Connecticut western news., 1920-04-15
WOODS G., (;>v,llvE5;I.
 OF YELLOW FEVER
Conquest of Tropical Plague Due to His lnitiative-Father of
 Cuba's School System.
By JOHN G. HoLME, Author of "The Life of Leonard Wood"

VI
 One of the many duties of Leonard Wood as Governor of Cuba was to draw up an electoral code whereby the Cubans might learn to exercise their rights as free citizens in selecting their representatives in the provisional government which functioned during the American occupation. An electoral law modelled largely on our Federal law with the Australian ballot system was promulgated.
 The first election resulted in a great triumph for the radicals. Wood made no objections, but the Cubans soon did. They found out that the radicals, while remarkably plausible takers and writers, were remarkably poor doers. At the second election only few rad icals were elected and at the third none. In this way Wood allowed the Cubans to work out their own political problems.
 Woods government collected some thing over $5S,OOOOO0 in public reve- nues from various sources, out of which all Cuba's running expenses and debts were paid, leaving enough to pay for great public improvements, and when on May 20, 1902, Governor Wood turned the island over to the new Cuban Republic there was more than half a million dollars in the pub lie treasury on which to start national housekeeping
 | Appalling IIIiteracy.
 AS previously stated. Wood had , opened the first public schools in the island while he was military governor of Santiago. Most of the improve ments which he started there became models for the military governors of other cities and provinces to copy. The state of education on the island was appalling. Out of total popula- ton in 1899 of 1,572,84 those posses sing superior education" numbered only little over 19,OO0. The number of persons ten years old or over who could read or write was only 443,67 Wood addressed himself to the educa- ttonal problem with his whole soul in the labor. Inside of six months he had increased the schools from 635 to oto4os VhNh AS ANAI LhC AoAdAu uOIS than $500 schools had been opened Wood did not conflne himself to pri- mary schools. He established trade and industrial schools. The court and other public records were in a very confused state. Wood applied one of his characteristic common sense meas ures to correct this evil.
 "What this country needs Is stenog- raphers and typewriters," he said. Forthwith he established a commercial school in Havana, from which the courts and government as we'll as pri- vate business offices were supplied with young men and women stenogra- .phers, typists and filing clerks, who could, and did, keep public and private records clear.
 Governor Wood had the University of Havana moved from its old location to it's present location on a hill com manding view of the city and one of the beauty spots of the capital. The university was thoroughly remodeled ! and equipped with the best laboratory materials available in the United States and Europe.
 When Wood took charge there were only 193 post offices in condition to render service in Cuba. When he left there were 366 post offices giving excellent service. He found the telegraph service poor and limited. With the help of the United States Signal Corps the old lines were repair ed and new ones laid. He left Cuba with TT stations and 3,518 miles of lines. Hundreds of miles of streets in the principal Cuban cities were paved and permanent highways were built in the rich agricultural districts. | Woods Master Stroke.
 We now come to the great master stroke of Woods Cuban administra- ton, the stamping out of yellow fever, the greatest menace of tropical Ameri- ca. Being a doctor, Wood had follow ed with keen interest the process of the fight against the disease. With 1 few other progressive physicians he became convinced that yellow fever was a germ disease, and when Ma jor Walter Reed with other distinguished l physicians called on him for funds and l authority to conduct experiments to establish the origin of the disease Wood granted both at once. The re- | suit was the conviction of a little mosquito, found to be the carrier of the yellow fever germ. Then came the wholesale execution of the insect, and the tragic story of yellow fever was over.
 In eradicating this plague Wood and his assistants conferred a world wide blessing on humanity, while tropical America was made safe for the out side world. This triumph of medical science, moreover, paved the way for the worlds greatest engineering feat. The United States could not have con- structed the Panama Canal when it