The record-union., 1898-12-25
Reconstruction of the Tobacco and
Sugar Raising District Begun.
Absolute Peace Now Exists, and the Peo-
Pile Have Returned to Work.
A Great Change Brought About in
the Cuban Province Since the
Arrival of General Davis With
Battalion of the Two Hundred
and Second New York.

and Second New York.
| Correspondence of the Associated Press)
PINAR DEL RIO, Dec. 19.-The re-
construction of this great tobacco rails
ing, sugar growing province has begun.
Absolute, peace exists, and the people
are at work. General Davis, before he
left for Havana, was told that brigands
probably would overrun the province;
that petty dictators were taxing the
villages; that insurgents had occupied
the towns, and would not yield para
mount authority to the Americans, and
that he would be infinitely vexed by OBJ
stacles in every step of restoration Of
civil order among a restless people.
When General Davis, with his staff, a
battalion of the Two Hundred and Sec
ond New York Regiment and Signal
Corps company reached the borders Of
the province in the journey by train
from Havana, they were received at
Santiago de las Vegas by a Colonel and
100 Cuban horsemen, aligned near the
station. Afterward, behind them, were
125 young Cuban women on horseback.
Around and behind this cavalcale
townspeople gathered, shaggy haired
old men, women in black, troops of chill
dren with flowers and small Cuban
and American flags.
AS General Davis and his staff ap-
peared on the platform there was a
passionate burst of "Vivas," and bare
machetes flashed in the medley of
colors. The cheering was so prolonged
and genuine that the Americans were
NV; ,Nlo ood
self and his men at General Davis dis
posal. The Alcalde of the town made
an address. The General, who knows
some conversational Spanish, but not
enough for a public speech, said
through an interpreter that the Cuban
people had been through great trials
and sufferings and that the Americans
were there to aid in securing their lib
erty.
Surgeon Major w. j. Kneedler had
become separated in the crowd from
General Davis, and one of committee
of priests began to read him an ad-
dress of welcome, thinking the doctor
was the General. Major Kneedler was
unable to find an opening to stop the
padre before the welcome had beeen
concluded.
The doctor, through Cuban, who
could speak English and Spanish, said
that as one of the Americans with Gen
eral Davis he regarded the Cubans as
men and brethren, and that in all his
travels he had not been in so fine a
country.
The Americans then swept on through
wide spaces of deserted country. From
the train they could see occasionally
the blackened walls and tall chimney OF
a ruined sugar centrale. AT each Of the
towns the senior Cuban officer mads
known his allegiance to the proposed
order of things under the American
protectorate.
Pinar del Rio City gave reception
as enthusiastic as that given at Santi-
ago de las Vegas. The Cuban COM
mander turned over the municipal and
provincial belongings. General Davis
has communicated by letter or by
messenger with the important towns in
the province. Not an incident of bri-
gandage or injury to personal rights
has resulted. The most flagrant crime
has been the disappearance of some
chickens. The Spanish residents, some
of whom are the well-to-do men OF
the city. had lived in the interior be-
tween Spanish evacuation and Ameri-
can occupation unharmed.
The people near Pinar have torn the
wire from the trocha, and have in
closed yards and fields with it. The
principal storekeeper has painted ad-
vertisements on two of the forts. The
town is we'll fed on chickens. fresh
beef. fruit and vegetables. The coun-
try is exhausted, but the revivification
has begun. Palm huts are building on
wasted farms The country people are
now living chiefly on radishes, sweet
potatoes, sugar cane and chicken and
quail shipped or trapped.
Pinar del Rio City has many pretty
houses. The population was 1900, of
which number 1900 have been buried.
The women are all in black. Follow
ing General Davis instructions, the
American officers and privates are
careful to return the salutes of the
Cuban soldiers. who, armed and un-
armed, are coming and going all the
time. They subsist largely on gifts
of food. Some, forced by necessity,
have sold their rifles. Mausers cap
tured from the Spaniards are selling
for $5 or Sc. In Havana Mausers are
surreptitiously sold for $40 or $50.
The battalion of the Two Hundred
and Second New York Regiment, un-
der Major Wood, is camped on high
ground and about a mile outside the
city. The landscape of rolling country
and distant mountains is most beauti-
full. The men have been working hard
cutting grass and organizing camp.
They have not missed having fresh
bread and beef since they left Ha-
vana. Forty-two head of cattle bought
to-day for the camp are grazing near
by. Guard duty is light. One post of
three men is maintained at the rail-
way station, and another is at Ell
Globo Hotel, where General Davis
stops. No other guard duty outside
the camp is required. The men ex-
pect to be replaced by regulars in the
spring, and allowed to go home. Dread
full stories are told of the malaria that
develops around Pinar del Rio with
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