Evening star., 1899-07-08

only three times as big as Rhode Island,
about half big New Jersey and lit
tie less than half the size of Massachu-
setts. You could put ten Porto Ricos into
Indiana, and if you cut it up into squares
it would only be sixty times the size of the
District of Columbia. Its average width is
about as great as from Washington to
Baltimore, and its length is not much
greater than from Baltimore to Philadel-
phia. Were it level you could walk from
one end of it to the other in three days and
across it in one. On bicycle you could
travel over it in a few hours from coast to
coast.
The People Swarm.
Notwithstanding its smallness, however
it is more thickly populated than any of
our states except Massachusetts and
Rhode Island. Ii has S14, $50 people, or 10y
to the square mile. A square mile is 10
acres. 1t is just a section of land. On
every section of Porto Rico there are ~;
people, and on every quarter section,
1GO-acre farm, there are living on the aver
age about fifty-fOur souls
This is SO Notwithstanding the island has
! almost no manufactures. The people all
| live off the soil, and hence their condi-
| ton cannot be compared with that of the
| people of our thickly settled manufactur-
i ing states, where there are so many large
| cities.
| AS it is Porto Rico has twice as many
| New York; twice many as Pennsylvania
| and three times as many as Indiana or 1lli
! nOiS. Six times as many Missouri
Georgia and almost nine times as many
| as Louisiana. With such conditions II would
! seem a poor place for farmers, who
need at least square mile to turn around
! in.
see it stated that there are 200. 900 people
living in the cities of Porto Rico. l don't
believe it. The country has only three cities
! of any size, and all the towns are over
estimated. San Juan has, it is said, 81 900
people. but if so half of these live in the
suburbs By the estimates of the health Off
! GERS, who made careful canvass, there are
only 5000 people living inside the walls
! and this section constitutes the city proper
/ Mayaguez has perhaps 10000 people and
Ponce between 10000 and 1000.
The most of the so-called cities of Porto
Rico would be considered little more than
villages in the states. The land is divided
up into municipalities, but each municipal
ity contains not only the village by which
it is governed, but all the people living for
miles around, so that Il town of 800 or / 900
Is often put down as having from six to ten
times that number. 1 find. in fact. the fig
| ures and statements put down in the books
as to matters Porto Rican full of errors.
| Ihey are made up from unreliable data,
and the most of them come from Spanish
books from fifty TO hundred years old
The Climate.
| Take. for instance, the climate. About a
generation ago some Spaniard wrote that
Porto Rico was country of catarrh, con-
sumption and bronchitis. He stated that
the hot, moist climate caused dysenteries
and feNers and gave the land bad name
to health. This statement has to a
: large extent been copied and has created
a serious misimpression. Our army sur
geOns tell me that the contrary is the
truth. and / find that the Americans who
have come to Porto Rico have, a rule
, improved in health.
Take myself When I left Wa Shinpto0
was considerably troubled with the nasa
, catarrh. for which that city is famous.
brought with me an atomizer and Other
, ! remedies. The moment L landed at Sar
!, Juan my catarrh left me and l have not
had a sign of it during by stay here. One
of the captain quartermasters has had g
similar experience. and i have met mum
Der of people who have been cured o
catarrh and bronchitis since landing il
: ! Porto Rico.
was talking today with Mr. Harrison
l the manager of the San Juan and Rio
| Piedras railroad, as to climatic conditions
Said he:
II think Porto Rico will eventually be 6
{ ! sanitarium for Americans who are broker
| down nervously Take my own case.
n was afflicted with nervous prostration whel
1 was in Chicago. 1 could not sleep an'
| could not work. / have improved ever,
e hour since came to Porto Rico and hav
: been at my desk from in the morning un
5 til every day. am doing what woul'
1 | naturally be wearing work. 1t is, yo'
s know. the organization of this railroad, bu
$ it does not seem to affect me. Every on
K sleeps here.
d There is another thing about the eli
: | mate" continued Mr.. Harrison "tha
n should be contradicted and that Is as I
$ consumption. l have looked for it, and
=, cannot many evidences OF It
o Porto Rico Not Hot Country.
{ 1t is not hot here except in the middle o
the day. and then no warmer than in tn
United States. 1 doubt whether Porto Ric
, | ever gets SO hot as some parts of Ohio an
!, | Indiana in the summer, and there is n
. question but that the Porto Ricans weul
Is rcast in Washington In July and August
=. The air here is full of moisture, but ther
, is a breeze always blowing which makes
~ rather pleasant than otherwise. The ovar
:. | age daily temperature the year around
Il about 50 degrees, and here at San Jua
o. the mean monthly temperature ieducte
l. from observations OF more than twent
re years is less than 20 degrees Fehrenhei
In In this period the Thermometer only res
,d thrice to 80 degrees and it never fell hele'
M 81 degrees.
,e With so much humidity even this he's
m would be oppressive if it We're not ft
s. the breezes which come from the Mort
he | Atlantic. They are full of ozone an
n they stimulate you like cocktail. / fin
IS that / am daily doing too much, tiring my
ce self out before know it, and only reali;
TO ing thRt l am worn out when sit dow
10 This is especially so on the coastal plain
nd | Further back on the high lands the air
as | cooler and mora stimulating In fact
should say that Porto Rico is fully 6
H. healthful country as any of our souther
NJ ! states.
SO Eight Hundred Thousand Sore Arm
M And this brings me to the question of Il
ed smallpox, which has been reported as ra
zy ing down here this year. There have be-
il some cases and the most Of them ha