The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1896-08-08
SPAIN IN THE NEW WORLD.

tropical lSldHu. ASlu6 lIOLu buo PIO-
fessed scientific object of his studies
in Jamaica, DIR. Brooks makes some
interesting observations as to life in
Jamaica, one of which, at least, has
an important bearing on the present
Cuban struggle for independence,
namely as to the English and the
Spanish way of dealing with that
scourge of the West Indian tropics,
yellow fever.
There is no yellow fever on the isl
and" says DIR. Brooks, "There would be
no yellow fever in Cuba or any other
West India Island, or in any ports trad
ing with them along our southern coast
if these tropical towns only had good
sanitation. Havana's wretched sanitary
condition is responsible for much of the
yellow fever which now exists. 1t used
to be that way in Jamaica, and time was
when British regiment sent there was
almost certain to lose half its men by
yellow fever within three months. Now
there is an occasional sporadic case and
that is ALL"
There is no doubt DR.. Brooks is
correct in attributing the perennial
yellow fever of Cuba largely to unsani-
tary surroundings and Spanish in
dolence and lack of progressiveness.
Spain has never cared for Cuba, aside
from the revenue she derives from it,
and hence 'the Pearl of the Antilles"
the most beautiful island of the West
ern Hemisphere, has been administ
cred more US penal and revenue
colony than as an island capable
under just and progressive govern
ment, not only of yielding enormous
revenues, but becoming veritable
paradise for health-seekers. The
short sighted policy of Spain as to
her finest colony has borne as its fruits
Instruction and rebellion and left
her practically without sympathy
among the advanced nations of the
earth. Spain seems still dreaming;
still living in the sixteenth century
instead of the nineteenth, and if she
must be rudely awakened from that
dream she can have no one but her
self to blame. The decline and fall
of nations is not so much a mystery
of providence as it is an exemplifca-
ton of the laws of human progress
and advancement. The decadence of
people may or may not precede the
decadence of government, but when
the two are combined, it would be
strange indeed if the government
should still live. This deterioration
of the Spanish character and of the
Spanish nation may not be evident
to careless observer, but it is brought
into relief when compared with a
progressive, wide-awake people, such
as the English, for instance. The
English,-and the Americans, their di-
rect representatives in the New World,
illustrate the character of empire
builders in modern times, as Greece
and Rome in turn did in ancient
times. In both the great peoples of
European history, as in the English
and Americans of today, the most
superficial student of history cannCt
fail to note as one of the chief ele'
ments of their success, certain f1exi-
bility and adaptability of national
character that may have been the
outgrowth of the peculiar conditions
under which they were placed, but
which are inseparable to anything
like world-empire.
The Greeks had less of this fexi-
bility and adaptability than the Ro
mans, and hence the shortness of the
empire as compared with the surer
empire of that power. For more
than two thousand years Rome may
be said to have dominated the
world, and she has left the enduring
impress of her power, her civilization,
literature and laws, on every modern
people, to be felt, doubtless, "to the
latest recorded syllable Of time"
" While stands the Coliseum, Rome shall stand.
When falls the Coliseum, Rome shall fall.
And when Rome falls the world"
was, according to the venerable Bede,
the exclamation of pilgrims in the
eighth century as they beheld the
ruins of the former mistress of the
world. But more enduring than the
Coliseum is the gift of laws and
civilization the modern world owes to
Rome, the empire builder and the
world ruler of the great past.
To this inheritance the English,
particularly, seem to have succeeded;