the priest's church, because it was so dirty. The priest raised his chin, opened his hands, and said, "Oh, holy Heaven!" That priest found it convenient to leave the place.

Perhaps the conditions in Matanzas province can be summed up best in the words of General Wilson to the

officials of the town of Colon, a place of about 16,000 people. General Betancourt acted as interpreter at the conference, and General Wilson said:

"Say to them, general, that I have been in every country in the Northern Hemisphere, and I have never seen any portion of the world that presents more evidences of fertility and possible richness than the coun

try from La Union to this place, where you can plant and harvest every day of the year."

The civil governor made this graceful reply:

"If you have found the country fertile and the soil rich, you will also find the Cuban hearts as rich in their gratitude and appreciation; and as the country grows richer, due entirely to the assistance given to it by the United States, you will find also that the Cuban hearts will grow daily in their appreciation of and love for the great American republic."

General Wilson responded to that, and his response threw light on the actual situation in Cuba:

"I am very much surprised to find the people so deserving and industrious. The impression prevalent in many portions of the world is that the Spanish-American people are not industrious, that they are a light and trivial people; but any one who entertains this opinion will be compelled to change it if he comes to the island of Cuba."

CHAPTER XII

CONDITIONS IN SANTA CLARA

T

HE province of Santa Clara is probably the most fertile in Cuba. It has for its chief city and sea

port Cienfuegos on the southern coast. Almost directly in the centre of the province and also of the island is the old city of Santa Clara, known commonly in Cuba as Villa Clara, one of the most healthful places in Cuba. The province is the chief centre of the sugar industry in the island, has some of the best tobacco lands in Cuba, has various kinds of minerals, none of which, with the exception of asphaltum, has been found in paying quantities, has rich plains and lofty mountains, and abounds in the best tropical agricultural conditions. There is nothing which will grow in Cuba that will not flourish there. Its agriculture at once began to revive after the war ceased. It was there also that the greatest distrust and active opposition to American rule were manifested in the early days of our military occupation.

Cienfuegos, the metropolis of the province, felt the effects of the war least of all the large cities in Cuba. Its people regard it as the greatest commercial rival of Havana, and they do not hesitate to predict that the time is coming when it will be the chief seaport town in