Touching Cuba, too, the course of the Administration evoked no serious opposition. We were in the island simply as trustees for the Cubans. The fourth congressional resolution of April 20, 1898, gave pledge as follows: "The United States hereby disclaims any disposition or intention to exercise sovereignty, jurisdiction, or control over said island (Cuba) except for the pacification thereof, and asserts its determination when that is completed to leave the government and control of the island to its people." This "self-denying ordinance," than which few official utterances in all our history ever did more to shape the nation's behavior, was moved and urged, at first against strong opposition, by Senator Teller, of Colorado. Senator Spooner thought it likely that but for the pledge just recited European States would have formed a league against the United States in favor of Spain. December 13, 1898, a military government was established for "the division of Cuba," including Porto Rico. The New Year saw the last military relic of Spanish dominion trail out of Cuba and Cuban waters. The Cuban army gradually disbanded. The work of distributing supplies and medicines was followed by the vigorous prosecution of railroad, highway and bridge repairing and other public works, upon which many of the destitute found employment. Courts and schools were resumed. Hundreds of new schools opened--in Santiago city 60, in Santiago province over 300. Brigandage was stamped out. Cities were thoroughly cleaned and sewer systems constructed. The death rate fell steadily to a lower mark than ever before. In 1896 there were in Havana 1,262 deaths from yellow fever, and during the eleven years prior to American occupation an average of 440 annually. In 1901 there were only four. Under the "pax Americana" industry awoke. New huts and houses hid the ashes of former ones. Miles of desert smiled again with unwonted tillage. [Illustration: Slum with sewage running through the dirt street.] Showing Condition of Streets in Santiago before Street Cleaning Department was organized. [Illustration: Street cleaners working on dry roadway.] Santiago Street Cleaning Department. A census of Cuba taken by the War Department, October 16, 1899, showed a population of 1,572,797, a falling off of nearly 60,000 in the twelve years since the last Spanish census, indicating the loss due to the civil war. The average density of population was about that of Iowa, varying, however, from Havana province, as thickly peopled as Connecticut, to Puerto Principe, with denizens scattered like those of Texas. Seventy per cent. of the island's inhabitants were Cuban citizens, two per cent. were Spanish, eighteen per cent. had not determined their allegiance, while about ten per cent. were aliens. Eighty per cent. of the people in the rural districts could neither read nor write.