The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1899-01-09
HAVANA A MENACE
COL. wARING FOUND THE CUBAN
CITY A vERITABLE PLAGUE
SPOT
URGENT NEED OF REFORM
America Faces a Peril More Danger
Gus Than War, and One Against
Which No Military VaIOr Can Pre-
vail - Eight Million Dollars Is
Needed to Put the City in a sani-
tary Condition..

WASHINGTON, Jan. S.-The war de-
partment made public today a synopsis
Of the late Col. George A. Warnings re-
port of his visit to Havana under the
special Instructions of the war depart
ment, given him early last autumn. to
inspect the sanitary condition Of the
city and to make such recommends
tions for the future Improvement of the
town as might be suggested.
Col. Waring condemns the street
cleaning system as inadequate and
those in charge of it as incompetent.
Nc attention, public or private, is paid
to the laws of sanitation. To make
matters worse, dwellings are crowded
to a dangerous degree, the average
population for every house in the city
being over ten. Broad marshes near
the harbor are constant source of
malaria, and into these is dumped the
sewage Of the city.
The water supply Of Havana, says
Mr.. Waring, is Of the purest and most
excellent character. This, with the
winds of the gulf, save the city from
being absolutely and unqualihedly bad.
The city Is q veritable plague spot.
It's own people. largely immune though
they are to yellow fever, which has pre-
vailed In Havana without interruption
for 1853 years. fall constant victims to
the pefnicious malaria and depressing
inf noes to which they are always
subjected. The conditions, says Mr..
Waring, will carry the terrible scourge
M 10 c1,o
rise in war for humanity and wipe
out an enemy with which no military
valor can cope.
In conclusion Col. Waring says:
would it not be wise to accept the
fact at once that We are confronted
with a danger compared with which
war is Insignificant and proceed to
meet 1T and conquer it while we may?
We cannot afford to wait until we
have fed it and strengthened it with
the lives of our people, The necessary
reforms call for costly work even now.
But months of delay will render them
more costly and more imperative We
can set about these reforms now calm
~ and Judiciously. Later, under the
impulse of panic, we should work at
lar greater disadvantage.
IMPROVEMENTS NEEDED.
The improvements which, in his
judgment, are absolutely necessary to
make Havana a healthy city are set
forth in detail in Col. Warnings report.
They include well organized depart
ment of public cleaning under a sin
gle commissioner; the construction of
complete sewer system; a completely
appointed abattoir; the repaving of all
streets with asphalt; a suitable and
sufficient cremating plant for garbage
and sweepings, and the reclaiming Of
all the marshes
Col. Waring states that it Is not
possible, from the data now available
to estimate the cost Of all the work
needed, save to say that it will be over
$S,000,000. 1t is estimated, says Col.
Waring, that single epidemics intro
duced into the United States from
Havana have cost in the Mississippi
valley alone $100, 000, 600 in loss to In
dustry and commerce, aside from the
loss of life, amounting in 1878 and 1879
to 1891, in addition to the enormous
cost Of the sickness Of those who re-
covered. Col. Waring further states
that, in his judgment, the complete
execution of the work above indicated
would completely eradicate yellow fe-
yer from Havana for all time; would
relieve it from the malaria which is
now SO fatal, and would reduce it's
normal death rate from it's present
high figures (not for from so per 1,000)
to about 20 per 1000. He says. if these
improvements are to be made, there
must be no delay and no halfway
measure. All that is indicated must
be done in the best and most COM
plete manner, and it must all be done
before June 1, 1899. If this is not done,
there is reason to fear that yellow fe-
yer will be rife in Havana in the com
ing season, on account of the large
number of unprotected people who
will go there from the United States.