A yellow fever hospital was established on an island in the harbor. The city was divided into districts and numbers of medical men put in charge, their duty being to examine each house and report sanitary conditions, sickness and food situations. As a result of these reports Wood issued orders for action in each district so that the food, the available medical force and the supplies of all kinds should be used and distributed to produce the greatest results in the shortest possible time. In one district alone just outside the city there were thousands of cases of smallpox in November. The streets were filled with filth and dead and wrecked furniture. The wells were full of refuse. The task seemed almost hopeless. Yet, under Wood's system of detailing squads to undertake the work in certain sections {114} with the system of centralized reporting, the epidemic was checked in a month, the district cleaned and scrubbed from end to end with disinfectants and the small pox cut down to a few scattering cases. In this district of Holguin the plan was adopted of vaccinating two battalions of the Second Immune Regiment. These men were then sent into the district to establish good sanitary conditions and clean up the yellow fever. The work was done successfully without the occurrence of a single case of smallpox amongst the American troops. No better demonstration of the efficacy of vaccination was ever given. Thus the first task of feeding the starving population and cleaning the city was simultaneously undertaken by districts under the direction of officers having authority to proceed along certain established lines. Episodes illustrating these "established lines" are many, but there is space here, for only one or two of them. It developed at the outset that there was food and meat in the city which the people could use, but which was beyond their reach on account of the high prices. General Wood no sooner heard {115} of this than he "established a line of procedure" to correct it. He sent for the principal butchers of the city and asked: "How much do you charge for your meat?" "Ninety cents a pound, Señor." "What does it cost you?" There was hesitation and a shuffling of feet; then one of the men said in a whining voice: "Meat is very, very dear, your Excellency." "How much a pound?" "It costs us very much, and ..." "How much a pound?" "Fifteen cents, your Excellency; but we have lost much money during the war and..." "So have your customers. Now meat will be sold at 25 cents a pound, and not one cent more. Do you understand?" Then, turning to the alderman, he charged him to see that his order was carried out to the letter, unless he wanted to be expelled from office.