the new Governor-General were "To
prepare Cuba, as {131} rapidly as possible, for the establishment of
an independent government, republican in form, and a good school
system." And both the President and the Secretary of War left their
representative entirely to his own resources to work this out. His
work was laid out for him and he was given a free hand.

General Wood, therefore, in December, 1899, after having been received
with a magnificent ovation on his return to the United States, made a
Major-General and given an LL.D. degree by his own University of
Harvard--after having returned to Santiago suddenly upon the outbreak
of yellow fever, cleaned the town, covered it with chloride of lime,
soaked it with corrosive sublimate, burned out its sewers and
cesspools, and checked the epidemic,--finally took up his residence in
Havana and began his work.

One can readily imagine the immediate problems all of which needed
settlement at once, none of which could be settled without study of
the most thorough and vital sort. Wood's method was that of an
administrator and statesman of great vision. He immediately proceeded
to {132} secure wherever he could find them the best men on each of
the problems and set them to work with such assistance, expert and
otherwise, as they required to make reports to him within a limited
time as to what should be done in their particular branches of the
government.

Again, it was so simple that it can be told in words of one syllable.
But the great administrator appeared in the selection of the men for
the jobs and in the final acceptance, rejection, or modification of
the plans proposed. While he was an absolute monarch of the Island he
never exerted that authority unless there was no other possible
course. In all cases he left decisions in so far as that could be done
to native bodies and native representatives and native courts with
full authority.

Chief Justice White of the Supreme Court upon being consulted told him
that in the main the laws were sound but that the procedure was
faulty; that he must look closely to this and make many modifications.
This hint from a great authority became his guide.

The most crying needs of the moment were the {133} courts and the
prisons. Prisoners were held without cause; trials were a farce; the
prisons themselves were filthy places where all ages were herded
together; court houses were out of repair and out of use; records
hardly existed, and