The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1899-05-08
RESOURCES OF PORTO RICO
GENERAL KENNEDY TELLS OF
CONDITIONS IN ISLAND.
People Are Warm-hearted and Hos
pitable and In Full Sympathy
With American Institutions.

Washington, May loving to the
large number of inquiries that have
been received by the members of the in
sular commission since their recent re-
turn from Porto Rico. General Robert
p. Kennedy has prepared a statement
as to the resources and conditions in
Porto Rico, which he thinks will cover
the points upon which the greatest in
terest has been manifested. Concern
ing the people themselves, General Ken
nedy says:
There can scarcely be found on the
globe a more hospitable and warm
hearted people than those of Porto
Rico. They are in full sympathy with
American institutions. There is a great
deal of poverty in the island, as it is
understood in the United States. That
is, the people live in. flimsily construct
ed huts, have few Clothes and still less
of ready money, ~ but owing to the
bounty of nature about them, they can
live with little work and few worldly
goods and still not suffer from either
cold or hunger. The stories of starva-
items upon the island are baseless fabri-
cations.
While the richer classes live well.
in beautifully appointed homes, and
have been for the most part educated
abroad so that they can speak English,
poorer classes is very high, reaching 10
per cent, but this is largely due to the
fact that there are no schools worth
the name outside of the largest towns
or indeed, one might say in the whole
island.
LAS to agricultural opportunities.
should say that not one-fourth of the
land is under cultivation and thousands
of acres yet remain to be given over u
hIJShlndrV ar
prices. owing to the promise of an in
fiu& of people from the United States.
Still, there is opportunity for many
Thousands of persons who really wish
to engage in agriculture in the island.
That there are gerat opportunities
in Porto Rico is unquestionable. To
young men desiring to seek permanent
homes, and who have a good stock of
energy and enterprise, Porto Rico Offers
great inducements. But | would dis
courage the simple adventurer who ex-
poets to reap a quick and unearned re-
ward.
Sugar and coffee both require large !
outlay in lands. material and improve
ments. The promise of both of these,
however, is unequaled anywhere else i'll I
the world. An old coffee-planter from |
Java, who has just bought a planta- !
tion. assured me that the climate and |
conditions were as favorable as he had !
ever seen. Tropical fruits of all sorts |
grow readily and are of the finest quail !
ity. ] know of no place which offers |
greater inducements than does Porto /
Rico to Florida orange growers who |
are seeking location outside the frost |
belt.
THE opportunities for stockraising, |
it appears to me. are superior to those /
in almost any part Of the United States, |
and this without disparagement to our
own country.
THE climate of the island, in my
and from what / can gather
from records, official and otherwise, is
all that could be desired. 1t is warm in
summer and cool in winter, and even
the densely-populated city of San Juan
IS a remarkably healthy place. l look
to the time, not far distant,
when Porto Rico will be not only the
tropic garden spot of the United States.
but one of the most popular winter re-
sorts