The San Juan County index. (Aztec, N.M.) 1890-19??, 1899-01-13
S~ANTIAGO'S POOH-BAH
GENERAL WOODS ADAPTIVE
NESS.
The Emcient Governor 4, Always Abort
aud vigorous-He Secs Everything and
Correcta Many Evils

When Colonel Teddy Roosevelt is
sworn in at Albany the rough riders
VIII have given two governors to the
nation, for General Leonard Wood Is
the military governor Of Santiago dc
Cuba. The rough rider governor Of
New York win have to set a pretty hot
pace when he begins his ~gubernatorial
career II he would run in the same
glass with the rough rider governor of
Santiago, for General Wood not onlv is
making history but a record beyond the
most sanguine hopes of his warmest
admirers. 1t Is a striking coincidence
that the colonel Of the rough riders
should be appointed governor Of Santa
go and lieutenant colonel of that com
mand be elected governor of New York
in less than six months from the day
the rough riders were sworn into the
service Of the United States. But those
who know both men can readily be-
lieve that the sequence Of events
placed both men where they are sole
~ by the operation Of the law Of the
selection Of the tittesr.
1t would take a long and weary
search to find two men more unlike
than Governor Wood and Governor
elect Roosevelt. Roosevelt is all fire,
demonstrative enthusiasm, explosive
energy, visible aggressiveness, leading
up to pyrOtechnical finishes. Wood is
like a hydraulic press which nccom-
plishes large results quietly and unos-
tentatiously by the exercise Of ire
mendous and unnOticeable energy,
l asked General Wood about FIVE
minutes after he had taken his seat at
the desk formerly used by the Spanish
governor general what he would do
first.
"Clean out about 200 years of dirt"
he replied.
That very hour the first gang of Gu
bans was put TO work on the streets.
The first week Of his administration
Governor Wood was in the saddle eigh-
teen hours a day. He personally
inspected every foot Of every street, al
ley, court and lane in old Santiago. He
made a house to house canvass, exam
ming interior courts, rooms and hall
ways, and before the Spaniards and
Cubans of the city knew what had hap
pened they were whitewashlng their
houses, digging dirt out Of their courts,
sweeping their halls, cleaning their
rooms and obediently and dutifully fill
ing barrels with refuse, which was set
out every morning on the curbs of the
narrow sidewalks for the carts and
Quartermasters' wagons which patrolled
the town.
The citizens did this unusual, this
unprecedented, kind of work not under
orders of Governor Wood, but because
the alcalde-the mayor of Santiago
had issued the instructions. Governor
Wood, with that diplomatic craft
which has enabled him to administer
the municipal affairs without friction,
never put his name under an order,
ordinance or official proclamation in the
earlier days of the American Occupa-
ton of Santiago. All such papers were
signed by the mayor of the city, but
they were written in General Woods
office and carried across the hall to the
mayors Office.
The military governor of Santiago
was a veritable POoh-Bah; he was
mayor, corporation counsel, commits
sioner of public works, superintendent
of police, commissioner of health, oil
Inspector, inspector Of weights and
measures, port physician, harbor mas
ter, superintendent of street and alley
cleaning, gas inspector, city attorney
city collector, city treasurer, city clerk
chief janitor of the city hall, desk ser
geant of the central station and police
magistrate. IN this continuous mu.
nicipal performance General Wood
played all parts without leaving the
stage, sometimes acting two or more
roles at once.