reflect the views of the American people, this solidarity of the race of color will not continue. It is defensive rather than antagonistic.

race.

The figment of a black republic, of a West Indian league, vanished in the air when Antonio Macéo fell at Punta Brava. When the news of his death was confirmed, the Spanish authorities in Habana sent up rockets as signals of rejoicing. Every rocket was a dart which pierced the hearts of the Cuban patriots in the city. Yet in their anguish the wisest of them felt that it was an agony not in vain. Macéo brought to the revolution the support of his Under him the Santiago blacks fought their way across the island. They were enlisted to extermination against Spanish rule. In their leader were the military potencies of the African race. Had he lived, the notion of a black league might have grown and spread. Macéo died sword in hand, and the blacks fought on as part of the insurgent forces, looking for their share in the future government of Cuba that was to come out of the chaos of revolution. Those who feared and doubted lest negro supremacy might succeed were encouraged to fight by the side of the blacks. There was no colorline in the revolution, there need be none in peace. A monument will be raised to Macéo. His deeds will be celebrated by the Cubans not as whites or blacks, but as Cubans. His memory will be cherished by the blacks as one of their own heroes. He raised them to his own level. Their political and their industrial standing in Cuba for all time to come is that of equality.

CHAPTER IX

THE SPANISH COLONY

Strangers in the Country of Yesterday-Description of Themselves by Spanish Classes-Composition of Colony-Madridleños and Andalusians-Catalans the Masterful Latin Element-Asturians the Town Population-Castilian Yankees-Gallegos Widely Distributed-Other Provincials-Benevolent Societies-Instinct of Nationality-Change in Feeling Towards United States-Reciprocal Relations of Cubans and Spaniards-Present Political Attitude, the Retraimiento-Temporary Isolation-Status Under Treaty of Paris-Strangers in the Cuba of To-morrow.

STRANGERS in the country of yesterday. Thus in bitterness and in anguish the intense Spaniards described themselves when the flag which for four centuries had floated over Cuba was lowered forever.

Though they called themselves strangers, the Spanish classes did not care to be known as aliens. That would be too great humiliation. It would convey a false impression of their affection for this Antillian land and of their concern in its future. They meant that they were strangers to the new surroundings and the new institutions. They chose to treat themselves as guests of the United States accepting its protection. No longer masters, they would not be the servants of the natives of the island. By a natural impulse they formed into the Spanish colony. In places they grouped themselves into an organization under this

name. In other sections they kept the old name of the Casino Español, or Spanish club or circle; but whether they formed into societies or not, they took the designation of foreign subjects. Cuba was no longer a territorial possession of Spain, and they assumed the attitude of a colony in a foreign territory.

The Spanish colony was a spontaneous development. It was the outgrowth of the instinct of nationality. It reflects the sentiment and the aspirations of a people rather than of a class. Its members have the common basis of language, usages, tradition, and religion. They all have kin across the sea. Since this Spanish element is to be for a time a separate unit, its composition is worthy of analysis. First are the natives of Catalonia, then Galicia, and Asturias. After them the people from the adjoining districts of the Cantabrian Mountains, as also from the Basque provinces on the slopes of the Pyrenees, the Montañeses from Santander, the Aragonese from Aragon. Spanish officers and soldiers who settled in the island gave all of the provinces of the peninsula representation; but these did not affect the main tide from the northern provinces.

The provincial customs of the peninsula are still seen in all their literalness, and the proverbs which describe the usages and peculiarities are heard as in Spain. The Madridleños were the most cultured class. They were the office-holders, the bureaucrats, the leeches and the locusts. They were strong because of their intrigues and their influence with the government in Madrid. Almost the same may be said of the Andalusians. They, too, lived on the offices and were leeches and locusts. At one time they had a society of natives