Miss Clara Barton,
President of the American National Red Cross, Santiago de Cuba:

Madam:—The undersigned, who have had the honor to form your committee to assist you in the distribution of relief to this city during the permanence in it of the Red Cross, desire on the eve of your departure to “give an account of their stewardship,” presenting at same time in a condensed form an idea of the work that has been done.

It would probably be difficult to cite an instance in which a relief vessel has arrived so opportunely anywhere as the steamship “State of Texas” arrived in Santiago de Cuba. After a rigorous blockade of two months, during which stocks of provisions had run very low, the greatest part of the inhabitants of the city, under stress of threatened bombardment, had abandoned their homes and taken refuge in the neighboring villages. On their return, after the occupation of the city by the American troops, many of the citizens found that during their absence their homes had been looted and the small store of provisions which they counted upon had disappeared. The same fate had overtaken many shops, and the establishments which had escaped, and which anyhow had hardly anything left to dispose of, remained closed for many days. It may therefore safely be said that the immense majority of the inhabitants of this city had nothing to eat, and it was at this moment that you most providentially arrived with the “State of Texas.”

The organizing of a system of relief, and the discharge of the vessel were started simultaneously and with such success that on the twentieth of July a ration of cooked food was distributed by means of the local “Cocina Economica,” 6000 persons being relieved on that day, and 9000 the next, the whole gratis distribution of rations by that institution exceeding, in the three weeks such distribution lasted, 200,000.

By advice of your committee, in order to proceed to the distribution of uncooked food, a number of commissioners were appointed, each of whom presented a detailed list of the families that he agreed to distribute among, some of these lists embracing over one thousand persons. By this means the pressure of great crowds round the Red Cross deposits, which would have rendered impossible a prompt and efficacious distribution, was avoided, and to the limited number of commissioners, who had agreed to distribute among the great number of the needy, a large amount daily was supplied.

We consider it a duty and take a special pleasure in manifesting our appreciation of the efficiency displayed by your whole staff in these days, and of the energy with which they discharged the vessel, carted and stored the cargo; and proceeded with its distribution; and can only congratulate them on the result of their labors and yourself on being at the head of such a well-organized corporation.

In the very important items of directing the relief to be given into proper channels and keeping it out of improper ones, your committee had at the commencement an easy task, for the reasons already explained, the whole city being in want, by simply giving to all that applied, and in the first days that was what was done, so much so that three-fourths, more or less, of the entire community received some assistance.

But after the first ten days it began to be evident that the strain was removing. Cargoes of provisions for sale had arrived and were being retailed. The government were employing quite a number of workmen on and around the wharves at high wages, and some few workmen were moving out to the country. It behooved then the committee to be more conservative in admitting lists of applicants for rations, and this necessity was accentuated by complaints which began to arise of the difficulty of getting people to work, complaints which became general extending from the governor of the city who could not find workmen even at good wages, to clean the streets of the city, to the heads of households who found no one to cook, serve or wash, while such important minor industries, as the supplying of the city with charcoal or even firewood, were almost wholly abandoned.

Finally the moment arrived when the end of the necessity of the permanence of the Red Cross was in sight, and, coinciding with the raising of the blockade of Havana and other large cities where want and sickness had necessarily to be more accentuated than here, made it a question of the greatest good to the greatest number, made its removal to the west end of the island a necessity. There necessarily remained some poverty, some sickness, and some misery, but the public, and more especially the military government, had taken efficacious measures to cope with these evils, and while in one sense deploring your departure, your committee could only coincide with your views on the subject, and offer their conscientious opinion that the present state of affairs in Santiago de Cuba fully justified the departure of the Red Cross to districts where its presence was much more urgently required.

In conclusion, your committee beg to express their gratitude for the confidence which you have so kindly bestowed on them, and to deplore that owing to sickness and extreme press of work, they have not been able so fully to assist in your benevolent undertaking as would have been their ardent desire.

Santiago de Cuba.