The daily morning journal and courier., 1898-12-23

thirty days. This official, Major Bar Dor, With men dressed in white and thirty-tWo good United States mule teams and carts, having dug out from the streets of Santiago the filth of ages, is able to keep the mabsolutely clean. Every day, by the aid Of pero- leum, the garbage of the city is burned The work of sanitation is not confined to the streets, but extends to the dwell ing houses shops and buildings of all kinds. To accomplish this however, the doors of houses had to be smashed in and persons making sewers of thor oughfares were publicly horsewhipped. Eminently respectable citizens were brought before the commanding gen. eral and sentenced to aid in cleaning the streets they were in the habit of defiling. The campaign has ended in complete surrender to the sanitary authorities and the inhabitants of San tiago, regardless of class, have had their first object lesson in the new order of things inaugurated by the war. Several important streets have been repaved
 all the public buildings have been thoroughly cleaned, the work even ex- tending to the opera house.
 The law courts, which were abolished when General Shafter took the city, have been reorganized. The supreme court, the report continues Is composed of carefully selected Cuban citizens, nominated wholly on account of legal attachments, the bar association of the province having been consulted as to the character and qualifications of the new judges. In the same manner local | governments have been restored and | native mayors and officials appointed, the only requirement being that per sons accepting such offices shall take the oath recognizing the military occu- patton by the United States, but in TO way committing them to any future form of government.
 l The Spanish when in possession of Cuba not only assumed absolute control of the judiciary, but also of the mu- nicipal government, the larger porton 1 of the taxes raised for municipal pur- poses being diverted with the other rev enues into channels which, says the re- | port rather went to Spain or into Span | ish pockets MT. Porter advises that i these taxes hereafter be used exclusive ly for local purposes and, as far as may be deemed practicable, that they be collected and disbursed by properly constituted local authorities. The ru- ral districts of Santiago have been so l depleted that it will be impossible to collect taxes over and above those need ed for the bare necessities of schools for the poor and possibly small sums to improve sanitary conditions. The dawn l of prosperity, however, should be the signal for naugurating work on the country roads.
 The British government spends about $50O,O0o annually for the roads in Ja- maica, where there are now 1000 miles already constructed. The money ex pended on roads, whether from the gen. eral funds of the island or from the local budgets, would come back hun ,dred fold, it is stated, and makes san | tiago one of the richest sugar, coffee and fruit countries in the West Indies
 Bananas can be grown at profit and
 as it only takes fourteen months to l grow the banana tree, unlike coffee and | orange trees, the poorer classes could undertake it's cultivation to their great | advantage. The international, indus | trial, professional licensing and other 1 miscellaneous taxes have so far been remitted in this part of Cuba, but the
 authorities are now preparing to en- force them. Now that the customs tar if has been disposed of, MT. Porter rec
 ommends that an immediate scheme be
 prepared for levying and collecting in- | ternal revenue for the entire island. The
 question of separating these taxes from
 purely municipal taxes should also be
 considered. The large amount of de-
 linquencies during the last three years,
 which amount to about $6,000,000, was
 of course due to the war In normal times we have here four or five million
 dollars of revenue that must not be
 overlooked, revenue which, if properly
 and economically employed, would aid
 in the industrial rehabilitation of Cuba. 1 Some of the more onerous exactions, | however, should be abolished. MT. 1 Porter makes several other recommen-
 dations, principally with regard to i'm provements in the harbor and establish ment of light buoys and the removal of
 Instructions. MT. Porter speaks in high
 praise of the administrative ability of | General Wood, the military governor
 at Santiago, as shown in his admira ble
 management of the affairs of the prov