The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1899-01-27
ABOUT PORTO RICO.
Capt. Gardner Makes a Report Con.
cerning the Island.
An ORDER RESENTED BY CUBlyS.
The Mandate OF Gen Hrooke About the
Customs Rrcetut- ,nd SANITARY
work Received win Poor
Grace at santiago.

Washington Jan 23 -"lf Porto Rico
is to become credit to the United
States says Capt Augustus r. Gard
ner, assistant adjutant general of vol
unteers, in an interesting report to
Assistant Secretary of War Meikeljohn
upon the educational and other affairs
of the island of Porto Rico, and not
continual thorn in her side, it is as
certain as the rising of the sun that
the work of reconstruction must be
done by men of disinterested motives"
In considering, saws Capt. Gardner,
the various elements which go to
make up the social system Of Porto
Rico, the most worthy of a detailed
examination Is the method OF educa-
tion. IL is on this branch that the
fruits which it is hoped may be gather
ed in the future must all ripen.
Capt Gardner says il is safe to aver
age the number of school in the island
at 900 at the outside, of which less
than 40 are private or religious schools
The common schools are divided into
superior, elementary, auxiliary and
rural, with one teacher To each school,
whose salary range, from :, zoo pesos,
or say 5000 per wear, in superior
school of the first class to 800 pesos per
year in rural school. The superior
schools exist only if the seven depart
mental cities in each of which there
are supposed to be two superior
schools, one for each sex.
summarizing the situation as IL
whole, there exists on the island a
fairly good skeleton on which To con-
struct IA school system. The difficulty
arises from the scarcity of compe tent
and reliable teachers. In the nature
of things, for the present, but little
progress can be made by American
teachers sent To the island. Their
sphere of usefulness will not include
Porto Rico until such time as IA llnowl-
edge of the English language has be-
gun to permeate all classes.
With regard to the religious ques-
tion, Capt. Gardner says it does not
appear that the inhabitants of the is
lands have ever taken their religion
with any degree of seriousness, prob
ably owing to the fact that the church
is regarded as one of the means by
which Spain undertook To maintain
her sovereignty on the island and to
provide for the maintenance of such
of her clergy us could not be
supported at home. Altogether,
the clerical establishment main
tains about 240 priests and assistants,
the sum total of whose salaries
amounts to about lo0, 900 pesos annu-
allv. Since the invasion of the Ameri-
can troops, the salaries OF all these
priests, which have heretofore been
paid by the state, have been cut off, n
state of affairs which seems to be
viewed with perfect equanimity by all
except the priesthood itself Roman
Catholicism has Il better chance in the
island, in view of the condition of the
native mind, than any other form of
religion.
That the population of Porto Rico
as n whole, has serious grounds of
complaint on account of excessive tax
alton is not proved. But that this
taxation was so distributed and adj
ministered as To seriously interfere
with the small, and especially with
native. merchants or planters cannot
be doubted The total amount raised
by national taxation has been OF late
years more than 300, 600 pesos, sum
equal to little over 4ls pesos per in
habitant To Americans who are ac-
eustomed to national taxation of
some 81 per capita, the Porto Rican
figures seem exceedingly small Con-
cluding, the report says:
The reorganization OF all these various ele-
ments In the Porto Rlcan social system Is an
undertaking OF enormous dinlculty the extent
Of which cannot be appreciated by any one who