THE CUBA RE\'IEW 



HOW MISS BARTON TOOK SANTIAGO 



On Christmas day Clara Barton was 90 

 years old. The present generation know 

 her chiefly as the mother of the American 

 Red Cross, the international branches of 

 which now extend to all civilized lands. 



During the more than 20 years that Miss 

 Barton sustained the Red Cross in x\mer- 

 ica, she visited between 20 and 30 fields. 

 At the age of 77 she visited Cuba and 

 headed the Red Cross movements during 

 the term of the war with Spain. She did 

 the work of several men, often riding sixty 

 miles in a day, on a wagon without springs 

 \ hich had to pass over a road extremely 

 rough and hazardous. George Kennan, the 

 writer and lecturer, who was with Miss 

 Barton in Cuba, says that though but a 

 little more than fifty years of age at the 

 time, he could not, with all his experience 

 have done 20 miles of the 60 that this 

 delicate woman of 70 did on many days 

 in pursuing her great undertaking of dis- 

 tributing food supplies and clothing to the 

 starving reconcentrados. 



It was Miss Barton who really took San- 

 tiago, and the story is well told in the 

 New York Sun. There was not much said 

 in the newspapers about the exploit at the 

 time, but the record is in the War Depart- 

 ment at Washington. From Miss Barton's 

 diary the following description is taken : 



"Between 3 and 4 o'clock in the after- 

 noon a small Spanish steamer — which had 

 been among the captures of Santiago — ran 

 alongside and informed us that an officer 

 wished to come aboard. It proved to be 

 Lieutenant Capeheart, of the flagship, who 

 brought word from Admiral Samson that 

 if we could come alongside the "New 

 York," he would put a pilot on board. 

 This was done and we moved on through 

 waters we had never traversed — past Morro 

 Castle, long, low, silent and grim- — past 

 the Spanish wrecks on the right — past the 



"Merrimac" in the channel, which Hobson 

 had left. We began to realize that we 

 were alone. Of all the ships about the 

 harbor there was none with us. The still- 

 ness of the Sabbath was over all. The 

 gulls sailed and flapped and dipped about 

 us. The lowering summer sun shot long 

 golden rays athwart the green hills on either 

 side and tinged the v/aters calm and still. 

 The silence grew oppressive as we glided 

 along with scarce a ripple. The thought 

 suddenly burst upon me : Are we really go- 

 ing into Santiago — and alone? Are we 

 not to be run out and wait aside and 

 salute with dipping colors while the great 

 battleships come up with music and banners 

 and lead the way ? As far as the eye 

 could reach no ship was in sight. Was 

 this to remain so? Could it be possible 

 that the commander who had captured a 

 city decline to be the first to enter — that 

 he would hold back his flagship and him- 

 self and send forward and first a cargo 

 of food on a plain ship, under direction 

 of a woman? Did our commands, military 

 or naval, hold men great enough of soul 

 for such action ? It must be true — for 

 the spires of Santiago rise before us, and 

 turning to the score of companions beside 

 me I asked, 'Is there any one here who 

 will lead the doxology?' In an instant the 

 full, rich voice of Enola Gardner rang out : 

 'Praise God, from Whom All Blessings 

 Flow.' By that time the chorus was full, 

 and the tears on many a face told more 

 plainly than words how genuine was that 

 praise, and when in response to a second 

 suggestion, 'My Country, 'Tis of Thee' 

 swelled out on the evening air, in the fare- 

 well rays of the setting sun, the 'State of 

 Texas' was nearing the dock, and quietly 

 dropping her anchors she lay there in un- 

 disputed possession of the City of San- 

 tiago." 



Automobile Trade Growing 



■'In Cuba and the other West Indian 

 Islands the Locomobile Company was one 

 of the early pioneers in the export trade," 

 said J. C. Hernandez, the export agent in 

 New York. "We began selling the old 

 four-cylinder cars in Cuba in 1904 and dis- 

 posed of about twenty machines there each 

 season until 1907, when our trade began 

 to fall off owing to competition, and also 

 to the campaign begun there by foreign 

 manufacturers. 



"With the advent of our six-cylinder car. 

 however, our Cuban trade is picking up 

 again, proving that the sugar and tobacco 



planters are willing to pay a high price 

 for a higher grade article than that which 

 we previously had to offer them, -for it 

 must be remembered that a duty of twenty- 

 five per cent has to be paid on automobiles 

 shipped into Cuba. We have contracts 

 now for twelve of the six-cylinder cars to 

 go to Cuba, and expect to sell not less 

 than twenty-five before the close of the 

 season. 



"Cuban buyers take a large number of 

 second-hand machines for use in the rough 

 roads of the interior, at points located far 

 from the centres of supply." 



