The age-herald., 1898-07-19
PORTO RIGA
 THE NEW TERRITORY
From the New York World.


 mingo intervening, is only about one hun
 dred miles long least and vest and forty broad. But it is so packed full of riches
 that population of s0o,OoO, generally lazy, illiterate and unslSilled. are able to pay s3.0OO,o0O tribute to Spain each year. sup port a Spanish army and horde of Span
 ish officeholders, and live very comforta- bly themselves.
 Porto Rico has had stormy history since Columbus discovered it, in 1493, or,
 more accurately, since Ponce de Leon founded it's present capital, San Juan, in
 151O He began with terrible slaughter of natives, and Spain or her enemies have kept war and cruel oppression chronic condition there ever since.
 Its population, according to the census of 1887, the latest, was 806,7OS. of whom about 5O,OOO are white. 240,o0O mulattoes and 75.OOO negroes. Only, one in eight are cIassed as '1iterate," but a majority of those can only read, not having reached
 the advanced stage of learning which af- lords them the joy of writing. Physically, the island presents a variety of conditions which would not be looked for on such modest bit of territory by one accustomed to the larger scale of topography prevailing in this country. A mountain range runs from coast to coast, east and west, rising in the eastern dis trict to a height of 3,6S0 feet, and the deep canyons, cutting down to the Caribbean sea on the south and the Atlantic on the north, are sources of innumerable water courses, no less than forty of them being large enough for inland navigation by small trading craft.
 The country the northern slope of the mountain range is as rich agricultural land. it is said, as is iSund anywhere in the world, raising the maximum of crops with the minimum of cultivation, while to the south of the mountains the lands re- quire artificial irrigation to produce good crops. This great difference in so small an area is all the more remarkable as in the wet portion of the island the average annual reainfall is GA inches. Spaniards have been cultivating the land for nearly four centuries and they exter- minated a people who were wise in the arts of agriculture, yet today only a very small proportion of the arabic land of the island has ever been cultivated, chiefly, it seems because there are no roads by Niicn pIOuuCS DS CdlilSd lo SHippAiS points except over the rich lowlands near the coast.
 But even under system calculated to make Yankee farmer groan for the waste of possibilities, the Porto Ricans raise enormous and rich crops of variety which satisfy child's dream of tropical goodies. Here is list of the principal crops: Sugar, molasses, tobacco, coffee, rice, cotton. maize, plantains, oranges, bananas, pine apples and a score of other fruits, honey and cocoanuts. They mine" and export salt, as well as sugar building stone and marble and it is known that the hills con tain gold, copper, tin, lead and iron, but the inhabitants lack the skill, enterprise and capital to develop these mineral riches.
 Of the good things which Porto Rico Rico raises in excess of her own needs, and which she exports, we take more than any other country, even more than Spain. The
 mother country takes but about one-sixth
 of the total, and on the balance high ex-
 port duty is charged to help swell the enormous tribute exacted by Spain.
 Besides the salt ponds, which the gov ernment owns and works, the only re-
 SOuTce except dSrlculture WHICH the na-
 tives depend upon is found in the very
 rich forests, wherein are no less than 800
 varieties of trees, many of them exceed ingly valuable. All this industry is carried on practically without railroads, less than one hundred miles of poorly built and equipped tracks being in operation, and the wagon rods dwinde into mule paths a few miles back of the coast.
 
 The climate of Porto Rico is much su- | perior to that of Cuba. Indeed it is, at it's worst very similar to that of New York | in July, seldom exceeding 97 degrees. and | sinking to 6S at night. But even at the 1 hottest 1t is not vexed with much humidi- l ty the air being kept generally free of moisture by the prevailing northeast
 wind.
 But Porto Ricans are more sensible | about accepting weather conditions than we are in our hot days They act on the l belief that they will do more work in the | course of the year if they do none at all | when the sun is fiercest, for three hours | in the middle of the days when the ther- | mometer is highest they cease all work. | Even at other hours, those most favora- | ble for labor, they go about the struggle l for life in a leisurely manner. As little l energy as the Cubans have. by our stand l ards, the Porto Ricans have less. This is shown in the lack of energy they | display in their periodic attempts to free l themselves from Spanish rule. They have attempted this often, but always have given up after struggle which l would only have encouraged the Cubans. | Among the white natives there is the large | number of 25,000 who are not of Spanish l descent and among these it is interesting | to note that the rebeliious feelings against | Spain are aroused more by social than po- | litieal wrongs.
 l Let it be understood that the Spanish 1 captain-general-of course appointed by | the crown-and his large staff of military | and civil officers, all from Spain, form 1 society into which even the wealthiest | and most accomplished native Porto | Rican may never hope to enter. He finds l himself looked down upon as social in- l ferior, not only by the officers, but by the
 private Spanish soldier he helps to main- | tain.
 | It is this class of Porto Rican, more per- l haps than the poorer class, as in Cuba. | who will most rejoice in the liberation | from Spain which will speedily be effected