Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1899-01-23

by itinerant professors of that faculty, as
| is the case with domestic pupils who pur-
| sue their studies at home. The usual age
| for entrance is eleven years for boys TAX
| ing the regular course, which comprises the
following studies; Latin, geography, his
| tory, rhetoric, poetry, mathematics,
! French philosophy, natural history. ply
| sizes, chemistry and agriculture. The ad-
| vanced course has been given up, as no
| one took a degree. 1t was a strictly bust
| ness course. There is a registration fee Of
| five pesos, but otherwise the cost of edu-
| cation is betrayed by the state. OF all
| those enrolled lot more than fifteen or six
| teen annually take the degree of bachelor.
| Affiliated with the institute are seven small
| schools private. subsidized. and religious
| situated in various cities. with total en-
rollment of rather more than 200 pupils.
short Life of "a University.
| At one time a branch of the University of
Havana was established in Porto Rico, but
| il languished and soon died from lack OF
students. AS each township pays for its
| own schools, it is impossible to estimate the
amount spent on education annually in
| the island. But the states contribution
| amounts to about 5000 pesos per year out
| of which is supported the institute, the
| manual training school, the two normal
schools. and the board of education, sub
| sides being paid to two or three minor
/ institutions
! Captain Gardner was informed that there
! is large beQuest. the income of which is
| used for the support of the institute. He
| has not, however, been able to verify the
| information. In view of the Incidence of
| the people. it is hard to see exactly how
| any remedy can be supplied for this state
| of things, which will bear fruit for a long
| time to come. The people must be raised
| from the poverty which is the result of
| their own faults, or mothers will continue
| to keep their children at home because
| they have no clothes in which to send them
| to school Captain Gardner uses the term
! no clothes in its absolute sense.
Compulsory school Attendance.
Unless the compulsory school attendance
law is enforced he says, no progress can
be made. Better paid and more competent
| teachers must be employed in the rural
schools, and many new ones established.
The truant officer must come into exist
ence and the children must be more vigor-
ously handled. Schools must be closed dur
ing the worst of the rainy season, or the
classes cannot be kept together. Summar-
iZng the situation a whole. there exists
on the island fairly good skeleton on
which to construct a school system. But
he apprehends that the difficulty arises
from the scarcity of competent and reliable
teachers. In the nature of things, for the
present. bat 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 knowledge
of the English language has begun to per-
meate all classes.
Votes at the Election
Since the astronomical government came
into force there has been but one election
| al hich about % per cent of those entitled
to vote exercised that privilege. The Span
ish or conservative party, owing to the
paucity of its members. took no part in
the contest. No restriction in the way of
educational or property qualification was
l
ard in many of the districts where it was
not geographically impossible a large per
cCnt&ge of the vote came out The two
sides in the contest were the liberal party
and the orthodox party, the liberal party
being composed of those who have all
along been advocates of autonomy but
agar st the independence of the island.
and the orthodox party being composed of
separationlstS pure and simple. In thu
contest for the nomination in the latter
party there was a more or less wel-definad
tendency toward the drawing Of race lines
But in the election this distinction did not
appear.
AS a general thing, in the election above
mentioned members of the liberal party
were chosen for the various offices ana
they at once arrayed themselves with the
liberal party of Spain on the island much
TO the indignation of some of their con-
SGtuentS. These are the men. for the
most part, who now hold the municipal
Offices under American rule, and there can
be no doubt whatever that this fact is a
disappointment
those Porto RicanS who had evidently
dreamed of the American invasion as the
dawn of an era of revenge on the Span
ish proprietors who had oppressed them
for so long. The more Intelligent of the
orthodox party see very clearly that no
temporary arrangement is possible except
to retain those officials in power who wera
familiar with their duties and could MAIN
tain order in their respective localities.
But the rank and file refused to listen to
reason on this point.
Wholesale Removals Unwise.
Any wholesale removal of officials in
power would not only have produced unlim-
tied disorder but would have necessitated
the divergence of the time and energy of |
our troops and military commanders from |
the task of conducting a campaign to the |
task of setting up a new civil government.
1t is unreasonable to expect that the con-
tinuance in Office of men who in the pop
ular mind, are only one degree better than |
Spaniards, should be regarded with en- |
thusiasm. The average Porto Rican evil |
IDENTIFY held that the first duty OF the /
American army was to arrange his per-
sonal affairs to his satisfaction
The proof of the wisdom of keeping the |
old officials in power adopted for the most /
part by the American commanders appears |
in the results obtained in those cases where |
exceptions were made All dealings with
the native braves and heroes proved fail |
ures. Whether the election which will be |
held under the auspices of the United ]