The Government has already established factories and workshops to furnish supplies for the army, and about five thousand persons are employed in them.
There are tanneries where the skins of beasts are made into leather; shoe, saddle, harness, gunpowder, and dynamite factories, and workshops for repairing arms and reloading gun-cartridges.
A newspaper man who says he has been through these establishments states that while they are somewhat old-fashioned in their methods, owing to the impossibility of obtaining the newest machinery, the work they turn out is excellent.
The Cuban Government is also providing for the education of its subjects. Free schools are being established wherever it is safe to do so, and every effort is being made to render the people who acknowledge the rule of the young republic happy and law-abiding.
One of the candidates for the Presidency is Gen. Bartolome Maso, who holds the office of Vice-President under the present administration.
Señor Maso is a dear friend and close companion of President Cisneros; so warm is this friendship, indeed, that Cisneros has offered to withdraw from the candidacy in favor of Maso, and Maso has refused to let him do so, declaring that he can serve the republic just as well whether he is President or private citizen.
Maso is one of the soldiers who fought in the revolt ten years ago. He was one of the first to take up arms against Spain on the present occasion. You must not confound him with Maceo, the murdered general. This man is Bartolome Maso, the dead general was Antonio Maceo.
Señor Maso is often lovingly referred to by the Cubans as the father of the revolution.
Consul-General Lee has returned from Cuba. He has been ill for some months, and has obtained a few weeks' leave of absence in which to regain his strength. There are reports that he is not to return to Cuba, but that another Consul-General is to be appointed in his place. These rumors are not generally credited.