ble value both in Cuba and elsewhere. Doubtless so intelligent a person as the educated Cuban has already absorbed this conviction and will adjust his views accordingly, unless dominated by other considerations than those that are essential to prosperity and order; and the Spanish population, whose sole interests lie in the direction of peace and security for life and property, will cordially indorse the serious Cuban view and throw the weight of their influence and means into the scale of good government. In addition to moral and political considerations, there is an economic aspect of the work already effected. For example, what should be the estimated value to the island of Cuba only, of the conviction that by proper sanitation alone, rigorously and intelligently enforced, its principal port and the entire island can be converted into a territory or place of residence as safe to inhabit as any part of the United States, and how many more millions of dollars is the island therefore worth to-day than it was on January 1, 1899?

And what, on the other hand, is the value to the United States that a rich and fertile land, lying at its doors, should be demonstrated capable of redemption from its past status as a center of infection and source of tremendous commercial losses? There is good reason to believe also that the work done under the American administration in Cuba has gone far toward solving the mystery of the habitat and spread of yellow fever, since apparently the street broom and the disinfection spraypump have attacked the enemy in his lair and paralyzed his activity and virulence of multiplication. Should this prove really to be the fact, as daily seems more probable, a demonstration of incalculable value has been made and the situation robbed of most of its terrors by proof of the practicability of controlling and, in the end, exterminating the evil by the simplest of remedial agencies.

Again, what shall be estimated as the actual value of the establishment of an orderly and effective government, the suppression of disorder, the safety of the person, the protection of property, the opening of communications, and the rendering of waste places accessible and habitable?

While conditions in these respects have not in the remoter regions been completely adjusted, an immense progress has been made and the principles firmly established that order will be enforced and violence punished and eradicated.

In Habana the rule of law is practically complete.

The rural districts are as quiet and orderly as in the interior of New England, and in the city, while the average population is as excitable and impulsive as any in the world, quick to take offense and prompt to lose self-control, the conditions in respect of safety and cleanliness are as satisfactory as in the best ordered community anywhere.

These facts must unquestionably be credited in great part to the measures adopted by the American administration; but in saying this it would be unjust not to credit the inhabitants themselves, Cuban and Spanish, with a willingness to fall in with the purposes of the administration and to further and cooperate with them rather than oppose and thwart, as would have been and was the feeling toward the Spanish Government.

It is perfectly correct to say that unless this cooperation and assent had been freely extended it would have been impossible to attain the results that can now be stated

as due to the American administration.

As to the details of commercial statistics, the situation is less clear. The American occupation was followed by an abnormal volume of imports due to the banking up of invoices awaiting anticipated changes in administration and charges, and a period of active movement ensued whose continuance will depend upon the extent to which the resources of the island can be developed and its ability to purchase augmented. Undoubtedly large investments have been made and transfers of important interests been effected. English and American capital has purchased corporate rights and holdings, the Habana city railway and other concessionary rights, the Cienfuegos railway and Caibarien and the Sagua railways. Other acquisitions are under negotiation-sugar and tobacco plantations, mines, forests, and town sites. Machinery has been imported and preparations made for the future, which, however, must await developments for their returns.

The United States have made enormous issues of food and expended immense sums in public and private charities. The payments to the Cuban army and other investments have brought great sums of money into the island, but meanwhile the agricultural operations of the year have been to a great extent failures, due partly to the fact that the cane fields have not been replanted and partly to the hesitation of capital in embarking upon new enterprises until political conditions were rendered less uncertain and a clearer insight could be had into what should be the immediate and prospective future of the island from this standpoint.

Money is plenty, as is shown by the rate of interest at 6 per cent or 7 per cent instead

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of 10 per cent to 15 per cent, as formerly, and these conditions are likely to continue and financial movements be more or less hesitating and timid until some explicit conclusion is reached and announced as to the vital question of the future administration.

In a single respect have the results thus far attained in Habana fallen short of satisfactory adjustment. The vital question of primary education is still practically unsolved, and the great majority of the Habana children of school age are running wild in the streets, without instruction or discipline. If the charge of this matter, so essential to the immediate future of the island, were transferred to the municipality and the necessary funds advanced by the state to organize and equip a school system, the solution could be promptly attained and the primary education of the thousands of Habana children assured. For this purpose it would be essential to revise the strange and cumbrous Spanish methods of organizing from the top downward, and to begin the construction of the educational establishment with proper foundations at the bottom, upon which the structure could then be erected with some assurance of stability and effectiveness.

The Spanish methods of teaching also require modification. The children were packed on narrow benches, kept there through the school day, and taught by rote. There was no objective teaching, no attempt to interest the children in their work or to exercise their mental faculties beyond that of memory. As a matter of fact, the average Cuban child is of rather remarkable brightness, great docility, and an unusual natural artistic faculty. What he needs is to be taught to think, to acquire the habit of reasoning rather than feeling, to substitute judgment for impulse, and to exercise mental self-restraint and physical self-control.

These remarks are applicable quite as well to the children of maturer age and to the Cuban citizen himself, but the reformation, if it is to be made, can only be worked out by regulating the training and discipline of the children of to-day, who in ten years will be the citizens of Cuba.

As to the economic and industrial conditions existing in the suburban and rural districts of this department, aside from what has been stated generally, I can not do better than forward as an appendix to this report that of the mayor of Guanabacoa, which he has prepared at my instance.

Mr. Hyatt is an American, but for a lifetime a business man and resident of Guanabacoa, with a Cuban family, and who had acted as an agent of the Red Cross during the darkest period of reconcentration, when the town was a graveyard.

Mr. Hyatt's intelligence, probity, and familiarity with local and Cuban affairs and the consideration he commanded among his townsfolk indicated his selection as alcalde as the best possible, and I appointed him, with most satisfactory results.

Mr. Hyatt's report indicates the nature of the suburban problem and the kind of work and reconstruction required as clearly as is needful, and the results attained by degrees are eminently satisfactory in respect of sanitation, rehabilitation, and general progress. The farming interests are gradually building up again, the people are at work, and the number of draft and other animals showing steady improvement.

The conditions of living are simple in this country. A livelihood at least is readily attained if the essentials of a patch of ground, a few tools, and seeds can be had, and a little aid rendered at the outset to those who are willing to earn their own living if given the opportunity. The people have learned to ask work instead of a pauperizing aid and tools in place of food, and, with the exception of a formidable residuum of helpless women and children, the able-bodied are at work and earning their own subsistence.

WILLIAM LUDLOW, Military Governor of Habana.

MUNICIPAL GOVERNMENT OF GUANABACOA.

COMPARATIVE REVIEW OF THE ECONOMIC, INDUSTRIAL, SOCIAL,
STATUS JANUARY 1, 1899, TO AUGUST 1, 1899.

GENERAL LUDLOW:

AND AGRICULTURAL

MUNICIPAL GOVERNMENT OF GUANABACOA,
Guanabacoa, August 30, 1899.

To comply with your request of the 18th instant to formulate and submit a careful review in which the present condition of this municipality is compared with that existing on January 1 of this year, I will commence by showing its topographical location, size, divisions, etc., and furnishing other information that will contribute to giving an idea of its circumstances.

Guanabacoa is a municipality or termino in the province of Habana, and is the capital of the judicial district of that name. The last census showed a population of 23,999 inhabitants. It is bounded on the north by the Gulf of Mexico from the east mouth of the Cojimar River to the swamp of the Boca Ciega, on the south by the municipalities of Tapaste and Santa Maria del Rosario, and on the west by those of Habana and Regla.

This termino is divided into the following barrios or wards: (1) East Asuncion; (2) West Asuncion; (3) East San Francisco; (4) West San Francisco; (5) East Corralfalso; (6) West Corralfalso; (7) Cruz Verde; (8) Cojimar; (9) Campo Florido; (10) San Miguel del Padron; (11) Pepe and Antonio; and (12) Bacuranao.

The municipal government or ayuntamiento was perishing financially on January 1, and it would have become extinct had not the new régime bridged matters over by giving this corporate representative body of the people some credit and prestige. On the 1st of January the ayuntamiento owed its employees $58,628.48 for salaries, and for charities, beneficence, lighting, carcel, public works, etc., $109,648.05. During the years 1897 and 1898 it can positively be said that the only receipts were those produced by the tax on the consumption of cattle, amounting to about $28,000 annually, and destined to cover an estimated expenditure of $145,326.99. The old employees state that they received their salaries in small amounts, because this was the only use to which the receipts were put, while the other expenses of the municipal administration were added up in the "debt" entry, and the total amount kept on increasing every month.

Fortunately, so far this year matters have brightened up. The employees of all the branches have received their salaries, this month inclusive; all the other expenses incurred have also been punctually paid. In other words, the receipts and this year have been as follows:

expenses

As to charitable institutions, there was only an old hospital here, whose financial condition was extremely deplorable. People afflicted with malaria and enteritis were barely nourished with a daily soup made with rice and whole beans. Articles so indispensable in a hospital as meat, eggs, and milk were never seen inside of this institution during the year 1898.

From February, 1899, to the present day, owing to the help of the ayuntamiento and of the Red Cross, and to the articles provided for by the military governor, the condition of the hospital is entirely normal; it has not incurred any debts up to this writing; the patients have not been in want of suitable nourishment, and the deaths, not in comparison with an asylum that sheltered 70 or 80 persons, but corresponding to a population of 25,000 souls, have decreased until they are down to the proportion consistent with good sanitary conditions.

This hospital having gained such marked advantages, I have the satisfaction to know that an asylum for orphan children has now been started under your direction and it has 55 beds already. The original expenses of this institution were defrayed with money appropriated by you and with about a like amount contributed by the American people through my efforts. I consider the existence of the asylum assured on the basis of public charity and on the donation of the $7 per child, which I include in my estimated monthly deficit, and which you have so far allowed.

During the eight months of occupation that have transpired there is a visible improvement in commerce, as on January 1 the registry list of industry and commerce only added up 276 names, while to-day there are 327, an increase of 51 between industrials and merchants.

Regarding live stock, the improvement made in this particular is worthy of mention. On the 1st of January the fields were completely desolated and with no cattle; to-day the registries of the rural districts give the following numbers:

The increase in the live stock in the districts within the town is proven by the following results:

The progress attained in this branch of business increases, as is natural, with the advances made in the reconstruction of the fields. On January 1 the peasantry lived herded together in places within the town, without work and subsisting miserably on the charity of persons in better circumstances. In February they began to receive aid from the Red Cross, and partly recovering their lost strength, they commenced to devote themselves, though in poverty and without the resources of labor, to their former occupations, and to day the statistics give the following information:

On January 1 education was in a state of complete abandonment. There were male and female teachers of public schools, but the misery and sickness that prevailed were more than sufficient reasons for the parents to abstain from sending their children to school. Order was gradually established and sanitary conditions improved, and during the month of February the children began to go to the fifteen public schools that were organized, and to-day 1,212 pupils are recorded in them. These schools are to the number of 25 in the new educational system soon to be inaugurated. Social life has had considerable development from January to date. In the first month there was only one society, called "El Casino Español," while now there are four more of a cooperative character and of instruction and amusement.

The functions relative to the physical life progress daily in their various orders, as is noticed in the branches of public works and lighting. Regarding the latter, the installation of the electric plant has added to the aspect of the town and has inspired confidence as to public safety.

The making up of accounts has been simplified and now bookkeeping is used, not only in the office of the American Government, but in that of collection and treasury.

Formerly the positions of collector and treasurer were discharged by various persons, but to-day the same offices are conducted with an economy of $100 monthly.

In this municipality the respect shown to the authorities is complete, and the inhabitants willingly obey the orders and laws that guarantee and enforce lawful and orderly conduct.

In the way of addition and of further explanation I ought to make known, in what relates to the mercantile and industrial activity, the important fact that 51 more names are now on record is not only to be considered, but also that a complete change in the commercial life has taken place, as in January the owners of establishments, fearing that the effects of the war would bring them losses, did not replenish their stock; but from some months back to this date confidence has been restored, and it is noticed that not only are the shops fully supplied, but that the cost of living has cheapened in an astonishing manner.

The appearance of the town has also improved notably. On January 1 the houses were left in an uncared for state by the owners, and everything pointed to our being on the road to ruin. Since February almost all the houses have been repaired and painted and others have been built, principally in rural localities.

These conditions and the confidence which animates all make the transactions of purchase and sale and of loans on real estate easy of consummation and without any difficulties attending them.

With regard to the sanitary condition, I will inform you that we have already reached a complete normal standing. During the last year and the first months of this the mortality in the town was terrifying, as you will have observed by my last report, but it has decreased so that last August there were only 51 deaths. There is now no malaria or dysentery, and this improved state of health goes to show that the "reconcentrados" have returned to their former labors. This assertion is substantiated by these facts: On January 1 we had in this town 5,054 "reconcentrados," and in July there were only 3,395, most of whom are women and children.

G. W. HYATT, Alcalde of Guanabacoa.

SPECIAL REPORT OF BRIG. GEN. LEONARD WOOD, U. S. V.,
COMMANDING THE DEPARTMENT OF SANTIAGO AND PUERTO
PRINCIPE.

HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF SANTIAGO AND PUERTO PRINCIPE,
Santiago de Cuba, September 20, 1899.

ADJUTANT-GENERAL DIVISION OF CUBA,

Habana, Cuba.

SIR: In compliance with your letter of instruction of August 18, 1899, I have the honor to submit the following report on civil matters:

On the assumption of control by the American Government, July 17, 189, of that portion of the province of Santiago included in the surrendered territory, industries were practically at a standstill. In the rural districts all industries were at an end. The estates, almost without exception, had been destroyed, and no work was being done. Such foodstuffs as were being produced in the territory were the work of certain men of the Cuban army who were detailed for this purpose, in order to furnish such corn and vegetables as it was possible to procure for their friends in arms. On the seaboard and near some of the large towns, large sugar estates were dragging on a painful existence, producing from one-third to one-tenth their normal crop. They considered themselves fortunate to have saved their machinery and buildings from destruction. In order to do this they had been compelled to pay both Spaniards and insurgents, and it was not an unusual thing to find small parties representing each force in the immediate vicinity of the same plantation. Their cane fields had been largely destroyed and the cane had become overgrown with weeds, brush, etc. Those individuals who were engaged in the raising of cattle had lost everything, and it was difficult to find a cow or an ox. Horses were few and in wretched condition. Mining had ceased; all industries were practically dead. Every man who could manage it had a tiny garden which furnished very limited subsistence. This he supplemented with such wild fruits as he could gather.

In the towns the effect of reconcentration was shown by large crowds of women and children and old men who were practically starving. They were thin, pale, and barely able to drag themselves about. The merchants and a few large planters were the only prosperous people in the province. The stores all seemed to have a fairly good stock of goods, and to have been protected during the war. Their transactions