Daily inter mountain. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1881-1901, 1899-01-13
TRIP THROUGH
PORTO RICO
Father Sherman Tells of That
Country.
ARE A GENTLE PEOPLE
And the Country in Time Will Become
Highly CiviliZed--ReligiOn
and Education.
A GENTLE PEOPLE

WASHINGTON, Jan. 12.-Father Sherman,
who accompanied General Brooke 10
Porto Rico, has returned from a trip OF
that island he has just made unarmed
without witnessing any disorder. Father
Sherman says that he found the people
of Porto Rico gentle and kindly and that
the Spaniards living there rejoice with
their Porto Rican friends in the change
of sovereignty. The disorderly element
is a small fraction in the teeming popu-
lation. Father Sherman says that the
state of religion is very unsatisfactory.
Though in every town of any size there
is found a large and handsome editice, the
services are poorly attended All the in
habitants of the island with few eXcep-
lions are, nominally at least, Roman
Catholics. The men are baptized re-
ceived and buried by the priests. That
is the extent of their Catholicism. Now
that the priests are deprived of govern
mental aid men are leaving the ountry
and more intend to depart before the
winter is over. A moderate percentage
of the clergy are of native origin ana
these will be more inclined to stay. The
church in Porto Rico has been so united
with the state and identified with 1t IN
the eyes of the people that it must snare
the odium with which the Spanish rule IS
commonly regarded. Complaint is made
that the priests were too much interested
in other matters. That they loved the
Standards more than they did the gos-
pei. There are many excellent priests
in Porto Rico and the women and chill
dren are in a great part practically Cath
Ollie. When the congregations have be-
come accustomed to sustain the church
he Catholic religion will flourish much
more in Porto Rico than under Spanish
rule.
Sherman says he is not prepared to make
a full report. Father Sherman says the
system of burial in Porto Rico has been
barbarous; in some places corpses are
thrown into shallow graves without box
or casket. The cemeteries are too small
and frequently crowded. The state of
morality can be inferred from the fact
tha the number of i~llegitimate children
exceeds that of the legitimate.
In conclusion Father Sherman says:
"a million people differing from us in
language, literature, tradition, customs
and manners welcome us by reason of
political sympathy and a sentiment of
confidence in our desire to govern for
their good, to enlarge their liberties and
to increase the substantial blessings they
enjoy without imposing on them any new
burdens. Porto Rico is not to be judged
by the trimming excitement and mani
fold tendencies to uprest due to a vast
political and moral upheaval or by the
acts of the cunning marauders who
avail themselves of exceptional circum-
stances to Wreak vengeance or to con-
tinue in the barbarous instinct of de-
struction. Nor are we to their po-
litical ~incapacity from fractional differ
ences, but remember that they have
cities, towns, villages and the lands are
not waste lands, as were California and
New Mexico in 1S4S. They are highly
civilized, have thousands of educated
men, able lawyers, excellent doctors, sew
eral merchants and manufacturers whose
establishments aggregate many millions
of annual output"