The times., 1899-01-11
A FAMOUS GOVERNOR.
The Arrival of Gen. Leonard Wood
i'm New York.

y.
Wood. military governor of the province of
Santiago de Cuba, arrived here this morn
ing on the United States army transport
Mississippi, which reached Quarantine at
! twenty minutes past O'Clock, and at about
10 anchored of Bedlows Island. In honor
of her distinguished passenger the ship
was elaborately draped with flags and
bunting by Captain Hopkins and his Off
GERS. General Wood was accompanied by
his aide, Lieutenant Hanna. by Colonel
Gibson, who supsrintended the distribu
ton of supplies 20 the starving Cubans.
and by DR.. Castillo, brother Of TIE Cuban
general. who came as the repres natives
of special Cuban interests at Santiago. On
the transport were also ten officers belong
ing TO various regiments, ffty-fv con-
valescent and discharged soldiers. fourteen
nurses. and thiriy-four civilians. Captain
| Stinson. the regular commander of the
transport. was left at Santiago suffering
from pneumonia.
At about II O'Clock General Wood was
landed. and proceeded TO the army build
ing, where he went directly to the Office of
Col Amos s. kimball. deputy quartermas-
! ter general in charge OF the depot in this
! city. His presence soon became known
and the officers in the building crowded in
to see him. He was warmly Congratulated
on all sides, not less By officers of the reg
ular establishment than by those of the
volunteer service. Nor WIS it solely Off
GERS who were anxious to greet the gen.
! eral. The humblest OF the private soldiers
tha batti
charged, and even the clerks wanted to do
themselves THE honor OF pressing his hand.
One of those who pushed up with some
diftdence, dressed in civilian garb. intro
duced himself to the general as from Ari-
zona. and as one of the original Rough
Riders. General Wood recognized him at
once. and started in to talk with him as
| if ne had as good a claim to his attention
as anybody could possess. The awkward
ness of the man almost instantly disap-
peared as the general chatted with him,
entering as personal friend into the plans
OF the former Rough Rider. He found
that the soldier was anxious to go back 10
Santiago to help develop" the town.
Speaking very gravely and seriously, the
! general told him that there was a good
! opportunity at Santiago for any able
/ bodied man who wanted TO work The
| work, he said, was OF a rude and rough
sort, but the pay was good, and the willing
man could by industry make some money
at Santiago This incident appeared 10
be very Characteristic of General Wood
He turned from all the officers and others
in the room to talk with this plain soldier
/ from the far West-who was but one of a
/ thousand or more OF his regiment of
Rough Riders-and to enter with the ut
most kindness. the most transparent and
/ genuine interest, into his plans-and all
F., without the least affection. Indeed, the
! whole appearance and manner of General
| Wood were such that probably no one
could have watched him during his re-
. ception in Colonel Kimball's office-or, it
was easy to believe, at any other time
| without feeling that he was an exceptional
man. His placid manner and speech
seemed TO diffuse tranquility. General
| Wood said:
| Il am here in response to a cablegram
from the War Department summoning
me Immediately to Washington. In the
! dispatch there was no intimation of the
| purpose for which / was wanted. /,
therefore, have no idea, except in the way
of pure surmise, as to why | have been
sent for. 1t may be that the Secretary,
knowing that for personal reasons l had
| for some time desired 10 come north for
a short while, thought that this would be
a suitable time TO please me, and stimuli
taneously to have some conference with
me on matters relating TO Santiago"
You did not, then. ask special leave to
| come here for the purpose of protesting in
| person against the order issued by Major
General Brooke requiring all the revenue
customs collected at Santiago TO be sent to
| Havana
| Most assuredly not. | did rot ask to
leave my post at all. although. as l have
said, the Secretary has understood for some
time that my personal affairs would make
few days north acceptable to me-
Some OF the newspapers, then, appear
| to have misrepresented things rather badly.
! II has been widely published here that the
, order of General Brooke had led to diff
| ference of opinion between you and him,
| amounting TO cOntroversy-that you had
| protested against the order, both to him
! and to Washington, and had predicted that
! it would bring to a standstill all the I'M
| provements undertaken at Santiago, and
| lead to great dissatisfaction and disorder. ;"
well that is all a mistake. General
! Brooke did not assume command of Cuba
as governor general until two days before
| | left, and the order referred to had not
! been promulgated at the time of my de-
I parture-indeed, not until two days after,
I as | now discover. Consequently there
/ have been no differences between General
| Brooke and myself over this order; or,
| please say, cTer anything whatever. On
| the contrary, cur relations have been as
harmonious and pleasant as it was pos
/ sibie for them to be. Neither have |
| protested to Washington against the order
of which l learn since leaving Santiago
nor have l made any OF the predictions
of disaster and rebellion if the order were
carried out. | am glad you mention the
matter. and | request that you will take
pains to correct the false impression that
may have been created. \ moments
consideration should have convinced one
OF the error. My administration at San
| tiago was purely military; my capacity
is simply that of a soldier: my duty is
only to obey the orders OF my superiors
II. therefore. was automatically told from
Washington to burn Santiago. | would do
ii without question or protest. Told to
do all can to improve the city and the
province. to bring order out of disorder
and restore prosperity. | exert myself TO
accomplish those results-subject always
to my superior officers.
Would you say whether, in your opin-
ion, the removal OF the customs receipts TO
Havana would be detrimental to progress
in Santiago or result in disturbances
there
No: those are leading questions. 1t is Il
subject about which the Secretary may
wish to interrogatG me, and | owe it TO him
to express my views first TO the Admins
tration, should they b. wanted on that or
any other definite question concerning the
direction of affairs at Santiago. All that
, can say is in general way. When | left
Santiago the province and the city were
perfectly quiet, and apparently there was
great contentment with the new order of
things and with the progress being made
toward better conditions. The improve