The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1901-03-29
EDITORIAL CORRESPONDENCE.
Pensacola, Florida, March 80, 1901.

unpleasant sensation. The fact is
that, while our trip has been highly
enjoyable and good deal instructive,
much of our travelling has been
fraught with inconvenience and hard
ships not usually encountered in the
states.
Our last letter spoke somewhat of
Santiago de Cuba, and in this we
| shall write briefly of some other cities
through which we passed enroute.
The first port touched after leaving
Santiago was Cienfuegos. The harbor
here is larger and finer than the one at
Santiago, but is not nearly so we'll
fortified against intrusion by hostile
foes. The city itself is bright and
bustling and gives evidence of thrift.
The imports are very great here, it
being the terminal port of the Ward
line of steamships. II has some large
stores and in few instances we saw
exceptionally large and fine stocks of
goods for city of its size. The popu-
lation is about 40, 900 and is said to be
next in size to the city of Havana. A
great deal of work is being done on
the streets to put them in sanitary
condition, and when completed the
city will present most inviting ap-
pearance. Here, as elsewhere on the
island, hotels are poor and prices
high. We spent only one day here,
and the time was we'll put in. From
Cienfuegos, we made our way to Ha-
vana, about 200 miles. by rail. Always
full of respect for our American rail-
roads, we never before felt so keenly
their grandeur, splendor and liberality
as we did after humping over ties for
full day, in dirty old cars, hardly
fit for cabooses on a good American
, road, paying cents per mile for the
privilege, with no trunk privileges.
Hand baggage handled by yourself is
permitted to be taken on the car A
trunk is measured in it's length, width
and depth and charged up accordingly,
regardless of weight. An ordinary
sized trunk costs three dollars to be
transferred over the line.
We spent one day at Matanzas,
and an interesting visit it was. The
city itself is very pretty, and here we
found a goodly number of American
soldiers stationed. We made visit to
the celebrated caves and while the
chambers are large and stalactites
plentiful, it does not compare in
beauty with the Wind cave at Hot
Springs, South Dakota, We also took
a ride to the hill overlooking the
Eymori valley, and the view is GER
tainly beautiful These are the two
points of interest that attract Ameri-
cans to Mantanzas. The country
around the city is great in richness
and wonderful for the production of
sugar cane In fact the country from
Matanzas to Havana is seemingly
one vast field of the growing cane, al
though it can be said that good deal
of land between these cities has been
devastated by wars and jestilence of
| wars. 1t will, of course, require some
years for the country to overcome the
effects of the war, but this will be
materially FASTENED by the establish
ment of a stable government. In
sight of the passing train we saw
many sugar mills in full operation and
it is said by those in a position to
know that more than double the
amount of sugar will be produced on
| the island this year than was manu-
featured last year. With continued
peace, next year will witness still
greater increase in this industry.
Havana is truly beautiful city,
and in many ways a quaint one. Since
the American occupation it's streets
have been put in splendid condition,
so far as cleanliness is concerned, its
sewerage system is being extended and
in all ways it's sanitary condition is
being rapidly put in perfect order.
The principal business streets are kept
as clean as the best of our American
cities, and the health of the people is
said to be equal to that of any Ameri
can city of it's size. 1t has a popula.
tion of $50, 900 and is bustling, hustl-
ing city. The crying need of Havana
is for good hotels. 1t has some of the
poorest we have ever run up against,
and not one good one. A fortune
awaits some enterprising American
who will erect modern hostelry and
run it in a first class manner. At no
time in the history of Havana has it
entertained so many American visi
tors as during the present season, and
we will vouch for the truthfulness of
the statement when we say that not
one came away with good word for
the hotel at which he stopped. And if
he had stopped at some other house
his cause for complaint would not have
been lessened The hotels are simply
awful, with large A.
Of course we visited MORO Castle
and Cabanas They are all that have
been repeatedly printed about them
and were points of much interest to
us. The harbor here is beautiful, and
the entrance thereto grand. Moro
in Havana is much larger than the one
at Santiago, and it stands as menace
of death and destruction to ocean foe.
We gazed upon the gun on MORO that