Virginian-pilot. (Norfolk, Va.) 1898-1911, 1899-01-22
SENATOR DANIEL on CUBA.
Gives a Graphic Description of Scene.
There.


There.
The following interview with Senator
John w. Daniel. now in Havana. was
printed Friday by the New York Jour
nal:
our sources of information" he said
are so numerous and I have read and
thought so much about Cuba ever since
the breaking out of the last insurrec-
ton. that there have been few sur
prises either in the city of Havana or
the country over which have travelled
The people and the general situation
differ little from what L had antici-
pated.
Everything is now at the lowest
water mark. The country is ravaged
solitary and desolate. The people, out
side of the wealthy in the cities, are in
the deepest poverty and distress. Gene
raj Davis. who is Governor of Pinar del
ltio. tells me that one-half OF the peo-
pie have persisted i'll the war. \ highly
intelligent Cuban gentleman estimates
that onc-third of the population of the
whole island has succumbed to casual
ties and in conflict
The city of Havana is beautiful. 1t
shows everywhere refinement taste
culture and civilization, in many re-
spects OF high order, but curiously
mixed with most grotesque contradict
lions. The effects of bad government
are seen everywhere. Every communi-
ty now wears the gray and grief worn
aspect of the old days. The cities are
in need of Il plumber and a street COM
mission Everywhere Il general house
cleaning is the first necessity for Gu
ba. Delapidation is everywhere mani
TEST. There were some l., 900 Spanish
troops at Matanzas when l reached
there few days ago. 1 have seen
thousands of them, and officers and
men alike have deported themselves
admirably with courtesy dignity and
propriety. There is a wide difference
between the officers and men. such as
we DO not discern in the American
armies. The officers are neat in their
attire and show good training as to
manners and conduct The men. while
well conducted. appear small feeble.
Siouchy and neglected, while their sal
low faces look as If three square meals
day were medicine they much need
-efr--EAe tllcers,-enpdnct- has heen
most gentlemanly and soldler-likc.
Il nave met and mingled with Gu
bans of all classes. / have been in
homes of elegance. refinement and
taste, unsurpassed in these clements by
any in any American city. | have met
twenty or thirty Cuban officers, who all
appear TO be respectable, we'll disposed
anu worthy gentlemen. Most of the
private Cuban soldiers I have seen are
coiored men. quite like those we see in
The South. with the exception that their
information is more limited. though
their natural intelligence is not infe-
flor The Cuban army has many more
colored than white soldiers. and the
cciored man here, in his natural hab-
itat, seems larger and bears better the
deprivations of the field and the OK
hhustive influence of the climate. Out
side OF the cities the whole population
is against the Spaniards and all arc
most cordially inclined to America
with every confidence of the good will
and justice of our people.
mere is no word that can adequate
~ portray the utter desolation of the
poor. The faces of hundreds of women
neiorc seen the like, and hope never
10 see the like again. 1t would turn n
stone 10 tears to see the scores OF lit
tie ragged girls and boys and MANY
times more equally destitute women
stretching forth their emaciated hands
ana pecrinS into the car windows at all
stations, with their eager faces craving
the least contribution OF bread or
money. Such scenes have become so
familiar to the people here and those
VINO sympathiZe with them are so ex-
lausted i'll their resources that the cal
lousness and Indifference of despair has
settled upon many. Were such scenes
as have witnessed to-day between
Alatan2as and Havana to occur In any
part of the United States there would
he rush of provisions and money to
relieve them with irresistible impulse.
Ike the charging of an army.
Ihe hardness and cruelty Of Spain
role in Cuba and the mseries of its
populace cannot he exaggerated. and
there is still the constant and pressing
need of relief for the scantiest neces-
sites OF existence. The scene at the
palace and in Havana on January LIST
was the most impressive and thrilling
I CIVIC sueGtaclc 7 have ever Witnessed.
| Ihere has been nothing like it to I'll the
breast of an American with unutter-
| able pride in and love for his own coun-
| try, or to excite his sympathy for the
long oppressed people who welcomed
our naS as the harbinger of rescue.