The times., 1899-10-22
Cnhnn Rccnnstruction.

well that il should be described iHliE ana
faithfully More than one book IS likely
10 be written on this subject and that Of
Mr.. Matthews is the first one Of any
prominence. It is fully illustrated. and
there are nearly four hundred pages of
ii.
The author begins With Havana as It was
under American military rule According
10 his observations. one month after Amer
lean occupation Of the city began it was
clean. He believes that General Ludlow
proved himself a thoroughly capable and
efficient officer. Then he passes 10 Ma
tanzss and in this chapter there is a pref
y bit Of description which is ECrtn qIot-
ing:
Three days after the reporter reached the scene
a the JohnstoWn flood Oie 81 taam began tIs
Et0ry, The dogs are barking again IN Johns
town meaning that normal conditions were
returning So ] might say of Cuba the cl1iareu
were laughing and paying again one could hear
their shouts ryWheIe. ON Ihe streets and
open spaces IL w-s ''one strike -EoIl, Third
base,' Slide as they played BASEBALL furious
ly and used American terms exclusive ely Al
might IN Inc Flaz@s OF the city li.tt paved ire
Cuban game 4 ring -around-a-rNsy % the music
OF American military bands. III Els one of the
commoncst sights in Matanzas 10 SEQ au AugTI-
can soldier trailing through the streets with Two
or three children, perhaps one perglCd 90 his
shoulders trading English for Spanish words.
The Spanish soldiers struck the children me
ot them the Spaniards manned out Of pure
yganfonness, The American soldiers c'-dled
them. PLAYED with them. and everywhere SOU
went it was "COod-by,' meaning How do sou
do from the lips Of the children when they
recognized you TO be an American. and your
hand stole into your pocket i-r aul-S M
E-inctiyelT.
The book, being merely q collection OF
newspaper letters. makes no attempt al
arrangement by topics, and after some
stories Of Spanish cruelty, quite as horri-
bic as anything in the reports which helped
10 bring about the war, the subject OF
sanitation in Havana is again considered.
From the authors description Of the SAM
tary or rather unsanitary conditions un-
der which the city has existed for nearly
three hundred years, Il would seem that II
was almost worth while to have war for
the sake Of cleaning out this plagua-spot 70
the south OF US. This state Of things has
been described more than once, but there L
& conCiseness and feryOr about Mt. Mat
thews' description which may make il
worth quoting;
Probably the greatest surprise that thousands
of pers ms found, when they Accked TO Havana
IN the frst sixty days Of American control, was
clean streets On bright suushlnv days
thev seemed cleaner than New York streets On
sainy dsys they were not 50 clean aS the streets
Of New York in wet weather The reason was
ahat ;here is foundation for the paving
Stones IN the streets Of Havana When hard
traffic jClts over the square, uHga MY paving
stones Cf tire city on q rainy day, the black
suu6 poisoned with the filth and disease germs
ot decades, aud even centuries. eXUaeS between
The stones. and the streets become black Win
dirt. Just q trihe blscker and thicker than the
biEck mud of lower New York streets when
Ftreet cleaning becomes largely matter Of poll
fics-that is. part Gi the game q z iilng money
out q public treasury without giving IN equiv
alent The rain over and the sun SHINING HaV-
snz's streets under AmeTican mill ary rue were
Es clean as those of any cty in tie United States.
When the Americans took actusl charge q the
CITY. however. the streets were ntliN- Btan AMI
mails ahounded garbage Was encountered every
vhera CUTTERS were foul, ard open mouths of
sewers running into the ocean or into the harbor
We're reekiac. Nauseatiug udCrs flied the AR,
and the condition ot the public buildings was
Buch that the American ARMY officers practically
refused 70 occupy them To illustrate tn fright
ful condition OF the public buildings. iet luc
ssr that IL one Of the rooms 0f the Fuerza Castle
occuied by the civil guard. and IN the group Of
pubic buildings q which the captain general
palace was the chic, the bodies of no less than
hfteen dead cats and dogs were found. These
animals had not died O. starvation They had
Ftrsved into this room IN the search for tord ana
ksd died oi the foul atmosuhere. A candle wou
Tot bum in tie place. Thirty-two carloads q
6irt were taken from the palace n the governor
O. Havana province. The condition 1f TIE cap
tain Egne-al.s palace was such that General
Brooke would uot occupy il, and De- went out
% q suburb called Fedado-
Then comes a chapter on "H0nest- Gus
toms Service IN Havana" In this there is
rather an amusing account Of something
which happened within the first six weeks
OF The new mauaEe cement. The editor Of
4 small newspaper wrote 2 blackmailing
letter 10 one Of the employees Of the custom
house. who carried the letter 10 Colonel
Bliss. Collector Of Customs. Colonel Bliss
gave out a general assurance that nobody
need fear dismissal without just reason,
and Summoned the blaclmailer 10 mis- Office,
where there was stormy interview. AZ
ter the interview Colonel Bliss received
letter from TIE blackmailer, who seemed
10 be unconscious that he had done any
thing wrong. and insisted that his victim
pay him what he seemed TO consider just
debt He said:
some years ago used TO publish al the proceed
5nrs Of TIE cash. and Nr. came % me IMpl1--
ing my silence he promised spontaneously 10
pav twelve subscriptions every month for the
i.me be- could Eeep ais employment, and that Is
tlc amount ! claim from ilIUi because DE Is IN
cestgc % ue for three cE iouI months
The naivete OF this is rather amusing.
bur 81 shows the condition OF things IN the
government Of the Spanish colonies. In
the chapter on The New Postal Service
s. IS stated that under the old postal sys-
TEN the letter carriers used to receive
their psy by charging from TO cents,
sometimes more, for every letter they de-
liveral.
The chapter on Americans in Cuba is
one of the most interesting. Il was 10 be
expected that after the war Americans
would flock TO the island with all sorts Of
business enterprises, and that was what
happened some OF these schemes were
successful but more were rot, and this
chapter is fun of picturesque incidents.
Il may be well to quote few paragraphs
which give fragmentary pictures OF Cuba
3ust after peace was declared:
soon ,hefs arrived the iranchise-seekers, the
conrractgrz the Adventures IN business, willing
10 take hold Gf ''auy old thing for the sake Of
selling out again few gamblers and crooks :
4neu of limited means. hoping 70 get pronia1le
soas iu ihc Work u reEeHerating tnG, place on
American ideas. some ofiice-ssekers with more oE
les hazy pals il Washington ana elsewhere /.
felri-ts cf aH sorts; merchants Cf small capital
intending r. open retail shops. aha' Ns ne means
lgzs, ~ an, the agents ~ American bfcHcr1csr
uAo p sstrrcd Havana from Cue end 20 the other
V5t EthlEtapHsd advertisements ~ American
beer. giving thC Cuh4us warped and exaggerated
3le1s ai sulefirsf-s ~ q nation Cf hard drinkers.
Ilis second army cf American occupation was
ERass s=en go tie b-st advantage al night, 10
and sr1InG leutrs! PARK iu Havana. Its MEM
beIs he'd the cafes crowded the sidewalks, pa-
trlGEed tire cabs extensively tlled tlC theatres
tL4t atrc running. and caused babel ot voices
q tlr centre a' the town iH which more English
words EHlL Spanish could Je heard one passed
ElouE Most of tsa@a Americans bad serious faces
Their money nas being used up every day and
there vas li.ile certainty thar any adequate re-
turn would result from their work laay sl-
luted ere augther 81 night ard asked hlw they
were getting on, and the commgnesa expression
T. hr heard was
u taink II 60 homo next week"
Many men % Havana looking for business cpcH-
tuEs seemed 81 b. inspired Ly 0yer-zealousnCss. /
remember one mar who was always oD the jump,
sEa who continually working over q lot Of
figures whenever be sat down. Hss told that
he vas from Michigan. and that BE- wanted o. in-