Our War with Spain for Cuba's FreedomWhite, Trumbull
History
Our War with Spain for Cuba's Freedom
White, Trumbull
Cuba -- History; Spain -- Foreign relations -- United States; Spanish-American War, 1898; United States -- Foreign relations -- Spain
The guilt of Spain in permitting this shocking condition to
continue, cannot in any way be palliated. For four hundred years
she has had sway in the island, free to work her own will, and
drawing millions of dollars of surplus revenue out of the grinding
taxes she has imposed. The installation of a sanitary system of
sewage, which should discharge into the open sea instead of into
this cesspool which lies at the city's feet, would have been the
first solution of the difficulty. The threat of danger would have
been finally averted by the expenditure of a few hundred thousand
dollars, which would open a channel from the further extremity of
the harbor to the ocean eastward. The distance is but a few miles
and the engineering problem a simple one. This and the
construction of a jetty northwestward from the point on which
Morro Castle stands, would divert a portion of the current of the
noble gulf stream into the harbor entrance, and the foul pond of
to-day would be scoured of its filth by a perennial flood which
could never fail.
Vera Cruz, on the Mexican coast, has proven that it is possible to
exterminate yellow fever, and it is a duty owed to civilization
that Havana shall follow along the same path. If all other excuses
were to be ignored, the United States for years has had ample
cause for intervention in Cuban affairs, as a measure of safety to
the health of her own citizens, as truly as one man may complain
to the authorities if his neighbor maintains a nuisance in the
adjoining yard.
THE BUSINESS QUARTERS OF HAVANA.
Once anchored in the safest place in the harbor, the mail steamers
are surrounded without delay by a fleet of peculiar boats of a
sort seen only in the bay of Havana. For a bit of silver, the
traveler is taken ashore, the journey to the landing stage being a
matter of but a few moments. The journey through the custom house
is not a formidable one, for unless there is suspicion of some
contraband goods, the customs officers are not exacting upon
travelers. At the door of the custom house, or aduana, wait the
cabs, which are cheaper in Havana than in any other city of the
new world, and they serve as a conveyance to the hotels, which are
all grouped in the same neighborhood.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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