The daily morning journal and courier., 1898-08-25

I
 able to occasionally secure for few
 hours service. In normal times there
 are plenty of lighters in Santiago har- | Dor, but just now the all-powerful mili-
 tary are using them and refuse to let
 one go, whatever valuable cargoes may
 be spelling, Never was mortal man
 more unpopular than General Shafter.
 Afoat and ashore, with both Spanish
 and American merchants, the captains
 of all vessels that visit the port, as well
 as with the intelligent citizens, and the | soldiers to a man. The wonder is that
 some bullet, aimed by a revengeful
 hand, does not cut short his caraer in | these laWless times, as he rolls about
 town in his carriage, or his great bulk
 is carried from camp to camp on lit-
 ter Men are dying by hundreds be-
 cause of somebody's criminal neglect, | and naturally to the chief officer on the spot is attributed a good deal that prop | erly belongs to distant Surgeon-General Sternberg. Among other things, Shaf- | ter's action in regard to port charges is
 severely criticised. It was believed
 that when Santiago became an Ameri-
 can port the exorbitant duties exacted | by Spain would be abolished People | were perishing here for everything in the line of food and other necessaries of | life. What then was the surprise of the | American merchants who undertook to supply a part of the demand to find
 when they reached Santiago that they must pay an average of one hundred
 per cent. ad valorem on every article
 the same old Spanish charges which | furnished the Cubans with their main cause for rebelling! The merchants appealed to General Shafter, and he | told them in plain terms that they must | pay the extortionate charges or leave 1 the port without unloading, and be d--n | quick about it too! Many did the lat | ter, and the few who remained found | themselves encompassed by difficulties. | The captains rendered drafts in pay | ment of the unsuspected duties, but | the port officials refused the drafts and | demanded gold. Again was the militia ] ry autocrat appealed to, and again | Shafter upheld the Spanish customs off, | ficials and in his usual pointed style re- | commended the United States mer- | chantmen to place that is warmer if | dissatisfied with the doings in this. Of | course all this interferes greatly with l business and is a serious loss to many | people. Bankers and wealthy mer- | chants in Santiago who are willing to | honor the drafts of American houses to 1 any amount are at present unable to do 1 so, having shipped their gold, for safe | ty, to Spain and Jamaica. The local | merchants, though eager to purchase | the American cargoes that are now in | the harbor, hesitate to do so, fearing hot xr,bo, tbo o15 hn1 | ished they will have to dispose of the | goods at heavy loss. It shakes confi- delce of the citizens in their Ameri- can friends at the outset. They cannot l understand why the United States should maintain the same extortionate | duties which led to the war against Spain, especially at a time when star vation is abroad in Cuba. Thus hum dreds of families of the better class, who are not yet destitute enough to seek charity, are prevented by Shaf- l ter's action from supplying themselves with food.
 Fancy the steamboat passengers be- ing obliged, unexpectedly, to remain two or three weeks in this poverty
 stricken, fever-infested town.
 Those who desire to "board'' on the vessel-anchored a mile or two out in the bay-may do so at the rate of four dollars per diem as long as supplies hold out, and may go ashore whenever they like, unless quarantine intervenes, by paying the customary boat-charge of fifty cents each way. There are two swell clubs in Santiago, American and Spanish, where men may live, if rich enough; besides several tiendas, or low class restaurants, which demand high class prices for poorest food. Even the citizens, ordinarily so hospitable, are too poor since the long war to entertain
 guests; and therefore the traveller, without plenty of scrip in his purse, finds himself in the condition of the Son of Man, without where to lay his head. One of the Philadelphia's passengers perpetuated a huge joke on himself. Firing of steamship fare, he thought he would try a change ashore and said to his fellow sufferers, "Gentlemen, I am
 going to town to get square meal; who will join me?"
 Fortunately for his pocketbook, mo- body accepted the invitation. Having heard that the clubs were expensive, he did not patronize either of them, but went to modest restaurant and or dered such a meal as would cost in the United States about fifty cents. To be sure some essentials were lacking. Butter, of course, was not expected, and there was neither milk, bread nor
 ''relish" of any sort. He had broth, a stew of odds and ends, a chunk of boiled beef (possibly horse or dog), half of a pineapple and cup of bitter cof- fee with brown sugar, and the bill for this sumptuous repast was exactly
 23.75!
 Your correspondent has met with no such trials, being safely housed in Red Cross headquarters. Miss Barton and her staff are comfortably established in picturesque, well-furnished old casa, one of the finest in Santiago, whose owner-a wealthy Scotchman, now in Europe-kindly placed it at her dispo- sal. Here they sleep and eat, but their days, from early morn till dewy eve," are spent in the store-houses down near the waters edge. Galley slaves never worked harder than do these ladies and gentlemen. As everybody knows, they not only give their time and services without salary, but have abandoned positions of prominence, ease and prof. it for philanthropy's sake.
 All of them have grown noticeably thinner and paler since I bade them goodbye last spring in Havana and an