General Brooke was succeeded by General Leonard Wood. He had also in a
measure been preceded by him. General Wood had at Santiago been the real
pioneer in American administration in Cuba. He laid the first
foundations there. General Brooke at Havana enlarged upon those
foundations. Then came General Wood to Havana to complete the structure.
It was with the fame and prestige of his great victory over pestilence
at Santiago, and of all his other achievements in Oriente, that he came
to Havana on December 20, 1899, to be Military Governor of all Cuba. He
was received not alone with the fullest measure of formal ceremony and
official salutation, from both Cubans and Americans, but also with such
an outpouring of popular welcome as few men have received anywhere and
as nobody save perhaps Maximo Gomez had ever received at Havana. The
attitude and sentiment of the people toward him were well expressed by
an editorial writer in the Havana journal _La Lucha_, who said:
"General Wood has shown great capacity for government and management
while in command of the eastern end of the island. In that mountainous
and rugged district, where passions and impulsive characters
predominate, in that country where a strong rebellious spirit has been
agitated for a long time, General Wood knew how to calm that spirit, how
to establish moral peace and to cheer the hearts of all. He has been
seen to practise a policy of harmony and ample liberty. We saw him,
first of all, promulgate the habeas corpus in the province he
commanded, and he decreed that constitutional measure when the embers of
the fire of domestic and international war were still smoking. In
material things, General Wood cleansed the eastern cities and
embellished them.... His government will prepare us for a broader life
and give us the blessings of peace and liberty. As a man of clear mind
and solid education, he will know how to study and to solve skilfully
the economic and political problems that circumstances may introduce
into the country. As he is a man of energy, he will be able to withstand
every unhealthy influence. His policy will be eminently liberal, but at
the same time it will be a guarantee for all who labor and produce. He
will not associate himself with agitators but with statesmen."
[Illustration: LEONARD WOOD
Soldier, scientist, statesman, administrator, it has been the fortune of
Leonard Wood to render invaluable services to two nations. Born at
Winchester, New Hampshire, on October 9, 1860, and educated in medicine
at Harvard University, he became first a surgeon and then an officer of
the United States army. After a brilliant career in Indian fighting in
the Southwest he went to Cuba in 1898 as colonel of the cavalry regiment
of "Rough Riders" and did notable work in the battles around Santiago.
He was Military Governor of Santiago and Oriente, and later Military
Governor of Cuba, in which places he transformed the sanitary, economic
and political conditions of the island, and ushered it into its career
of independent self-government. Since then he has served the United
States with great distinction in the Philippines, and as the foremost
officer of the army at home; not the least of his benefactions to the
nation being his great campaign of education and awakening in
preparation for what he saw to be America's inevitable participation in
the World War.]
Such was the just estimate which Cuba placed upon her new Governor. Of
his actual reception the same journal that we have quoted said:
"Although promising nothing, he speaks volumes by his quiet democratic
manner of taking charge of affairs. He has captivated everyone."
The new Governor was welcomed on his arrival at Havana by an
extraordinary and quite unprecedented gathering of representative men
from all parts of the island; such a gathering as Havana had never seen
before. He promptly entered into the fullest possible conference with
them, to learn their views and to impart his own to them, and as a
result of his intercourse with them he was able, on January 1, 1900, to
gather about himself a noteworthy Cabinet, commanding in an exceptional
measure the confidence of the Cuban people. It was thus composed:
Secretary of State and Government, Diego Tamayo.
Secretary of the Treasury, Jose Enrique Varona.
Secretary of Justice, Louis Estevez.
Secretary of Public Works, Jose Ramon Villalon.
Secretary of Education, Juan Bautista Barreiro.
Secretary of Agriculture, Industry and Commerce, Ruiz Rivera.
The selection of these men commanded the cordial approval of the Cuban
people. Said _La Lucha_: "The new Cabinet contains men whose honest
names are guarantees that the moral and material interests of the
country are to be conserved." To this _La Patria_ added: "General Wood
is obviously imbued with the best intentions. Although the council of
Cubans convened by him is not an elected body, it does represent the
wishes of the Cuban people."
It will of course be observed that not one of General Brooke's cabinet
was retained by General Wood. All were new men. Moreover, he increased
their number by two, making a separate department of Education instead
of lumping it with Justice, and making another of Public Works, instead
of leaving it grouped with Agriculture, Industry and Commerce. This
latter change was significant of two things. One was the increasing
amount of actual governmental work that was devolving upon the
administration. The other was the increased importance which, in General
Wood's mind, attached to Education and Public Works. He rightly
conceived them to be the two prime needs of Cuba. The cabinet did not
remain as thus organized, however, very long. On May 1 Ruiz Rivera
resigned the Secretaryship of Agriculture, Industry and Commerce, and
was succeeded by Perfecto Lacoste; and Louis Estevez resigned the
portfolio of Justice and was succeeded by Juan Bautista Barreiro, who in
turn was succeeded in the Department of Education by Jose Enrique
Varona, while the last named was succeeded as Secretary of the Treasury
by Leopoldo Cancio. Finally on August 11 Senor Barreiro retired
altogether and was succeeded in the Department of Justice by Miguel
Gener y Rincon.
We have said that General Brooke was charged with letting his
administration be controlled by his Secretaries. There was an
inclination in some quarters to charge General Wood with exactly the
reverse. He was not autocratic nor domineering. But he was Governor. He
was the actual as well as the nominal head of the government. Realizing
that he would be held personally responsible for everything that was
done,--as he was,--he rightly determined to exercise his authority in
everything that was done. Then, if he was blamed, he would not be blamed
for the fault of somebody else.
The significance which we have attributed to his Cabinet enlargement was
promptly demonstrated. Of the three subjects to which he most devoted
his attention, public education came first. He had deemed it worthy of a
Cabinet Department all for itself. He at once set about organizing that
department _de novo_. Mr. Frye had done good work as Superintendent of
Schools; but he had also done much of dubious merit. He had organized
too many schools too rapidly, and with too little system. Perhaps that
was partly the fault of the law, which bade him on December 6 to get
them all going by December 11, if possible. But then, he was responsible
for the law. He opened hundreds of schools. But most of them were pretty
poor affairs, with no proper text-books, no desks, no equipment and
supplies; they were not graded nor classified, and they were conducted
without proper system or order.
Such schools General Wood regarded as of little value, and he took
prompt measures, though at the cost of a somewhat acrimonious
controversy with Mr. Frye, to improve the system under which they were
being created. On January 24 he issued an order creating a Board of
Superintendents of Schools, instead of leaving the work to one man, and
he appointed as its members Mr. Frye, Esteban Borrero Echeverria, and
Lincoln de Zayas. The Board continued to act under the law of December
6, but applied it in a somewhat different way, with impressive results.
It opened a great many more schools than Mr. Frye had done, and saw to
it that they were better equipped than his had been. Within six months
the number of schools was increased from 635 to 3,313. Indeed, on March
3 it was found necessary to put on brakes, by issuing an order that no
more new schools should be opened for the present. That year more than
$4,000,000, or nearly a fourth of the total revenue of Cuba, was spent
on public schools.
[Illustration: EVELIO RODRIGUEZ LENDIAN
One of the foremost educators of Cuba, Dr. Evelio Rodriguez Lendian, was
born at Guanabacoa in 1860, and was educated at the University of
Havana, where he is Professor of History and Dean of the Faculty of
Science and Letters. He is also President of the Academy of History, and
Director of the Athenaeum. He has written a number of books and has
great repute as a public speaker.]
In addition to primary and grammar schools, which were made universal,
trade schools of various kinds were established. In the principal
cities, especially in Havana, there were free schools of stenography and
type-writing. These latter were designed partly to supply a competent
and up-to-date clerical force to the various government offices, and
partly to promote modern business methods in private concerns. Of course
they provided profitable occupation to a large number of persons who
otherwise might have been out of employment. The creation of the public
schools also provided employment for several thousand persons, as
teachers. These were almost entirely Cubans and, as in the United
States, were very largely young women. Considering the paucity of
numbers of those reported by the census as possessing "superior
education" it was extraordinary that a sufficient staff of teachers
could be obtained. Normal schools for the training of teachers in modern
methods of education were established, and were largely attended by
young Cubans eager to participate in the work of advancing the
intellectual interests and indeed also the social and industrial
interests of their country.
An admirable impetus, of inestimable value, was given to the work of
Cuban education in 1900 when Harvard University, General Wood's alma
mater, invited Cuban teachers to the number of a thousand to spend the
summer at that institution, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where a great
summer school in pedagogy and other sciences was conducted. Recognizing
the immense value of such a visit from many points of view, the American
administration in Cuba agreed to pay each teacher one month's salary for
the purpose of the excursion, and to provide transportation from their
homes to Havana or other convenient ports, whence their further travel
was provided for by the Quartermaster's Department of the United States.
On arriving at Cambridge they were received and entertained during their
stay by a committee specially appointed by Harvard. They were thus
enabled to have without cost an extended and singularly interesting and
enjoyable excursion, such as many of them had never had before, to
receive stimulus, suggestion and instruction in the most approved
methods of education and school management, and--perhaps most important
of all--to come into direct touch with the people and institutions of
the great northern republic with which their own country had and was
destined always to have the closest of relations.
The school system of the island was strictly removed from politics, both
local and general, and was taken from the control of the municipalities
and placed directly and solely under that of the national government.
Thus was assured a fine degree of uniformity in the quality and methods
of teaching. Thus also the poorer districts, which could with difficulty
have maintained any kind of schools at all, were enabled to have as good
service as the richest communities. The salaries paid to teachers were
good, comparing favorably with those paid in the United States.
[Illustration: THE UNIVERSITY OF HAVANA
Cuba is enviably distinguished for providing not only elementary but
higher education, even of the best university grade, practically without
cost to the children of her citizens. The University of Havana, which is
the crown of the whole educational system of the country, was founded in
1728, and formerly was housed in the old convent of Santo Domingo. But
in 1900 under the American administration of General Leonard Wood, it
was removed to the fine site of the former Pirotecnica Militar, near El
Principe.]
There was, it must be confessed, some criticism of this elaborate and
expensive educational establishment. It was urged by some that
approximately one-fourth was entirely too large a proportion of the
national revenue to devote to this purpose, and that it would be to the
greater benefit of the island to spend less money on schools and more on
public works of various kinds. It was also pointed out that the average
cost of educating each pupil in the Cuban schools was more than $26,
while the average cost in the whole United States was less than $23, and
in the Southern States, with which it was assumed that Cuba was properly
to be compared, it was less than $9. Of course there was involved in
these criticisms a triple fallacy. One was the notion that public works
were neglected or sacrificed for the schools. That, as we shall see, was
not so; a comparably great system of such works proceeding _pari passu_
with the development of the school system. Another was, that the cost
was too high. Naturally the cost was much higher in the first year
than it would be after the system was well established. It was in fact
much lower than in those parts of the United States where the schools
were efficient and the educational system was creditable. The third
fallacy was in thinking that Cuba was to be compared with the Southern
States, the backward condition of whose school systems had long been
regarded as a reproach and a disgrace. In endowing Cuba with a school
system it would have been indecent for the United States to take for the
standard its own poorest and most discreditable systems. It was
necessary that it should take rather the best that it had as an example
to be emulated. It may be added that these criticisms were made chiefly
by General Wood's American critics, and by those who ignorantly and
arrogantly regarded Cuba as an inferior country for which an inferior
system was good enough. The Cubans themselves with practical unanimity
gave to the work their hearty and grateful approval.
[Illustration: ANTONIO SANCHEZ DE BUSTAMENTE
One of the most eminent jurists and orators of Cuba, Dr. Antonio Sanchez
de Bustamente, was born on April 13, 1865, and was educated at the
University of Havana. He is a Senator, President of the Cuban Society of
International Law; President of the National Academy of Arts and
Letters; Dean of the Havana College of Lawyers, and Professor of
International, Public and Private Law in the University of Havana.]
There was other work to do for the children of Cuba beside that of the
ordinary schools. The war had been disastrous to domesticity. Thousands
of homes had been entirely destroyed, the parents slain, the houses
burned, the children left to wander as waifs. In that genial clime,
amid that profusion of the fruits of nature, these orphans did not
necessarily starve or perish. Many of them lived practically as wild
creatures of the woods. Many of them also were cared for in some fashion
by the families whose homes had not been destroyed, for it was not in
the Cuban heart, even the most poverty-stricken, to turn a suppliant
from the door. But it was not fitting that these children should be left
as waifs and charges upon the people. Under General Brooke's
administration an excellent Department of Charities was organized, which
gathered up and cared for thousands of them, and this work was continued
during General Wood's administration. The children were partly placed in
families which were willing to receive them, or in asylums and schools.
Seeing that there was among them a certain proportion of defectives and
delinquents, and that many were in need of useful training, correctional
and industrial schools for both boys and girls were opened, and did
admirable work.
The second object of General Wood's special interest was that of public
works. Concerning that, two salient facts must be borne in mind. One is,
that the prohibition of franchises and concessions during the American
occupation materially militated against the making of many improvements;
although it was on the whole a desirable restriction. The other is that
many of the most urgent public works during the first year or two were
those connected with sanitation and the renovation of public buildings,
prisons, etc. During the first year of the intervention, under General
Brooke, heroic work was done by General Ludlow in removing from the
streets of Havana the accumulated filth of years. But that was only a
beginning. In the next two years the work had to be continued and
extended to every city and town on the island. Water supplies had to be
provided, and sewer systems. Above all, there had to be an extensive,
persistent and, in the very nature of the case expensive campaign
against yellow fever and malaria, the two traditional scourges of Cuba.
To these works General Wood addressed himself with efficient energy, and
to them he devoted an appropriate proportion of the public funds.
[Illustration: ALMENDARES RIVER, HAVANA]
We have seen that the total cost of the schools in 1900 was more than
$4,000,000. But as a considerable part of this was non-recurring expense
for buildings, etc., the actual cost of maintenance was much less. The
following figures show the apportionment of expenditures:
For Education, non-recurring $ 337,460
For Education, maintenance 3,672,000
----------
Total for school system $4,009,460
For Public Works construction $1,786,700
For Sanitation 3,029,500
----------
Total for Public Works $4,816,200
Despite the complaints of American critics that too much money was spent
on schools in proportion to other things, therefore, it appears that
much less was spent on them than on public works. Perhaps such
complaints would have been less numerous and less bitter if General Wood
had been willing or able to give profitable contracts and franchises to
American speculators.
Much attention was paid to port improvements, naturally, in order to
facilitate and promote the commerce which was essential to the
prosperity of the island. The lighthouse service was placed under the
most competent charge of General Mario G. Menocal, who conducted it with
approved efficiency until the needs of his personal affairs compelled
him to retire from public office. A thoroughly organized postal service
was established throughout the island and was so well managed that by
the end of the period of intervention it was within ten per cent. of
being self supporting, or as near to self supporting as that of the
United States had generally been. This was certainly a remarkable
achievement in view of the fact that so large a proportion of Cubans
were illiterate and therefore unable to make use of postal facilities.
For general purposes of public works the island was divided into six
districts. At the head of each district was a Chief Superintendent of
Public Works, with a staff of assistants. The principal undertakings,
apart from sanitation, were the construction of roads and the building
of bridges and culverts, and these were judiciously planned so as to
unite the various districts of the island with improved highways, and to
open up rich agricultural regions with transportation facilities.
[Illustration: OLD TIME WATER MILL, HAVANA PROVINCE]
These undertakings involved General Wood in the disposition of an
unpleasant controversy which had been left over from General Brooke's
administration, which in turn had received it from the old Spanish
government. In 1894 the Spanish authorities of Havana decided to have
that city largely repaved and re-sewered, and asked an American firm
somewhat noted for its political influence, that of Michael J. Dady &
Co., of Brooklyn, New York, to submit plans. A year later it accepted
some of this firm's proposals, payment for the work to be made in bonds
of the City of Havana. But the oncoming of the war caused postponement
of the project, and it was not until December, 1898, just before the
Spanish evacuation, that the corporation of Havana finally accepted the
proposals and authorized the issue of bonds. The American authorities,
however, who were about to take over the control of the city, protested
against being thus saddled with a scheme of Spanish making, and
accordingly the last Spanish Governor, General Castellanos, very
properly declined to approve and sign the ordinance; declaring that it
and all similar projects, which would have to be executed under American
control, should await American approval.
A few days later the transfer of sovereignty occurred, and General
Ludlow, as Governor of Havana, decided to set aside the Dady proposals
altogether and to proceed with the work himself. This was doubtless an
economical and logical course to pursue. But under the old Spanish law,
which was still in force, Dady & Co. claimed to have certain rights in
the matter. The matter remained in suspense for the whole of General
Brooke's administration, with a succession of engineers from the United
States making and remaking plans for the work and with Dady & Co.'s
interests undecided. Apparently the United States government--for the
whole matter was controlled by the Engineering Bureau of the War
Department at Washington--was reluctant to challenge Dady & Co. to a
trial of their claims in court, and was unwilling to seek a compromise
with them, but was seeking by interminable postponements, changes of
plan and delays to tire them out and induce them voluntarily to
withdraw. But that was something which that astute and resolute
corporation showed no inclination to do. Meanwhile very important
public works were at a stand-still.
This was an intolerable state of affairs, and General Wood in the spring
of 1901 determined to end it after the manner of Alexander's disposition
of the Gordian knot. He paid Dady & Co. $250,000 in satisfaction of
their claims, which was possibly less than the courts would have awarded
them if the case had been carried before them, and then ordered bids to
be solicited for the doing of the work. The only bid received was from
Dady & Co., and the Washington authorities refused to sanction
acceptance of it on the ground that it was too high. The plans were
altered and new bids solicited, and the Havana Ayuntamiento voted to
award the contract to the lowest bidders, McGivney & Rokeby. But before
the contract was closed Dady & Co. on a plea of having misunderstood the
plans offered a reduction of their bid below that of their competitors;
whereupon the Ayuntamiento reconsidered its vote and ordered the
contract to be made with Dady & Co. But the Washington authorities
refused to sanction this change, apparently being averse to letting Dady
& Co. have the job at any figure, and the result was that the whole
matter remained at a deadlock until after the end of the American
occupation.
From some points of view the greatest achievement of General Wood's
administration was that of the conquest of disease, and it was one in
which he as a physician and man of science took peculiar interest. When
he fought and temporarily overcame yellow fever at Santiago, there was
no application of the immortal theory of Dr. Finlay, but it was supposed
that the pestilence spontaneously arose from filth. The same was true of
General Ludlow's subsequent cleansing of Havana; he supposing that by
the removal of filth the sources of infection would be removed. But when
he observed that the dreaded disease occurred where there was no filth,
General Wood concluded that it must have another source, and decided to
give Dr. Finlay's theory a practical test. In 1900 therefore a medical
commission was formed, composed of Drs. Walter Reed, U. S. A., James
Carroll, Aristides Agramonte, and Jesse W. Lazear, who, with the heroic
cooperation of soldiers of the United States army, who were willing to
risk their lives in experiments for the welfare of humanity, undertook
an elaborate series of demonstrations which were epochal in the history
not alone of Cuba but also of the whole world.
Reed took the initiative. He applied to General Wood for permission to
undertake the work, including the conducting of experiments on persons
who were not immune against the fever, which of course was a most
perilous venture. He also asked for a considerable sum of money with
which to reward volunteers who would thus submit themselves to deadly
peril. General Wood did not hesitate for a moment. He granted the
permission, appropriated the money, and entered into the momentous
enterprise with helpful sympathy and untiring zeal.
[Illustration: CARLOS J. FINLAY
Born at Camaguey on December 3, 1833, of English parents, and dying on
August 20, 1915, Dr. Carlos J. Finlay left a name which greatly adorns
the science of Cuba and which occupied a conspicuous place on the roster
of the benefactors of humanity. He was educated in France and at the
Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia, and rose to eminence in his
profession. He first of all men propounded the theory that _Stegomiya
fasciata_ mosquito was the active and sole agent in the communication of
yellow fever, and personally, under the Governorship of Leonard Wood,
demonstrated the correctness of that theory and thus freed Cuba from its
most dreaded pestilence and blazed the way for a like achievement in all
other lands. For this epochal service to the world many foreign
governments bestowed distinctions and decorations upon him. Though
technically retaining the British citizenship with which his father
endowed him, he devoted his life to Cuba and filled with high efficiency
the place of chief of the Bureau of Sanitation.]
The scene of the drama--for it was one of the most dramatic and heroic
performances in human history--was Camp Lazear, fittingly named for the
brave man who was a martyr to the cause of health, a few miles from
Quemados, in the outskirts of Havana. Before the work at the camp was
begun, however, two experiments were made by members of the commission,
who thus demonstrated their personal readiness to incur any peril which
might confront the volunteers for whom they were calling. Dr. Carroll
was first. He deliberately caused himself to be bitten by a mosquito
which twelve days before had gorged itself with the blood of a
yellow fever patient. Note that he did this with the expectation, indeed
with the hope, that he would thus be infected with one of the deadliest
of diseases. He sought to prove not that there was no danger in a
mosquito bite, but on the contrary that there was the greatest possible
danger. And his anticipations were fully realized. In due time after the
bite he was stricken with yellow fever in a particularly severe form;
from which, however, he happily recovered.
Dr. Lazear came next. At about the same time with Carroll he made a
similar experiment upon himself. Apparently the insect by which he
caused himself to be bitten had not itself been infected. At any rate
Lazear did not develop the disease. At this he was disappointed, and he
determined to expose himself again. Accordingly he was thoroughly bitten
by another mosquito, in the yellow fever ward of the hospital. He noted
the fact and all its results most carefully, as though he had been
experimenting upon some inanimate object. In due time the disease
manifested itself in its most malignant form. Everything possible was of
course done for him, but in vain. He died of the disease which he had
voluntarily contracted for the sake of saving others from it; one of the
world's great martyrs to the cause not merely of science but of
humanity.
So Camp Lazear was founded and was named after this hero. There were
erected two large frame buildings, one for infected mosquitoes and one
for infected clothing. The mosquito building was divided into two parts
by a permanent wirecloth partition, impervious to even the smallest
mosquito, but of course permitting free circulation of air. All the
windows and doors were securely screened in like manner, so that it was
impossible for mosquitoes to pass in or out. This building was
ventilated in the most thorough manner. Three men entered it and lived
there for a fortnight. One of them entered the compartment which was
infested with fever-infected mosquitoes, and was bitten by them. The
others remained in the other compartment which was free from mosquitoes
but through which the same air circulated and in which all other
conditions were identical with those in the insect room. The result was
that the man who was bitten developed the fever, while the others,
though fully as susceptible to it as he, showed no signs of it. Such was
the convincing demonstration of the mosquito house.
The clothing building was kept free from mosquitoes, but was well
stocked with the clothing and bedding of yellow fever patients. There
were the beds in which men had died of the fever, soiled with their
vomit and other excreta. The room was purposely deprived of ventilation,
so that its air should constantly be heavy with the reek of disease and
death. Into that indescribably loathsome place brave men entered, and
there they lived for weeks, wearing the soiled clothing and sleeping in
the soiled beds of those who had died of the pestilence. But not one of
them contracted the fever. Not one sickened. All emerged from the
noisome place at the end of the experiment in perfect health. Such was
the convincing demonstration of the infected clothing house.
One thing more remained. There was one remote possibility that the men
who had remained free from the fever, in the noninfected room of the
mosquito house and in the infected clothing house, were in some
unsuspected way immune against the disease. To determine this, one of
each of the companies permitted himself to be bitten by an infected
mosquito, with the result that he promptly developed the disease. That
was the final, complete and crowning demonstration which made Camp
Lazear forever famous in the annals of humanity. At a single stroke the
pestilence which had been the haunting horror of the tropics was
potentially conquered. Dr. Reed proclaimed to the world that the
specific agent in the causation of yellow fever was a germ or toxin in
the blood of a patient during only the first three days of the attack,
which must be transmitted by the bite of a mosquito inflicted upon its
victim at least twelve days after taking it from the blood of the first
patient. In no other way was it possible to convey the infection. The
notion that it was conveyed through the air, in the breath of patients,
in their soiled clothing or the discharges of their bodies, was
baseless.
That historic achievement was alone sufficient to make that first year
of General Wood's administration in Cuba forever gratefully famous. Of
course the lesson thus learned was at once put into effect with all
possible thoroughness. War was declared upon the death-dealing mosquito.
In February, 1901, the campaign was begun by Major William C. Gorgas, U.
S. A., the chief sanitary officer of Havana. Every case of yellow fever
was immediately reported, and the patient was rigidly isolated during
the three days in which his blood was infective. All the rooms of his
house and the adjacent houses were closed to prevent the escape of
possible infected mosquitoes, and were then thoroughly fumigated so as
to destroy every insect within them. In this way the spread of the
disease was prevented. At the same time measures were taken to
exterminate the mosquitoes altogether, by depriving them of breeding
places. It was ascertained that the insect required for propagation a
certain amount of stagnant water, in which its eggs might be deposited
and hatched. Steps were therefore taken to drain or otherwise get rid of
all pools, or to apply to them a film of oil which would prevent the
insects from using them, and to screen carefully all vessels and other
receptacles in which water was necessarily kept. These were the same
methods which Major--since Major General--Gorgas a few years later
applied with distinguished success for the elimination of yellow fever
from the Isthmus of Panama and thus rendered possible the construction
of the interoceanic canal.
[Illustration: STREET IN VEDADO, SUBURB OF HAVANA]
Begun in February, 1901, this work in Havana was so vigorously and
skilfully prosecuted that before summer every case of yellow fever had
disappeared from that city and its environs. During the summer a few
cases occurred, but the last of them was disposed of early in September.
That was the last case of yellow fever to originate in a city which for
a century and a half had annually been scourged by that disease. Since
that date the only cases that have been known there have been a few
which were imported from less sanitary ports--at one time Havana had to
establish a fever quarantine against United States ports! Thus the
island which had long suffered reproach as the especial home of one of
the deadliest of diseases, as a veritable plague-spot, which American
life insurance companies forbade their policy holders to visit, became
noted for its freedom from that scourge and for its general salubrity.
A similar campaign was also conducted against another variety of
mosquito which, by a like series of experiments, had been proved to be
the propagating medium of so-called malarial fevers; with highly
gratifying results.
Among the important reforms effected by General Wood was that of the
entire system of law and justice. It began with the penal institutions.
When the Americans assumed control, they found the old Spanish prison
system still in existence. Most of the prisons were antiquated,
unsanitary and inhuman structures, to enter which was ominous for the
body, the mind and the soul. There was no segregation of prisoners
according to age or degree of criminality. Mere boys, sentenced for some
slight misdemeanor, were herded in with adult felons of the most
hardened and incorrigible type. Many had been confined for months, even
years, awaiting trial. They had been arrested, locked up in default of
bail, and then practically forgotten. Of these many were innocent of
any wrong-doing; while some of those who were probably guilty were kept
in confinement awaiting trial for a much longer term than they could
have been sentenced for under the law if they had been tried and found
guilty.
This shocking state of affairs was vigorously attacked during the first
year of the American occupation, and it was thoroughly reformed before
that occupation ended. There was a prompt disposal of all untried cases.
Where it was possible, the prisoners were at once brought to trial. But
in many cases there was nobody to appear against them; perhaps through
lapse of time all the witnesses were dead; and it was impossible to make
even a show of prosecuting them. Such persons simply had to be set at
liberty. The system of jurisprudence was so modified as to assure prompt
trials thereafter. The management of the prisons was made to aim at the
reformation of the prisoners and not simply at their vindictive
punishment. In some prisons schools were opened, to give the inmates
instruction which would conduce to their right living after their
release. Of course the buildings were renovated as far as possible, so
as to make them sanitary and as comfortable as prisoners have a right to
expect their prisons to be.
This led, under General Wood's administration, to a general revision of
the system of courts, court procedure and jurisprudence. In the first
year of intervention, indeed, General Ludlow established a Police Court
in Havana. This was not authorized by Governor Brooke, and was regarded
as of doubtful legality. Nevertheless it remained in operation and
undoubtedly served a good purpose in disposing promptly of most of the
petty cases of arrest for misdemeanor. So valuable was it that General
Wood, on becoming Governor, determined to place its legal status on the
surest foundation possible, by issuing an official order for its
creation and recognition. In this he did not himself escape criticism,
not from Cubans but from Americans. The same people, or the same kind of
people, who had blamed him for paying so much attention to Cuban
education now declared that he had no business to meddle in any way with
the judicial system of Cuba. That was not what America had intervened
for. To such objections little attention was paid. General Wood rightly
regarded it to be his business to do anything in any department of
government that would promote the ends of justice and good government
and the welfare of the Cuban nation.
Police courts were therefore established not only in Havana but also in
the other cities. The Department of Justice was moved to examine into
the conduct of all the courts. When judges were found to be unjust,
corrupt, incompetent, or otherwise unfit to serve, they were removed.
Competent clerks were appointed, and they and all other court employes
were put on fair salaries, the fee system which formerly prevailed and
which was so susceptible of abuse, being abolished. Competent and
trustworthy lawyers were employed at state expense to serve as counsel
for those who were too poor to hire them.
It was under General Wood, in his first year of administration and the
second year of American intervention, that Cuban civil government was
elaborated, that an election system was devised and put into effect, and
that political parties had their rise. The Civil Governors of the
Provinces were now all Cubans: Of Pinar del Rio, Dr. J. M. Quilez; of
Havana, General Emilio Nunez; of Matanzas, General Pedro Betancourt; of
Santa Clara, General Jose Miguel Gomez; of Camaguey, General R. Lopez
Recio; of Oriente, General Demetrio Castillo. It was General Wood's wise
and just policy to fill Cuban offices with Cubans to the fullest
possible extent.
Therefore it was determined in the spring of 1900 to hold an election
for municipal officers throughout the island. An order was issued on
April 18, appointing the election for June 16, for officers to be
installed on July 1 for a term of one year. The officers to be chosen
were Mayors, or Alcaldes; members of City Councils or Ayuntamientos;
municipal treasurers and judges, and judges of the police courts.
The preparations for the election were made and a new electoral law was
drafted by a commission of fifteen members, appointed by General Wood.
Of the fifteen, thirteen were Cubans and two were Americans. The Cubans
were representative of the various political parties into which the
people of the island were beginning to divide themselves. It cannot be
said that the meetings and deliberations of the commission were
particularly harmonious. In the end two reports were submitted to the
Governor, of which he selected for adoption that presented by the
minority. It comprised the new elections law, which he promulgated on
April 18 in the proclamation calling for the election. This law provided
that a voter must be a male Cuban, native of Cuba or born of Cuban
parents while they were temporarily visiting abroad, or a Spaniard
included within the terms of the Treaty of Paris of 1898, who had not
elected to retain his Spanish allegiance; he must be twenty-one years
old, and must have lived in his municipality for at least thirty days
immediately preceding registration; and he must be able to read and
write; or own property worth $250 in American gold; or have served in
the Cuban army prior to July 18, 1898, and have been honorably
discharged therefrom. The ten consecutive days from May 6 to May 16 were
appointed as days of registration.
The total number of voters registered was 150,648, which was a little
more than fifty per cent, of the total number of men of voting age,
which had been shown by the census of 1899 to be 297,765. However, there
were some thousands of adult males in the island who had elected to
retain their allegiance to Spain, and therefore could not vote, so that
the number registered was considerably more than one half of the
possible voters. At the election on June 16 the total vote cast was
110,816. There were some protests and complaints of fraud and illegal
voting, and it is not improbable that there were some such abuses; as
there have been known to be in other lands, even in the United States of
America. On the whole the elections were probably reasonably fair and
honest; they were peacefully and quietly conducted; and they gave much
encouragement to the expectation that the people of Cuba would prove
themselves worthy of the opportunity of self-government which was being
placed before them.
At this election there were three parties. The Union Democratic was
composed of the more conservative element, including many of the old
Autonomist party, and it was largely inclined toward annexation to the
United States, or toward a permanent and efficient protectorate by that
country. Its numbers were few, and it took little part in the election.
The Nationals and the Republicans ranged from liberal to radical, and
between the two in principle there was no perceptible difference. These
parties did not long survive, but were transformed and merged into the
Conservative and Liberal parties of later years.
Political parties in Cuba had their origin about the time of American
intervention in the war. That was an assurance that Cuba was to have her
independence and become self-governing, and that made it seem worth
while to form into parties. The full development did not come, however,
until it was seen that the United States intended to keep its word by
leaving the government and control of Cuba to the people of the island,
and that conviction did not come to the general Cuban mind until some
time after the United States entered the war. It first began to arise in
considerable strength when the United States government forbade the
granting of any franchises or concessions during the American
occupation. That certainly looked as though the Americans expected to
get out of the island at an early date. As the administration of General
Wood went on, constantly increasing the participation of Cubans in the
government, the confidence in American good faith increased, and of
course the organization of parties became more complete.
There were then, however, as there are now, no such differences between
the parties on matters of political economy or administrative and
legislative policy, as exist in other lands. They are simply the "Ins"
and the "Outs." One party is in office and wants to stay in. The other
is out and wants to get in. In their methods, however, the two differ
widely. The Conservatives have been consistently in favor of
constitutional and lawful measures, the maintenance of peace and the
safeguarding of life and property. They have always been willing to
accept and abide by the result of an election, even though it were
against them. The Liberals, on the other hand, as we shall more
convincingly see in the course of this narrative, have been in favor of
practically any means which would enable them to gain control of
affairs. They have on several occasions not hesitated to involve the
island in revolution, provided that they would be able to profit from it
by gaining office.
In this first election for municipal officers there was little partisan
rivalry, and indeed that did not rise to any great pitch until the end
of the first intervention and the establishment of a purely Cuban
government. The chief partisanship was really personal. Each important
military or political leader had his own following. Such rivalries were
not yet, however, acrimonious or sufficient to have any material effect
upon the progress of public affairs.
Reference has been made to the reform of the taxation system which
included the abolition of a number of annoying and oppressive imposts.
There followed a revision of the tariff on imports, for the dual
purposes of promoting commerce and industry and of providing a revenue
for the insular government. In December, 1898, the United States had
ordered maintenance of the old Spanish tariff, with certain
modifications, chiefly dictated by the change of relations between Cuba
and the United States. Subsequently other modifications were made from
time to time as the need or desirability of them became apparent through
experience. But on June 15, 1900, an entirely new tariff law went into
effect, framed chiefly by American experts and following pretty closely
the general lines of the American tariff system. Naturally it was
calculated to encourage commerce between Cuba and the United States,
particularly by the admission of products of the latter country into
Cuban markets at a minimum of cost. In view of the scarcity of food in
Cuba and the devastated condition of much of the agricultural lands,
American food products, both meats and breadstuffs, thus gained easy
access to the Cuban market. This seemed anomalous, since Cuba was an
agricultural country capable of producing a large surplus of food for
export instead of needing imports of food. It was obvious, however, that
this feature of the tariff would be merely temporary, and in fact it was
materially modified by the increase of rates on such imports very soon
after the establishment of the Cuban government.
Despite the fact that during the year about three million dollars' worth
of food was imported, the total of Cuban imports was less than in the
preceding year; a circumstance due to the change in tariff rates. At the
same time there was a very considerable increase in exports. It was an
interesting circumstance, also, that there was a decrease in trade with
the United States; a pretty effective reply to the complaint which some
made that the new tariff had been improperly framed so as to give the
United States a monopoly of Cuban trade. It did give the United States
some advantages which that country had not enjoyed before, but on the
whole it was probably as fair and impartial as it could well have been
made. Commercial reports showed that Cuban imports from the United
States were $26,513,613 in 1900 and $25,964,801 in 1901; and that Cuban
exports to the United States were $31,371,704 in 1900 and $43,428,088 in
1901. Thus Cuban purchases from the United States were decreasing
slightly, while Cuban sales to the United States were greatly
increasing, and the balance of trade was growing more and more largely
in Cuba's favor.