The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1899-02-26
REGENERATION.
ryr NEW sTIRRING OF INDUsrRIAB
IRE AFTER THIS wars
AHFUL HORRoRS.

abgNThiuR 0pGtNhthS VI ~ AEOhNFNNo
state Rising Into Activity and Hope.
Tho steamship Bratten, sent by tho United
80 Government with food for destitute
S,hons. reached Havana Nov. % last.
,,nio was not suffering from a commercial or
..nc;sI manic. IL was in q state OF utter pros
.n.,inn md collapse. Business and agrieul-
,".,i Ifo had long ceased. Tho whole island
ran now the result OF weyler's order OF re-
,orc.ntration is not understood or appreciated
IN ,bis country. Should the commanding Gen.
ami in the American army issue an order the re-
,nIt NJ " hich would be that one could travel from
Ms YORK TO Rochester and see not one COW, not
one chicken, not one farmhouse, not one man
vnrrinp In the fields. 1t would be something
'%,U,iI,r 70 the result Of Gen. weyler's recon-
o.n,ration order in Cuba The whole rural
Nt, q, three great provinces, Havana, Matan-
.as and Santa Clara, was absolutely blotted out.
nccn sionally q clump Of banana trees whose
1T had escaped the fire. or a scarlet creeper,
..,nI5 show where a farmhouse had stood;
hnt m. tropical growth quickly covered the
Inns II was inconceivable that in tho midst
~ This teeming vegetation the country should
y, n Desert. but IL was a desert. for no sign OF
human life appeared.
IN the contrary. every town and city visited
ros thronged with beggars. many OF them
smociated aud gaunt; women, children. Grip
Mas and a few broken-spirited men; and the
dreadful odor of every place occupied by Span
ish soldiers-the misery. the want, and the ALL
neryading smell OF human excrement. There
was no decency, there was no sanitation. there
M scarcely a p~retence OF discipline; In our
sense of the word, indeed. there was no disci-
mime, II was a wanton and profiigate devasta-
" p. 49,. tip,a ~ pnana
Ry permisslon the following report OF the
condition OF tho town of Guanabacoa last 0c-
tobsr is published. Some towns were worse,
some were better. 1t is a fair sample.
"Guanabacoa-Town. about $4,000 people.
Five miles east OF Havana, across the bay.
l located upon beautiful hills, good water sup
rv and so healthful that 1t was for years a
fashionable summer resort OF rich inhabitants
NJ Havana. Kept this reputation to the be-
ginning of the war. three years since. Present
condition, starvation. sickness. filth. infectious
and contagious diseases; spirit OF inhabitants
broken; moral panic.
Death rate before the war. only a few hun-
dred annually at present time. from thirty to
nifty daily. Sick persons in nearly every house.
hospital crowded with patients, placed five in
n he'd without medicine or nurses sufficient.
zone principal cause of disease, the cemetery.
Few StDdlulc EtoNto "a NoN" NoJ -
french is dug, in which bodies are placed pro-
miscuously and insuficiently covered. Often
the trench for the day is too small for the days
dead. and bodies lie by the wall tied up in sacks
and rags, ~decaying in the sun and preyed upon
by buzzards and dogs. The cemetery was full
more than five years ago. since which time
more than 5000 interments have been made.
All trenches dug now display old bodies par
TALLY decayed. Cemetery is too near the Gen.
ire of population. No attempt is made to keep
idlers away from it.
Streets reek with offal. human excrement.
drains from privies. and every kind OF filth.
City government paralyzed. and all attempt at
government suspended. Few or no police in
actual service. Streets rot light at night. No
~pretence OF street cleaning or cleaning privies
and drains. Public slaughterbouse. focus OF
infection. Public market. unfit for sale of food.
There are few men in the town able to work.
Most OF the inhabitants are women and chill
dren and sick men.
THE little money collected by the authorities
for local taxes. &C., is used to pay their own
salaries. There are five times as many officials
rs public business requires. During the past
month, from Oct. l to Oct. %. the city paid out
S3.l20,S6, of which S2.480.07 was for salaries
and fees. u small portion of the remainder
going to the poor and the hospitals.
THE inhabitants can do nothing to better
their condition without the aid Of the officials
and the military. Street cleaning is a public
function. and If a private committee attempted
II the citizens say they would be stopped. both
by city officials and soldiers. The condition Of
the cemetery cannot be remedied or new
cemetery ground obtained without the action
ofthe Bishop and of the Council OF Secretaries
Of the Colonial Government. Attempts have
- a .~~-A H.
petitions.
The Alcalde and the Colonel commanding
the troops at Guanabacoa could keep the
streets, markets. slaughterhouses and privies
clean. Twelve men, in one day, could clean
and put in condition for use a bath accommo-
dating 300 persons daily. Instead OF lend
ing assistance. the soldiers both contribute to
the filth and prevent its being removed by
citizens. 4 case was reported TO me, where
localities cleaned by private individuals for the
protection Of their sick children were after
ward deliberately dehled and made worse by
the soldiers.
"Imay add, as an illustration of the tyranny
Of the soldiers. that a leading physician told
me Of n poor woman with three sick children,
who came to purchase medicine for them. her
only money being four pesetas which she had
earned the preceding day by complying with
'e wishes OF Tour spanish SolulofS, Ia peseGa
Ia worth about IA cents
There are 1000 Spanish troops at Guanaba-
Goa. Their commander is Antonio Ordones.
Lieutenant Colonel: the Alcalde is Miguel
Valera"
But enough To return to the Bratten and
It's cargo. The first duty was to supply the
western end OF the island with some small
provision for its immediate wants, and this
was arranged through the invaluable assist
ance of Gen. Menocal. commanding the insur-
gent army at that end. The night OF the day
the steamer arrived in Havana she was at
Marionao. ten miles 10 the westward OF
Havana, dlscharging cargo. for the necessity
was urgent. BY 8 o'clock tho next morn
Ing thirty-lve tons OF rations had been
delivered. At noon the next day the
steamer was back In Havana. and the morning
following was in Matanzas. fifty miles to the
east. MatanZas had been visited by the Comal
month or so before. and 1t was felt that nc
further distribution should be made at the
moment in that city. Under adyices from Gen
MenocaI. Gen. Betancourt undertook TO dis
tribute food to the country behind and beyond
the city. outside OF the radius hitherto relieved