The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1900-07-02

period of instruction at Har-
ward and a personal study of the
American people and their ways orig
mated with Alexis Il. Frye, the Har-
ward man who is in charge of Cuba's
educational machinery. Some of the
teachers have already arrived at Bos-
ton and the others are on the way
There are five transports full of them
When Mr.. Frye took hold of the task
of forming public school system in
Cuba there was not a school house in
the island, as Americans understand
the word, nor a textbook nor an edu-
cational appliance. More than that
there was not even a general school
law, nor a course of study, nor sys-
tenn of examination of teachers. Every
thing had to be organized from the
ground up. Almost a year after the
beginning of the American occupation,
while there had been nominal en-
| rollment of 10000 pupils, these defci-
encies existed unremedied; and the
only public instruction worthy of the
| name was limited to Havana and San
tiago. 1t was at this point that Mr..
Frye interviewed, drafted a school law,
| framed a course of study and began to
put the tangled ends together In Il
| letter to the Washington Star, written
| at Havana by George Reno. some of
Mr.. Frye's troubles and victories are
| described in readable fashion.
"At the beginning" says this corre-
.s,l,
sition on the part of the Cubans. They
| fancied that his sole object in estab-
| fishing a public school system, avow-
edly based on that of the United States.
was to unduly Amercanize' the Cubans
and further annexation. This report
ran like wildfre all over the island ;
the newspapers broke out in virulent
and scathing editorials and not a day
passed that General Wood was not re-
| quested to discharge this purYeyor of
| perniCiOuS education. Washington was
besieged with protests and letters and
| petitions against the new system
! poured in from all sources for weeks.
During that period Mr.. Frye was the
most cordially hated American on the
| island. Then the bubble of opposition
! collapsed and the reaction set in. To-
! day the flood tide of native enthusi-
asm over Mr.. Frye and his wonderful
work is at its height the present ap-
| probation of him being commensurate
with the abuse which was heaped on
his head at first. The reversiOn of
popular feeling was natural enough.
Mr.. Frye simply went steadily ahead,
receiving with smiling cheerfulness all
who came into his office to denounce
him and unfailingly expressing his
faith in the Cuban people when they
should understand his real motives.
Above all, he never turned aside to
notice the torrent of vituperation that
| filled the columns of the papers all
over the island. Today the active work
of carrying on and perfectng the new
school system is largely in the Cubans'
own hands.
"There are now 3,079 schools on the
island, with about 100000 school chill
dren enrolled: over half million dol
lars worth of the most modern school
to the different municipalities: the
pupils of the island are furnished with
books and all necessary school supplies
free of charge; night schools for adults
are about to be established and plan
has been formulated for a teachers
normal school on the island during thu
summer months for the benefit of those
who cannot join the excursion to the
United States. Particular stress should
be laid upon the part the natives are
taking in the work. Thus, the teach.
ers are Cubans, boards of education
are made up of Cubans, the alcalde, OF
mayor, in each town being eX-Officio g
member of the board, and each municl,
pality conducting its own affairs ex,
clusvely. This has contributed tC
great and pardonable pride on thei,
part, and they are doing all withir
their power to make it a success Loca
ambition in many cases runs high, a!
instanced by the alcalde who went t
General Wood and asked that a sys
tenn of municipal taxation might be es
tablished in his town, which, he said
desired to make its own appropriation
for the school fund and be self-sup
porting, instead of being dependent OF
the island revenues. This request Gen
eral Wood was obliged to refuse, as tn,
time for municipal taxation has no
yet quite arrived, and when it does tn,
system must necessarily be uniform
but the case deserves to go on record.
Mr., Frye is inclined to give the credi
for these results to the spontaneou
and universal assistance which tn
Cubans have given since they hav
learned to understand the import o
the system; but it would be unjust no
to recognize his share i'm the work. II
the first place he volunteered to serv
for five years in the Philippines with
out pay. When he was sent to Cub,
General Brooke wanted to allow hin
$4,000 a year salary. He refused to ac
cept more than $500 and this none,
he regularly contributes to the cause
He has worked night and day wit
phenomenal energy and patience am
is, next to General Wood, the mos
, | pOpular American on the island II