The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-07-21
OUR NEW CITY, SANTIAGO
CLEANING UP AFTER SPAIN WILL BE
A VERY SERIOUS JOB.
The British Have shown in Jamaica
that Yellow Fever Can Be Kept
DOwn-StrOng Defenses.
New York Sun.


Dor of Santiago deserve special mention.
and can be made into splendid defenses.
The chief of them is FL Moro 1t occupies
a commanding site on the right the
steamer enters the channel. While it is
very old it is very strong. Spain all through
the West Indies has selected the strongest
strategic points and fortified them, may
be seen at Havana and Santiago, at Fort
Augusta and Rock Fort, in Jamaica, at San
to Domingo and at San Juan, Porto Rico.
In the past these forts were equal to all
emergencies. To-day modern artillery has
the supremacy.
Ell Moro is an exception to this general
rule. That old two-terraced fort in part has
been hewn out of solid rock. 1t is part and
parcel of bold, rocky headland. The ocean
washes its base. FL MORO can be modern
lied and made a small Gibraltar Its upper
sea battery, with some Krupp guns, is near
ly one hundred feet above sea level. Owing
to its elevation it has an all-around fire,
commanding the sea front for many miles
due east and west along the coast, as well
as all the land within sight. The lower bat
terry is specially constructed to command
the very narrow entrance to the harbor
The entrance there measures only $50 feet
across. Opposite Ell Moro there is another
bold headland, surmounted by La Socapa
another old-time fort. The guns of the low
er battery of FL MORO face the entrance
Short of blowing that headland of rock into
the sea, Ell MORO may be deemed almost
impregnable
The guns Of Ell Moro for the most part
are ancient, but many rapd-fire Hontoria
and Ordonez rifles have been added to them,
as we'll as the Krupp guns already re-
ferred to.
La Socapa is an admirable vis-a-vis of the
old fortress type. Its elevation being less,
it has neither the natural strength nor the
range of Ell Moro. but it has a usefulness
all its own. 1t and the guns. of Estrella
Point battery can rake any ship that may
pass the entrance. While Ell MORO and La
Socapa are specially designed to keep ships
out, the Estrella Point battery is specially
devised to deal with such ships as may have
forced an entrance 1t Is built OF solid
built by Spain in Jamaica over three CEN
turtles ago.
Cayo Smith, or Smiths island, nearly OPP
posite Estrella Point, has been fortified. Be
yond Estrella battery. on small eleva-
t1on, there is an old-time earthwork, admir-
ably placed to attend to anything that
might have escaped the forts and battery.
Between the latter and the city there are no
Notifications.
In times of peace the topmost wall of Ell
MORO is used as a semaphore station. 1t
and a series of hill stations extend to the
CITY, the distance between the two being
five miles. Owing to the narrow channel
one vessel only is allowed to enter or leave
at time. Hence the signal stations. A
point near Ell Moro is the pilot station
OF late frequent reference has been made
to Cayo Smith. 1t is a pretty island prac-
tically under the lee of La Socapa in times
of peace a picturesque spot dotted with
tropical villas. There. the upper classes of
Santiago have their banos del mar or sea
bathing. 1t is the local Coney island.
If the old-time city had been as well for
tihed against diseases as the channel is
against enemieS-What follows would be
superhuous-where nature has been so
Dountiful only man seems vile. The health
fulness of any tropical city squares with it's
cleanliness and a due observation of its
sanitary laws, the purity of its drinking
water. and other well-known essentials.
Santiago and Havana are hotbeds of dis
ease, and this is due almost entirely to
negligence that should be deemed criminal
The city Of Santiago, the oldest in the West
lndies-dating back over three centuries
bullt on a hillside, inclining toward the har-
Dor, with all the recognized elements in
favor of perfect drainage-has none During
the rains nature does what she can to flush
the surface, but that is not enough where
the city. Questions of public health seldom
have any serious attention at the hands of
the Spaniards or their descendants.
F1eore amarilla-or yellow feVer-iS a
standing joke in the theaters of Havana
When it kills a native the dead mans
friends speak of it as tifoida when ii kills
a Spaniard feore amarillo. To the ordinary
Cuban, the death of Spaniards by yellow
fever is cause of rejoicing.
Yellow fever has been endemic in Cuba
for over one hundred years The public
records show it yearly for over 100 consecu-
tive years. DR.. Arbano Guimera has devoted
years of study and research to it's history
In all that time Spain has taken no known
measure to stamp out so dire a foe to her
own children. The vast public preside. or
prison, at Santiago has no outlet for drain
age. AT night, after the people are in bed
its accumulated filth is allowed to run down
a public street to the sea. The military
upper and iback part of the city, near
Concha avenue, is vast establishment 1t
occupies a large space. Within the in
closure there is vast cesspool with no out
let. 1t poisons the air and infects the soil
AS one would suspect, yellow fever is a
constant quantity when susceptible material
offers.
While Spain has lost tens of thousands of
soldiers and sailors in Cuba from prev ent-
able disease. that has taught her no lessC~
The wicked loss of life and its cost to hel
as nation has not been weighed. In times
of peace her soldiers have died in thou
sands IN times of war in tens of thou.
sands. The ten years war-1863 TO 1S7S-cost
her 100000 men, the flower of the Spanish
largely of climatic disease-while less than
10000 fell in battle or died of wounds re-
ceived in action.
SPANS neglect of sanitation in Santiago
de Cuba is duplicated in San Juan de Puerto
Rico. Her methods seem almost incredible.
The main military and naval hospital in
hVdilet Ids I0JO DeuS. II 10 a
built place. near the end of the foul and
pestilent harbor of Havana. All patients are
sent to it from the army and ships. Yellow
fever patients are not Isolated. For many
years the building has been center for dis
tributng the poison of yellow fever. That
hospital is the medical storehouse for the
island system of hospitals. All supplies. in
Guiding bedding are sent from it, Yellow
fever may be found at some port or town all
the year around.
In 1878 that Cuban fever reached New Or
leans. costing thousands of lives and a mon
ey loss estimated at over $20O,OO0,OOO The
ideal Holt maritime quarantine system has
enabled New Orleans to shut it out since.
England had her experience with Jamaica
after Spain was forced to abandon it, Eng
lands sailors and troopers died there in
thousands 1t was a pest hole. Pure water
was introduced, the soldiers and sailors
were instructed and watched unhealthy
sea-level camps were abandoned, the death
rate fell from 121 per 1000 to lib, or less
than half the death rate of New York. and
this was due wholly to sanitary measures,
camps in the mountains, and the introduce
ton of black regiments (West Indian ne
groes). Differed by white men. Had Spain
kept abreast with England, Cuba to-day
would be healthy and fairly safe for Euro
peans and Americans.