Page:Messages of the President of the United States on the Relations of the United States to Spain (1898).djvu/57

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Havana, April 1, 1898. (Received April 5.)

With reference to the telegram I had the honor to transmit to you yesterday to the effect that the Governor-General had issued a decree terminating concentration of the country people, permitting them to return to their homes, and advising their employment on public works, I beg to inclose a translation of the articles of the decree referred to.

I am, etc.,

Consul-General.

Cienfuegos, January 10, 1898.

All the sugar mills in this consular jurisdiction, 23 in number, have been grinding since the first of the mouth, and at the busy centrales the various industries incident to the gathering of the crop and the manufacture of sugar are in full and steady operation.

Several of the principal estates are owned by American citizens and corporations, and most of their skilled employees are brought from the United States.

The demand for labor on the sugar estates has drawn from the towns a great portion of the unemployed laborers and given employment to the male "concentrados," many of whom were in a state of enforced idleness and destitution. As a consequence, few of them are now seen here and the labor "congestion" has been relieved.

Small predatory parties of insurgents make frequent attempts to fire the cane fields, and it requires constant and active vigilance to prevent their destruction. The dry weather and the high winds prevailing at this season render it a simple matter for one person (who can easily conceal himself in the tall cane) to start a conflagration that will, unless promptly extinguished, destroy hundreds of acres in a few hours.