Image provided by: University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries, Lincoln, NE
About The Conservative (Nebraska City, Neb.) 1898-1902 | View Entire Issue (July 4, 1901)
yip * - .r 8 Conservative. more summary proceeding of the pro posed writ should be introduced , nud nt Inst its adoption was secured the pro mulgation of an order by the military governor , General Wood , in December last. It would require much space to at tempt to enumerate all that has been done iu the way of reform , and the Ixnioficial actions taken by the two mili tary governors. A few may bo stated , of those affecting the laws , such as the reorganization of the existing courts ; > the creation of a supreme court , and of * correctional courts for the trial of minor cases ; provisions to facilitate the ad ministration of justice , to provide salaries for court officials instead of fees which had led to corruption ; the promulgation of laws for the punish ment of bribery ; provision for making legal the religious as well as the civil ceremony of marriage ; authorization of notaries to administer oaths outside of . judicial proceedings , and to take affi davits and acknowledgements of deeds and other instruments ; with many other laws , the benefits of which" are only to 1)0 understood by comparison of present remedies and facilities with those which had existed before. The progress made in a mutual under standing and adaptation of the two dif ferent systems of law , the civil law of Spain and the laws of the United States , derived from the common law of England , during the past two years is greater than could have been expected. Naturally suspicious and hostile to the introduction of changes into their sys tem of law and the methods of its ad ministration to which they had been ed ucated ( but possibly no more so than ourselves would be , were the conditions reversed ) it required constant and per sistent effort to convince the Cuban sec retaries of justice and the legal fra ternity generally of the necessity or ad vantage of reforms which , to American view , were much needed , and it was necessary to go slowly. In some in stances their assent was not awaited ; but to have attempted the introduction of American laws bodily into Cuba would have beeu to provide them with a system entirely unknown to their judges , their lawyers , or the people , and was manifestly an impossibility. It would have been unwise to undertake it or to attempt to force upon them laws that they could not understand or com prehend. Schools. At the date of military occupation there were few , if any public schools in the island. Under the reorganization of departments these were placed in charge of the Secretary of Justice and Public Instruction , and the consequent work devolving upon that functionary was very great. The reorganization of schools and the school system was , how ever , begun under General Brooke , and a decree which had been'propared under his administration was issued by Gen eral Wood substantially in its original form soon after his assumption of duties as military governor , and he has earned the reorganization to a successful con clusion. The work , and law has , however - over , been greatly modified and enlarged under his supervision ; a largo force of teachers has been employed ; school houses built ; the number of school rooms largely increased ; school furni ture , books , etc. , have been provided , and it is stated in the Annual Report of Public Schools for 1900 , that the num ber of school rooms which was 812 in December , 1898 , had increased to over 8,800. New orders issued , putting in force a system of school laws for the island , provide for a commissioner of public schools , and a superintendent of schools of the island , and for a superin- , teudent of schools in each of the six provinces. Boards of education had al ready beeu established in municipalities , and in December last there was an en rollment of 172,218 scholars , with an average attendance of 128,862. Charities , Hospitals , Etc. Considering the condition of the people ple , with their farms destroyed , the til lers of the soil absent from their lands , the "reconcentrados" with their women and children , without means to sustain life , and in a starving condition , it be came necessary for General Brooke to provide at once for an immense number of helpless persons. This , as well as other matters of immediate necessity beyond his possible personal supervision , he placed , at first , in charge of the sev eral department commanders who , as a rule , designated certain officers of their staff , or of the line , to superintend the charities and hospitals , and to issue uecessaiy rations. General Brooke ordered immediate relief given , and daily rations were supplied to the needy , which were continued until those able to' work could be returned to their homes or given work in the fields or elsewhere ; and the aged women with out support , children , and the sick , could be placed in hospitals or charita ble institutions. The hospitals and asy lums as left by the Spanish authorities were , as a rule , in bad condition , with out funds for immediate use , and lack ing supplies. In case of the insane asylums , their condition was such as to reflect no credit upon a civilized people. It was reported that in some instances the insane were found chained or in cages , treated more like wild beasts than human beings , and no effort appeared to have been made for their comfort or kindly treatment. It was evident that modern methods of treatment of the in sane had not reached Cuba under Span ish administration. All hospitals and charitable institu tions being placed under supervision of American army officers , changes for the better. began at once ; buildings were cleansed , repaired or reconstructed , and in July 1900 , "Regulations for the De partment of Charities and Hospitals" wore promulgated , and the department placed under charge of the department of state and government. The work hud been substantially organized , and all cases of charity provided for long before , but by this order provision was made for permanent organization ; re form schools for girls as well as boys were established , and provision made for training schools for destitute and de linquent children. A training-school for boys already established , is now in active operation and a great credit to this department. A slight idea of the charitable work performed may be had when it is stated that in the two years from January 1 , 1899 ( the date of military occupation ) to December 31 , 1900 , more than two million , one hundred and eighty-four thousand dollars in money were paid out for this purpose ; nearly 600,000 rations , and more than 28,000 pounds of fresh beef , in addition thereto , had been is sued. Private aid from American sources had also been given. An asylum for children was established in September 1889 , at Remedies , by the trustees of the Cuban orphan fund , organized in New York , of which General Greene and General Ludlow are prominent mem bers , the trustees being represented in Cuba by Miss Laura D. Gill. Results. It would take a volume to tell all that has been done for Cuba during its mili tary occupation by the United States. The methods of administration alone have been an object lesson for the Cu ban people , and though there have been cases of individual dishonesty , like that of Neely in the post-office , yet such an exception made more significant the ab solute integrity of ruling officials , and the administration of customs under General Bliss , where the entire revenues of the island from this source have been handled in a manner unprecedented in Cuban history , has convinced the Cu bans that a public office can bo and should be a public trust , and not an op portunity , as formerly , for individual profit. The work undertaken and performed by General Brooke iu bringing order out of chaos , harmonizing antagonistic ele ments , hostile to each other through civil war ; in selecting an efficient cabi net and reorganizing the government of the island ; in securing the disbandinent of the Cuban insurgent forces without disorder ; and in compelling the dissolu tion of an organized "assembly" that at one time threatened to make trouble by opposing the disbandment of the Cuban army , and which actually deposed Gen eral Maximo Gomez from command be- t - :
