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About Valentine Democrat. (Valentine, Neb.) 1900-1930 | View Entire Issue (June 21, 1900)
Y s -- E WlftlttlttlWWWiiftlWhtnlllii II M Mil fe rtfiWWriryjffHl i i mi 1 jMirtfT7rgfl9lfflHiMffIBitf iiiuiiiinFrrtTWTiinvfffrTTlliTii rn mump rtmrnitiiniT hihhiti A FTER THE WAR IN CUBA mmMA Mwgmmmmgmmmmmm IttZSlsJkiirStZ AmJJ7llsT4krW mmmimmmmmmsmm Havana Its Development and Progress Cuba a year and a half after the war Is peaceful patient and prosperous re markably so within so short a period but underneath the tranquil surface the American incumbents are cogni zant of almost indecent haste on the part of the unschooled and unprepared Cubans to seize the reins of state After talking- the situation over calmly with various Americans in Cuba we are of the opinion that the political Cuban is incapable of appreciation This does not apply to the rank and file of Cubans who have nobly re turned to peace and prosperity skinny though the latter must be for some time to come but then it is never the rank and file that perpetrate war and ts horrors Cuba has its quota of rapacious plotting and inconsiderate disturbers It would seem that the Cubans might not so soon forget that but for the intervening Americans their fifteen years war would still be on with Spain intent on their absolute extermination Five years would have been none too much schooling for the freed Cubans who never have known a government of their own and as well might Uncle Sam entrust a precocious youth with the reins of a mettlesome team The general population seems grateful patient and disposed to let affairs of state take their natural course but not so the political hot heads who imagine themselves states men and are avidious to share in the distribution of Cuban spoils after the Spanish methods so long in vogue Prom all that can be seen in Cuba it is hard to imagine that war is possible under the humane and unselfish Amer ican protectorate the blatant and sen sational newspaper correspondent to the contrary notwithstanding We arrived in Havana this year auspi ciously from a historical point of view witnessing the formal abdication of General Brooke and the entree of Governor-General Wood General Brooke in accordance with military tactics left the palace in civic apparel a soft hat a Prince Albert cassimere trousers and glossy pumps walked through the royal gates at the foot of Oreilly street to the harbor steamerette that was to convey his party to the anchored Oliv ette The only pretense at pomp was his escort of American generals from General Lee down and a mounted bugle band from the Quem ados The destitution and terrible suffering of the people of Cuba before and im mediately after the war and the gen erous response of the American people to the call for help are matters of his tory The State of Texas loaded with food and supplies contributed from the nation and having on board Miss Clara Barton and her staff of physicians and nurses was the first ship to enter the harbor of Santiago after the surrender of that city The necessity for the work then begun of caring for the sick and destitute has never ceased Personally with her field agents Miss Barton visited the most needy locali ties and aided by the local authorities and charitable volunteers organized hospitals and asylums providing them with all needful requisites Imme diately after her arrival in Havana she founded a creche or day nursery for the care of the infant children of poor mothers compelled to seek em ployment away from their homes a charity heretofore unknown in that island Soon afterward she started a society called El Socorro to aid the widows and girls who were compelled to seek employment especially those of the educated and refined class who behind the doors of their once happy homes are now fighting vainly against hunger and death To those she brave ly and quickly opened avenues of refuge relief and resources for the arts of refined labor A barbarous Spanish custom still barnacles Havana and that is the vac cinating outrage that departing visitors and tourists are subjected to as merci lessly as the insurgent wretches were dispatched at the Port Cabanas dead line There is no getting out of Havana without a health certificate and every leave taking person is steered to his fate at 22 Mercarderes street Here lie is confronted by an M D execu tioner and peeled to his shoulder or thigh in search of a vaccinating scar which if not decipherable precipitates a murderous attack the chosen limb being stabbed shot and consigned to periodical torture Havanaites seem to think no more seriously of yellow fever than Ameri cans do of smallpox business and so ciety pursuing the even tenor of their ways the same as if the islandic plague did not exist To the Havana visitor there is in fact no appearance or evidence of the saffron pest Every body seems as healthy and active as in New York or Chicago and assuredly there is no suggestion of fever or fear in the bustling thoroughfares The plague was remarkably mild in char acter the past year and the fatalities hardly one in ten as compared with Havanas record under the slothful Spanish regime After a year it is apparent that Uncle Sam wildly misjudged the Cubans when he took temporary possession of the island and transported 40000 or 50000 troops with which to preserve order and prevent possible brigandage They were never in the least required and have long since been recalled there being now less than 10000 regulars in all Cuba and no volunteers whatever Of course Uncle Sam did not know this and could take no- cliances but retro spectively it seems to have been a sin ful waste of money and surprising military hindsight The Cubans gen erally at first perused the American invasion with curiosity and indiffer ence and perhaps wondered if Uncle Sam knew what he was about but the islanders as a whole seem to have lost little time in returning to their bailiwicks and occupations The rem nant of American regulars remaining 3 L A street in Regla 2 A street in Jesus del Monte 7V HI mmmmm0iM msmm M mimmwwmwMw are parceled out on the Havana vedado at Quemados camp and about the is land Santiago Mantanzas and similar points Only a few of the regulars in Havana proper now wear the navy blue cap and blouse and light blue trousers peculiar to the ranks at home Many of the officers through the summer affected white duck As a whole the American soldiers have fared health fully indeed in Cuba and many intend locating in the Antilles on leaving the army Havana now swarms with proud and pompous Cuban policemen The new Cubanettes in dark blue blouses and bloomers with soft hats visible hip revolvers and billies and white gloves are sightly if not physically awesome The heaviest weight is about 140 pounds and from that down to boys that even the milk burros rubber at wiinMiwtii nnwjay1 mvmr iiinnwiiii4iwwwi wwwj men hail from the first Cuban families and are as imperial as peacocks They may never grow large but there is hope that they may ripen a little as the world wags along Nothing in Havana interested us more than the remarkable transforma tion of the postal service within a year after the Cuban war A steam launch owned and operated by the govern mentv calls upon every incoming and outgoing vessel promptly receiving and dispatching the mail of the island Under the Spanish regime the Havana postoffice was crude countrified and unreliable indeed with no systematic departments no letter boxes or free car service The incoming and outgo ing mails were assorted and bunched on big tables If the outgoing mail was not ready when a vessel was scheduled to leave the boat had to wait or the mail laid over until the next steamer was due to leave The only carrier service was that at the in dividual or tip expense of the recipient of a letter A half a million of unde livered and unclaimed letters were found in barrels boxes and corners by the incoming Americans and the con fusion and squalor of the premises were simply staggering The Havana postoffice is now orga nized into metropolitan divisions and sections and a competent superintend ent placed in charge of each The mails are made up and dispatched from schemes and regular case exami nations of clerks are held Registered matter is handled in immense volumes so large in fact that it would For the most part the Havana police- J ish a registry clerk in the largest office 3 Ox team and cart Havana A Down Correles Street tQWWMni wj v HnHSKA at - SHHIHBHHHSBmHhHSBBhIhHI VxMKi6miiEff BBBHBHBBIHHBETHBcKseiBHHmIH NflnBrallflt l - MmmmmmmBmmJBmmBW SSBMMmmEKmmlBBBmmMmMmmm vSSsMeS fi i1 SflBH5KB9BBI eEVis2is v - 7HBHIHBHH jmiiii i ifMHfBMMflHMMMlBBW TBfcjwHIBBBwBwfe jwHEBair fflBBHiBBBBB JBfflniMiT WKMMBHHfflBMni iJirrtMwnwHlWWCWilWlMMiliHWBWW IliKITriTfwiTf - Jlf TBHWBIHBHBBiRemi ffiTffiFffMrlfflrCTMMBiBW JbHHHB9Ba wgH t r 5 Street crossing Cuban cop 6 Antique street car service t DR W L SEYMOUR BBB TtBBpyn ii BBB cirMiifcpirfH5Sgftfr TPffiiSrTBiiESBBBBBBBBBI9nH J T ffptlMWHiMiBBBMHBPBlBBBBWfBK IB V l ib Br- j KBf r STREET SCENE IN HAVANA 7 Feeding reconcentradoes 8 U S paying Cuban soldiers S a