and wealthy
communities, but an equal grade of teaching is maintained in all. Nor
does the state stop with primary education, but provides practically
free secondary and university education for all who desire it.

[Illustration: FRANCISCO DOMINGUEZ ROLDAN SECRETARY OF PUBLIC
INSTRUCTION]

Shall we take public health as another measure of progress? In the half
dozen years just before the War of Independence the death rate in Havana
was 33 to the 1,000. By 1902 it was reduced to 22, or only a little more
than in New York. To-day, under President Menocal, the death rate for
all Cuba is only 11.2. In the registration area of the United States it
is 14. In the United Kingdom it is 14.2, and Britain vaunts herself
upon its lowness. In France it is 19.6; in Argentina it is 21.6; in
Chili it is 31.1. There are only three countries in the world with lower
rates of mortality than Cuba; and they are New Zealand, with 9.5,
Newfoundland with 10.5, and Australia with 10.6.

Again, consider what is still the chief industry of Cuba. Before the
administration of President Menocal, these were the yearly sugar crops,
in tons:

1908 961,958
1909 1,513,582
1910 1,804,349
1911 1,480,217
1912 1,893,687

Compare or contrast those figures with these, under the administration
of a President who comprehends his responsibilities:

1913 2,429,240
1914 2,596,567
1915 2,583,845
1916 3,006,624
1917 3,019,936
1918 3,444,605
1919 4,000,000

No less impressive and significant are the figures which indicate the
volume of trade between Cuba and the United States. The imports of
American goods into Cuba in 1903 were only $23,000,000; in 1908 they
were $48,577,000; in 1917 they were $189,875,000. The exports of Cuban
goods to the United States were in 1908 only $78,869,000, and in 1917
they were $225,275,000, and in 1919 more than $500,000,000. The balance
of trade is thus heavily in Cuba's favor. Small as Cuba is in
comparison with some of her neighbors, her commerce with the United
States far exceeds theirs. Thus in 1917 the commerce, in both
directions, of Brazil with the United States was $180,000,000; of Chili,
$205,000,000; of Argentina, $305,000,000; of Mexico, $248,000,000; and
of Cuba, $415,150,000.

[Illustration: BONEATO ROAD, ORIENTE

No country in the world, probably, is more amply equipped with good
road--for both industrial and pleasure pu