CONNING TOWER AND ENTRANCE SHIELD The conning tower of a war vessel may be regarded as the head of the ship, since it is from this point the commander gives his orders when his vessel women and children, one of the latter, as I remember, being swollen up with the beri-beri, begging in the most earnest way of the few passengers. "San Domingo is little more than a railroad station in times of peace, but at present it has a considerable population, living in cabins thatched with the tops of royal palm trees, composed of the survivors of the reconcentrados. The huts are arranged close together in a little clump, and the concentration order required and apparently still requires these people to live within a circle of small block houses, commonly dignified in the dispatches by the name of forts. They had no work to do, no soil to till, no seed to plant, and only begging to live on. I do not know the exact measure of the dead-line circle drawn around them, but there was certainly nothing within it upon which a human being could subsist. Practically they were prisoners. At every one of the numerous stopping places along the road a similar collection of huts could be seen, and at most of them beggars, often nice looking women and beautiful children, invaded the cars. Between the sta tions, although I traveled always by daylight, as the trains do not run at night, and I was observing as carefully as possible, I saw no signs of the reconcentrados going away from the forts. If they had gone, it takes seed, instruments, land, and three or four months to raise the vegetable which could be soonest produced, and nowhere away from the block houses was there any sign of vegetables growing. Near the larger towns the circle of concentration seemed to be somewhat larger, and some planting of vegetables, tobacco, etc., seemed to be going on. At this a very few persons, possibly some of the reconcentrados, found employment. Deserted Fields and Farms, "All along the railroad, as far as could be seen, were stretches of the most fertile and beautiful country, with very few trees, even on the low mountains, and most of these royal palms. I saw many dozens of burned canefields, and one evening, going from Guines to Havana, saw the sky all lighted up along the road with fires, principally of the tall grass of the country, but partly of cane. The whole land was lying perfectly idle, except that I saw two or three or four sugar mills where cane was growing, but in all such instances the mill and cane were surrounded by forts, manned by soldiers, who are paid, I was told, by the owners. Except in the cities, I saw no indication that any relief whatever was being afforded to the starving people. Neither in Havana nor elsewhere did any priest, religious woman or other person seem to be paying any attention to the wants of the starving, except that at the Fossos, and some other places, charitable Cubans were nursing the sick. The Church, being a state institution, was, so far as I could see, leaving the victims without either bodily or spiritual relief. In fact, the general air of indifference to suffering which seemed to prevail everywhere was astonishing. A Fearful Mortality. "As the country was stripped of its population by the order of concentration, it is easy to believe that 400,000 persons were gathered behind the forts without being given food, medicine, or means of any kind to earn a living, except where in the larger cities some few could find employment in menial offices. Judging by the orphans I was shown at Jacoba, Aidecoa and elsewhere, and from all I saw and heard, I believe that half of the 400,000 have died as the result of starvation. I know from the official register of the city of Santa Clara, which ordinarily has a population of about 14,000, that the deaths for November were over 1,000, and the number of deaths for December was over 900, and showed an increase, considering the loss of the former 1,000, from its total population. The exact figures for December are 971. At that city the government was distributing 500 single rations per day out of a total appropriation for the purpose of $15,000. This was not relief, but a mere prolongation of the sufferings of a small part of the reconcentrados of the city. "So far as any evidence of relief was visible to my eyes or was even heard of by me in all my talks on the island, the surviving 200,000 people are in the same condition and have the same prospect of starvation before them as had their kindred who have died. There is as much need of medicine now as food, and they are getting neither. The reason given by the Spanish sympathizers in Cuba is that the troops must be first fed, and it is certain that many of the soldiers are sick and suffering for want of proper food. I saw many myself that looked so. I was informed on all sides that they had not been paid for eight months, and that most of the civil officials had not been paid for a similar period. It is, therefore, most probable that Spain is practically unable to supply the millions which are immediately necessary to prevent the death of most of the surviving reconcentrados, but this leads to polit ical questions, which I desire to avoid. Our Manifest Duty. "I wish merely to state in such a way as to be convincing that in consequence of the concentration of the people, some 200,000 Cubans are daily suffering and dying from diseases produced by a lack of nourishment, in the midst of what I think must be the most fertile country in the world, and that something must be done for them on a large scale, and at once, or a few months will see their extermination. So far as I could see, they are a patient, amiable, intelligent set of people, some of them whom I saw begging having faces like Madonnas. They are Americans, probably the oldest Americans of European descent. Constant intercourse with the United States has made them sympathize with and appreciate us, who are but six hours by boat from them, if we do not sympathize with or care for them. No order or permission from General Blanco can save the lives of many of them. Indeed, many are too far gone to be saved by the best care and treatment. "There was no indication of a cessation of hostilities by the insurgents. If they do not voluntarily cease, their tactics are such that Spain cannot conquer them, if at all, before the reconcentrados will have had the finishing stroke. But even the speedy termination of the war would not save many of them. What they need is instant pecuniary assistance to the extent of $20,000 a day, distributed by our consuls. Private charity, it seems, will hardly produce the amount. Twenty thousand dollars would be but ten cents apiece for medicine, clothes and food. When I left Havana I was informed that Consul General Lee had received $5,000 and some hundreds of cans of condensed milk. As there are about 30,000 sufferers in Havana alone, the inadequacy of such contributions is manifest. Whether Congress should make an appropriation, as in the case of the San Domingo refugees and other cases, it is not for me to say, but I beg the charitable to believe the statement of facts which I have made, and try to realize what they mean." A correspondent in Cuba gives an interesting account of a case that came under his notice among the reconcentrados in the town of Guadaloupe. It is substantially as follows: |