The daily morning journal and courier., 1898-08-29
TOWN LIFE IN PORTO RICO.

Characteristics of the Island That is to
 be Ours-The People Flock-The Git
 ies-Evidences of Civilization-Lib
 ries and Other Institutions-Agreea-
 ble Information.
 Of the eight hundred thousand inhab- itants of Porto Rico, two hundred thou sand live in cities. The industries of the island are almost entirely agricul- tural. But there are few farming local ities of the United States corresponding in dimensions to this island which can show such a collection of cities and towns. Porto Rco's area is about equal to that of three average counties in Illinois, Missouri, Kansas or any other western state. Yet this territory, less than one hundred miles in length and one-third that in width, has three cities of from twenty to thirty thousand population, a dozen above five thousand and fifteen or twenty towns of two thousand and over A characteristic of | the Porto Ricans is to live in towns, | villages and in plantation communities rather than in scattered and isolated | farm-houses.
 | Much has been printed about San Juan de Porto Rico. People of the United States are fairly familiar by de- scription, with the Moro, the massive walls, the narrow city, built along a strip of sand running parallel to the mainland, and separated from 1t by the bay. The capital of this new territory 1 of the United States no longer seems foreign With the other cities and towns there is less acuaintance. From consular sources the department of state has come into possession of inter- esting data about the more important population centres besides San Juan | Ponce ranks as the second city of the island According to the dispatches, | General Miles has made the immediate l vicinity his landing place and base of operations. Ponce, by the data fur nished from the department of state, is situated on the south coast of the island of Porto Rico, on plain about two miles from the seaboard. It is a regu- larly built, the central part almost ex- l clusively of brick houses and the su , burbs of wood. It is the residence of the military commander, and the seat of an official chamber of commerce. There is an appellate criminal court, besides other courts; two churches-one Protestant, said to be the only one in | the Spanish West Indies-tWo hospitals besides the military hospitals, home of refuge for the old and poor, per- fectly equipped fire department, bank, theater, three first-class hotels and gas works. The city has an ice ma | chine and there are one hundred and l fifteen vehicles for public conveyance. The inhabitants who number about | twenty thousand, are principally occu- | pied in mercantile pursuits, but carpen- 1 ters, bricklayers, joiners, tailors, shoe makers and barbers find good employ
 ment. The department of Ponce counts about forty thousand inhabitants. The chief occupations of the people are the | cultivation of sugar, cocoa, tobacco and | oranges and the breeding of cattle. | Commercially, Ponce is the second city of importance on the island, A fine roads leads to the port (Playa), where | all the import and export trade is tran sacted Playa has about five thousand | inhabitants and here are situated the | custom house, the office of the captain of the port and all the consular offices
 The port is Spacious, and will hold ves- | sells of twenty-five feet draft. The eli mate, on account of the sea breezes during the day and the land breezes at night is not oppressive, though warm; and as water for all purposes, including the fire department, is amply supplied by an aqueduct, it may be said that the city of Ponce is perhaps the heathiest place in the whole island.
 In the same class with San Juan and | Ponce ranks Mayaguez, easier for the | American tongue than the spelling | might indicate Ponce is pronounced in two sy1lables. If spelled from hearing an American child would probably make it 'Ponsy." This is the Cuban and West Indian pronunciation gene rally and will probably be accepted as the American. But the pure Spaniard, with his due regard for the frequent