The age-herald., 1898-06-22
SANTIAGO WILL
 FLOAT OLD GLORY

the stars and stripes will soon be raised:
 With the news that our amy, under General Shafter, is approaching Santaigo de Cuba, and the possibility that within q week it may be occupied by American troops, citizens of the United States will take new interest in that ancient city-the oldest standing city in the new world, ex- cept Santo Domingo, which was estab- lished by Columbus four hundred years ago. Santiago itself was founded only eighteen years after Santo Domingo. It was the former capital and is the third city of commercial importance on the island of Cuba.
 "The name Santiago given to the former capital signifies in English St. James, and has at various times been called San Jago, San Diego and Santiago, all with the same meaning. It is situated 450 miles in direct line southeast of Havana. and is still the chief city of the eastern department of Cuba It is the residential town of the archbishop and is the seat of several yearly religious festivals which are celebrated with pomp and ceremony.
 Santiago is the terminus of two rail- road lines, one of which is the outlet of Lomas de Cobre. the celebrated copper mines, situated several miles inland The second railroad passes through the rich sugar country, affording> transportation for that staple article of exportation. The exports from Santiago are said to reach the sum of $S,000,0O0 annually. Tobacco, honey, rum, cocoa and mahogany are also exported in great quantities. Santia- go is inclosed on three sides by hills rising rapidly from the bay to the mountains, which are of great height and beauty, and which besides being lovely to look upon. af- ford perfect drainage to the city.
 'The streets are all alike and apparently have not been repaired since first con- structed, four hundred years ago. Starting at the shore,, the streets. which are very narrow. run directly up the hill side, dis tance~ of four hundred and fifty feet or. more. Tropical rains have washed great gutters down the roads in some places three and four feet deep, and the traffic has up- rooted the coblestones laid hundreds of years ago and left in the road pitfalls and mantraps for the unwary. The main street upon which the American consul lived, is in such condition of decay that no effort is made to drive a vehicle through it, and even a horseman cannot ride through it after dark. There is risk in attempting to navigate the street on foot in broad daylight Most of the streets have cemented sidewalks ten or fifteen inches wide, but in some streets even this accommodation is done away with.
 Santiago has the reputation of being the most ynhealthy city in Cuba. Hemmed in tk' mountains, with all the city's filth fostering in the sun, it is sur prising that yellow fever does not make the city it's regular abiding place, instead of visiting it annually, as it does. No charge is made for living pictures in the streets of Santiago, and children of both Sexes and to the age of ten or twelve years totally dispense with clothing and chase about the streets and highways in costumese akin to those worn by the only residents of the Garden of Eden
 Houses of the better class in the city are as alike as two peas, and descrip- ton of one answers for all. Take the American consul, situated in street ap- solutely impossible for anything but pe- destrians. It is necessary, should one be driving, to leave the carriage at the cor ner of the street and pick his way down the so-called sidewalk to the old fash toned building recognized as the consuls home by the American eagle which sur- mounts the Keystone The walls or the building are three feet thick, of solid ce- ment, hardened to the solidity of marble, with windows one foot square set in at various and unexpected places in it's front wall The door posts are set In the ground ten feet and the building, as IS evidenced by its strength was built to re- sist the frequent earthquakes.
 .In the business district of the city one cannot but be interested with the quaint 5and peculiar appearance of the shops. The front of the shop building is entirely open and inside can be seen the clerk, dvested of every particle of clothing eX- cept such as is absolutely necessary for covering nakedness, coquetting with bright gayly attired mulatto girls. All the shopping is done by servants, the wo- men of the aristocracy never visiting the shops, but sending for everything needed either for dress or for household purposes. Much of the shopping is done on the cor ners of the street, where heavy negresses sit on the ground surrounded by huge baskets containing fruit. vegetables and yamS.
 Flew vehicles are seen In the streets, and when seen the poor beasts of burden are to be commiserated, as there Is a6- solutely no care given to the animals, the owners apparently only desiring to get as much work as possible out Of the beasts before they surrer der to fate and drop dead in their tracks.
 Half way up the hill back of the city. situated upon a plaza, where the military band plays on certain evenings, stands the cathedral the most pretentous struc- ture in Santiago. The cathedral Is the largest and finest on the island of Cuba, but its walls,, built of porous stone, which is steadily crumbling away, give 1t the ap- pearance of being moth-eaten. The city abounds in club houses, there being six for a population of only 4500O. Gambling houses are wide open, and an unobstructed view can be obtained from the streets of the interiors of these. resorts, where the Spaniard and Cuban can get rid Of his surplus cash.
 "Santiago is memorable historically main- ly for the French occupation of 1553 and the affair of the Virginius, just twenty-five years ago, which resulted in the payment by the Spanish government to the United States of an indemnity for the murder Of Captain Fry and the crew of that vessel. Santiago has also been the seat Of most of the political uprisings against the op- pressiye rule of the home government and