The Indianapolis journal., 1899-07-23

ton Eacn OF the disks is ldoeleu win "a"
initial. 1t represents a centavo and can De
spent nowhere else. Upon some of the plan-
tasions money Is not paid at all. The peo-
pie are given so many bananas for their
days work and their steady work lasts only
for about five or six months of the year.
Sunday is the poems market day. On this
day you win see the country roads lined
with men. women and children on their way
TO market. Each man carries bottle, hold
ing It by string tied to its neck. The
usual bottle is a half pint, and it is taken
to bring back the mans supply of rum for
the following week. A half pint is not much,
but this is all he wants. although rum Is
the national drink. and he takes some every
morning before breakfast. Indeed 1 have
been surprised TO see so little drunkenness
here The chief cases Of intoxicatioD are
among our soldiers, and have so far seen
ten drunken Americans TO every drunken
Porto Rican.
A POOR MANS HOME.
wish / could transport one of these Por-
TO Rican huts to the United States. / would
like to show President Mckinley how some
of his subjects are living on this beautiful
island. The house / should choose would
be one OF a common laborers on rich
sugar or coffee plantation. There are thou
sands like It all over Porto Rico. Here Is
how II looks. 1t is made of poles about as
big around as your arm and palm leaves as
thick as the average book cover and about
half as wide as a page of this paper.
The framework. including the bridge roof,
IS OF poles tied together. Then the palm
leaves are laid on and other poles OF about
the thickness of a broomstick are tied hori-
zontally across the walls of the house to
keep the palm leaves together. The floor
OF the hut is of poles loosely put to-
gether that all the dirt drops through the
cracks The roof is so poorly made that the
rain drips through. and at night the cold
breezes whistle through the walls.
The hut has no windows Its door of
palm leaves can be lifted away during the
daytime. 1t has absolutely no furniture.
The family sleeps on the floor. The cooking
is done in a little lean-to at the back upon
a fire bed of earth, the pot being raised
upon stones above the Goals.
In this house. which l have described
from notes made in the hut itself. there
were eight children, three of them stark
naked and one of the three was five years
old 1t was deformed and could only crawl
over the floor in it's nakedness. All the
children were exceedingly lean. although
their heads and eyes were good.
AS I looked about this hut, which be-
1onged to the peon of a rich coffee planter, I
asked its owner why he did not have gar
den. He replied that the planter did not
allow his laborers TO have gardens. for then
they could raise what they wished to eat
and would not have to buy at his store.
BY inquiry 1 found this was almost
everywhere. These people are surrounded
by good land. but they dare not use IL.
Many Of them may be working among the
bananas all day and at the close have to
take the tin disks they receive in pay and
walk a mile perhaps to the "touchme'
stores and buy the bananas which they use
for their evening meals. The streams are
fun of fish. but they are not allowed to fish
In them because the waters belong to their
masters. They will be arrested if they steal
vegetables. and they dare not cut a stick
without the consent Of the men for whom
they work.
TAXING MEN FOR CHAIRS
1t was for long time a wonder to me
that there was no furniture in the houses.
i found only a few rude beds and now and
then a hammock or so in the huts of the
better class. 1t was very rare to see table
or a chair. 1 asked one man why this was
so. He replied that the possession of chairs
II once bought two chairs and brought
them home, and for a time my wife and
myself enjoyed them after our hard days
work In the field. Then the tax assessor
came along and wanted TO increase my
taxes three pesos. / asked him why, and
said I had just the same possessions on
which had been taxed before. But he re-
piled: You have furniture now. See those
chairs and that table. You have become a
rich man and must pay more taxes Then,
said i. If / did not have this furniture my
taxes would be the same? Yes he re-
piled"
All right said /. I will fix it, And ]
took the two chairs and table outside and
smashed them to pieces"
This system of taxation prevailed through
great part Of the country, and to-day the
poems sre just beginning to realize that
they can buy little furniture and not be
taxed for II. number OF the men who
have been working on the roads for the
government were told this by their Amer.
lean overseers. They came back again and
again to ask IL it was really true that they
could buy chairs for their homes wfthorr
being taxed for them. They were told .they
could get all the chairs they wanted The,
then asked IL they could have one for eacf
member OF the family, and were delightt
when the reply was yes"
The poems have not yet got over the
sensation OF receiving actual money fol
their work. They have been paid in thi.
way by the Americans and at first il sur
prised them exceedingly. The men who
worked at Ponce and on the south coas
said they had never seen so much none,
before. They commented on the value O.
the American dollars. which were worth
more than their own dollars and to-da,
they are happy at being paid in cash. Dur
ing this spring the government officials hay,
had eleven thousand of them at work upor
the road. This was to help the people a.
much as to help the roads.
The greatest care has to be taken, how
ever. to see that the poems actually ge
the money. There is always a gang abou
the men on pay day. This is made up ex
overseers and others who pretend they hay
claims on the wages OF the men.
Sometimes there is planter who make
demands for alleged debts and thus tries 4
get percentage OF the wages.
Many of the men have never received rea
money before, and they hardly know wha
10 do with 1t. The government paymas.e
told the men that the money was their own
and that no one else had any right 10
and that they should take il home an
spend II for themselves. Following tn
NJ n f1.ltU a