The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1898-04-23


The general gossip concerning Spain
and her provinces has scarcely touched
the Island of Porto Rico, which. now
that Cuba has almost passed from un-
der the control of the mother country,
is the last remaining possession on the
Western continent of the empire that
once claimed about 900 square
miles of territory in the New World.
That Porto Rico will probably be the
next to go is considered certain, ana,
in view of the facs that more than
one revolution has taken place on the
island, and the spirit of freedom is
strong among the people, 1t seems 'ro-
bable that the loss of Porto Rico to
Spain is not far distant
Porto Rico is the fourth in size OF the
Greater Antilles; Cuba, the Islands of
Hayti and Jamaica each being larger.
SO far as it's mileage is concerned, the
last Spanish island Is by no means
imposing in size, containing in round
numbers $500 square miles being
somewhat less in size than the state If
Connecticut ami a little larger than
the combined states of Delaware and
Rhode Island. 1t is less than tweu-
tieth of the size of the state of Missouri
and would not make more than a cor
ner in one Of the great counties of
Texas. Small as it is, however, ii is
not quite so large as the province of
Thcssaly, now in the possession Of the
Turks but is, nevertheless. a valuable
possession from the fact that IL has
some of the richest land on the globe,
capable of producing four crops a year,
and under proper management the is
land could become an Independent
state of considerable Importance in
that quarter of the world.
Porto Rico is almost quadrangle,
but in spite of the regularity of its
coast, it is more plentifully supplied
with rivers and small streams than
would be supposed, for on the north
shore there are seventeen water
courses, which, for small sea-going ves-
sells, are navigable in each case several
miles from the shore. The backbone of
the island is a range of mountains run
ming directly east and west and rising
about 1,500 feet above the sea.
There are uplands and lowlands, pas
ture lands, sandy bottom and loamy
bottom. There are districts that grow
tobacco as fine as that of the Vuelta
Abajo Valley in Cuba, while the yield
of sugar from cane is greater per acre
in Porto Rico than i'm any other sugar
producing country in the world. What
there is in the soil of the island to
cause greater yield of sugar to the
quintal of cane the chemists have
never been able to discover, but certain
it is that a ton of cane in Porto Rico
will yield from / to - per cent. more
sugar than a similar amount in His
PAMELA, Cuba or Jamaica. Some idea
Of the value of this product to the island
may be judged from the statement that
two years ago the export of cane sugar
from Porto Rico was 81 SCI tons, con-
pared with which the next largest items
of export coffee and tobacco. are in
significant. the amount of coffee sent
abroad being 16,SS4 tons and tobacco
l,S07 tons. Those who have made a care
ful study of the island understand,
however, how little of it's available
agricultural resources have yet been
utilized, and persons competent to form
a judgment do not hesitate to assert
that under proper conditions these oX-
ports could be increased twofold The
resources of the soil Of the island are
therefore practically cXhaustless, for
tunate circumstances, for Porto Rico
has neither mines nor manufactures,
no mineral deposit. Of value have been
discovered and the tropical climate
renders the population strongly disin-
Clined to indoor labor.
The climate of Porto Rico is probably
more severe on people from a temper
ate zone than that Of any otht" of the
Antilles. Someone has described the
climate of Madrid as three months of
winter and nine months of sheol, and.
leaving out the winter the description
fits Porto Rico with utmost eXactneSS.
Winter, however in the tropics is
merely comparative term, the differ
ence being about this, that in Porto
Rico during the winter time the
stranger from the temperate zone
only fainrs with the heat while
in summer he drops down dead.
The mean winter temperature
in Porto Rico is eiEhty degrees the
mean summer temperature Of ST. Louis
i'm July is ~, Sc that the winter in
Porto Rico is a close approximation
to the month Of July in st. Louis. TC
match a winter OF this description a
summer temperature that would melt
lead might he anticipated, but there il
not tnat difference that might be eX-
pected, for during the summer months
the thermometer in Porto Rico seldom
rises above 100, ,nd the heat of the daN
Is tempered by the sea breezeS which
blow freely ovev every part of the IS