The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1898-03-03

medicines are sold bv all good dealers.
scarce and dear here, and only that sent
| from the United States can be depend
ed upon. Right here, let me say to the
generous people at home who are con-
tributing to these supplies, you cannot
possibly send too much, especially of
milk, the article most needed Nourish-
ing food of all sorts is required such as
the people know how to use. Dat meal,
for example, does little good, for they
have no idea how to cook it. Clothing of
every kind, and bedding, is very badly
needed. Thousands of them are almost
naked, sleeping on the ground with no
sort of covering, and in the best hospital,
like Los Fosos, on cots with mattresses of
at most only sheet or bit of ragged
blanket between their suffering bodies and
the springs. Think of the torture to
we'll nourished person of being compelled
to lie upon such bed, and then fancy how
it must feel to the living skeletons and
the fearfully swollen flesh. About 10. 80
O. clock a steaming caldron of milk and
, water was brought in, thanks to the boun-
ty of the United States; and then how the
famished eyes glistened, as everybody who
could crawl crowded eagerly around. The
Cuban lady who comes every morning to
do what she can for these poor creatures,
10 close the eyes of the dying and order
the burial of the dead, showed NE the
closet of medicine, furnished by the Unit
ed States. The difficulty is to see that
the right medicines are properly admins
tered. One would think that every physi
clan i'll Havana would gladly give portion
of his time to this charitable work; but it
is said that only three OF. four have dared
brave public opinion and the loss of their
practice among the Spanish families. l
am acquainted with two noble exceptions,
noble minded medicos who, having some
means of their own, have abandoned their
general practice and devoted their time
and strength, unrewarded, to the Recon
centrados. Just think of it, Upwards of
| 400, 900 homeless and miserable wretches
in this unhappy Island. In the province
! of Havana alone, excluding several towns
which have not yet sent in their lists,
there are l27, 900 of them-more than A,
600 being orphan children and 80, 900
widowed and destitute women. In the
| adjoining province of MatanZas there are
upwards of a. 600. The mortality coca
stoned by hunger and fever is not known
to certainty, because every effort has been
made to hide it; it is calculated at 40
per cent. in Havana and 60 per cent. in
Pinar del Rio. Before aid from the United
States came it was as high as 20 per cent
right here in Havana, under the eyes of
the Governor General. Guines is another
scene of fearful mortality. 1t is a little
town, with normal population of 5000.
After Weyler's concentration decree it in
creased in few days to 5000. During
three weeks of April the deaths numbered
| l, 400. The old cemetery became so crowd
ed that when the trenches would hold no
AAcASs % nov CuiioA iouAu Adu W 10 COu-
secrated and over its gate might have
been inscribed one universal epitaph:
Murdered by Don Valeriano Weyler
Marquis of Teneriffe.''
More than 1000 have already died in
Guines; out of 5000 Reconcentrados in
Jurne, 3,7OO are already dead; IN Havana,
in spite of all that is now being done for
them, they are still dying at the rate of
| 1,600 month. Not less than 100. 600
must surely follow the 200, 600 which the
grave has claimed in this great charnel
house, the fair island of Cuba These
figures are not guess work; they are from
statistics as carefully compiled as the con-
ditions will allow, and are under rather
than over the mark. DR.. Bruner of the
Marine Hospital Service fixes the number
of deaths from starvation, from the data
he has gathered, at 800, 600 The asylums
lately created, of which Los Fosos is one,
shelter upwards of Is, 600 Reconcentrados,
and through American charity, about A.
| 600 receive food in the municipal city of
Havana. Should this bounty cease, what
would become of them? A few noble
souls in Havana are distributing this food,
under the direction of Consul General
Lee; ami now that Clara Barton has ar
rived, things will be farther systematized.
If every community in the United States
would Immediately organize branch Red
Cross Aid Society aud secure what it could
in money or clothing, what incalculable
amount of suffering would be relieved
If everybody of means would give but five
or ten cents out of his abundance, what
might be hoped from the seventy million
people in our happy country!