The Owosso times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1897-1926, 1900-05-04

Especial Correspondence

Washington, May, 2, 1900.
Neither the general reader nor the
tourist who may travel through our
new possessions can form any accurate
conception of the amount and variety
of the subjects that engage the constant
attention of the executive forces en-
ployed in the government of our insular
possessions.
The Spanish government, If govern
ment it may be called. for centuries
had moulded their customs and habits,
and was paternal in the sense that it did
not hesitate to interfere with personal
liberty, and looked upon its subjects
not so much as moral agents as creatures
whose chef aim was to pay taxes and
obey the laws of crushing, grinding,
hungry, Ubiquitous representative of the
king. Vice was made to pay taxes, and
Indeed was encouraged, as long as there
was any money in 1t for the authorities.
Lotteries flourished in Cuba, Porto
Rico and the Philippines, and the pro-
fits from this source were counted on
as regular income. Drawings were
frequent, and hawkers of tickets infest-
ed the street corners, hotels, cafes, and
even the portals of the churches.
These institutions were openly adver-
tised in the press and with aiming
posters, creating the impression that
there was short, sure, safe road to
fortune. All this has been changed.
Papers giving space to lottery advertise
ments are forbidden the mails. The
unholy business has been put under
ban, and this form ofgambling that had
fiourished for over three hundred years
under the fostering care of Spain has
been stopped.
Gambling has also been made the
subject of general orders by the mill
tary governors in the insular posses
sions, and constant efforts are made to
suppress it, and they have succeeded in
driving it into the dark, so that it no
longer, as in days gone by, flaunts itself
openly, inviting the passer-by to VEN
ture his money on the turn of card.
The brutal, bloody bull fight has also
been forbidden, and will soon be only
memory among the people who owe
their deliverance from this relic of
pagan Rome to American occupation.
Orders have been issued also looking to
the protection of animals, sentiment
that needs much cultivation among
people whose ideas of mercy have been
derived from Spanish sources.
BY general orders promulgated re.
spectively in Cuba, Porto Rico and the
Philippines, the laws relating to mar.
riage have been so changed that the
ceremony performed by the priest or
minister of any christian church, or by
certain civil officers, is considered valid
in law, and the expense hitherto con-
nected with such ceremony has been so
reduced that the poor can no longer
plead poverty as an excuse for the ire
gular customs that have been so pre-
valent among large class Of the popu-
lation.
In briefly considering the moral forces
at work for the betterment of the islands,
reference must be made to the heroic
task committed to Major Tasker H.
Bliss, collector for customs for Cuba.
Probably few spots on earth have been
the scene of more fraud, deception,
theft and corruption than the custom
house at Havana. For years it has
been the certain and sure short cut to
wealth. Every one connected Herewith
lay under the suspicion of being
crooked" Employees robbed the
government with one hand and the i'm
porters with the other, and all sorts of
were constantly practiced.
Major Bliss took charge and instituted
q new condition of affairs. 1t was
Herculean task. The old system was
swept out at the back door, American
methods were made to fit the business,
and the personnel learned that honesty
was not only the best policy, but the
only policy that would be tolerated.
Dishonest officials were dismissed, ar
rested and prosecuted. Politicians, Off
GERS and others, both American and
Cuban, who asked for special favors,
were turned down with refreshing re-
gularity. And as result the reduced
tariff collected under American occupa-
ton is producing far more revenue than
was ever collected and accounted for
under the Spanish regime.
These measures, and indeed many
others that might be mentioned, are
moulding sentiment, creating higher
standard of official integrity, and pre-
pairing the ipsular possessions for
better things both in social life and in
public business 1t is IA record, that when
seen through the vista of coming years,
will be something of which America can
be proud.
1.-THE Better Part
Of valor Ia discretion Uapd Tho haitian rort