The age-herald., 1899-03-25
U. s. POSTMASTER
 GENERAL SMITH lnSpOCtS tho Recently Established Cuban Nail Service. HE COMPLIMENTS OFFICIALS
 f Special Delivery Service Has Been In- au5urated in Havana.
THE GOVERNMENT OF THE ISLAND
Has E .-7laced in Capable Hands, and G . Brooke and His Assis-
 sE7's Are Rapidly Straight
 S 2 ,ning Out the Tangles.

g e a, March A-Unlted States Posty - c General Charles Emory Smith, who $ here last Saturday to take special s t the work of the department of
 E before sailing for the United States - sad in an interview with the corre- spo.-dent of the Associated Press regarding the results of his trip:
 My direct and immediate purpose in coming here was to examine into the posA tai service of the island as it has been i'll. herited and organized and see what it's res quirements are. But of course my eyes and ears have been open and have been very much interested in my observations and conferences of a more general character I am gratifed and even surprised to find how much has already been done here by the American representative. T
 "I did not see what Havana was under the former rule, but I have had an oppor- tunity at some points of specially noting the contrast with present conditions, and I assure you it Is of the most signal char acter. have seen houses ripped up and laid open as 1t were, and l have seen houses of the same kind next door where renova- tion and reconstruction had been wrought. The difference is that between mediaeval- ism and high modern civilization"
 The sanitary Conditions
 The change of sanitary conditions is enormous No one can begin to appreciate without personal observation what has been accomplished here by American inter- vention in the saving of life and the im- proving of health conditions. |
 The military governor, General Brooke, and his associates have taken up the work of the administration with great capacity and Judgment. have had considerable op- portunity of seeing what General Brooke has inaugurated and accomplished. l bo- lieve that every American if he could per- sonally see and understand it, would be deeply gratfed with this work. General Brooke has been deliberate, considerate and well poised, and at the same time ho has been firm and decided. He has care- fully gathered the best information from the most trustworthy sources and has ap- piled it to present conditions with excel- lent judgment. He has called Cuban coun- cillors about him, but has kept the determ- ination of immediate questions in his own hands and has labored faithfully and suc- cessfully to carry out the spirit and purpose of President McKinley's instruc- tions and policy.
 The Postal Service
 "Let me say a word of the postal service. It was found to be of the most crude, dis organized and inefficient character. It will be work of some little time to reconstruct 1t completely and to make 1t such service as exists in the United States, but this will be accomplished Colonel Rathbone, who is in charge as director general of posts, is a trained and exceedingly capable officer, and has already vindicated his selection for that position by the energetic and compre- hensive work he is doing. Special delivery is this week inaugurated in Havana and frequent deliveries will be organized hero and in other cities. Within a month the postoffice will be transferred from the ram- shackle structure which has been a dis grace to it, to a new building with complete modern equipment, good as exists in New York or Philadelphia. I believe that a good postal service extending over the island will do a vast deal to educate and develop the people; and, after my personal observation I feel that under the present director general of posts this will be se- cured