The Washington weekly post. (Washington, D.C.) 1878-1916, 1899-02-21
NOT A NEW PARADISE.
There Are Numerous Drawbacks to West
Iudian Settlement.

From Leshes Monthly.
The expenses of clothing and shelter be-
ing reduced TO a minimum, are there rea-
sons why poor men should emigrate to the
West Indies from the United States, pro-
vided they have found the struggle for
life at home uncomfortable? What are the
drawbacks? Some OF them can be readily
mentioned; they are mostly relative As
a positive proposition, country in which
you eliminate two of the three weighty
factors of life is on the face of the mat
ter desirable land for a poor man.
To begin with, such man, If he is bur-
dened with family, must have a certain
amount OF money. He must ind a suit
able location on the hilly slopes between
the sea and the mountains, which occupy
the length from east to west of the great
islands, and there must buy tract which
should not be less than five acres, with a
stream running through it. Such loca-
tiuns are numerous, and can be bought at
between so anu 500. Then ne must clear
the ground, or part of II. He can nave
this done Tor about S25 al acre. He then
needs a pair or cattle ana Z set OF farm
ing tools. For cattle shelter the merest
shed answers all purposes III country
where the tempera ture never falls below
50 degrees. one or two of the small
horses OF The country are also necessary.
In the tropics nobody goes on foot, and
vehicles are little used, because there are
no roads INT for anything but donkey
carts. He must also bay cow, a donkey
or two, and d Jwo-Wneeled cart By the
time his house is built and these supplies
are laid in, he Will nave expended some
thing like 500 or S5U0 After buying food
Tor perhaps TWO months, his cleared
ground VIII supply him with the neceSSa-
rles or LIE, except Hour, rice, potatoes,
butter, sugar, lard, ana salt These he
must then and always buy, and they are
ali dear except sugar. On d small tract
no one can prOnIaDly raise sugar cane
An acre OF tobacco plants, which can be
raised 10 good advantage in the virgin
soil which he has taken up, will pay for
all these imported foods, year III and year
out.
The isolation ard loneliness of this
mode OF life may or may not be hardship.
Some families would be killed by them,
others would disregard them. Children
would enjoy the freedom or the wooded
hills, the bCooLs, in which they can wade,
winter and summer, the daily lounglng
in the shade between the hours of 10 and
( ), when 70 one SITS abroad or ddreS the
rays of the sun. Their mothers, debarred
from gossip with friendly neighbors,
might not ike the environment 50 well.
/ I his is something tor the intending emf
grant to cor Sider Another drawback
would Se the calentu-a, or fever, which
! lays its grip upon every grown person
/ WHO goes 10 these islands from another
/ latitude On cool hill slope, removed
{ from the seacCast marshes and mangrove
/ swamps, there is 10 danger from yellow
/ fever, but the Calcntura is inevitable This
fever, if IT once treated with a decOctiOn
/ 0! orange peel taken hot, and the light
est possible Ciet of toast, chicken broth,
! &c, passes away in few days, but is
( sure 10 return every ensuing summer dur
/ ing several years. Children are often eX-
( empt and grow Up acclimatiZed.
Another drawback is-ln the case OF
} adult incomeIs-a continual longing for
/ cold weather which never comes. They
tire of the s8meness Of perpetual summer
in q land WneTe the sun at MONDAY never
4 touches f. degrees below the zenith, and
I when in fact, all seasons are alike, except
/ that in July il rains much more than in
/ January, and the hot steam Of the glow
ing earth is more punEent. There are
. whole months when eacn day is a pro-
lCnged Turkish bath. II you sit in the
house you breathe a scalding vapOr. Al
such times the native rolls cigarettes OF
( tobacco leaves, ana says nothing. while
| the Northerner gGsps in what IL is fat
terry to style misery. The Sameness of diet
/ is also a drawback, more or less positive