The Isle Of Pines.

New York Times 100 years ago today, May 6, 1913:
American Majority Taxed Without Representation in Government.
To the Editor of The New York Times.
    In a recent issue there is a special cable from Havana on the subject of the Isle of Pines that is such an extraordinary distortion of facts that I ask your courtesy in printing this letter.
    Your correspondent says: "The Government [i. e., the Cuban Government] will show that a majority of the actual residents of the Isle of Pines are Cubans and not Americans."
    This is untrue. The American residents number over 4,000 and are increasing rapidly every month, while the Cubans number only about 1,000, of whom a large proportion are colored — more or less.
    Again, he says: "The Americans are exempt from taxation, as they do not improve their property." Why, that is just what we are here to do! There are at present some thousands of acres set to citrus fruit and pineapples. Over 90 per cent. of the island is owned by Americans, while the Cubans have never even attempted to improve their holdings beyond planting a few small patches of corn and cassava, for their own consumption. Meanwhile the entire political power rests in the hands of the Cuban-negro minority.
    The Custom House receipts have multiplied over twentyfold in the last seven years, and we derive no benefit whatsoever from the prosperity we have created. When we need roads and bridges we turn out and make them ourselves, and our schools are supported entirely by voluntary contributions. The Cuban Government does absolutely nothing for us except to collect money from us in taxes which are none the less heavy because they are indirect.
    I am not an American citizen and have no special interest in the annexation question, but I have lived here four years and can claim to know something of the facts.
            KENNETH CANNE ROSS.
            Santa Barbara, Isle of Pines, W. I., April 18,1913.