12 



THE CUBA R E \' I E W 



SANTIAGO S WATER SUPPLY 



That the United States authorities had 

 nothing to do with the inception of the 

 reservoir project for Santiago's water sup- 

 ply, is very plainly stated in the following- 

 letter from Col. W. M. Black, who declares 

 also in a recent letter to the Havana Post 

 that during the first intervention he recom- 

 mended that wells be driven as is now be- 

 ing done, and that it was upon his sugges- 

 tion that General Wood, then governor- 

 general, had a well driven in San Juan 

 River. 



WAR DEPARTMENT 



UNITED STATES ENGINEER OFFICE 



NEW YORK DISTRICT No. 1 



Room 710, Army Building, 39 Whitehall St. 



New York City, February 27, 1911 

 To the Editor, The Cuba Review: 



Dear Sir: I have just received a copy of The 

 Cuba Review for February, 1911, and, as always, 

 I have read it with great interest. Allow me to 

 compliment you on the very interesting and valu- 

 able publication. 



On page 10 of the number for February, under 

 the head of "Water for Santiago," there is a 

 statement that the reservoir constructed there re- 

 cently "has proved a failure in supplying sufficient 

 water, and as this was built under American su- 

 pervision it has come in for much criticism." This 

 statement is misleading, and I should be very 

 greatly obliged if you would have it corrected. 



The facts in the matter are as follows (they can 

 be easily verified from tlie official reports) : In 

 the winter of 1900-1901 General Wood directed 

 me to investigate the subject of the water supply 

 for Santiago. After a personal inspection of the 

 locality I reported to General Wood that the best 

 available source of supply seemed to be from the 

 sand and gravel beds underlying the San Juan 

 River, and recommended that further investiga- 

 tions should be made of its availability. My re- 

 port was adopted, and the work of investigation 

 was carried on under my successor, Major H. F. 

 Hodges, Corps of Engineers. 



The work was fully reported on by Mr. H. F. 

 Lavelle, resident engineer, February 24, 1902, and 

 in a supplementary report dated April 7, 1902. 

 Further reports were made by Mr. A. S. Hobbe, 

 principal assistant engineer, on January 21, 1902, 

 and March 24, 1902. These reports are found in 

 the printed report of Brigadier-General Leonard 

 Wood, military governor of Cuba, January 20th 

 to May 1st, 1902, Vol. VI, as follows: First and 

 second reports of Mr. Lavelle on pages 143 and 

 179, respectively; report of Mr. Hobbe on page 

 174. In addition to the above, a report of Cap- 

 tain Rockenbach, on the same subject, will be 

 found on page 135 and of Major Hodges on page 

 14 of the same volume. In all of these reports 

 the system of wells recommended bv me for the 

 source of water supply from the underlying strata 

 of the San Juan River was recommended. 



On my return to Cuba in October of 1906 as 

 advisor to the Department of Public Works, I 

 found that in the interval between 1902 and 1906 

 the Department of Public Works of the republic 

 had abandoned the project recommended and had 

 formed a new project in which the water was to 

 be gathered and impounded in a reservoir. The 

 contract was made by the republic with INIessrs. 

 Snare & Triest, and, at the time of the beginning 

 of the government of pacification, work under 

 the contract was well on toward completion. The 

 contract was completed in 1907. 



During 1907 a prolonged drought followed the 

 completion of the work, and a temporary supply 

 was provided from the San Juan River by sinking 

 wells 30 feet deep in the gravel beds underlying 

 the San Juan River and installing 8.000 feet of 



8-inch pipe and an 80 horsepower steam pumping 

 plant, thus returning, in part, to the original 

 project for water supply. A report on this will 

 be found on page 386 of Mr. Magoon's "Report 

 of the Provisional Administration of the Re- 

 public of Cuba for 1907-1908." 



From the above, it is evident that the United 

 States authorities had nothing to do with the in- 

 ception of the reservoir project for the water sup- 

 ply of Santiago, nor with making the contract for 

 the work, all of which was done by the Depart- 

 ment of Public Works of Cuba. When the Amer- 

 ican Provisional Government began in 1906, the 

 work had been carried so far toward completion 

 that nothing remained for the authorities of that 

 government but to complete the contract. It 

 seems only just and proper that these facts should 

 be given the same publicity as have been given to 

 the unfounded criticisms of the American engin- 

 eers with regard to the Santiago water supply. 

 Very respectfully, 



W. M. Black, 

 Colonel, Corps of Engineers. 



JUDGE GARY ON CUBA 



Judge Elbert H. Garj-, chairman of the 

 board of directors of the United States 

 Steel Corporation, was another distin- 

 guished visitor to Cuba recently. Regard- 

 ing the island's business prospects he said 

 among other things : 



"Cuba is destined to play a part in the 

 steel production of the future, for the cor- 

 poration owns large tracts of iron ore lands 

 in the interior of the island, and experts 

 have found that millions of tons of ore are 

 stored there." 



"These deposits are not being worked at 

 present," he said, "but will be at some fu- 

 ture time when our ore supply at the north 

 begins to diminish. As to business condi- 

 tions in Cuba, I can only say that men to 

 whom I have talked say that there is plenty 

 of business here, that is increasing all the 

 time and will increase with future years 

 as the island grows and develops." 



ESPERANTO SOCIETIES FORMING 



Havana now has a university Esperanto 

 club and an Esperanto academy. Women's 

 groups have been organized in various lo- 

 calities, with a Virina Esperantista Asocio 

 to unite them for effective work. A paper 

 on Esperanto, from a pedagogical point of 

 view, was read at the first national con- 

 gress of pedagogy in Havana. 



In Santiago where the first Esperanto 

 group was formed in Cuba, a new club, en- 

 titled Kuba Pioniro, has been formed, and 

 includes among its members some of the 

 best elements of the eastern capital. 



In Matanzas Esperanto is flourishing, 

 thanks to the propaganda work of Andres 

 ^la Oliva. In the capital of that province 

 J. A'. Cataneo, director of El Fanal, pub- 

 lishes in this journal much that is of in- 

 terest concerning Esperanto. 



In Colon an energetic propaganda com- 

 mittee is sending out circulars, which bring 

 many new recruits for the movement. — 

 Xeiv Haven (Conn.) Union. 



