The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-09-12
ISLAND OF PORTO RICO
IT'S COMMERCIAL VALUE TO THE
PEOPLE OF THE UNITED STATES.
Views of n Treasury Expert Who
thc Garden Spots of the World.
sDeciaI 70 the Inaiananolis journal.

full winter resort, a valuable tropical gar
den and important strategic point, Porto
Rico is valuable acquisition to the people
and government of the United States. This
is the view expressed by Mr.. o. P. Austin
chief of the treasury bureau of statistics,
who has just returned from brief visit to
the island. 1T must not be expected said
Mr.. Austin, that so small an island can be-
come a large factor in supplying the $780,
900 worth Of tropical productions which
the people of the United States annually
consume, or that it can absorb very large
percentage of the 81, zoo, 900 worth of our
annual productions. Smaller in area than
the State of Connecticut and with popula-
ton less than that of the city Of Brooklyn,
it may not be able to meet the somewhat
extravagant expectations which enthusiastic
people have formed with reference to it.
Settled by Spain more than century
earlier than the landing of the pilgrims at
Plymouth Rock, the population of Porto
Rico is now more dense than that of Massa-
chusetts and the prospect of materially iu-
creasing it's productiveness not fiattering.
Mountainous from center to circumference,
the 100000 people who occupy its 1890
square miles of territory have put under
cultivation most of the available soil, and
while their methods of culture and trans
portation are in many cases very primitive,
it cannot be expected that the productions
of this densely populated and closely Gull
tivated area can be largely increased or its
consumption greatly multiplied. The valleys
and coast lands are now we'll occupied with
sugar estates, the area adjoining these IS
devoted to tobacco and the mountain sides
to the very peaks are occupied by large
coffee plantations, with patches of cocoa
nuts bananas, plantains, bread-fruit,
oranges and other tropical fruits scattered
among them. While the 100000 of its popu-
lation who live in cities and villages ENJOY
some of the conveniences to which our peo-
pie are accustomed. the large proportion OF
the rural population is of extremely simple
habits in the matter of food clothing and
habitation. and with small earning capacity
and small per capita of deprecated cur
rency cannot be expected to soon become
large consumers of our products. A nttle
rice. a very little flour, few beans ana
plenty OF bananas, plantains, nr ei iolt
sites, a few yards OF cotton cloth Tor the
adults and nothing for the children meet
their principal requirements for clotning,
while a few rough boards and a plentiful
supply of plantain and palm leaves supply
the material for the humble dwellings,
throughout the interior and in many or tne
villages. With but about one-fifth OF IT'S
population able to read and write, the
knowledge of the outside world is extremely
limited, and with only $50 miles of railroad
and less than $50 miles of good wagon road
on the island, the means of intercommunca-
ton are not such as to enable prompt
stimulation of it's production or consump-
ton. Most of the good roads, and some 81
them are very fire, run from town 10 town
along the coast th3ugn tnere Is eon Ums
Ponce, on the south shore, with san Juan
on the north shore. Most of the interior,
however is only reached by bride paths
xUhi TRANSFORMATION
packs carried on small ponies. In the cues
and towns most of the transportation is by
bullockS yoked in primitive fashion 10 TWO
wheeled carts and urged to their work by a
sharp-pointed pole in the hands OF d native
driver. who walks in front of his team, turn
ing to give them vigorous punch Wnen
they do not follow with Suf1cient speed. Inc
cattle of the island are of a superior class,
similar in appearance to the Jersey G GIi,,n,,
from door to door in the towns and MIXED
into bottles in the presence of the customer,
while the calves stand patiently upon me
sidewalk awaiting the removal of the peri
patetc dairy to the residence or the next
customer.
SCHOOLS AND CHURCHES.
Education on the island is not of hign
order. A sort of public school system pre-
walls in some of the towns and cities, but
in the interior reading and writing, except
among the plantation owners and man
ayers, are rare Spanish is the popular
whom there are quite a number, retain
their language and there are in the towns
some English-speaking negroes from st.
Thomas and other nearby English colo
nies who prove useful as interpreters to
the Americans already on the island. One
of the two daily newspapers published In
Ponce prints one page in English out of
compliment to the new conditions most Of
the matter so published being extracts from
the Constitution of the United States and
sketches of the lives of our distinguished
men. There are Catholic churches in all
| the cities and large towns, some of them
dating back over a century, handsomely
| finished within and representing large
expenditure of money. There is one Prot
| eStant church at Ponce, said to have been
| the only one in the Spanish West Indies
| but it is at present unoccuped. There are
| theaters in the prin cipal cities, and several
| Of the leading towns have telephones and
| are connected by telegraph lines aggregat-
| ing about four hundred miles in length,
! while cable communication is had with the
| United States at SLIT per woro.
1.-THE currency and finances of the island
| are subjects with which our statesmen will
| have to deal. The Spanish government, in
1895, took up all the Mexican and Spanish
| coins in circulation and substituted special
| silver coins struck in the mint of Spain
| for this purpose. They bear on one side the
de Puerto Rico and en- the other the face
| of the boy King and an elaborate inscrip-
| ton in Spanish. The largest of these is the
| peso, of 100 centavos. corresponding in APP
| pearance with our silver dollars, weighing
| 3S5.5 grains, and generally spoken of as a
| dollar There are also smaller silver coins
| of 5. 10. 20 and 40 censavos, the 20-centavo
| piece being known as the 'peseta,' also cop
| per coins of l and centavos. The Spanish
| government makes no attempt to maintain
| the standing of these silver coins, and they
| represent little more than their bullion
| value. the banks and merchants gladly ex-
| changing $1.75 in this coin for 81 in our sill
| veI or paper, and exchanges being some
times made at two for one, and even higher
| The native drivers. boatmen and vendors
have already learned the superior value of
States coin is readily accepted at from 40
TO 80 cents in payment for their services.
That it will be necessary to take up this
fluctuating coin when our permanent meas
ure of value permeates this island is gen.
orally conceded. but just what plan should
be adopted in fixing the rate at which obi-
cations made in Porto Rican coin shall be
paid in that of the United States is mat
ter for statesmen to determine.
Another interesting question in this con-
nection is whether or not the plantation la
Dor. which has in the past been satisfied
with the 80 to 60 cents per day in Porto
Rican money. will be content to accept %
to 30 cents per day in our coins in its stead.
The silver money coined and sent to the
islands by Spain amounted to $1,000 600 or
pesos, and there he's been added about one
million in paper by certain of the five banks
of the island. some of which stands at par
with the silver and some at a discount
but IL is seldom seen in ordinary business
transactions The fact that our own gov
ernment has just sent in a shipment to the
island a sum equal in value to one-tenth of
the entire currency, and that it will be i'm
mediately put into circulation through its
payment to the troops scattered over the
island. furnishes a suggestion as to the
probable Increase of the currency and in
creased disparity in value.
EXPORTS AND IMPORTS.