The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1898-11-24
NEWS HND COMMENT

The subjOined account of some of the
actual conditions in Cuba Is taken by the
New York Sun from private letter writ
ten by the wife of an officer of our navy
in Havana. 1t was not intended by tine
writer for publication: II am glad you
cannot sec the misery here. One does not
mind the children UP to twelve years of
age with not one rag on-perhapS that
is Comfortable-but when you can see
every joint in their bodies, and they fall
down in the street from weakness, it's
dreadful There are thousand people in
the Fosos, which is the place where the
reconcentrados are confined, who are
starving, absolutely, and many more in
Havana. In the last days of October the
Spanish authorities decided that so many
starving people on the streets did not
look well, so they sent out carts and
guard and took them up, putting the
babies in one cart, the older children in
another, and the grown-up people in a
third, and calmly sent them in entirely
different directions, regardless of the fact
that they were separating families. They
sent the babies to the Maternity hospital,
where people are already starving; the
children TO q big empty building, with
no beds nor any straw or rags to use for
beds, and no food. That / know, for a
doctor here went there and found them
and fed them with some of my money
and stores. No one seems to know what
became of the mothers, They We're get
ting some sort of a living in the streets,
and now they are at the mercy Of the
Spanish authorities. We are feeding here,
at this house, all the poor of Vedado,
about one hundred people a day, which
is something, anyhow; and we have done
a good deal in Havana, but the misery
is too widespread TO be much helped by
private means. The government must
came down here and take hold, for it Is
ba a bn
To prove that this is a great country
the Philadelphia Inquirer says: Away
off in the northwest, on the Puget Sound,
whore giant trees are felled and shipped
all over the world people are enjoying
clear crisp weather Down the coast in
Southern California, the gardens are filled
with flowers of the most vivid colors. In
Missouri and Kansas blizzard weather
prevails. Wires are down in every direc-
tion, and railway traffic is impeded. In
ST. Joseph on Sunday the air was warm,
and on Monday Klondike weather pre-
vailed Az Ridge Hill there was a sand
storm. From Arkansas City the worst
blizzard in many years is reported, and
tales come east of great losses among the
cattle. While some of these western
states are digging themselves out from
under the snow. down in Florida the birds
are singing, the sun is beating down with
rays lidl are sun utICt. III lWenlS-lOuE
hours we have within the confines of this
country all the different kinds Of weather
imaginable. In Alaska there Is iceberg
weather In Hawaii the mangoes ANA
LuaVas aud bananas and coCoanuts are
growing 1t is the boast of England that
the sun never sets upon her possessions.
1t is our own boast now as well. And
look at the productions OF this wonderful
country, with its corn and wheat and oil,
its tobacco, sugar and coffee, and its
great supply of cotton, which is the basis
probably Of the clothing of one-half of
the world. A great country indeed. and
every American ought TO be proud Of it,"
General Garcia is hopeful as to Cuba
future, I'm Cuba at present" he said tho
other day, few have time 10 talk poll
tics. There is everything to be done
there, and the small farmers particularly
are saying Give us peace and We care not
who govern us These small farmers
have for years never known what morn
ing they would wake up to hnd their
buildings DESTROYED. their crops burned,
and their plantations laid waste. This has