Connecticut western news., 1920-06-10
SANTIAGO SAVED BY LEONARD WOOD
HercuIean Labor of SoIdier-Doc- tor in City Infested by Plaques.
 Profiteering Stamped Out.
By JOHN G. HOLME, Author of "The Life of Leonard Wood"

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 When Leonard Wood, now Briga- dier-General of Volunteers, assumed charge of Santiago about one-third of the city's 50,O0O inhabitants were sick and the whole population was threat ened with starvation, for the city, food supplies had been cut off during the siege. The whole municipal gov ernment had broken down. Riding into the city which he was to govern so wisely and successfully, Wood en- Icountered bodies of human beings and animals along the highway and in the streets, while overhead scared great focks of buzzards, carrion eaters. The atmosphere was poisoned with a mias- ma of fever and the stench of decaying bodies.
 Within the city, one of the worst plague spots on the face of the earth, malaria, smallpox, typhoid and yellow fever ragged. The only sewers were Iopen gutters, damned here and there Iby dead bodies and refuse. The streets looked as If they had never been cleaned. Never had Hercules himself 'essayed worse cleaning job than that which lay before the American soldier doctor. -
 Cleaning the city and making 1t fit place for human habitation were the first tasks to be taken up. General Wood recruited a large force of idle Cuban soldiers and set them to work collecting the bodies ef men and ani- mals and cleaning the streets. The natives, who went to work under com pulsion, continued willingly when they found themselves paid regularly in cash and rations.
 Wood Killed Profiteering.
 It was impossible to bury the dead, so Wood had the corpses and carcasses carted beyond the city limits, soaked in kerosene and burned. The streets were cleaned and kept clean. Within a day or two American soldiers found large stores of food hoarded by dealers who now demanded exorbitant prices, which the population were unable to pay. Wood sent for the principal butchers of Santiago and asked them how much they were charging for beef.
 Ninety cents a pound, senor."
 How much is it costing you2" asked Wood.
 Meat is very dear, your excellency.n
 T asked you how much it was cost Ing you" The military governor was stern. .a..H.. ..r.s..s...& B.
 Fifteen. cents pound, your excel | Iency, but we have lost much in the s var" .M.
 And so have your customers" in- terrupted Wood. "Now, hereafter beef will be 25 cents pound retail, and the \ man who tries to force the people of Santiago to pay more while the whole \ sale price remains at 15 cents will go to jail"
 Wood was not quite so gentle as our Food Administration during the late war; but, on the other hand, he was far more effective. He killed profiteer- ing in Santiago in a few minutes.
 One of Woods first acts was to ap- point a city council, which had full charge of the affairs of the town under his general supervision. Having clean ed the city, he issued an order estab- fishing the freedom of speech and of assembly. For the first time in Cuban history the press was unmuzzled. San- tiago was full of radicals, and the rad ical press imm mediately began abusing General Wood, but the press remained free. Wood always hated censorship.
 Monuments of His Labor.
 Tt iC nOJU moro than tuyontu since Leonard Wood left Santiago de Cuba, yet you can visit that city today and view everywhere the monuments of his labor. You stroll along the beauti- full marine boulevard It is the work of Leonard Wood The city has an excellent water system piped from res ervoirs in the hills-Leonard Woods work. Santiago has a modern sewer age system. Wood created this i'm provement. You can take a ride into the country over. excellent roads. Wood built these highways. Santiago is clean and sanitary. Leonard Wood, NJ. D., personally drew up Cuba's sani- tation code, now a part of the Cuban 
 No; he did not do these things all | alone, but he showed himself, although | only thirtyseven years old, a master organizer and executive He never | used his military power except in He used arbitrary power i to enforce health regulations. You cannot argue with diseases and death. | The death rate in Santiago was POO i per day when he became military gov l ernor. In four months the death rate | dropped to ten per day and Santiago f was the cleanest city in the western | hemisphere. A New England sea cap- l tain in the transport service told of | the changes wrought by Wood in this | way:
 "When we made our first trip into Santiago harbor in 1898 the sky was 1 fnlI nf rHc Tn ho