The Washburn leader. [volume] (Washburn, McLean County, N.D.) 1890-1986, 1899-10-07


properly educated and trained. There
is to be no attempt made to .proselyte
them, beyond teaching them to be
moral and honest. To better under
stand the terrible condition OF the
peasants of Cuba, who are the ones
row being benefited, a few quotations
from the report of one of the American
commission sets the facts more PLAINLY
before the public. He says:
Cuba was not suffering from a COM
mercial or financial panic. 1t was in a
state Of utter prostration and collapse.
Business and agricultural life a long
ceased. The whole island was dead.
Even now the result of Weyler's or
der OF Recommendation is not under
stood or appreciated in this country.
Should the commanding general In the
American army issue an order, n re-
suit of which would be that one could
travel from New York to Rochester
and not see one COW, not one chicken,
not one farmhouse, not n man work
ing in the fields, it would be something
similar to the result of Gen. Weyler's
recommendation order in Cuba.
The whole rural life of three great
provinces Havana, Matanzas and
Santa Clara-was absolutely blotted
out. Occasionally a clump of banana
trees, whose roots had escaped the fire,
or a scarlet creeper, would show where
a farmhouse had stood; but the trop-
ical growth quickly covered the ruins.
It was inconceivable that in the midst
of this teeming vegetation the country
should be a desert, for no signs OF
human life appeared.
ION the contrary, every town n
city visited was thronged with beggars.
many of them emaciated and gaunt;
women, children, cripples, and a few
broken-spirited men; and the dreadful
.odor of every place occupied by Span
ish soldiers. There was no decency,
there was no sanitation; in our sense
of the word, indeed, there was no dis
.cipline. It was a wanton and profit
gate devastation in the time of peace"
Amid all this misery, and herding to-
gether like cattle, were the little chill
dren, the future citizens of Cuba,
whether as a republic or as a part Of
the United States. And 1t was for the
up-bringing and development of the fu-
ture generation Of the island that the
Cuban orphan relief fund was started.
Mr.. Charles w. Gould, who is very
prominently connected with the fund.
made a remark a few days ago which
corroborates a statement made by a
Catholic priest. who had just returned
from Havana. as to the ~patriarchal
system in Cuba. Nj. Gould said:
Il never saw anything to equal the
love and sacrifice Of the Cuban parents.
The men died first, the women fol-
lowed and it is the children who are
left"
These remarks give ar idea of what
the Cuban orphan fund started out to
do. Miss Laura D. Gill was selected as
best fitted to represent the trustees of
the fund in Cuba. She has two assist
ants, Miss Levy and Miss Wilson, and
these three brave women, to use the
words Of n of the prominent men,
bers of the fund, ARE doing as true
missionary work as any Jesuit. ever
did"
Miss Gill writes:
"In Sancti Spiritus we found a con-
dition Of suffering which is much more
serious than anything which we have
seen before. There are over four hun
dred children who need to be taken
are of right away, and the town has
only been able to provide for twenty
five little girls, who were selected be-
cause they were physically worse OF
than anybody else in town. Although
they lave now been cared for nearly
six >seeks, they are still mere little
skeletons, and almost make one doubt
whether It was any kindness to help
them to live a few years longer"