The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1899-04-04
CUBA AND THE CUBANS.
President Washburn Talks
Of His Trip to the
South.

President r. c.. Washburn of the Hud.
son County National Bank, accompanied
by Mrs. Washhurn, arrived in Jersey City
yesterday from a trip to Cuba and tht
islands in the South. Mr.. Washburr
was at the bank this morning, and fol-
some time was busy receiving compli-
ments from his friends. who %truthfully
told him that he looked the picture OF
health. He had an interesting story to tel.
of his trip, and of his observations of the
state of Cuba through which he travelled
from Santiago to Havana
I'VE left New York on the Paris" said
Mr.. Washburn to a News" representa-
tive. ION the fourth of March last with a
party of 400 people aboard, one of whom
was ex-Secretary John Sherman. 1 was
introduced to him, and we had a pleas
ant voyage to Puerto Rico. 1t was SO
rough when we got to San Juan that we
had to land in boats, and Mr.. Sherman
caught a severe cold, and, as you know,
the Government sent the Chicago to bring
him home. From San Juan we visited
the Barbados. and went to St Thomas.
The people in that pretty island heard we
were coming and on our arrival pro-
claimed a holiday and gave US a royal
welcome. From ST. Thomas we vent to
Trinidad and visited the bituminous lakes
from which the supply of asphalt is taken.
Mr.. Washburn was enthusiastic about
the Island. 1t was prosperous, he said,
and he had never seen better crops. The
government of the island was English
and in all the islands he had visited, he
declared that the English governed
islands were far ahead of those in con-
troll of other countries. The sugar crops
on the island were splendid. From Trim
dad the party went to Ponce, but did not
land. There was small pox in the place
and to land meant no clean bill for health
for Jamaica, the next port. AS in Trim
dad Mr.. Washburn found that under
English rule there was order, good gov
ernment and prosperity.
'After leaving jamaica" continued Mr..
Washburn, our good ships nose was
pointed to the Pearl of the Antilles, Cuba
and soon the harbor of Santiago was in
sight with grim old MORO Castle frown-
ing over the narrow deflle through which
Admiral Cervera's feet passed to its
destruction by our fleet. As we came
along the coast we could see the sunken
Christobal Colon now almost covered
with the waves. High on the beach were
the Reina Mercedes and another vessel on
which the wreckers We're. WORKING, On
arriving in the old capital of San Diego
we made haste to visit the battleields OF
San Juan. Ell Caney and Las Guasimas,
and our party roamed for hours over the
famous San Juan Hill, up which our men
so CALAMITY charged. All that remained
of the blockhouse was quickly scooped
in by the relic hunters who carried away
bricks and pieces of wood. They would
have carried off the hill itself If they
could have conveniently transported it.,
"All the trenches were filled up, for the
Spaniards used these trenches as graves
for their fallen. Our men, who were
buried on these battlefields. lave all been
removed, and while we were there the
work of removing the bodies to America
was in progress. 1t was at santiago tnat
the Chicago arrived and took Mr. Sher-
man home"
Mr.. and Mrs. Washburn, in order to
see the country took a trip on the rail-
road from Matanzas to Havana, and they
found sugar mills burned. fields laid
waste, ruin, desolation and devastation
everywhere. The people didn't seem, he
said, to have anything to do or seem
willing to do anything if they a The
Cubans so Americans told him. were lazy
to the extreme and only seemed anxious
to receive their rations. The Spaniards,
Mr.. Washburn said, were better than the
Cubans, but there was among all of them
a woeful lack of ENTERPRISE. AS an in
stance. Mr.. and Mrs. Washburn took a
railroad trip from Matanzas to Havana.
and at the railroad station there We're
a few matched huts huddled together,
which the Cubans dignified by the name
of q town.
Returning home, the party stopped at
Nassau and then to New York after
a delightful trip all too short.