THE CUBA REVIEW 



MAJOR-GENERAL WILLIAM C. GORGAS 

 MaJMi-iu'iU'ral William C. Gorgas, for- 

 mer .surgeon-general of the United States 

 ary, died in Loudon on July 4th. 



General Gorgas was considered one of 

 the world's foremost authorities on mili- 

 tary medicine and surgery. He fought 

 and defeated the malarial mosquito in 

 Panama, and thus made possihle the build- 

 ing of that great waterway. He dis- 

 lodged yellow fever from its century-old 

 stronghold in Ilavnua, and under the di- 

 rection of the United States government 

 and the Rockefeller Foundation super- 

 vised campaigns against that dread dis- 

 ease in Central America, Peru and 

 Ecuador. 



Cuba owes much to General Gorgas. 

 His work in combating yellow fever in 

 Havana began when he went to Cuba with 

 the rank of major in the Spanish war. 

 WHien the war ended he remained as sani- 

 tary officer of the island. Havana had 

 been for more than a century the focus 

 of yellow fever infection for all of the 

 Northern hemisphere. When General 

 Gorgas left Cuba in 1902, the island had 

 been cleared up, and since then Havana, 

 where previously from 200 to 1,200 had 

 succumlied annually to yellow fever, has 

 been virtually fne from the disease. 



PAN AMERICAN UNION 

 Tlie <:ioverning Board of the Pan Ameri- 

 can Union has accei)ted the resignation of 

 Director General John Barrett, to take 

 effect Seiiteml>er 1st. The board expressed 

 its aitpreciation of Mr. Barretfs long and 

 valualile services to the institution, its 

 ends and aims. 



Mr. Barrett was elected Director Gen- 

 eral January 1st, 1907, and for nearly 

 fourteen years has devoted his energies to 

 the interests of the Pan American Union. 

 During his term of office, the beautifid 

 Pan American Building, at Wasliington, 

 D. C, was constructed, of which he laid 

 the first and last stone. He has taken a 

 deep personal interest in the care of the 

 home of the Pan American Union as well 

 as in the development of the work of this 

 institution in promoting the cordial rela- 

 tions between the American Republics. 

 Dr. Leo. S. Rowe, an active Pan Ameri- 



canist, has been elected to the office of 

 Director General to succeed Mr. John 

 Barrett. Dr. Rowe is a member of the 

 bar, has been professor of political science, 

 member of many important conferences 

 and commissions on Latin American 

 affairs, and is an author of note on poli- 

 tical and economic subjects. He has been 

 a member of the International High Com- 

 mission since its foundation, and at pres- 

 ent is at the head of the Bureau of Latin 

 American Affairs of the Department of 

 State. 



MILITARY AXIATION SCHOOL 

 The Department of War and Marine of 

 Cuba has _opened the Military Aviation 

 School to Matriculates. Entrance require- 

 ments provide that an applicant must be 

 enlisted in the army, either as a private, a 

 petty officer, or an official of a rank not 

 greater than that of second lieutenant, 

 and be under 25 years of age ; or, if not 

 connected with the array, to have the 

 necessary qualifications and educational 

 examination. The successful candidates 

 are required to take a course in the ground 

 school, and, complying with such require- 

 ments as may be considered necessary, 

 they will be given titles as military 

 aviators. 



SANTIAGO AQUEDUCT IMPROVEMENTS 

 Ins]iection of Cuba's aqueducts recently 

 di'veloiied the tact tlittt the plant at Santi- 

 ago is totally inadequate for the present 

 re<juirenients at that point, and President 

 Menocal has repeatedly asked Congress 

 for necessary funds to enlarge the facili- 

 ties at Santiago. During the drouth 

 throughout Oriente in April and May of 

 this year, the city of Santiago was in des- 

 perate straits for water and it was a diffi- 

 cult and serious problem to keep the city 

 in sanitary condition and prevent spread 

 of disease, without a sufficient supply of 

 water. This situation should help to 

 hasten the work of improving and en- 

 larging the aqueduct facilities at this 

 point. It is estimated by engineers who 

 have gone over the situation that .5.3,000,- 

 r»00 will be required to modernize and 

 enlarge the plant at Santiago. 



