52d Congress, 2d Sesssion

“ What proportion of passengers from Cuba do you think remain in the States?
Mr. Williams. It is hard to tell what the proportion is. It is according to how business is for them there and how wages are. If wages are good there they remain there; if work is slack there and they can get work here they come back here.
Senator Proctor. Do many of them take their families?
Mr. Williams. A good many take their families, but a good many of them go without their families. You must understand that these people look upon Florida almost as a part of their own country. ”

“ Chinese immigration has already received consideration by Congress, but the subject of persons coming from countries in the Pacific Ocean, either for temporary or permanent residence, in connection with the importation of disease, is a branch inquiry to which the committee should give future and careful investigation in connection with the Committee on Immigration and Naturalization of the House and the Senate Committee on Epidemic Diseases. ”

“ What have you to say with reference to emigration from Cuba to the United States?
Mr. Williams. I should say that there is no emigration from the island of Cuba, in the European sense of the word; that is, no emigrant class.
Senator Proctor. You mean they go as regular passengers?
Mr. Williams. They go as regular passengers.
Senator Proctor. There is no steerage?
Mr. Williams. There may be a steerage, but they go as regular passengers. Between Key West and Havana people go as between Albany and New York, or as between New York and Boston on the Sound. ”

“ In this view the conditions of intercourse with Cuba and the other West India islands, whether by immigration or other relations of business, are of the greatest concern to the people of the United States. ”

“ I understood from the collector at Key West, that it was customary for them to pay their head tax over and over again, and not become citizens.
Mr. Williams. There may be some, but very few, I think.
Senator Dubois. The committee have learned that many Canadians come over into the United States during certain seasons and work for wages, and then return to their own country; a number of people come from different European countries and work here for a season at higher wages, and then return to their own country to spend the summer or winter. ”

“ When the insurrection broke out in 1868 the volunteers went and mobbed him because he was doing business with the United States. He established a place in Key West in order to avail himself of the difference of duty provided by our tariff. The volunteers mobbed him, so he finally resolved to move to Key West; then he went to Tampa and built a factory there; then he bought land out back of Tampa and built Ebor City.
Senator Call. He is a very wealthy man? ”

“ Senator Proctor. By not being emigrants, you mean what?
Mr. Williams. I mean they are workingmen, who work for their living, and can always earn their living.
Senator Call. They go back and forward? ”