operation here in Cuba, and which has received still greater stimulus during the last days of Spanish rule. Professors who had passed the period of usefulness, but who had no claim to become emeritus, preserved their position as professors, and placed in their chairs young men, usually appointed by themselves, as substitutes, and gave them part of their salaries. And thus public report mentioned the case of a certain individual who took advantage of this complacent and accepted university practice to live for eighteen or twenty years in a beautiful country place in Spain, of his own, upon the salary which he drew from the treasury of Cuba in his character of professor of a Cuban institution of learning. And this is not a single case; there were many individuals in the same situation. At the end of last year, moreover, many primary teachers, Spaniards, requested a leave of absence from the Spanish Government and obtained it, with the privilege of drawing half their salary for all the time of their absence, upon the sole condition of leaving a substitute in their places. The Spanish authority who, in December of last year, gave a leave of absence for sixmonths or for the whole year, could not have a very scrupulous political conscience; but the leaves of absence had been granted, and they had to be stopped.

With regard to the first-named class (teachers or professors absent from their duties by jubilación) it was provided that they should be discharged immediately, and their substitutes who were discharging the duties of the positions should be considered as filling them ad interim, and should receive the entire salary pertaining legally thereto. With regard to the second class mentioned above the following was required: Teachers or professors who might be absent on leave were ordered to obtain from the present government the approval of such leave within the period of one month, without which they would be considered as discharged.

June 23 the last general order of the half year was published, and it was without doubt the most important in the matter of public instruction, namely, the one relating to the acceptance of foreign degrees by the University of Habana. Article 121 of the plan of study now in force makes it purely a discretionary matter with the governor-general of the island as to whether graduates of foreign institutions should be allowed to practice their respective professions in Cuba. This was a mere temporary permit, which carried nothing with it beyond the simple authority to exercise a profession. The degree had to be presented; proof had to be given of a six-years' practice of said profession in the country where the degree originated, and an opinion on the subject had to be obtained from the corresponding faculty, the rector of the university and the board of higher public instruction (abolished some time ago). In view of such reports the governor-general granted the license, which was indeed a matter of grace and not justice.

At this time, when so many Americans reside in Cuba, you could have availed yourself of this practice to grant licenses for the exercise of professions. Although article 121, already mentioned, does not specify that such licenses should not be granted to lawyers, it is probably understood in the spirit of it. For the present the granting of such licenses would be an absurdity; twenty, thirty years a whole life of legal practice in England, for instance-would not make a man competent to exercise the profession of a lawyer in France. And the same might be said of an American lawyer in Cuba or of a Cuban lawyer in the United States. But licenses could be indisputably granted to doctors, because it is hardly worth while to refute what certain people have asserted, that the attributes given by Spanish laws to the governorgeneral do not belong to you in your character of "military governor of Cuba."

This is such a sophistical distinction that I believe the very author of it would feel contempt for any one who lost time in refuting it. It nevertheless had its drawbacks; first, as I have already said, a real degree was not given; it was merely a license for the exercise of a profession. There is no doubt but that such licenses fitted well in a plan of studies like the one contained in article 121, in which there were no liberal examinations assigned, but only the necessity expressed of passing, after the official matriculation, from course to course of studies year after year. The license allowed the foreign graduate to exercise his profession while he attended the university curriculum and got his national degree. For that reason it was customary to grant it for all the official duration of the studies for the career in question. But when there was a possibility of liberal examinations being abolished, for which the candidate presents himself to give evidence of his knowledge without having previously gone through the official courses of study, and without being subject to the conditions connected with groups of courses which are to precede one another with intervals of time between them; and when the possibility was established of having one general examination for all the different branches of academic or professional courses, it is very evident that such licenses could not be rationally considered, since they had been created to meet an evil that no longer existed.

They were, moreover, in bad accord with justice. The granting or denying of

them was a purely discretionary affair. In accordance with the spirit of equity that we have tried to impress upon all of our legislative reforms since January 1, it was felt that such qualifications, with the facilities which came after the plan of studies establishing them, ought to be abolished. You, who could have seized this old Spanish law and made of it an instrument to favor American interests exclusively, gave a lofty proof of your spirit of justice and showed the uprightness of your moral temperament by not employing it to the advantage of your fellow-countrymen; for by breaking it so that no one could use it you exacted of Americans in Cuba, for the exercise of professions, an examination like that required of all foreigners in the United States. It is to be deplored that this spirit of uprightness and honesty should not have been appreciated, and that the decree of June 23 was interpreted to mean that you, as an American military commander, made use of your power to the profit of Americans. On my part they saw an act of submission and weakness in a Cuban who had not watched over the interest of his countrymen nor had at heart the interest of his country. In very truth, the Cuban who proposed the abrogation of article 121 of the Plan of Studies, and the American who carried it into effect, do not deserve such a reproach, which degenerates into calumny, and I can not and have not been able to do less than protest against it with all my energy.

The general question involved is that an interpreter is allowed for all examinations except those of lawyers. This is qualified as a danger to the country and an injury to its interests. The examination of the lawyers should naturally be in the official language of the courts before which he must practice. It would be absurd for a man to ask for a degree without being able to plead orally before a court or draw up any kind of a petition for presentation to a judge.

Every State of the American Union (except Ohio, I believe) requires, in such cases, American citizenship. The Spanish laws never expressedly exacted Spanish citizenship for the mere exercise of a profession or for the reception of a legal degree. Several foreign citizens exercised the calling of lawyers here without opposition on the part of the Spanish authorities. Cubans who became American citizens through dislike for Spain or to shield themselves against the abuses committed by Spanish authorities quietly exercised their profession without being either disturbed or molested by said authorities. In the name of such examples I have protested and shall ever protest against the intolerant attitude of some of my countrymen. We certainly should not be less liberal than Spain was, and such exclusiveness is not only unbecoming to us, but might be looked upon as symptoms of narrow-mindedness. But if it is logical that lawyers, who expect to obtain a degree which will enable them to exercise their profession, should be examined in Spanish, it is not proper to carry this requirement to the other professions. If an American physician wishes now to obtain a degree from this university, the fact of requiring him to know Spanish in the examinations would be equivalent to making such examination prohibitive. It is not logical that he, in fact, should have a previous knowledge of a language, which in the case of the lawyer forms an indispensable adjunct in the exercise of the profession. He may, in the first place, confine his practice to Americans, who form here at present quite a respectable colony, and who would find it hard to be obliged to communicate with their physician by means of an interpreter. There is, however, no great damage done, in fact none at all, in admitting the employment of an interpreter for the examinations. It is a very small vexation, which ought not to trouble anyone in view of more important considerations; and as his appointment is left to this department, who will see to it that he is not versed in the matter under examination, all the exigencies of justice are fulfilled and we shall have reached the maximum point of sufficient guarantees. What more can be asked?

But there is one consideration of great moral value, which inclined me in favor of the admission of an interpreter in all examinations which were not for lawyers. I do not know what takes place in other countries, but I know what obtains in the United States and I know that this must be for us of decisive importance, because of our relations to that country.

I know that in New York examinations through an interpreter are admitted for foreign physicians, and I am acquainted with a Cuban who served in the capacity of interpreter at the examination of a Spanish doctor. I know that throughout the whole of Florida, because of the great number of Cubans living.there during the war, every facility was offered Cuban doctors to acquire the degree, and naturally an interpreter was allowed. I know that very same thing happened in Georgia, and I am also aware that a Cuban doctor (Dr. Joaquin Dueñas) was examined in Philadelphia, a city where there is one of the best medical schools in the United States, and he was allowed an interpreter, who, as a further mark of favor, was Dr. Juan Guiteras, also a Cuban, also a physician and a professor in the very medical school I refer to. And I confess that I would have been ashamed, after knowing these facts, to set to work

to raise here in Cuba such a barrier in the way of American doctors. On the other hand, that spirit of exclusiveness-what is its aim? Does it wish to defend the scientific importance of the Spanish language? What sarcasm! The man of studies, the native of towns where Spanish is spoken and who can read only Spanish books, is well advanced, forsooth! Not many years ago a publication began its life in Madrid. It was an encyclopedic review called "Modern Spain," and certainly the name could

not have been better chosen.

I ran over all of its numbers, because from the very first I discovered something that interested me vastly and awakened my curiosity. It scarcely contained anything but the works of foreign authors translated. A faithful reflex of what modern Spain is to-day, whose science and whose art are for the most part translations. Ah, if they were only good translations! I do not think that it is by bolstering up such tendencies that one defends the legitimate interests of Cuba. Are we by any chance in a country of finished and complete civilization, the purity of which we must guard against all foreign admixture? No; decidedly, no. Apart from the fact that such a spirit does not belong to our epoch, it should not be fostered by us in any fashion. Our incomplete cultivation comes to us from France principally, a little is borrowed from the Anglo-Saxons, and very little from Germany (that is, what is genuine German culture and not what was produced by that nation and is now universal property); and in latter days something has come to us from Italy. It is our bounden duty to throw open wide our doors to foreign science since, as matters stand now, there is no Spanish science nor Cuban science. It is a debt to patriotism to see things clearly and speak up clearly and not close one's eyes and rush blindly into paths that would lead to disrepute. Because, while we are running over them singing sentimental hymns, the whole world will see or believe to see at the bottom of all that a somewhat paltry fear of others' excellence, which can only come, if it exists, from a certain moral and intellectual weakness within us which makes us incapable of free competition. And woe to the people who fall victims to this tendency! It will destroy in collective masses, as well as in individuals, the last symptom of vital energy. If we allow ourselves to be ruled by it we are lost. It has been the ruin of Spain. Our only salvation is to struggle against it.

Having said all this, I shall merely add that, because of their exceptional character, when the form of the examinations was determined upon, those assigned to lawyers constituted another exception, because a concrete examination is required of them in all the branches of positive law now in force in Cuba, and they will undergo a general examination to obtain the degree in the same manner as student of the university. The diploma obtained in a foreign country will exempt them from special examination in the other studies of the prescribed legal curriculum. The university was duly consulted by this department in the matter relating to examinations and requirements for degrees; and the undersigned, apart from the question of language, only diverged from the opinion of the university in one respect, and that was to make the conditions still more stringent. This, however, was not recognized either by the persons who protested against the decree of June 23; and it is a pity that people as cultured as those from whom the protest emanated had not studied the problems more closely before they impugned the solution given to them by persons who had been obliged to look at all their phases before accepting the solution they gave them. With regard to what may be called the office routine and the daily dispatch of business in this department, I forward with this report a number of supplements, representing detached reports from the heads of different branches of this department. This department has, besides, furnished many reports upon particular subjects, which did not refer to general problems or require the publication of a special decree. Some of them were on matters not connected with the sphere of action of this office, but wherein the legal opinion of the secretary of justice was requested. The one relating to the position of the alguacil mayor of Habana (hereditary privilege in connection with the city slaughterhouse) and his emoluments was one of the most important, and doubtless the one which involved the most study and expenditure of time. I shall not here make any special or detailed mention of them.

You ask me to suggest reforms. Many that belong really to the second half year were added to the work which began for me January 1 and ended June 30. Many others have to be carried out. In public instruction, of course, the task is vast and its programme can not be summed up in a few lines. Everything has to be done if we except the matter of university teaching, and it will take special attention. With regard to justice there still remains much to be done; the organization of police courts; the reorganization of bureau of notarial affairs and registries of property; the creation of the subordinate personnel of the courts of 1a instancia; the creation of a board of lawyers for the poor, besides other reforms needed in hypothecary legislation. There will still remain a vast field for legislative activity in order to meet the

deficiencies of detail, already observed, in our positive laws and to make a recast of them to bring them on a level with actual requirements, and strip them of parts incompatible with the present political and civil state of the island. Many examples of the kind can be found in the Penal Code. And if we are to push reforms still further and make a direct attack upon judicial proceedings, you will understand that the work still to be accomplished is by no means insignificant, and that one will have to undertake it with great energy to insure success. With regard to the personnel of this office, if you compare it with that of the other departments and consider the work represented by the supplements to this report, you will doubtless see that it is susceptible of some reform. But this is not the moment to undertake it, and I hope to communicate with you on the subject in the near future.

Here I must end. Upon looking backward over the first period of our work I experience a feeling of legitimate satisfaction. We may be certain that in doing our duty we have done the best and most that we could, and that our acts have always been directed by a sense of justice and a desire for the welfare of the island of Cuba, so tried and depressed by its past misfortunes. And it is becoming we should speak of this, however much self-praise may be discredited, because we stimulate ourselves thereby and pledge ourselves not to drop out halfway upon the day's journey. Our obligation, our sense of honor requires that we should leave behind us much work done, or at least well prepared. Let us pledge ourselves to accomplish this within the measure of our strength; and as all governments pass into history, let us see that the latter judge us above all as men of good faith, whose period of authority may be compared to any other of any other time, of any other people, excepting that period through which, many centuries ago, the kingdom of the Franks passed, and which posterity has called "the epoch of the sluggard kings."

With highest consideration, very respectfully,

J. A. G. LANUZA, Secretary.

DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE AND PUBLIC INSTRUCTION
OF THE ISLAND OF CUBA,
Habana, June 30, 1899.

MR. SECRETARY: From the 24th of February to the 30th of June of the current year there entered into this office 1,836 matters, entailing 906 communications.

There were presented 560 petitions for the issuance of professional diplomas; 190 petitions for teaching in municipal schools; 12 petitions to fill chairs in the institutes of secondary teaching; 3 petitions to fill chairs in the professional school; 3 claims for pensions; 20 petitions regarding claims for salaries due prior to January 1, and reinstatements as teachers in public schools; 3 papers regarding authority of the ayuntamientos to appoint teachers; 6 petitions regarding the establishment and opening of that number of schools in certain municipalities of the provinces of Habana and Pinar del Rio; 1 petition from teacher requesting promotion; 3 petitions for duplicate professional diplomas; 2 papers regarding amounts to be paid by students for matriculation and examination fees in the official institutions of learning; 3 petitions asking that the same number of schoolbooks be declared useful for instruction; 71 applications for positions in this office; 30 petitions for examination before the scheduled period; 5 petitions for ratification of matriculation in studies not examined; 7 petitions of foreign graduates to practice their professions in the island; 3 petitions for leave of absence from professors of the university; 50 petitions accompanied by authority to receive from the university the same number of diplomas because the persons in whose names they are issued are absent and can not receive them personally.

There were issued 544 professional diplomas, distributed as follows: Thirty-three doctors in medicine and surgery, 14 doctors in pharmacy, 11 doctors in sciences, 10 doctors in law, and 7 doctors in philosophy and belles-letters; 117 licentiates in law, 56 licentiates in medicine, 48 licentiates in pharmacy, 22 licentiates in sciences, and 23 licentiates in philosophy; 23 notarres public, 29 surgeon dentists, 3 midwives, 12 master builders, 14 surveyors, 6 mercantile professors, 2 agricultural experts, 16 expert chemists, 10 mechanical experts, 19 masters of first higher teaching, and 32 masters of elementary teaching.

These 544 degrees represent 515 persons who stood the graduating exercises prior to January 1, 1899, and 29 between January 1 and June 30.

Two appointments were made of professors of the university, 1 for the school of painting and sculpture and 1 for professor of physics in the Institute of Habana.

Six resignations were accepted from the same number of teachers, and the municipalities to which they belonged were authorized to provide the schools with provisional teachers. Eight teachers were removed. Nine appointments of teachers were made.

An American physician was granted authority to practice for the term of six years. Leave of absence was granted to 3 professors of the university, owing to ill health. Fifty authorizations were granted to receive the same number of diplomas from the secretary's office of the university.

There were submitted to the approval of the honorable military governor of Cuba the following projects of decrees:

1. Abolishing the fees which were paid to the state for the issuance of professional diplomas.

2. Closing, for the balance of the scholastic year, the normal schools for teachers of both sexes.

3. Directing that the institutes of secondary teaching should remain in charge of the state.

4. Abolishing pensions to primary teachers.

5. Tariff of amounts to be collected for fees of matriculation, registry, examination, and graduation in the official institutions of learning.

6. Declaring admissible in Cuba until the end of the present course the studies made in the universities of Spain.

7. Directing the announcement of matriculation of private instruction corresponding to the month of May for students aspiring to diplomas as teachers.

8. Determining the status of the teachers who were away from the island.

9. Abolishing article 121 of the plan of studies and providing rules for the acceptance of degrees of foreign graduates.

Of the 1,836 matters registered 544 were receipts from the rectorate of the university for diplomas issued.

Yours, respectfully,

Approved.

NICOLAS HEREDIA,

Director.

RAMON EBRA, Subsecretary.

The department of justice and public instruction is composed of 1 general subsecretary's office for the whole department and 2 offices of direction, 1 of justice and 1 of public instruction.

The office of the direction of justice has charge of all matters pertaining to the personnel of the judiciary and fiscalía (fiscal's office), and moreover everything connected with the supervision of courts of justice and all regarding the following matters: Proceedings of decrees of general pardons; application of general pardons granted by the Spanish Government; granting and denial of special pardons; complaints against courts in criminal procedure; complaints against courts in civil procedure; consultations of courts in civil and criminal matters; appointment, removal, and leave of absence of the administrative personnel, of the audiencias and courts, notaries and solicitors; régime and government of courts; forwarding of requisitions to and from foreign countries; reforms of legislation now in force; examination of contracts and concessions made by the Spanish Government; matters of varied nature.

From the books wherein are registered the entry and issue of petitions and communications in the office of the secretary there appears that during the first five months of the current year there have been the following number of matters:

Matters pertaining to the personnel of the judiciary and fiscalía-entered, 172; issued, 69.

General decrees of pardons or explanatory rules for the same, 4.

Of applications of general pardons which had been granted by the Spanish Government, and which remained unapplied, there have been presented 67 petitions, all of which were sent to the common courts, which are those designated by law to apply said pardons when unsolicited by the party, exacting, in each case, an explanation from the courts as to the motives for so much delay in this matter.

There were presented 492 petitions for special pardons by all petitioners. Nineteen obtained favorable decision; 30 were refused, and the balance either obtained it after the 30th of June or their cases are pending now.

Of complaints against courts in criminal procedure 6 were presented. Of complaints against courts in civil procedure 12 were presented. Regarding appointments, removals, and leave of absence of notaries, solicitors, and minor personnel of the audiencias and courts, there have been 41 cases disposed of by the department or referred to it by the courts.

Regarding régime and government of the courts, there have been 37 cases disposed

of by the department or referred to it by the courts.

Of requisitions from or to foreign countries 37 have been forwarded.

Of general dispositions altering the laws of the country a total of 11 have been WAR 99-VOL 1, PT 6-18