The Sunday Oregonian., May 21, 1916, SECTION SIX, Page 2, Image 70

THE SUNDAY OEEG OXIATT. PORTLAND. MAY 21, 1916.
FIFTEEN YEARS BRING GREAT
CHANGE IN DECIDING BATTLE
FIELD GF WAR WITH SPAIN
ibVi
BY WHTGEOVB BATHON.
SANTIAGO, Cuba. May 15. The aver
aga visitor to this tropically
colored and heated city might well
concern himself with the fact that It
has grown In population 16,030 In 15
years, with all that that Implies, for
here "sugar Is kins," -nd Santiago
never was so rich.
But when one falls Into the hands of
friendly naval officers on their way to
Guantanamo, the nearby United States
naval base, or into the hands of one
of the elderly Washington colored men
whom the United States Government
maintains at the casaba tree outside
of Santiago, where the peace prelimi
naries between the Spanish armies and
those of the United States were signed,
one is apt to overlook the romance of
Cuba's business and Intellectual prog
ress and write Into the record some
of the military romance which must
forever make glistening the eyes of
tho American pilgrim.
Two years ago on April 1 the At
lantic fleet sailed for Mexico. That Is
remembered by Cubans It was a sub
ject of comment in Santiago. Not long
ego a Spanish transport sailed for ths
United States, to gather at Portsmouth,
N. the bodies of Spanish soldiers,
sailors and marines who died In the
United States and take them back
home. That also Is remembered In
Santiago today, and men have turned
aside from their work here In banks,
postofflces and hotels to ask me If I
knew these things, so Interested are
the people of thia city In all things
American.
I was very little surprised, there
fore, when Z found that the chauf
feur who was to take me to the cele
brated "blockhouse" on San Juan Hill
epoke as good English as I, or that at
the end of my Journey there should be
awaiting me lt seemed) Jeff Everett,
long (and still) a member of the Twenty-fifth
United States Infantry, and
I. B. Matthews, long (and still) a mem
ber of the Twenty-fourth United States
Infantry.
It Is these colored soldiers, both of
whom were in the charge up San Juan
Hill 18 years ago. who now care for
the "peace tree" on orders of Uncle
Earn. . -
The statement that they seemed to fcs
waiting" is made advisedly, for ths
approach of a traveler to Santiago la
made through storied water, whose
tales are not of the many new docks
from which Iron ore, oil and sugar are
Shipped, but of Daquiri. where ths
American troops landed; of the inlet off
which Rear-Admiral Cameron McRas
Wlnslow performed his exploits, of an
other Inlet off which the late Admiral
Luclen Young wrote his name on ths
scroll of history, and of that unbe
lievably narrow passageway where
Hob son sank the Merrlmao.
Past historic Morro Castle, smaller
kut more picturesque than the old fort
of the same name at Havana, ths
traveler comes to this ancient town
prepared to ask all sorts of Questions,
to find out "what makes It tick." only
to find In the end that the resident of
Santiago wants to tell him nothing
of his secrets of cement buildings here
which have withstood more attacks of
the elements since 1600 than perhaps
will some of the reinforced concrete
buildings of the present day In the
United States.
Nor will he tell the traveler the se
cret of the dyes In the wall coverings
of these buildings purple, pink, old
rose, ultramarine, brown and gray
which blend with the scarves of ths
women in the street Into a kaleidoscope
of colors.
Perhaps the resident of Santiago does
not know these things. Perhaps It Is
toojate to talk about such things. Or,
perhaps the native Cuban courtesy Is
Inspired with the Idea that the way
to entertain a traveler from ths United
States Is to show him the place where
the men of the District of Columbia,
Massachusetts. New York. Michigan
end all through the sonorous roll per
ished In support of the ideal of "Cuba
Libre." The citizen of the United
States Is the friend. the sincere friend
of the citizen of Santiago.
"I will show you how El Caney and
Ban Juan Hill look today," he tells
yon. "and you may read for yourself
at the "blockhouse' on tablets of
bronze the names of your compatriots
who perished In our behalf."
So. through narrow, tortuous, wind
ing streets, past ancient beggar women
In rags to whom a penny Is a direct
Interposition of Providence, past natty
policemen In khaki with black stripes
who smoke while on duty, past the
doors of banks which are closed dur
ing the noonday heat, past strings of
the little mules known as burros bring
ing In the market produce, past mod
ern cement houses mid banana plan
tations and palms, beautiful new sub
urbs built by American farmers, dis
puting a passageway of one foot to
spare with trolleys that Intend to
knock the beggars off the sidewalk
If your chauffeur does not beat the
motormen to it, you go to El Caney.'
You see the house in which General
Del Ray was killed by an American '
bullet, and you charge up San Juan
Hill today over a macadamized road
which would have been extremely use
ful in the days whose stirring scenes
are being recalled.
The old "blockhouse" Is gone. Its
cite cleared, and there now stands there
to mark the place where Hamilton Fish,
Allyn Capron and others fell a new
brick "blockhouse" containing tablets
which also , give the name of every
other man who was killed or who died
of disease.
The over-grown, grass-covered
trenches are still there, mute reminders
of what befell so many years ago be
tween July 1 and July 16. and there are
enrolled on the bronzes, too, the names
of the Sixth. Sixteenth, Second. Tenth,
Twenty-ffrst, Ninth, Thirteenth. Twenty-fourth.
Twenty-fifth. Third and
First United States Infantry, the Seventy-first
New York National Guard,
the Thirty-third and Thirty-fourth
Michigan National Guard, the Ninth
Massachusetts National Guard, ths
First United States Volunteers (Rough
Riders), Batteries A and F, Second
United States Field, Artillery, and ths
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Second and Ninth United States Cav
alry. These were the men who were In the
famous charge, and" the "peace tree,"
known as a sacaba (otherwise silk cot
ton), nearby Is fenced In with the old
Spanish rifle barrels they captured, and
marked off with some of the old Span
ish guns of large caliber molded and
oast centuries ago, with-' which the
Spanish commanders should ' not have
been obliged to attempt to defend the
entrance to Santiago harbor,' which
Morro frowns down upon.
All these shrines are being well pre
served. A new agricultural school has
been erected on the hillside nearby, and
a new school for American students has
found a place upon the macadamized
roadway which leads to the hill.
Today the traveler may go to ths
hill by trolley if he be so minded, or
he may go anywhere In and around
Santiago by the ubiquitous automobile,
which has found Its sphere of useful
ness here as elsewhere throughout the
world.
But. although these shrines on land
are marked, it must not be believed
that there are not equally as many
sacred spots on the waters about San
tiago, and the present traveler, even If
unable to name a lighthouse or some
other distinguishing mark to the mem
ory of the naval heroes who participat
ed In the campaign of Santiago, Is
nevertheless in position, be is informed,
to be able to set some secret history
down upon the record which may be In
teresting. When the North Atlantic Squadron
blocked the southern coast of Cuba, and
some of the ablest newspaper corre
spondents In ths world put Mole St.
Nicholas, Haiti, on the map, although
no one has been able to keep It there,
the arrival of the ships made possible
what ths Army afterward did.
Ths Secretary of War at that time
was asked by ths Secretary of the Navy
if the assistance of the Navy was need
ed to land troops. His reply was:
"The Army will land its own troops!"
Easier said than, done, Ths traveler
to 'Santiago passes Daquiri, as well as
Mols St- Nicholas, and if ths surf on ths
beach at Daquiri. as the writer passed
that point, was anything like. In ths
campaign, what It was this morning,
there is every reason to believe that
there should have been as much of a
cry for naval preparedness In those
days as there is today.
Fortunately, the. Navy was prepared
with miles of boats at Daquiri In ths
campaign. If it had not been the Army
could not have been landed. Daquiri
today Ls a port from which Iron ore
of the Interior ls sent to the United
States for ess in a certain process In
the manufacture of steel.
There the troops landed and marched
Inward to Slboney, a little to the west
ward, with them the First District of
Columbia Volunteers, under him who
ls now Major-General George H.
Harries. N. G. D. C. retired. Near Slb
oney the first skirmishes took place
with the Spanish troops, and the Army
moved up. digging trenches, ths battle
front extending six or seven miles.
That ls ths background in which after
ward stalked the speotsrs of typhoid
and malaria.
Now for the story of ths Navy not
published history, but soxns of ths
things which the office of naval Intel
ligence and the bureau of navigation
did not give to ths nswspaper corre
spondents. Every one knows of the sea
battle in which Cervera was beaten.
Santiago was laid siege to by land
and sea, because Cervera had escaped
Into that port. He was obliged to go
there because of a shortage of coaL
He did not have enough to take him to
Havana. When it was learned In ths
United States that his fleet was at Caps
de Verde Islands a patriotic business
man of New York and a Washington
lawyer in international practice offered
to be of service to the United States
Government in conjunction.
They had coal merchants and brokers
In the Cape de Verde Islands as cor
respondents, and. svery few days they
sent cablegrams reading "Ship 1000
tons coal." "Ship 1S00 tons coal." etc
These were cipher messages, explain
ing Cervera's movements.
Kg then steamed due vest frost ths
V iir- - r- - : -.i m,' -11 -- W
Islands, passed Martinique eventually
and brought up at the Dutch Island of
Curacao off Venezuela, where he bad
expected to meet the colliers Roath.
Rustormel and Twickenham, from Car
diff. Walea
These collier captains had become
frightened by ths actions of United
States warships as the result of ths
private Information given by ths New
York merchant and Washington law
yer to the Navy Department, and they
lied northward, being can tux ed bjr
United States cruisers. Cervera then
fled for coal to the nearest Spanish
port Santiago, Cubs, and ths sea bat
tle resulted.
So much for written and unwritten
history. There Is largs amount of
builjlng going on in and around Santi
ago. They have here suburbs which
are rapidly developing and which
would be a credit to any city of the
United States. There ls-"progTes on
svexy hand. But It all dates Xrom ths
campaign of Santiago, and ths partici
pation of the United States forces.
In ths opening paragraph of this
article I made the statement that this
city, which Is the principal commer
cial center of the Island of Cuba, has
gained 15,000 Inhabitants In IB years.
That is so bscause Msjor-General
Leonard Wood "cleaned It up" after ths
campaign.
Across the street from the veranda
on which this record ls set down ls as
modern, up-to-date and cemplets a
pharmacy as any In the United States.
I obtained there a few minutes ago
ths beverage one goes to drug stores
In ths United States for soda water.
Just as good as' at home.
Every sne hers except ths very poor
street beggar wears shoes an unusual
bablt In a tropical city. The wearing
of shoes In a Latin American city ls
a sign of a rise In the world. Santiago
has arisen. Cuba has arisen.
One watches ths color and light and
life of ths tropics In the city streets,
but on meets, In this ancient city,
also, a note of readiness, which has
most certainly corns from American
lnfluene. A servant came near this
table a few minutes ago and sharp
ened my lead pencils without being
asked to do so.
A "hoky-poky" ice cream wagon goes
by and ths merchant in charge is clean
and. for ' the tropics, unbelievably
quick. The little boys and girls havs
their faces washed, hair combed and
are ready to play In the streets at
6 or 6:30. Just as they are in Washing
ton. New York. Boston. Detroit. Se
attle or St. Louis.
Goats go through ths streets pulling
milk wagons as the dogs do in Bel
glum, the hearses which carry ths dead
to their last resting place are gaudy
as In other Latin American cities,' and
If one should be In need of a candle
to be "blessed" and placed upon an
altar of the beautiful cathedral with a
multi-colored tile roof sparkling In
the sun, ono could buy It at a "can
tlna." But these are merely notes in a city
full of color. The spirit of ths city
Is "progress" and Its pulse beats in
tuns with American Institutions which
carry that banner.
Makes N Dlffereaes,
(New York Times.)
She was very much in love with
him. and one evening while they were
alone, she asked:
"Frank, tell me truly; you have
kissed other girls, haven't you?"
"Yes." replied ths young man, bnt
no one you know."