The morning news., 1899-12-31

we'll in Spanish. Indeed. he has surprised
more than one Cuban by his understand
ing Of the language, replying TO remarks
that were not intended for his ears
Not long ago while the agitaung
papers were at their worst, he was spend
ing a day shooting guinea fowl back IN
the jungle. While he was resting a num-
Der of natives gathered around, not know
ing that he was the governor Of the prov
ince, and after some general conversation
he asked them what they thought Of the
publications in the revolutionary papers
The spokesman of the party made answer
in one of those iuimitable Spanish cpl
grams: "The editors, they write to eat.
We work; we are satisfied" Further
more. Wood surrounded himself with Gu
bans in his Office. He trusts them per-
fectly and they trust him perfectly. As
consequence. no officer in the island
knows the natives more thoroughly
than he.
Wood is an extraordinarily hard worker.
He is up early in the morning, and fire.
quently visits several hospitals, the jail or
the market, before he reaches his office a
half past eight or more. He is readily
accessible to rich and poor, and his ex-
traordinary physical endurance enables
him to see many people and attend 10 the
thousand and one trying details OF such
an Office and do everything well Indeed,
he appears to do a great many unneces-
sary things, that is, unnecessary things
from the strict view point of duty. He
goes a the work of Improvement in all
sorts of lines, because il interests him per-
sonally. His motto is mo energy is lost
to the universe" Take one example
The Cuban is by nature more or less Slip
shod In his way of doing things, Wood is
thorough, with a thoroughness that is an
unfailing astonshment to the native.
staid in a hotel that was just being re-
al fo Of wall
The proprietor was telling me how Woods
men had done the fumigating
why" he said, they squirted their dis
infectants under the tiles of the roof"
That was something that no one of Span
ish blood ever would have thought of do
ing
Wood has few diversions; his work is
his greatest pleasure, although he gets
keen enjoyment from riding his big gray
horse through the country-he is a natural
born rider-or of inspecting the various
parts in his provinces on transport. He
also reads q good deal, books of history,
military lore and an occasional novel,
When / last saw him he was deep in
Richard Carvel"
OF the government of Cuba, he has his
own definite though simple plans. He be-
lieves in removing largely the American
troops from the island and substituting
number of regiments enlisted from among
theory, for before he ventured to suggest
such a scheme to the war department he
had actually experimental with it in San
tiago by the enlistment of a small COM
pany of men under the general rules of
the Rural Guards, and yet drilled and Off
cered as an American company would
have been He found what some critics
have denied, that the Cubans were eager
soldiers and readily amenable to the strict
discipline of American army life. His idea
is to have number of such regiments Of
fcered. in the higher places at least. by
Americans. These could occupy the forts
and other points of vantage, and he has
confidence enough in the Cubans them
selves TO promise peace in the island. With
this system of military occupation there
would need to be at the head of the island
an honest American, whose chief office
would be to keep the bad Cubans out of
power and the good ones in until such
time as the good Cubans could control the
government He believes that DiaZ of
Mexico is the ideal ruler of a Spanish
American country-strong and honest and
steady.
Success" he said, " is so easy that it
is a crime to fail"
He will now have an opportunity at try
ing his powers on the whole island of
Cuba. His appointment showed an extra
ordinary amount of confidence in him on
the part of the administration at Wash
ington, for if he should fail, the blame
would fall on the President, because he
had appointed so young a man, and ap-
pointed him al the expense of so many
older officers in the army. But Wood will
not fail; he is not the kind of a man who
fails. And yet when his friends congratrl-
lated him recently of his appointment to
the governorship. he said: "Wait year"
r. S. Baker.
---s-Sr-p-