The Worcester spy. [volume] (Worcester, Mass.) 1898-1904, 1899-07-02
GEN. WILSON'S WISDOM.
What This Accomplished officer Has
Been Doing in Matanzas.

Gen. Wilson was one of the most bril-
he left the army affairs of business,
of study, of diplomacy engaged his at
tention, and as result he became one
of the best-equipped men of affairs, in
an all-around sense, in the country.
Extensive travel brought a rare polish
to his makeup, and contact with men
in every degree of life so increased his
horizon as to give his active powers of
observation unusual scope, and to de-
velop his instincts of sympathy and
justice to a rare extent. He is the
broadcast kind of man, the best type
of an American civilian and an Ameri-
can soldier He harmonized Earring in
terests. He brought about condition
of peace among the people themselves
that they never experienced before,
and it was easy for an observer to see
that the people of the province almost
idolized him.
Here is an Illustration of the gener-
ais way of doing things: When the
Spaniards left the province the Gu
bans came to him and asked II they
might not have a celebration IN honor
of the event.
Certainly" said Gen. Wilson. "Move
fiesta if you wish. Put up your fiags
and banners, and have your pacades
and dances, and when you get through
I will order out my entire complement
of troops to show you what American
soldiers are like and to pay honor TO
YOU
When it is considered that Gen. Will
son made preparations for taking a
census long before any official instruc-
lions reached him, that he made
study of labor conditions, gathered
statistics of every kind in relation to
the province-his material on sugar
alone would be sufficient for an ex-
haustive treatise-and in addition gov
erned wisely meeting the many COM
plicated problems with resource, cour-
age and frankness, it is impossible to
restrain admiration for him. He re-
tanned men in the offices they held,
unless they We're incompetent or guilty
of improper conduct. He induced the
Cubans even to select former Spanish
sympathizers to serve with them on
the boards that managed municipal
affairs In several places, and he kept
lreiteratihg on all proper occasions that
the mission of the United States forces
in Cuba was for pacification solely. He
fed from 10000 to 10000 persons daily
for a time, sought ways of finding en-
plOym6nC 1Or Ine poor dIlu encouraged
them to take heart. He visited the hos
pitfalls and caused them to be purified;
opened homes for orphans; cleaned the
streets and. pest holes-work in which
he had the full cooperation and sup
port of his chief military assistant,
Brig. Gen. Sanger.
He tried to devise means of improv-
| ing commerce, and so thoroughly was
he inSormed that while talking on this
subject 1 remember he quoted almost
off hand figures showing the amount
of sugar shipments from Cardenas and
Matanzas. In 1894, he said, there were
| 2,471 900 sacks shipped, and in 1898 the
shipments had fallen to 100000 sacks.
| He told me that in his Investigations
he had found that the pay of unskilled
labor was 40 cents a day, and the cost
of living from 20 to Is cents day
allowing cents for rice, cents for
meal, cents for beans, and the rest
for other things. He had gathered full
4 statistics about the 500 miles of rail-
roads in the province and about, the
shipping interests of the various har-
bors. The province of Santa Clara was
added to his command recently, and he
has just finished trip through it.
Harper's Weekly