PREFACE xiii 



Northern and Southern States, as well as in four 

 West Indian islands of very different political 

 atmosphere, and the comparison was instructive. 



Another interesting contrast was that which sug- 

 gested itself between Cuba and Jamaica from the 

 standpoint of American occupation. Some days in 

 Havana at the time of the annual celebration of 

 Independence, and just previous to the last mild 

 revolution, were sufficient to convince me of the 

 ultimate absorption of that Gilbert-and-Sullivan 

 Government into American suzerainty. On the 

 other hand, a fortnight in Jamaica, during which I 

 enjoyed many opportunities of conversing on the 

 subject with leading Government officials, and with 

 pen-keepers long resident in the country districts, 

 proved that British rule is as firmly established as 

 ever, and that, to whatever extent American capital 

 may be, and should be, welcomed in the development 

 of its banana trade and other industries, American 

 occupation is a chimera that need not be taken 

 seriously. The unfortunate episode enacted by the 

 late Governor and an American admiral rested on a 

 political basis little understood in this country. 



A wholly different aspect of American activity 

 in a foreign territory was vouchsafed to me in the 

 Isthmus of Panama, where, thanks to a letter from 

 the President, I was most cordially treated by 

 Colonel Gorgas, the officer in charge of the 

 sanitary operations, Mr Sullivan, acting Chief 

 Engineer at the time of my visit, and other 

 officials in the Canal Zone, and I was agreeably 

 impressed, not alone with the conduct of the 

 campaign against mosquitoes and the furtherance 

 of the immensely difficult engineering work, but 



