The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1899-03-06

nuence, energy, and intelligence were
apparent. The city had an American
bank, a meteorological station, two
American express companies, and
free postal delivery system, with drop
boxes for letters in almost every street;
It had mail communication two or
three times week with Guantanamo,
san Luis, Holguin, Gibara, Sagua,
Manzanillo, Baracoa, and ten other vii
lagos and towns within the limits of
the province: it was fairly well lighted
at night, and was patrolled by neatly
uniformed police force, armed with
machetes and clubs. and life and prop
erty were as safe in it as in any city
of equal size in the United states. Hun
dreds Of shops and stores that had been
closed and barred when l last saw the
city were open and full of customers;
the stocks of goods offered for sale were
extensive and varied; the markets
were well supplied with fish and meats,
as well as with fresh fruits and vege-
tables from gardens and truck farms
that were not in existence six months
ago; and the whole city, in its COM
mercial aspect, had an air of prosper
ity that, in July, l did not believe 1t
ever would or could have"
This is not all Mr.. Kennan con-
tinues: -Four or five months ago,
when an army officer had occasion to
buy anything, on government account,
from a native merchant, the latter felt
no hesitation in offering to make out
the bin for double the real value of
the purchase-that is, for twice the
amount actually paid-so that the Off
Ger might use the fraudulent bill as a
voucher and put into his own pocket
as much money as he had given in eX-
change for the merchandise. Such
deals were of daily occurrence un-
der the Spanish regime, but they are
never proposed or suggested to gov
ernment official now. In August last
any citizen of Santiago might dump a
load of filth or of rotten garbage into
the street in front of his house, and
nobody ever thought of objeCting or
protesting. Now, it that sort of thing
is done or attempted, an outcry is i'm
mediately raised by the aggrieved and
indignant neighbors. and complaint
is promptly lodged with Major Bar
bour. the chief of the street-cleaning
department. one year ago, under the
Spanish regime, there was not a pub
lie school-house in the City--that is, d
Building originally intended for educa-
tiOnal purpOses-nCr was there any
thing like a system of free public in
struction. Now there are seventeen
elementary and grammar schools and
a high school, with an average num-
Der of 1922 pupils, and the private
| houses rented for temporary use as
school buildings are wholly inadequate
TO accommodate the number of chill
dren who have applied for admission"
This unparalleled regeneration"
writes Mr.. Lewis, has been wrought,
| not by a host of men native to the To-
! cality, exercising offices long estab-
| lished, and enjoying a traditional pres
| tige, but by AN American commander
| of volunteers, stranger to the place
and the people, embarked in the work
! d
/ his immediate aides only a few fellow
army officers. some of whom had been
! out Of West Point less than two years,
and all of whom were as new to the
situation as himself. 1t was the tour
de force of a man Of genius. for in the
harder, more fundamental of the tasks
that confronted him in Santiago Gen
wv. l.,
vious experience"
General Wood entered military life
as an assistant army surgeon and was
from that rank advanced rapidly to a
! major generalship. His advancement
did not exceed his merit; in fact it is
doubtful if any honor could be too high
for such u man after such n work;
hut it has aHgered the regular army
! men, and the result is seen in the in
| reference with Woods work made by
| General Brooke from Havana. Brooke
has never been in Santiago province;
he has no personal knowledge of any
of the conditions existing there; he
has given in the past no evidence of eX'
traordinary executive ability which
should warrant him in ordering arbit,
rary changes in Woods plans, yet HI
is Woods ranking officer and what h
says Wood must obey. On their merits
Wood ought to BE- governor general
and Brooke the subordinate, but army
priority pull and precedent cripple the
good man by enthroning the incom
pCtent, and the public service has Il
suffer COrrespOndinGly.
This is one Of the weaknesses in oui
form of political government which
public opinion must correct.
C. T.. Shores, who has been placed il
the county Jail for wife-beating, boasts
that he has lived in America seventeen
years and has never been naturali2ed
because he does not like the laws o
the country Come to think of it, tn
laws are not just right. There shoulC
be a whipping post in every ward 70
Wife beaters.
The ordering Of another trans-isth
mian canal survey will not expedite
the construction Of a canal, nor wa
it intended TO, but it will cause tn