You will point out to the Cuban Government in unmistakable terms that,
unless some efficient system of insuring good sanitary conditions for
the cities of Matanzas and Santiago shall be carried out before the
beginning of the active quarantine season of the coming year, it may and
will probably become necessary for this Government to declare quarantine
against Cuban ports.
The reports received by this Government from its consular officers and
the officers of the Public Health and Marine-Hospital Service indicate
that the sanitary condition of the island is worse than last year, and
that the state of affairs is most serious.
[Inclosure.]
Mr. Shaw to Mr.
Hay.
Treasury Department,
Washington, November 18,
1904.
Sir: Referring to your letter of October
31, 1004, inclosing copy of a dispatch from the American chargé
d’affaires at Habana, and transmitting copy of a confidential
communication, with inclosures, received from the vice-consul at
Matanzas, Cuba, reporting on the unfavorable sanitary conditions of
that city, also to your letter of November 11, 1904, inclosing a
copy of a dispatch from the legation at Habana in regard to an
alleged case of yellow fever at Santiago, stating that the
authorities at Santiago are not capable of handling the matter of
sanitation, and that the consul at that place reported that the
authorities were well disposed in the matter but did not have enough
money to clean the streets of the rubbish, I have the honor to
inform you that these papers were transmitted to the Surgeon-General
of the United States Public Health and Marine-Hospital Service for
his information and consideration.
Your attention is invited to letter from this Department, under date
of April 7, 1903, on the same subject, in which it was stated that
the Surgeon-General had received a demand from the authorities of
Texas, Louisiana, and Alabama for the disinfection of all vessels
leaving Cuban ports for ports in the Southern States during the
active quarantine season from April to November, 1903.
It was, therefore, urged that the matter be brought promptly to the
attention of the sanitary authorities of Cuba in order that
quarantine measures, vexatious and expensive, might not be required
to be enforced by the United States authorities.
Under instructions from your Department, the American minister at
Habana took up the matter with the Cuban authorities, and some
efforts seem to have been made to better the insanitary state of
affairs at Santiago. I am informed by the Surgeon-General that
within the last few weeks two cases of yellow fever have occurred in
Punta Sal, a suburb of Santiago, and that the medical officer of
this service on duty there, in his reports, agrees with those made
by the American consul regarding the bad sanitary condition of the
city.
I have the honor to request that a strong statement be made to the
Cuban authorities, through the proper diplomatic channels, that
unless some efficient system of insuring good sanitary conditions
for the cities of Matanzas and Santiago be carried out before the
beginning of the active quarantine season of the coming year it may
become necessary, as stated in letter on the same subject, dated
April 7, 1903, quoted above, to declare quarantine against Cuban
ports. The urgent necessity for such action is very apparent when it
is considered that sanitary matters in the two cities named above,
according
[Page 252]
to reports both
from the consular officers and the officers of the Public Health and
Marine-Hospital Service, is worse than last year and the state of
affairs is most serious.
Respectfully,
