The record-union., 1899-02-12
One ofthe Worst Stations in San
tiago Province for Troops.
Difficult for Anyone 10 Stay There Many
Weeks and Retain Health.

One Kind or Another-Sanitary
Conditions Improved Since
American Control, but Much
Yet to be Done to Make It
Healthful Place.
Correspondence of the Associated Press.)
SANTIAGO DE CUBA, JAN o.
Guantanamo has been more or less I'M
the public eye since last June when
the marines landed at Caimanera in
Guantanamo Bay, sixteen miles from
the city of Guantanamo. 1t is a city
of some 10000 inhabitants, surrounded
by sugar and coffee estates, the former
being in the majority. 1t has always
been large garrison town of tho
Spanish forces, and for many years
the district has been considered as the
| most dangerous one under Spanish rule
In fact, the very first shot of the in
surrection four years ago was fired
within ten miles of this city.
The merchants are mainly Spanish,
with a sprinkling of English, German,
| French and Italian. The old town itself
has all the quaint Moorish aspect about
| it SO familiar to those who have Wis
a quaintness and picturesqueness about
| it, surrounded as it is by hills, that
reminds one very much of the city of
! Santiago when seen from certain points.
1t is on higher altitude than almost
any city in the province. and should
| for that reason be one of the healthiest
| in the province but it seems so inn
| pregnated with malaria and fever
germs of one kind or another that it is
| difficult for any one to stay there many
| weeks and retain his health 1t has
! proved to be the worst station in the
| province for troops, but the sickness
among the troops is no more in propor-
ton than the sickness among the in
habitants of the city.
| There are probably two or three
causes combining to make this unde-
sirable state of affairs. In the first
place, the water is supplied from house
| to house in barrels on carts. There is
very little question but that a good
water system would not only be ex-
ceedingly useful and a great boon to the
! inhabitants, but also as a sanitary
| measure would be Invaluable, and with
| the very many mountain streams in
the near neighborhood there should be
very little difficulty in supplying the
city with all the pure water needed the
| year round.
| Since the Americans have been there
| sanitation has to a certain extent been
| carried on on about as an extensive
scale as at Santiago To make the
city healthy it would probably take
an appropriation Of at least a quarter
of a million dollars and the temporary
services of some sanitary expert like
Major Barbour, who has had such sig
nal success here. In three months he
could organize a sanitary department
| there and have it got in good working
order, so that if it did not completely
/ check yellow fever next summer, it
would considerably curtail it.
For generations there has been prac-
! tically no attempt at sanitation of any
/ description, and the city being on level
| ground, nature has been unable to as
sist in that respect, as was possible at
Santiago, for here, when the heavy
rains come down, the majority of the
streets being on an incline, all leading
! down toward the bay are washed by
| the force of the water and cleaned III
a natural way; but in Guantanamo
the water merely sinks into the ground,
leaving the dirt where it was before,
which. when it becomes dry, gradually
/ C
of affairs requiring immediate atten-
| ton before the spring is well on the
way.
| So far as the troops are concerned,
! Colonel Ray believes there is no ne
! cessity for a company, and if he had
| his way would remove the headquar-
| ters of his regiment to a very healthy
| spot in the hills some twenty y-six miles,
where the Spaniards always. sent their
| troops when they first arrived from
! Spain, so as to get them acclimated
by degrees, the consequence being that
sickness was practically unknown
| there.
| BY this time Rays regiment is more
| or less impregnated with malaria, ana
| it would probably take some time even
| in the healthiest place in the world to
eradicate this entirely, but it is prob
able that this place in the hills would
be the best spot for the regiment TO De
sent to recuperate, unless, indeed, rney
were brought down to Santiago ana
sent up to ST. Louis in the place now
occupied by the Ninth colored I'M
munes, the only objection being that
it is practically impossible TO send
! colored regiment to take the place OF
the Third in Guantanamo, for the
| American colored troops are SO cordi-
ally disliked in the province, and the
Ninth especially has made such bad
| record for itself that they practically
have to be kept out of the way, and to
all intents and purposes they are merely
an expense to the American Govern
ment without being of any use in re-
turn. except insofar as being an ele-
ment of discord 1t is generally UNDER
stood in Santiago that the departments
has more than once recommended their
disbandonment.
The James Temple Case.
WASHINGTON. Feb. 1.-THE State
Department has been informed by the