Daily inter mountain. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1881-1901, 1899-06-24

san Judl, IOIlo INiCO, JuIlc 11.~IihG
Cuba, the picturesque island of Porto
Rico is a good place for a man to keep
away from unless he has a definite aim,
and money enough to carry it through.
AT present Porto Rico has little to- offer
the poor man. Be he ever so ambitious
and willing to work he can find but poor
prospects in a country where there are
but two positions open to him driving a
mule team at $40 per month or enlistlng
as a private in the army at SIS per
month.
Already there are hundreds of ambi-
tious, but poor young Americans in the
island. AS soon as peace was declared
they rushed INTO this new Eden. and
there are few of them who have not had
reason to regret their hasty step. Since
they arrived they ave journeyed from
one end of the island to the other look
ing for the opportunity to make a for
tune, and so far they nave only succeeded
in wearing out their shoe leather.
When the United States awakens to
the fact that Porto Rico is in need OF
new laws and that things in general
must be modernized, the industrious poor
man will have a chance, but until that
time nothing but disappointment awaits
him here.
Among the first arrivals from the
United States was the omnipresent capl-
italist. He looked over the ground and
SOlC&AAN& kAA > law AAAS AZ AAS
best turn his wealth. and then he went
back to a more civilized land, leaving an
agent to guard his interests here. He
too is waiting for Uncle Sam to decide
just what he will do Will, the island and
then, if the decision is favorable to him,
he will return and the much needed i'm
provenents will be inaugurated. AL
ready new railroads are projected to take
the place of the miserable make-shifts
that Spanish money built; ground has
been secured on which new sugar mills
will be built, and arrangements awe
been made to construct new ice plants,
in all the thickly populated districts.
AS the native Porto Rlcan is not in
clined to do any more work than is abso-
lutely necessary, the ;1E IMMIGRANT from the
states win find his opportunity as soon
as these plans are carried out, and this
viii give him a chance to locate and build
Tor himself a home on one OF the most
fertile spots in the whole world.
When General Henry came to Porto
Rico the condition Of things was pitia-
BILE, but the reform that he at once in
ttroduced nave done much for the island
ers. In fact, General Henry was just
the man for the position he was selected
to occupy. He was both mild and firm,
mild to the ignorant natives who had
been ground beneath the heel of oppres-
sion for so many years that they did not
know the meaning of the word 'liberty,'
dliu IlTIll WHEN Cdllcu upOn TO ueGlue any
important question or to suppress any
threatened uprising. AS a result it took
but a comparatively short time for the
people to discover that he was fully in
control of affairs, but that whatever he
might do was for their own good.
He instituted schools and he cleaned
the cities, he stopped la~wlessness, he
made new laws and he suspended others,
notably the law that permitted mort
gage holders to foreclose upon a months
notice. The suppression of this law
alone was OF i~nealculable advantage to
the poor Planters, as the Spanish mort
gage holders had given notice of their in
tention to foreclose upon the helpless
land owners and the American and En-
glish land shark We're ready to take ad-
vantage to secure control of some of the
choicest land on the island. Naturally
they objected to being baked at the
game, but the people rushed to General
Henry to thank him for his action and
Would have smothered him by their de-
nronstrations of delight if they had not
been driven away by the soldiers. -
With the exception Of a few d~isgrun-
tied politicians, the island is free of all
i'll will towards the United States gov
eminent. h people want a territorial
government, and they would welcome the
opportunity to be able to have such COM
plete control of their own affairs, but they
nave sufficient confidence in the United
States to be willing to leave the matter
entirely to congress-.
OF course there is talk of uprising, but
there is little ground for such rumors.
The people are of a peaceful disposition
ana nave never made much troubla. even
when robbed as they were by their Span
ish masters, and it would require a most
eloquent man, and a combination of the
most frlgltful wrongs to drive them to
insurrectiOn now.
The frat and nnrl nc tho lo,+ ;o,.ro.
sion, that one receives of Porto Rico, is
the delightfulness of the climate and the
beauty of the scenery Of the island. AS
is to be expected, the scenery is tropica
in its nature, blu there is green every
where. There are no sandy places as
mere are IN Cuba, no ground that cannot
be titled and, IN fact, the greater part
Ct 1t is already under cultivation. Like
an the West Indies, the island of Porto
Rico is part of a long range of sub-ma-
rine mountains. They rise directly out
or the sea and upon this island the eleva-
ton starts at the shore and extends back
to a height ranging from 1900 to 5000
feet.
From the base to the top the hills, as
we'll as the valleys that intervene, are
covered with the greenest of grass, while
everywhere there is the equally green
tropical vegetation, bananas, sugar cane,
coffee. tobacco and cocanut palms. so
that wherever one may go there is moth.
ing to mar the beauty of the scenery.
The climate of Porto Rico is also as
nearly ideal as possible. the euuable tenn
peratufe being due to the trade winds. In
h may be called midwinter the Their
mometer scarcely ever falls below so de-
grees in the shade during the day, dron-
ping to 10 at night. or. in the higher re-
eions of the hills, to 60.
In the summer a temperature of % de.
grees is rarely reached, and 80 degrees
Is regarded as extreme heat. There is
therefore, no winter and the wind that
blows constantly across the island makes