Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1899-07-22

money before, and they hardly know what
to do with it. The government paymaste-
told the men that the money was their own
ard that no one else had any right to it.
and that they should take it home and
spend it for themselves. Following the
crowd also were peddlers and gamblers
VINO hoped to get the money Of the poor
poems as soon as 1t was paid. The govern
ment is regulating these things as Ear as
possible, and in time the peon will be able
TO take care OF himself.
The "Touch-Me" Stores.
The stores on the plantations are much
like the "touch-me.' stores of orr COAL
mining districts, save that they have no
goods to speak of. Their stocks in trade
are made up of Goldfish, jerked beef. ba-
nanas and Porto Rican rum.
Some of them have bread and some have
clothing. These stores should be abolished
and the planters should be forced To nav IN
cash, rather than in store orders. Methods
should be adopted by which every peon can
nave garden and be taught to cultivate
and accumulate for himself. He should be
allowed to have a chance for a living and
should be protected in his rights So far
the SpaTGards have run everyi hing for Iae
rich. They have done all they could to keen
the poor in ignorance, and today nine out
OF every ten people in Porto Rico cannot
read or write.
Education should be compulsory, and
schools should be everywhere.
They Have banana s.omachs.
Speaking of starvation in Porto Rico, this
is the only part of Uncle Sans dominion
where we can ever have a famine The soil
here is rich, but if there should be such
weather conditions as to cause a failure Of
the banana crop. many of the poor people
would die of starvation. The food of many
is made up of bananas. Not one man in a
dozen has any neat to speak of, and the
faces of the people are bloodless. They
look aenemic, and are so. As il is, the NOR.
tally is very great. The poor have little
strength, owing to insufficient and i'm
proper food, that when they grow sick they
die
1t is only the prolificness of the people
that keeps up the population. The babies
fairly swarm. And such babies. After they
have reached the banana-eating age they
get what is called here the banana stom-
ach. They have to fill their little bellies
full in order to contain enough TO sustain
life, and the average child here has an alb
domen which protrudes like that of a beer
drinking alderman. 1t is tight as a
drum, and his legs below il are so weak
that they look like pipe stems walking
around with the great load above.
The majority of the poems are whites, al
though there are many mulattoeS, and not
a few negroes. They have good faces, and
are naturally Intelligent. They are very
quiet and peaceable. They are kind to their
families, and are, on the whole, good citi-
zens l am told by Americans who have
employed them that they are excellent
workers. and that they are glad TO do all
they can to earn their money. They work
from sunrise until sunset and are as re-
liable as the average American Workmen
holidays and feast days, which have been
customary, but the most of the men will do
their work irrespective of these asking for
sunday only FRANK G. CARPENTER.