Industrial Cuba Part 12

The Jersey mosquito is a silken-winged messenger of mercy compared with his cousins in Havana.

There are many asylums and hospitals in the city which are not lacking in funds or attention, but they are all conducted upon antiquated notions, which greatly lessen their usefulness. As in other Catholic cities, Sunday is the amus.e.m.e.nt day of the week, and all the Havanese are out in gala attire on that day after morning service at the churches. There are many parks and promenades. The Alameda, the Plaza de Armas, the Parque de Isabella, and the Prado are the chief places of resort.

CHAPTER XI

COLONEL WARING'S SANITARY REPORT

When in October, 1898, the late Colonel George E. Waring, of New York City, who had been sent by the Government to investigate the physical condition of Havana, became the victim of the monster he had sought to throttle, he had already written a large portion of his report, and he left copious notes for the completion of it, from which his efficient secretary and a.s.sistant, Mr. G. Everett Hill, prepared a full report.

From this report the following extracts are made:

"The death-rate of the city has always been high. In five years (not consecutive) between 1800 and 1819, with a population less than one-third of the present number of inhabitants, 26,576 people perished from yellow fever alone. In 1832 the cholera killed 10,000. The official reports of the Spanish garrison show that up to January 16, 1896, more than 82 per cent. of the total losses were due to yellow fever. In 1897 the total mortality by disease in the Spanish army in Cuba was 32,534.

"At present the death-rate in Havana is enormous. The mortality for the week ending October 6, 1898, was 536--an annual rate of 139.36 per cent.

per 1000. Since then owing to the change of season and to the removal of certain contributing causes, it has fallen to 114.4.

"The surroundings and customs of domestic life are disgusting almost beyond belief. Sixteen thousand houses, out of a total of less than 20,000, are but one story high, and at least 90 per cent. of the population live in these--averaging say 11 to each house. Usually the house covers the entire lot, so that there is no yard; though one or two courts are commonly included in the building. According to the general--almost the universal--plan, the front rooms are used as parlours or reception rooms. Beyond them is a court, on which open the dining-rooms and sleeping-rooms. Beyond these, on another court, are--I might say is--the 'kitchen, stable, and privy, practically all in one.'"

In Colonel Waring's own words:

"The characteristic feature of the whole establishment--perhaps the only feature which is conspicuous in every house without exception--is the privy-vault, and sometimes a second vault for kitchen waste. These occupy a s.p.a.ce practically under and almost in the kitchen. It is very rarely, indeed, that a Cuban privy has a ventilating pipe, so it belches forth its nauseous odours throughout the house and pervades the streets."

"There is no ordinance--at least none in force--requiring a householder to empty his privy vault. He uses it until it threatens to overflow; then he hires a night-scavenger, who comes with a cart, carrying the requisite number of barrels. These are filled through square holes at the top, and discharged through a plugged orifice at the bottom.

"The workmen use tub-like ladles with long handles, with which they scoop up the filth. These they carry, dripping as they go, through kitchen, dining-room, reception-room, and hall to the street."

"When the barrels are filled, the cart starts, ostensibly for the prescribed place of disposal; but often, in a dark street, the plugs come out, and, before the waggon has gone very far, the barrels are empty.

"Lest the conditions above set forth should fail to do their appointed work of destruction, stimulus for their effectiveness is furnished by an extraneous source of malaria of the very worst character.

"The southerly edge of the harbour is bordered by broad marshes, through which flow a number of watercourses, and to which these bring the offscouring of a very poor quarter of the town, and especially the effluent of the slaughtering-pens and of other foul establishments; while a large portion of the flat is used as a dumping-ground for garbage.

"This intimate relation of marsh and filth is greatly aggravated by the admixture of fresh and salt water, by occasional floods, and by a daily scorching sun.

"The vicinity of such marshes would be deadly in this climate, even to a veritable 'City of Hygeia.' Their proximity to this foul, fever-cursed town has always been recognised as disastrous, even by intelligent Habaneros themselves."

The water supply of Havana is very pure and abundant,--more than two hundred gallons per head per day:

"This and the winds of the Gulf save the city from being absolutely and unqualifiedly bad; but they are powerless to make it tolerable.

It is a veritable plague-spot.

"Its own people, largely immune though they are to yellow fever, which has prevailed here without interruption for one hundred and sixty-eight years, fall constant victims under the pernicious malarial and depressing influences to which they are always subjected; and it needs only the immigration of fresh material, which the enterprise of our population is sure to bring here, to create a sacrifice such as we have not yet known; while commerce will carry the terror and the terrible scourge of yellow fever to our sh.o.r.es, until we rise again in a war of humanity, and at all costs wipe out an enemy with which no military valour can cope.

[Ill.u.s.tration: YARD OF AMERICAN CLUB, HAVANA.]

"Can Havana be purified? And if so, will such purification result in the eradication of yellow fever and malaria? Both questions can be answered affirmatively and positively. Havana is no dirtier than many another city has been. In England, in the olden time, the earthen floors were strewn with rushes. When these became sodden with filth beyond all endurance, fresh rushes were thrown over the old ones, and these in turn were buried, until the foul acc.u.mulation was several feet deep. Excrement was allowed to remain in and around the houses indefinitely, or was thrown into the streets regardless of consequences. In London, the frequent cry of, 'Ware below!' indicated that the household slops were about to be poured from an upper window. These conditions remained until repeated visits of the great sanitary teachers--the plague, the black death, the cholera, and other pestilences, which devastated cities and swept whole villages out of existence--had taught their hard lesson. On the continent the ignorance and neglect were, if possible, even greater. We have profited by the bitter experience of our ancestors; and no intelligent person questions the merit of sanitary works. But their true value is not yet fully appreciated, even by educated men whose interests are at stake.

"The poison of yellow fever is ponderable. It clings to low levels and usually follows the lines of greatest humidity. Like malaria, it is more active--or at least more to be feared--by night than by day. The danger from it in any quarter of an infected locality depends upon the presence primarily of filth, secondarily of dampness; and it increases in direct proportion to the confinement and stagnation of the air. Infected cellars are more dangerous than infected rooms. The holds of s.h.i.+ps are notorious hotbeds of the disease.

"In Havana the average height of the ground floor of a house above the soil is but six or seven inches; and this s.p.a.ce is unventilated. The earth is not only damp, but is sodden with putrefying organic matter. The houses are closely built, without adequate s.p.a.ce for ventilation between them. In the poorer quarters the population is crowded, a whole family often occupying a single room. The emanations from the cesspool and garbage-vault pervade, as has been stated, the kitchen and the sleeping-and living-rooms, even of houses of the better cla.s.s. The standard of personal cleanliness is, necessarily, very low. These conditions, for which the citizens are responsible, are sufficient in themselves to transform the most healthy locality into a fever-nest. In the case of Havana, they are acc.u.mulated by climatic conditions favourable to, but in no case accountable for, the propagation of disease. No amount of rainfall, no high average of humidity, and no degree of temperature will cause zymotic pestilence, if cleanliness be secured and maintained, and proper drainage of the soil established."

In the notes which Colonel Waring brought with him from Cuba, the following improvements are specified as absolutely necessary for the sanitary redemption of Havana:

(1) The immediate organisation of a Department of Public Cleaning,"

under the full control of a single Commissioner experienced in the conduct of such work," who should have authority to act as occasion may require.

The chief function of the Department would be the maintenance of a "constant state of cleanliness" in all the streets and places of public business or resort, including the abattoirs and markets. "It should also control the disposal of all wastes, except sewage--by cremation and otherwise."

(2) The construction of a system of sewers "to receive the liquid wastes of all houses of the main city." The topography of the city divides it naturally into several districts. Each of these should be served by a distinct sewerage system, which should discharge directly into the harbour or the Gulf, as the case may be. " Before such discharge, the effluent should be effectively clarified by one of the various well known methods; so that it would carry only its dissolved impurities."

The dilution would be immediate and more than sufficient; for the daily movement of sea water into and out of the harbour is about six thousand times as great as would be the day's discharge of clarified sewage from the harbour slope of the city.

(3) The clearing out and filling with clean earth of all the cesspools and garbage-vaults, and the supplying to each house of a suitable water-closet connected with the public sewer system. The closets furnished should be practically automatic in operation, and not liable to damage from ignorance or carelessness. They should be made so that no foreign substance able to cause an obstruction in the house drain or the sewer could pa.s.s out of sight. If more elaborate plumbing be desired, this may be put in by the householder, under proper supervision, at his own expense. The immediate installation of the water-closet in each house is the only course which will make possible the annihilation of the cesspool; and Havana will not be a healthy city until this result is accomplished. The benefit that will be gained when it is done is out of all proportion to the insignificant cost of the doing.

(4) The paving, or repaving, of all the streets with the best quality of asphaltum. Some form of artificial paving of the streets of cities is indispensable. Mr. Edwin Chadwick says that between the two divisions of a town population, similarly situated in general condition, one part inhabiting streets which are unpaved and another inhabiting streets that are paved, a difference of health is observed. He cites instances showing the sanitary benefit resulting from paving.

Laying aside all considerations of comfort and economy, which in themselves are sufficient to warrant its construction, asphaltum is the best paving material from a hygienic standpoint. Being a monolithic sheet it is impervious alike to the rise of exhalations from the earth and the soakage of liquids into the earth. It is easily cleaned; and, as it can be cleaned without sprinkling, it can be cleaned dry. At intervals it can be thoroughly washed with a hose, and all surplus water removed immediately with a squeegee. The absence of dust and the minimising of noise are hygienic benefits of secondary degree.

(5) The erection of a new abattoir, adequate to all the needs of the population, and furnished with modern appliances for the inoffensive utilisation of the entire animal, so that no refuse remains to be got rid of.

(6) The construction of "a suitable and sufficient incinerating furnace, for the complete and inoffensive destruction of garbage and other refuse," including dead animals, street sweepings, mattresses, discarded clothing, rags, excelsior, paper, and similar substances, which might serve as vehicles of contagion. The experiments made by Colonel Waring while Street Cleaning Commissioner of New York, indicated that such a furnace may produce steam in quant.i.ties large enough to be valuable.

(7) The reclamation and drainage of all the marshes, or at least of those bordering on the harbour on the south and west. "This reclamation to be made after the 'Polder' method of Holland--by diking out the harbour and the watercourses and removing the water by pumping."

(8) The establishment of a "power-plant sufficient for this pumping, for pumping sewage where necessary, and for propelling the machinery of the abattoir."

In concluding his paper, Mr. Hill says:

"It may seem strange that no reference has been made to the dredging of the harbour--so urgently advocated by some advisers--or to any improvement of it, save such as would be effected by the withholding of solid organic matters from the abattoir, sewage, and dumping grounds, and by the construction of the dikes at its southern end. As has been said, the tidal flow is more than sufficient to effect the purification of the clarified sewage, which Colonel Waring proposed to empty into the harbour. So long as solid wastes are withheld, its surplus oxidizing power will gradually destroy the acc.u.mulation of putrescible material.

"To dredge the harbour now would be dangerous work; for it would stir up and expose to the air vast quant.i.ties of putrid filth.

Later, if Colonel Waring's recommendations should be carried out, it would mean only the removal of innocuous mud. Navigation is not yet impeded by the deposits; and the rate at which the harbour is silting up--one-third of one per cent. per year--makes it evident that a delay of even ten years would not be injurious to commerce.

Long before this time has elapsed the harbour should be clean.

"Havana can be freed from her curse. The price of her freedom is about $10,000,000. Can the United States afford to redeem her? For once humanity, patriotism, and self-interest should be unanimous, and their answer should be, Yes!"

General Greene, U.S.A., has submitted an extended report on the city's condition. General Greene notes that about sixty per cent. of the street surface is not paved, and that which is paved is in very poor condition. In some streets are small drains, connecting by gratings with the gutters, but no official record is kept of them, and no city plat shows whither they go, but as in Havana all sewers lead to the bay, it is supposed that is their destination. Some few private houses have their own sewers, but no official knows anything further than that permits were granted to build them and they are never cleaned. In parts of the city a drain two feet deep and two feet wide, covered or uncovered, runs alongside of the streets and into these all manner of ill-smelling and nasty refuse is dumped and left to wash away by the rain or to rot in the sun. For four years previous to the war the authorities had been considering an elaborate plan of street improvement and sewerage system, submitted by an American contractor, but no action had been taken. The estimated cost was $7,000,000.

For three hundred years or more house drainage has been discharged into cesspools, varying in size from three to ten feet in diameter, and from four to eight feet deep, closed at the top with a stone. While rules for taking proper care of these cesspools are plenty, enforcement of them is so neglected that some of them have not been cleaned in five years. They are not cemented inside and they drain off into the soil and rock, infecting everything in reach.

The paved streets (surface) are cleaned by contract, by methods prevailing in this country twenty-five years ago, and the work is fairly well done. The cleanings are carried eight miles from the city, where they are dumped and left on the ground, and the condition there is fearful. During the blockade the authorities ordered the cleanings to be dumped into the marsh near the Christina Street station, and here in the wet soil they remain, a dangerous menace to health. The thousands of _reconcentrados_ and soldiers in the city used the unpaved streets as open privies, and when the Americans went into the city they found these streets utterly noxious and foul, and set to work at once to clean them, the street-cleaning contractor being permitted to continue his work on the paved streets.

There is but one slaughter-house in the city and it is owned by the munic.i.p.ality. It is mortgaged, like other city properties, to the Spanish Bank. From three hundred to four hundred cattle are killed daily, and the offal, which might easily be saved, and is, in American slaughter-houses, is dumped into Chavez Creek, where it is left to rot in the sun. The construction of a new building in a different locality has been long discussed, but opposition has been made to it, and nothing has been done. In the meantime the dumping continues in Chavez Creek.

The military hospitals have not yet been examined. Of the nine city hospitals, asylums, and homes examined by Surgeon Davis, three were in fairly good condition, two in bad condition, and four are most deplorable. Some of the houses are overcrowded and the inmates half starved. These hospitals can be put in good condition very soon.

The two princ.i.p.al markets, the Colon and the Tacon, are owned by the city and mortgaged to the Spanish Bank. Their sanitary condition is bad as it can be, but it can be remedied easily and quickly.