The Provisional Government and Cuban Stability 207equal expenditure of public funds in constructing public
improvements."^57
The Department of Public Works increased both in size
and in the scope of its activities during the occupation.^58 To
a large degree it assumed many of the responsibilities given
to local government for construction and maintenance of
roads and buildings. During the first year of occupation
the technical and non-technical permanent employees of the
department doubled. This trend toward centralized control
over public works was justified in terms of increased efficiency
and achievement by Lieutenant Colonel William M. Black,
the department's adviser. Black believed that the highly pro
fessional direction given public works projects by American
and Cuban civil engineers provided "object lessons in ways
of decreasing the cost, by introduction of modern methods of
work and modern plant/'^59
Within the Department of Government, Lieutenant Colonel
Greble and the secretary, Manuel Sobrado, agreed that the
national government should assume greater responsibilities
because local governments had not adequately provided funds
and supervision for Cuba's charitable institutions.^60 During
the occupation, the department assumed complete control of
construction and maintenance for the public institutions under
its supervision, centralized these institutions' administration,
completed the nationalization of the Havana police, and
broadened the powers and activities of the postal and tele
graph service. The new municipal law of 1908 gave the
department supervisory responsibility over all local public
works projects where national funds were committed. Within
the department, the secretary was given improved account
ing and personnel management procedures to strengthen his
own control.
In the field of public instruction, the Provisional Government
did little to arrest the deterioration of Wood's school program.
There was no crusade to Americanize the Cuban children or
to stimulate local interest in managing the schools. The Depart
ment of Public Instruction remained under a Cuban holdover
from the Wood regime, Lincoln de Zayas, whose principal