American Progress in Habana 



103 



No. 6. The Same Section of the Colon Park a Few Months Later 



The parking inside the wall belongs to 

 the people. 



The former condition of Colon Park 

 is shown by picture No. 5. The park 

 had run to weeds and coarse grass. It 

 was not only unattractive because of its 

 general untidiness, but quite unsafe for 

 women and children. At night-time it 

 was haunted by thieves and thugs. To 

 pass by after dark was to risk being 

 held up and robbed of one's purse or 

 even of one's clothes. 



Today the park is one of the pleasure 

 spots of Habana. Children and nurse 

 girls throng the walks in the daytime. 

 In the evening it is a popular promenade 

 for the people. The walks have been 

 cleaned, the grass and trees trimmed, 

 new trees and shrubs planted, benches 

 have been placed under the trees, and 

 at night-time electric lamps keep the 

 park bright and safe. 



Picture No. 7 represents a typical 

 street of Habana in 1898. This street 

 was then regarded as quite a good one. 

 Picture No. 8 shows the same street 

 after the American officers had been in 

 the city a few months. The holes and 

 stones have disappeared and in their 

 stead is a hard, smooth, well-drained 

 way. One hundred and twelve miles of 

 streets in Habana and its suburbs have 

 undergone this transformation. The 

 width of the streets ranges from 4.4 

 meters to 13 meters. 



The engineers had a problem on their 

 hands to remake such narrow thorough- 

 fares without blocking the traffic, but 

 they solved the problem, and the work 

 progressed rapidly without interruption 

 to the stream of carts and vehicles. 

 During the repairing of one street, which 

 was only 4.4 meters wide, between the 

 hours of 6 a. m. and 6 p. m. Major 



