The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1899-05-18
PORTO RlCOS. PROMISE
For the Profitable Investment Of
American Capital.
GENERAL HENRY ENTHUSIASTIC.

Ex-Military Governor ofthe Island De-
clares 1t Wonderful Country, But
Asserts That 1t Is q Place For the
Capitalist RstherThan the Poor Man
New York, May 1S.-Major General
Henry U. S. ", until recently military
governor of Porto Rico, arrived on the
transport Mcpherson from San Juan
yesterday. He was accompanied by
Mrs. Henry and his daughter, Mrs.
Benton. The party will remain in this
city until Monday next, when they
will leave for Washington. General
Henry Is enthusiastic about Porto
Rico, it's people and its possibilities.
1T Is wonderful country" he said.
but we will have to 60 slow In bring
ing about reforms. Capital invested
will bring large returns. More than
SO per cent of the value Of the sugar
cane Is lost in the process Of grinding.
The children are thirsting for knowl-
edge, and the great need is good
schools. General Eaton is doing fine
work in this respect. There Is an
English teacher in each of the ten dis
tricts, and English Is taught in all
Of the schools of San Juan. When I
left San Juan I was given a reception
in the theater at San Juan, in which
= over 1000 school children took part.
They sang American patriotic songs
and several of them delivered address,
es In English. The same thing took
place at Ponce, where there are five
English teachers.
1.-THE general conditions are vers
encouraging. over $4,000 men are at
work on public improvements, and we
are spending over 100000 per month
in this way. This is more money than
the men received from Spain all their
lives. The road from Ponce to San
Juan, the military road. is well built,
but the other roads are wretched.
When we have improved them all the
natives in the interior can get their
produce to the coast at slight cost.
1.-THE Porto Ricans are anxious for a
territorial form Of government, but
the question ia how are they going to
get money if the customs duties are
wiped out. We are spending large
sums, and introduced q water supply
in San Juan in five weeks after l took
hold. The Spanish had been at work
on the same thing for 50 years. San
Juan is as clean now as any city OF
the South American republics. The
people all look forward to being
Americans.
with the exception of few dis
gruntled politicians, the island Is free
from all i'll will toward the United
States. One of these men, who is now
in the United States, has boosted that
he was the cause of my leaving my
command. His paper was suppressed,
I believe. At any rate If such an out
rageous falsehood had been told about
any predecessor of mine I should have
taken such measures.
"Of course there is talk about an up
rising, but there is really no danger
of such thing happening. The Porto
Ricans lived for 400 years under Span
ish rule and never caused trouble.
travelled all over the island with nv
orderly when there was talk of mas
sacre.
ITO one man who came from Ad-
juntas to tell me of an uprising said:
Go back to Adiuntas and dig many
graves Rise tomorrow and | shall
order out the American soldiers to
shoot the Porto Ricans down and fill
these graves He went home and tele
graphed me later that there would be
no massacre"
General Henry maintained that Porto
Rico has the loveliest winter climate
in the world, and great hotel would
pay there.
Porto Rico" he said, lis the place
for the capitalist rather than for the
poor man. At the present time there
are thousands of the poor class with
out employment. When left there
were $4,000 laborers employed on the
roads at 80 cents per day, American
money, under my direction. The aver
age wage TO unskilled labor on plan
tations is 36 cents per day, American
money. The fertility of the lard and
the warmth of the climate make the
demand for labor very small.
Il consider that during my admin
istration of over five months the route
to prosperity in Porto Rico was sur
veyed broad guage road bed made,
the rails laid, the rolling sock fur
nished and the locomotive started. It
now remains, believe, for capital to
take and operate the road benefitins
the Porto Ricans as well as increasing
itself"
Double Murder and Suicide.