The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1898-10-14
SNAPSHOT AT PORTO RICO.
New Possession Has Features Unlike
the Old Continent We Control.

Our new possession has some features
| quite unlike the old continent which we
| control. The first thing that interested
| me was the long train Of bullock carts,
| which are being used by the govern
| ment for the transportation of sup
] plies, and which are used by the Porto
Ricans to carry the cugar and rum to
the market. These patient beasts are
| badly treated by the drivers. A goad is
| used. tipped with steel and iron spikes
I an inch and a half long. The Ameri-
can soldiers were shocked at the way
| the natives thrust this cruel implement
| into the OK, and then turn the goad in
| their hand. / stopped one man whose
OK was bleeding and around whose
team others were crowded. He made a
pantomime 90 say to me that the Span
iards beat and cut the oxen with ma
chetes. and what better are your"
says /, using the same language of PAN
tomime.
The soil around Ponce is extremely
fertile and sells for from thirty to a
hundred dollars an acre. A mile from
the city, where the First Regiment,
L. s. V. Engineers were in camp,
we took pictures Of the men making
drain. 1t was 20 feet deep, and they
had not reached the bottom of the
loan Anything will grow Rice cof-
fee, sugar, tobacco, and all the fruits
and flowers of the tropics ripen here
the whole year round. There seems to
be no wheat grown, and i was told the
climate is too warm for it. But the cat
tie are famous; bullocks, oxen horses
thrive in great abundance, and sheep
are large and fat. but without much
wool.
I'm Ponce you have good streets. inn
perfect sanitation, though not so bad
as 1t might be, splendid chance for
pure city water by the aqueduct run
ming in from the mountains, and some
fine buildings. Among the latter are
the theatre. the asylum for women. the
hospital and the national guard build
ing. There is also some excellent So
ciety i'm the southern towns such as
the family and friends Of the MacFar-
lands, the large planters at Guayama
at whose hacienda the troops had TO
guard $4,000 worth Of coffee, sugar and
rum; the Armstrong;. Of Ponce, and
Mr.. Robert Graham. the rich and be-
nevolent manufactures Of the same
city.
At the reception given TO Gen. Miles
by the citizens, our young American
officers were beWildered by beauty.
"and bright the lamps shone DER fair
women and brave men," The Porto
RiCans have taken very quickly and
kindly to American occupation Some
have been so quick I'm changing that
their conversion may be doubted. For
instance, the editor OF La Nueva Era.
small, i'll printed daily, which pur-
ports To be a Journal OF news. travel,
science, literature and freedom. was
only a few weeks ago raving at the
American pigs" while now he luxuri-
ates under the eagles egis, and writes
eulogies upon Benjamin Franklin,
George Washington and William Nc
Kinley. Nor is he alone I'm his devotion
To the American idea. The small boy
curses his neighbor by calling him
I'm Espanol," and treats YOU with dis
dain II you suggest that lac is simply n
poor Porto Rican. mo. no." he SAYS
pointing To himself. "no Espanol, Porto
Rican Americana" His motives are
not, however. OF the cleanest, for the
boys have learned trick OF saying 10
the passing Yankee. viva America"
and then putting up the forefnger with
this half asked question. "One cent?"
VIII YOU give him "A cent for his patri-
otism2 You think he rkeds some more
lessons I'm that great passion. Peter
MaCQueen In I.eslie's Weekly.