The Mankato free press., 1900-03-02
GEN. WOODS WORK IN CUBA.

In Gen. Wood the president seems &c
have found the right man for the
governor generalship of Cuba. he
seems to be peculiarly adapted to the
place, and has the faculty of smoothing
over the rough places that few are
possessed of. Chas. M Pepper, the
Cuban correspondent of the New York
Herald. gives detailed account of the
great work Gen. Wood is doing there.
The following digest of it by the Min.
neapolis Times will give our readers an
idea of what the general has on his
hands:
His position is difficult one, requir-
ing peculiar tact as we'll as practical
good sense and administrative ability.
There were many important problems
to be solved, but GeneralWood appears
to be equal to the task which he had
mapped out for himself.
AS soon as he arrived in Cuba and as
sumed control he addressed himself to
the work of reforming the Cuban
methods of administering justice. In
the penitentiary at Havana he found
hundreds of prisoners housed in small
rooms whose smell contained sugges-
tion of various diseases and more than
a suggestion of things unnamable.
Many of these prisoners had been ar
rested on trivial charges and incarcerat
ed without trial for terms whose
length was out of all proportion to the
offenses charged Gen. Wood adopted
the heroic measure OF turning these al
legged malefactors loose and giving
them a chance for an honest living
His action might be regarded as dan
gerous experiment, but his purpose
was to teach those charged with the
administration of justice. that not even
men who have the general reputation
of being criminals may be kept in
prison unless they have been tried and
convicted by the regular process of the
courts.
In order to purify the fountain head
General Wood appointed joint COM
mission of American and Cuban
lawyers to revise the penal code. The
method of procedure prescribed by the
Roman civil law obtains in Cuba, but
will be modified so as to conform as
nearly as possible to the practice fol-
lowed by American courts operating
under the English common law system
of jurisprudence.
General Wood found sad state of af
fairs in the custom house at Havana.
The officials had from time i'm
regarded it as one of their
legitimate perquisites to help them
selves to large share of the customs
receipts. They followed the Spanish
maxim, "To rob the state is not to rob, :"
and were indignant when the American
collector dismissed more than $50 super
auous employees and began legal prose
cution of all who were discovered to
have been lining their own pocket.
Governor General Wood is hard at
work on public improvements. the most
of which is the building of
wagon roads through the agricultural
districts of the interior. There are in
Cuba great number of American pro-
moters with millions of money on their
tongues. but with empty pocketbooks,
who talk of new railroads and other
great industrial enterprises. but in the
the responsible American Of
ficials are promoting the welfare of the
people by giving all possible encourage
ment to Cuban agriculture which must
remain the most important industry of
the island. The ruined plantations are
being restored, and several of the revolu-
tionary leaders are now proving them
selves equally able as captains of peace
full industry. Schools are being built
and the people educated in the duties of
free citizenship There are among the
Cubans several political groups, but all
are gradually being merged in the So
called national party, which is pledged
to work for the speedy establishment of
Cuba as an independent republic.