NELSON, LOWRY. Rural Cuba. Pp. x, 285. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1950. $3.50
| Date | 01 March 1951 |
| Published date | 01 March 1951 |
| DOI | 10.1177/0002716251274001108 |
| Author | Raymond E. Crist |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
270
very
existence
of
Korea
as
an
independent
nation
will
once
more
be
threatened
by
Japan.
But
they
do
not
seem
to
be in
the
least
apprehensive
about
the
possibility
of
Russia’s
swallowing
up
o
f Korea
politically
and
economically.
This
is
an
attitude
shared,
it
would
seem,
by
many
present-day
American
experts
on
Far
Eastern
Affairs.
They
are
far
less
troubled
by
Soviet
Rus-
sian
expansion
than
by
their
concern
over
the
possibility
of
Japan’s
reasserting
itself.
It
should
be
noted
that
although
the
au-
thors
denounce
Japanese
exploitation
of
Korea,
not
enough
emphasis
is
given
to
Japanese
economic
and
industrial
develop-
ment
in
Korea,
particularly
North
Korea.
The
authors
have
justly
criticized
the
shortcomings
of
the
South
Korean
regime,
as
well
as
of
the
American
program
in
Korea,
while
perhaps
on
the
score
of
show-
ing
their
objectiveness.
regarding
Soviet
Russian
policies
they
have
not
penetrated
into
the
real
nature
of
Soviet
policies
in
Korea.
Russian
policy
regarding
Korea
has
consistently
been
to
attempt
to
control
this
country
whose
strategic
importance
for
powers
seeking
to
secure
mastery
of
the
North
Pacific
cannot
be
overstated.
This
Soviet
Russian
policy,
like
many
other
policies,
is
nothing
but
the
continuation
of
Czarist
Russian
policy.
It
should
be
remerbered
that
as
early
as
1894-95,
Czar-
ist
Russia
had
a
definite
design
to
secure
control
over
Korea.
Japanese
efforts
to
check
eventual
Russian
control
over
Korea
were
behind
the
Sino-Japanese
War.
Jap-
anese
victories
in
the
Sino-Japanese
War
(1894-95)
and
the
Russo-Japanese
War
(1904-05)
forced
Russia
temporarily
to
abandon
her
program
of
expansion
towards
Korea.
The
rise
of
a
German
menace
in
Europe
made
it
necessary
for
Britain,
France,
Russia,
and
the
United
States
to
support
Japanese
expansion
in
Asia
as
the
price
of
the
support
to
the
Triple
Entente.
Thus
in
1910,
by
international
agreements,
that
is,
with
the
assent
of
Russia,
Britain,
France,
the
United
States,
and
other
pow-
ers,
Japan
was
allowed
to
annex
Korea.
These
are
the
fundamental
facts
behind
the
attack
on
South
Korea
launched
by
the
North
Korean
Government
with
the
aid
of
Soviet
Russia
and
Communist
China.
Appendices
covering
73
pages
(pages
275-348)
contain
important
selected
docu-
ments
relating
to
Korean
foreign
relations,
Korean
demography,
and
various
phases
of
economic
policies.
The
book
has
an
ex-
cellent
bibliography
of
17
pages
(pages
349-366)
and
a
good
index.
In
spite
of
the
limitations
to
which
attempt
has
been
made
to
call
attention,
it
is
probably
the
best
work
on
the
subject
recently
published
in
the
United
States.
TARAKNATH
DAS
Columbia
University
NELSON,
LOWRY.
Rural
Cuba.
Pp.
x,
285.
Minneapolis:
University
of
Minnesota
Press,
1950.
$3.50.
In
examining
the
causes
of
the
rich-land-
poor-people
motif
in
Cuba
Professor
Nel-
son
has
written
a
significant
volume.
The
chapter
on
&dquo;Land,
Climate
and
Seasonal
Rhythms&dquo;
is
a
gem,
but,
to
the
reviewer,-
the
scholarly
chapter
on
the
&dquo;Evolution
of
the
Cuban
Land
System&dquo;
seems
to
put
the
finger
on
the
sore,
as
they
say
in
Spanish.
It
is
found
that
less
than
0.1
per
cent
of
Cuban
farms
contain
one-fifth
of
all
agri-
cultural
land,
and
8
per
cent
of
the
farms
embrace
70
per
cent
of
the
land.
Property
boundaries
are
notoriously
vague,
yet
no
cadastral
survey
has
ever
been
made
of
the
island.
As
the
sugar
central
expanded
over
more
and
more
of
the
best
land
in
Cuba,
the
number
of
landless
farm
people
in-
creased.
By
1927
the
government
sensed
the
danger
and
forbade
the
further
cutting
down
of
virgin
forests
for
the
expansion
of
cane
fields;
further,
it
reduced
cane
acreage,
which
forced
farmers
to
attempt
to
find
alternative
ways
to
use
their
land;
the
protective
tariff
against
imports
in-
creased
the
domestic
production
of
rice,
corn,
coffee,
and
peanuts.
Dairying
and
diversified
farming
are
enjoying
boom
con-
ditions.
The
land
hunger
of
the
Cuban
people
is
by
no
means
satisfied,
and
Professor
Nel-
son
warns
that
&dquo;political
unrest,
arising
from
frustration
of
the
desire
of
the
peas-
ants
to
obtain
possession
of
and
security
on
the
land,
will
be
chronic
in
Cuba
until
more
positive
action
is
taken
in
this
re-
spect&dquo;
(p.
256).
Considerable
areas,
not
now
used
for
the
production
of
crops,
might
well
be
devoted
to
supplying
the
country
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