The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1898-06-16

iNekdEOIe88 Oh the ulItiht6 VIEWS al
to our ultimate disposition of island
territory taken from Spain. it remain
almost a certainty that we will hold
Porto Rico-and by doing so we will
acquire one of the. garden spots of the
tropics. In many respects Porto Rico
is the real gem of the Antilles.
The procedure necessary for its an
gress providing for its junction and
soon afterward a proclamation by the
president announcing h a 1t is ours.
At first II must remain under a ter
ritorial form of government n can be
accepted by congress as In island state
only after having called a constitu-
tional convention of representatives
as.
Men who have lately Travelled in this
beautiful island agree in expressing
surprise hat SO little is known con-
corning its many wonders and charms.
Yet II. is one of the most thickly popu-
lated regions of the new world, being a
tri1e larger in area than Delaware, a
triie smaller than Connecticut n yet
having a greater population han the
- - h lA&s -
generally more than double those of
Jamaica. though that British isle ex-
ceeds ii in area.
Porto Rico will be invaluable to us
as a naval station. possessing an excel
lent natural harbor at a Juan, the
capital and principal port. At the same
time no other equal area I'm the world
can offer to Americans a greater va
riety of commercial opportunities. 1t
is safe to estimate that we can profit,
by these natural doubly in
comparison with indolent Spain. A
single acre of it's cane already yields
more sugar than elsewhere i'm the
West Indies. Besides about So, 900 tons
of Il 1t generally exports each year
about IL, 900 tons of coffee m 1900 tons
of obacc The yearly production of
sugar has been known to reach 100, 900
tons. This is separated from the
cane in mills owned hitherto by Span
ish and English capital.
Sixty years & a writer described
Porto Rico as the most lovely of all
those regions of ioveliness washed by
the Caribbean sea-" Given such ar ISL
and, possessing everyAvariety of tropi-
cal landscape, fertileOfrom the noun
tain submits to the brink of the sea,
rich in pasture fields, shaded with
beautiful groves of cocoa palms. moist
ened by 1900 streams, with here and
there a hot spring. and already opened
to Internal commerce by improved
highways and a new railroad girding
the entire coast. IL is difficult to proph-
ecy as to the progress a few hundred
Yankee capitalists might make. The
pasture and in the north and east are
superior to those of the other Antilles.
Herds Craze on the thousands of hills.
Hundreds of cattle are exported yearly.
while the islands to the south depend
upon these green fields for their horses.
Besides sugar, tobacco and coffee. the
American settler might successfully
raise cotton. rice, maize, fax. jute for
sugar bags. cassia. incense, lumber. dye
and cabinet woods. Upon his table he
might well afford the most luscious
fruits of the tropics. p~ineapples. citron.
oranges. lemon and melons, with fresh
ginger and other spices, all cultivated
at home or near by. Gold. once mined
i'm great quantities. is still found, as
well az coal and salt.
Travellers generally agree that the
climate of Porto Rico is more agreeable
n healthful than that of any of the
other Antilles. The average daily tenn
perature is 80 degrees Fahrenheit. but a
cooling north breeze is generally pre-
valent during the hottest days. Land
winds, so disagreeable in the other An
titles, are seldom felt. though tropical
hurricanes are apt to make things lively
~ any tAnnt ptlNttu July anu oCtDDtT.
The f~orest-covered mountains. which
extend from east to west. with the
length of the island, produce a marked
in the climate between their
opposite proclivities. The district to the
north, comprising the greater part of
the island, is visited by frequent show
ers, while the southern district is often
without rain for months at a time.
In a Juan. the capital-where our
- x.a ofatta., xxtlI H. .n
nently located-yellow fever threatens
the lives of foreigners who stop in the
crowded and dirty streets, but in the
suburbs. where the permanent foreign
colony is located. the air is pure and
wholesome. With his modern ideas as
to municipal hygiene Uncle Sam would
make short work of these ill-drained
th~oroughfares and stamp out yellow
jack i'm short order. According to old
by Spaniards quartered there.
the early colonists were not subject to
the tropical fevers or victims of the
noxious insects and reptiles which in
Tested the other West indies. The navy
department, however. has possession of
an interesting description of the island
written by a Spanish officer 'of the staff
of her most Catholic majesty" in charge
of the garrison at San Juan in 1884.
Longevity he wrote, among the ma
tfNts VI NV Sidiil Is a iii VI ttflliio
occurrence. Many of them live to the
advanced ages of so. 30. 100 and even to
40 years. But Europeans seldom reach
an advanced age. The climate exerts
its ravages upon them I'm all the forms
of disease. Most of them die in the
prime of life or premature old age creeps
on them before hat period. What less
could be expected from the influence of
a climate which i'm a short time cor
rodes iron n reduces the texture of
paper to powder? The human frame,
which has not been seasoned TO IL from
infancy cannot resist its powerful ef-
fects."
This same officer continued to give ad-
vice particularly valuable Just now.
New troops, he said. should not be al
lowed to arrive before November or De-
cember. lest they be attacked by the
fatal tropical ills while unused to the
climate. On arriving their hair should
be close cut and they should be allowed
~ aat nRx ne IL Aeh hbN