Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1899-01-12
The Sanitary Needs Of Nav ina.

The report of the late Colonel War
ing makes 1t very evident that large
sum Of money will have to be expended
in providing the city OF Havana with
modern improvements and conditions
of cleanliness before it will be a safe
place for Anglo-Saxon races to live in,
and before it will cease 70 be. a menace
to health in this country. AS is well
known large part of the yellow fever
that has appeared in our Southern
states has come directly from the Gu
ban cities Of Santiago and Havana.
The terrible losses inflicted by this ter
rible scourge, are almost beyond esti-
mate. Now that both Of these cities
are under American control the oppor-
tun.ty should be promptly utilized to
remove the filthy conditions that have,
with each recurring season. bred this
terrible disease. Already under the
direction CT General Wood, himself an
able physician, a great work has been
done in securing conditions of 'cleanli-
ness in Santiago. 1t remains to in
.augurate a similar work in Havana.
and to put the results attained in both
cities upon a permanent basis. In
making plans for this great work at
Havana President Mckinley acte
wisely and well in employing the SER
vices of Colonel Warning. the most
eminent sanitary engineer in the
world. Colonel Waring made a
close and careful study of the
conditions existing in Havana,
and recommended plan for
putting the city in a good sanitary
condition, that was at once practical
and comprehensive. This plan en-
bodied a thorough system of sewers
and asphalt streets. 1t provided for
the reclaiming of number OF marshes.
and the building of garbage crema-
tory. These, and other necessary im-
provements would, in the estimation of
Colonel Waring, call for an expenditure
of s1O,00O,O00, and he very earnestly
urged the Importance of an early COM
it might be completed before the re-
currence of the next rainy season. I'm
less this should be done he foresaw
grave dangers growing out of the oc-
cupation of the island by our troops
and its largely increased intercourse
with this country. Naturally Cuba
viii be visited in the future by 4
greater number of Americans than
ever before, and the chances will be
vastly greater for the spread in this
country of the yellow fever or any
other epidemic that may originate
there. IT would certainly seem as if
no time should be lost in institutina
the great reform works that are neces.
slry to guard against this great dam
ger. The receipts at Havana could
not we'll be devoted to a better use,
than to put the plans of Colonel War
ing into practical operation.
Already the American troops have
accomplished a large amount of clean
ing up in Havana and it is. doubtless.
entirely safe to say that this city is
cleaner today than it has ever been
before. 1t is said. too, that the digging
Of a short canal could be made to re-
lieve the harbor OF it's present filthy
waters. A writer in the Boston Eve
ming Transcript commenting upon the
apathy Of the Cubans touching the
question of sanitation says:
"A city in the tropics which is with
out a system Of sewers and which is
located on a harbor where the daily
rise and fall of the tide is within
peculiarly narrow limits presents needs
for sanitation which must be forced
upon a population whose ways Of
thinking are strongly tinctured with
fatalism. The people of Havana have
been so long wonted to unswept
streets, to houses practically drainless,
that they have come to accept these
conditions as something to be expected
and to which they must philosophical
ly fit themselves. The Spaniards are
of the same way of living and think
ing"
Whatever is done to make Havana a
healthy city will have to be done by
Americans. Experiences in our own
country has demonstrated the fact
that, with proper sanitary precautions.
the cities in our Southern states may
be made as free from contagious dis
eases as those in any part of the coaln
try. What has been done in the great
Southern cities of our own country can
be done at Havana if the work is
promptly begun and vigorously
| pushed.
The Use Of Custom Receipts In Cuba.
| There appears TO have been good