who were exasperated by suffering and the death of their families and friends, and it was deemed necessary to take especial precautions for the prevention of riot and bloodshed at the time when Spanish control was removed. It is gratifying to note that the transfer was accomplished with entire harmony and without disorder, the troops of the United States replacing those of Spain step by step, as the latter retired, until a complete substitution was effected.

On the 24th of January the Division of Cuba was divided into seven geographical divisions, as follows: Pinar del Rio, Province of Havana, Havana, Matanzas, Santa Clara, Santiago, and Puerto Principe.

On the 19th of April and 1st of July, 1899, these departments were consolidated into four, leaving the Division of Cuba divided into the Department of the Province of Havana and Pinar del Rio, Department of Havana, Department of Matanzas and Santa Clara, and Department of Santiago and Puerto Principe.

Since the Spanish evacuation there have been no strictly military operations, and the officers of the army in Cuba have been largely occupied in conducting, under the direction of the military governor and the department commanders, a general civil administration for which no other governmental machinery existed and in aiding the existing municipal governments in the performance of their duties. The first and imperative duties of the army in the condition of social disorganization which existed were the maintenance of order, the immediate relief of prevailing distress among the starving reconcentrados, the sanitation of the towns, which had been left in a filthy condition and in which none of the precautions against disease known to modern sanitary science had ever been adopted, and the promotion of a return to peaceful industry on the part of the people whose homes and farms had been by force abandoned and laid waste.

In all these respects satisfactory progress has been made. The use of troops to maintain order was neces

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sary for but a short period. Forces of civil police, organized from the people of the island, have been substituted and are performing their duties efficiently. The part played by our troops in the maintenance of order is now substantially but the restraining influence of their

presence.

For the relief of distress the city of Havana was divided into districts for the distribution of rations and medicine under the direction of officers of the army. House-tohouse inspection, in cooperation with a committee of citizens, a regular system of reporting all cases of destitution, and a wagon-train service to outlying points were established. Through these means, and through the existing hospitals and asylums, 1,644,000 rations were distributed in the province of Havana between the 1st of January and 30th of June, 1899. In the Department of Santiago 1,699,366 rations were distributed between the 20th of November, 1898, and 16th of May, 1899. In the provinces of Matanzas and Santa Clara 1,930,130 rations were distributed between the 1st of January and the 30th of June, 1899. The amount required to be distributed has been steadily decreasing, and at the present time it is practically confined to distribution to hospitals and asylums.

The total issuances of rations to destitute persons in Cuba through the agency of the officers of the Army have amounted to 5,493,000 rations at a cost of $1,417,554.07.

The condition of the soldiers of the Cuban army, who had long been separated from any productive industry and who upon the conclusion of hostilities were left substantially without homes or occupation and with no pay coming to them from any source, seemed to require that, in the interest of public order as well as of humanity, some relief should be afforded which would enable them to disband and return to peaceful employment. It was accordingly determined to apply so much as might be necessary of the three million emergency fund provided by the act of January 5, 1899, for that purpose.

Arrangements were made under which the sum of $75 was paid to each Cuban soldier borne upon the duly authenticated rolls on his bringing in and depositing his arms. Two million five hundred and forty-seven thousand seven hundred and fifty dollars were paid out in this way, and upon the payment the army separated and has ceased to exist. Some claims to equal consideration for soldiers who are said to have been omitted from the list, and to especial consideration for sick and disabled soldiers who did not present themselves, are made, and the question of further payment to them is under consideration. The sanitary conditions of the cities and towns throughout the island were found to be as bad as it is possible to conceive. Thorough and systematic inspections were made, sanitary corps were organized, streets were cleaned, sewers were opened, cesspools and sinks. were emptied, public and private buildings were disinfected, methods of disposing of refuse were adopted, water supplies were improved, and rules were established and enforced to prevent a recurrence of similar conditions. In the larger cities a thoroughly good sanitary condition will require the establishment of grades, the construction of adequate sewer systems, and increase of water supplies. These have not as yet been practicable to any considerable extent. Great Great improvement, however, has been made to the advantage of cleanliness and health, and notwithstanding the peculiarly threatening conditions which existed at the close of the war, the island has been, throughout the heated season which is drawing to a close, unusually free from disease. The city of Havana is now undergoing a house-to-house renovation and disinfection. Some 2,000 houses have already been treated, and the work continues at the rate of 120 to 125 houses per day. The reports show that in no case has the process of disinfection failed to eradicate the infection, and no case of fever has occurred except from a fresh infection. The total deaths from yellow

fever in Havana for the first ten months of each year since 1889 have been as follows:

The deaths from all causes in Havana during the first few months after our occupation were numerous, owing to the great number of sick and dying who were there at the time of the Spanish evacuation. The rate has been steadily decreased until in September it was brought down to the annual rate of 27 per thousand and in October to 26.6 per thousand.

Similar conditions existing at Santiago were treated in a similar manner and with great thoroughness and effectiveness, and an outbreak of yellow fever at that point was speedily controlled and overcome.

During the six months ending June 30, 1899, we expended from the insular revenues $1,712,014.20 for sanitation, $293,881.27 for charities and hospitals, and $88,944.03 for aid to the destitute.

The revival of industry has been necessarily slow, but has made gratifying progress. Many of the people who had been driven into the towns during the reconsentration period have returned to the country and recommenced the cultivation of the land. Tobacco has been planted very largely and sugar to a less degree. In many parts of the island there is an adequate demand for labor at the rates which were customary before the war. The complete restoration of the sugar industry is seriously hindered by the fact that the sugar plantations are heavily mortgaged, their machinery has been destroyed, and the owners find it difficult to secure additional capital to restore the plant, because of the uncertainty which capitalists feel regarding the character of the future government of the island, and the protection which it will afford to investments. Not only are the owners of large estates affected by this circumstance, but many of the Cuban

people who are ready and anxious to resume the cultivation of their farms with their own hands are still unable to do so because they have not the means to purchase the necessary animals and agricultural implements for that

purpose.

The rule of administration of the civil government of the island has been to employ the people of Cuba themselves to the fullest extent possible, and to furnish to the Cubans, during our occupation, an opportunity for training in the honest and efficient performance of official duties, which has never been afforded to them before.

As soon as the social conditions had become sufficiently normal to make it practicable, provision was made for taking a census of the island, designed to furnish the basis for the organization of the Cuban government to which we shall transfer the control now held by us in trust for the people of Cuba. The order was issued on the 19th day of August, 1899, and required the actual census to be commenced on the 16th day of October and to be completed by the 30th day of November, 1899. Col. Joseph P. Sanger, assistant inspector-general, and formerly brigadier-general of volunteers, commanding the Department of Matanzas, was appointed director, and he has as an assistant director an expert from the Census Bureau of the United States, with his headquarters in Cuba.

The entire force through which the census is being taken is composed of Cubans, with one well-known citizen of each of the six provinces as the supervisor for that province, and with enumerators nominated by him from residents of the province. The scope of the inquiry and the blanks, forms, and orders employed were determined upon by the department after conference between the officials of the United States Census Bureau and the six supervisors who came to Washington for that purpose. The taking of the census was commenced at the appointed time and it is now substantially completed, with entire success.